Electronic devices are everywhere: the best devices generally have the best user experience
In the early 1980s, home computers were the new thing, and not many people owned one compared to the mass of the population. At this time in our history, a good proportion of the populace here in UK still had black and white television sets, most people would have a Milkman, and a Mars Bar was around 15 pence. As I recall, a Fudge Bar was still 10 pence or under (or two Shillings [or Florin], because we still had these coins as legal tender). During this time, there wasn't much of a perception of what a computer was, or how one would use it. A new computer only needed to be working at a rudimentary level, and even with these now very primitive machines, a whole new world was opening up for a new generation. This is why we ended up with Sinclair's quirky machines as a mainstay throughout the 1980s, especially the culturally significant ZX Spectrum: Sinclair's machines were enough of a computer to do computering things, at a price point that would encourage many people to take a punt.
We are a long way from this fledgling world. Computers and other tech has to be usable and user friendly - although there will always be some learning curve for some people. Most of us use technology daily, and much of the user experience is engrained in us. As a now professional software developer in 2025, it's very important too; getting the design right, and the user experience as pain free as possible can be its own important subset of a good development team. Don't confuse the user: keep it simple and stupid (or keep it simple, stupid I tell myself when making web-based computer software).
There has been some chatter and feedback about my previous blog post Who would win in a fight between the Speccy and C64? Whilst the Sinclair-branded ZX Spectrum Next might be your dream machine, it is lacking in some areas. My view is that these areas are:
- User experience
- No clear product vision
- Translated: trying to be too many things at once
- Not a great keyboard
- Kickstarter v1 specific issue: the SD cards were very cheap (or at least so for me)
The most important area here is user experience: it's okay if you set it up once, and don't really change very much. But there is are some critical things to remember: one is, don't change your display (like go from HDMI to VGA output) without noting down how to get it to detect the change of VDU when switching on the machine again, and the other is, if you are using HDMI, unplug the HDMI or switch off your screen before switching off or unplugging your Next machine. Aside these two things (and I still don't remember yet how to set up for a different display, maybe I should follow my own advice and write it down), all of the nice to have features seem to be a bit of a mess around. The TZX support, for instance, requires an internal Raspberry Pi as does the "SID Chip" support, neither of which is very good. TZX files are good if it's a single load, but there is no support multi-loads. Or if there is, then I need to update my Next firmware, which has to be done per SD card, even for commercially purchased titles. Which isn't the best way to keep things up to date.
But the Next is expanding, it already has a Sinclair QL core (not that I have a problem with that, but I'd have preferred improved ZX80 and ZX81 support before that happened). This presents another issue: the keyboard. Despite not being a good keyboard, at least on the KS1 and KS2 variants, it is only really a useful keyboard for a Spectrum. It is not ideal, and in fact would be frustrating for any other machines that I can think of. The Sinclair QL has five function keys, and these are used with a lot of QL software, as one might expect. So, whilst the QL core is nice, and at least fits in to it being a Sinclair branded machine, you will likely need a PS/2 keyboard to make any use out of it, without it feeling clunky. And that needs to be set in the start up menu, i.e., are you using the [PS/2] port for a keyboard, a mouse, or a mouse/keyboard combo? Which makes me feel that the Next team could have included two PS/2 ports to stop the faffing about. Note that if you want to use both a computer mouse and keyboard with the Next, you will need a splitter cable. And don't get me started about the KS3 "C64" now being a part of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next ecosystem!
In fact, scrub that. Do get me started. Without making the same points again, my understanding of the Next back when it was announced some years ago is that it was to be the ultimate ZX Spectrum; 100% compatible with the original ZX Spectrum and its various iterations, but with new, exciting features. Maybe even 100% hardware compatible too? Although I seem to recall that was a bit more ambitious. It was supposed to be the best Spectrum that it can be, a "Super Spectrum" if you will.
We seem to have strayed a long way from what I understood to be the original vision for the platform. Including the ZX80 and ZX81 in there, no matter how flawed this was, makes it the ultimate Sinclair-branded machine. And adding the QL, no matter how useful that is, at least fits in with the Sinclair branding. However, the reality is that it isn't the best Speccy that it can be. There are flaws. Adding in a whole different platform from a different manufacturer, back when home computers came in many flavours isn't fixing any of the existing issues. Leave aside the keyboard being unsuitable for a Commodore C64, which has four function keys (8 possibilities through BASIC), and you're creating confusion, not clarity.
