Socket Frontend Finally Gets Dual-Screen Handheld Support

One of our favourite new frontends for our Android devices is Socket, a neat, minimal application for Android that organises your ROM files in a way that prioritises cartridge and disc art, adding neat animations to your library when you play a game. It also has an array of customisations that you can add to the cartridges, such as new stickers, holographic disc art and transparent shells of the cartridges that require them, such as Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire.

It works very well and is a great custom frontend for those who don't have 100s of ROMs. It fits hand-selected games and smaller libraries perfectly, especially if you're a big fan of your loose collection.

This new feature comes under the new 0.8.0 update that was released today for paid Patreons to download and test, offering a way to see your apps and extra information about your games on the second display on devices such as the Ayn Thor, Retroid Pocket Duo and the upcoming ANBERNIC RG DDS. Here are all the new additions:

• Dual-screen support (Ayn Thor and similar): the bottom screen shows your apps with Pin, Add to Android Platform, App Info and Uninstall, and keeps a dimmed snapshot with a timer while a game is running. "Single Screen Mode" toggle under Settings > Tweaks.
• New on-screen keyboard, usable with the d-pad, stick or touch. B deletes, Y adds a space, X toggles shift (press twice for caps lock), L/R or the triggers move the cursor (hold to keep moving), Start confirms. "Use System Keyboard" toggle under Settings > Tweaks to keep Android's keyboard.
• Playtime tracking, shown under the game title and in Inspect. "Precise Playtime (Usage Access)" toggle under Settings > Tweaks for exact times.
• Sort games by Title, Most Played, Recently Played or Recently Added, per platform in Edit Platform.
• Random game button.
• "Jump by Letter" toggle under Settings > Tweaks.
• "Haptic Feedback" toggle under Settings > Tweaks.
• Socket now asks you to press A after choosing a controller layout, so A/B are right even on handhelds that swap them in firmware.
• Warning under Max FPS when the device's power-saving mode limits the CPU.

This has been a wanted feature for some time now, and will undoubtedly make many of Depmot's Patreons happy; for those that aren't a part of his Patreon, you will have to wait a little longer. He typically makes older versions free once they've been debugged and are ready for mass downloading, but that will likely be a couple of months.