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Why did they put the solar panels on the front? I personally prevent sunlight from reaching the screen due to the annoying reflection, putting it on the top and back seems a better option.

I found it ingenious that they used the console's own buttons as an additional source of power (I don't know of any console that does the same)

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Probably because it can barely power itself as it is - it sounds like it needs to stop for a second every 10 seconds so it can harvest power.

If this is true then the save of the installed cartridge is in danger. Gameboy cartridges are saved in volatile SRAM that run off of watch batteries when unplugged from the console. When plugged into the console the SRAM is supplied power by the console. If you had a watch battery die while plugged into this perpetual gameboy you would never be able to save the game. You’d have to leave the cartridge plugged into the gameboy to keep the state.

The lag is due to it dumping state before it switches power sources, then reloads.

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