ArkOS4Clone vs dArkOS-G80CA-RE my experiences

I have a G80CA clone I got on AliExpress and have spent a lot of time with both dArkOS-G80CA-RE as well as ArkOS4Clone. I found that there are more differences between the two than it may initially seem, so I wanted to share my experiences in case it helps anyone.

For those who don't know, they are both firmwares for clone devices. ArkOS4Clone supports more devices and is not based on dArkOS. On the other hand, dArkOS-G80CA-RE is an effort to specifically target this subset of R36S clones. This comparison will be from the perspective of only owning this one clone.

ArkOS4Clone

https://github.com/lcdyk0517/arkos4clone

• Close to the stock ArkOS experience
• Can be build with the dArkOS base instead of the ArkOS base
  • However, the user has to do this themselves. It seems that premade dArkOS base images are not provided.
  • Still, a guide to let the user build their own image is provided.
• UI experience undergoes less changes than dArkOS-G80CA-RE
  • For people who are looking to minimize UI/UX changes between updates, then ArkOS4Clone may be the better choice.
• Less frequent updates
  • Since ArkOS4Clone is tested on a wide variety of devices before release, it gets releases less often than dArkOS-G80CA-RE
• Wide support of WiFi devices
• Doesn't come with Kodi
• Setup instructions are available for any OS

In conclusion, I think ArkOS4Clone is best for people who want a set-it-and-forget-it setup, or people who don't update often and want a long term consistent experience, as well as users who have a variety of supported clone consoles, or users who are not interested in using Kodi. For people who want to build the firmware image themselves, this is the automatic choice.

dArkOS-G80CA-RE

https://github.com/southoz/dArkOS-G80CA-RE

• Modified from the stock dArkOS experience
  • There is also https://github.com/southoz/dArkOS-G80CA by the same author that is more of a stock dArkOS experience, but doesn't get updated as often as the RE version.
• Frequent updates
• In active development, features or UI experience may change with updates
• Highly customized for the Retrowave theme
  • not ideal if you don't like the Retrowave theme
  • for example, I could not easily figure out how to turn off the background music as simply changing the theme doesn't affect this.
• better if you like your emulators pre-configured with a wiki to refer to for controls, etc
  • The wiki is https://github.com/southoz/dArkOSRE-R36/wiki
• Comes with Kodi
• Setup instructions are for Windows only
• Could not find instructions on building your own dArkOS-G80CA or dArkOS-G80CA-RE image.

In conclusion, I think dArkOS-G80CA-RE is best for people who are interested in frequently updating or always having the latest features, as it always has the latest and greatest, and usually more updates before ArkOS4Clone gets its update. dArkOS-G80CA-RE is also best for people who find the retrowave aesthetic to be a plus, people who want the device for using Kodi, and/or people who are not intending to build the firmware image themselves.