At this point the question is no longer whether a new device runs DOOM, but rather how well. In the case of Anker’s Prime Charging Station it turns out that it’s actually not too terrible at controlling the game, as [Aaron Christophel] demonstrates. Unlike the similar Anker power bank product with BLE and a big display that we previously covered, this device has quite the capable hardware inside.
According to [Aaron], inside this charging station you’ll not only find an ESP32-C3 for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) duty, but also a 150 MHz Synwit SWM341RET7 (Chinese datasheet) ARM-based MCU along with 16 MB of external flash and 8 MB of external RAM. Both of these are directly mapped into the MCU’s memory space. The front display has a 200×480 pixel resolution.
This Synwit MCU is a bit of a curiosity, as it uses ARM China’s Star-MC1 architecture most of the information on it is in Chinese, though it’s clear that it implements the ARMv8-M profile. It can also be programmed the typical way, which is what [Aaron] did to get DOOM on it, with the clicky encoder on the side of the charging station being the sole control input.
As can be seen in the video it makes for a somewhat awkward playing experience, but far more usable than one might expect, even if running full-screen proved to be a bit too much for the hardware.
For a charging station? I joke about the 100MB hello world these days but why does a charging station need such hardware
It’s not even that expensive for what you get and some people like to look at pretty things. Why get a Toyota when you can get a Lexus. It’s 170 dollars, the biggest competitor when you look at the specifications is the chinese brand Satechi charger which is 150 dollars. Might as well get this one. Otherwise you end up losing options, less ports etc. There are much cheaper methods to do the same thing, sure, but not as pretty. You can get a 6 port power strip and 6 cheap GaN chargers. It’s cheaper. I have no use for this, I already have the PinePower Desktop which is more than enough for me, but it’s a completely different league.
Bluetooth allows for firmware updates and monitoring if it charges properly.
Most likely for helping with power negotiation and thermal management. They supposedly scan a crap ton whilst its charging to make sure it doesn’t overheat.