More confusion about this official C64 core isn't helped by the information of the original Kickstarter landing page, as follows:
ZX Spectrum Next Issue 3 in C64 Core mode:
- Processor: 6510 processor running at 0.97MHZ (PAL) & 1.023MHz (NTSC) with accelerated modes in the works
- Compatibility: Full C64 compatibility
- Memory: 64KB RAM
- Video: Full VIC2 support (320x200 colour mode, 16 colours, sprites and raster)
- Video Output: RGB, VGA, HDMI - PAL and NTSC modes (switchable via hotkey)
- Audio: SID fully implemented
- Joysticks: Standard joysticks support
- Storage: Support for 8K and 16K cartridges, D64 disk images (single and double sided) with multi floppy software support
- OS: Jiffy DOS compatible
- PS/2 port: PS/2 supporting GeosMOUSE protocol and external PS/2 keyboard
- Keyboard: Full C64 keyboard support via combination keys
- Tape: Tape support via Next MIC/EAR socket
People who know the C64 platform will know that there is no such thing as a double sided D64 disk image, and the claim of "Full C64 compatibility" is only in software, not in hardware, unless there is a serial bus added and other Commodore specific ports. There is also no such thing as a GeosMOUSE: there was the SmartMouse and SmartTrack by Creative Micro Designs (CMD), Inc. But these were based upon Commodore's own 1351 mouse (note, it doesn't say that it will support a 1351 mouse or a compatible clone, through the Atari-style joystick ports). The "Full C64 keyboard support via combination keys" sounds like a painful work-around, and kind of acknowledges my point about the Spectrum keyboard only really being useful for, well, Sinclair's machines. And whilst it might be "compatible" with JiffyDOS (not Jiffy DOS; I know, I'm being pedantic), this will disable tape loading, as CMD's Kernal upgrade is for disk drives only systems (well, disk drives and drive types, such as hard drives or RAM drives) which needs to be switched off in order to access the cassette port to load and save on real hardware.
Multiple floppy software support is ambiguous. Does this mean multiple drives? I'm not sure, but Commodore's own 1541 Mk II, 1571 and 1581 drives could be drive 8, 9, 10, or 11 (this had to be set in software on the 1541 without a motherboard modification). Experienced Commodore users know what this means, but does the Next team?
If they have GEOS working, that's a good indication that the drive emulation and computer emulation is pretty accurate. The fact that the non-existent "GeosMOUSE" is mentioned suggests that you need to use a PS/2 mouse, and with the pain of multiple key presses and an already poorly mapped keyboard layout, will mean that you'd also need a PS/2 keyboard, and therefore a splitter cable, and set this in your C64 core settings first. I won't mention anything about the SID fully implemented, but I'm sure it'll be a good approximation.
Clearly, however, this list taken from the Kickstarter page tells me that the Next team don't really know the C64 platform well. And that's not a good sign. Sure, it might have an official C64 core, but will it be another feature that exists but is soon forgotten about? One has to wonder.
This diversion aside, if The Spectrum Next was supposed to be the ultimate "retro" computer, being able to accurately emulate multiple systems, why call it the ZX Spectrum Next? And why the Sinclair branding? You're ending up with potentially a convoluted mess, with too many menu settings, and too much to remember, making a not so smooth user experience. In any case, there are other FPGA solutions already in this "do everything" market that are likely cheaper, and any PC from the last 10 or 15 years can already do this, thanks to so many software emulators existing. And some emulators are just drag and drop, working on operating systems that most people are already familiar with. People wanting a multi-system are already likely invested in either other FPGA devices, or emulators. Or even cheap Chinese knock offs imported in a grey market, with thousands of unlicensed games. Who from this crowd is going to spend £300 or more on buying a ZX Next then? Answers on a post card.
A real convincer would be a so-called "Killer App"; but with the official ZX Spectrum Software website only listing 42 exclusive titles, and only showing productions up to 2024 at the time of writing, this is not a good look. Sure, there is Head over Heels, but guess what? You can play this on an original Spectrum. I'm not convinced that a new version will be any better in terms of gameplay. And honestly, the "improved" graphics aren't that good. But then there was only so much you could do with the source material being as it is.
Clearly, the market for Next specific software is small, otherwise, why isn't there at least the same amount of new Next titles released as there is for it's parent platform? Or at least half as many? In its two issues, Break Space magazine has review over 70 software titles for the ZX Spectrum. And that's not even every release for the period of time it has existed. That's a lot of software to play through by any standards in just six months or so. Which leads to the question: how many Next exclusive titles have been released during the same time period? At a distance, the Next might look like a Stallion, but in truth, with a lack of forthcoming exclusive original software, it's a bit of a lame Horse.
The additional official cores might be nice, but the platform expansion and obvious feature creep has spread everything too thinly and to my mind diluted the platform's appeal, not added to it. At it's core, it feels like an unfinished product which takes some time to learn how to use as in order to make use of all of the features, or at least all of the interesting features (I never saw much point in the NextTel thing). You need to remember lots of things. Most products try to keep things simple, and this appears to be Sinclair's original ethos. Each iteration of Sinclair's 8-bit computers from the ZX80 to the Spectrum 128K had incremental improvements, and each time you got just enough computer for your buck. In about 2 years, it went from a black-and-white only machine with a flickering display, to a colour machine with, for its time, fairly high resolution graphics. The 128K added better sound capabilities, and also fixed some timing issues, making it a slightly faster machine too (but also breaking the use of graphics in the border, or skewing them at the very least).
In summary, I would love the Next team to focus on honing the platform to its original intended vision, cut out some of the unused features, and look at making original software, not taking existing software and "upgrading" the graphics and sound. But this isn't going to happen. Snakes on a Plane in FPGA form is here, and this is the third movie. Sure, it got funded in minutes, and it's raised over £1.5m in pledges from its loyal backers. This is all good, of course, but whilst the features and digital ecosystem of the Speccy Next is expanding, its user base doesn't seem to be. Not by enough, anyway. What would prove this wrong is if the Kickstarter 3 campaign ends with 10,000 or more backers. 15,000 would be pretty exceptional. But I suspect whilst it'll go beyond the second Kickstarter in terms of backers, it won't get too far beyond that. I'm waiting to be proven wrong, and will be happy if I am.
