I was reading this article on Ars Technica about installing a backlit screen on the original GBA models, and was amazed to find out that you get better battery life from the modern backlit displays than the non-lit early 00s displays. Progress!
The Game Boy Micro will always hold a special place in my heart, though. That anodised aluminium chassis still holds up, while having a unique shape of its own compared with the homogenous sea of near-identical phone designs. The display came at just the right time - it’s as crisp and nearly as bright as the DS Lite’s (The Lite itself had a high quality display for its time), so it still works great in 2018.
The regional variations are interesting. Japanese and European models have the serial number tastefully imprinted on the back to match the logo and regulatory text. for some reason Nintendo of America insisted that North American Micros have a huge, ugly serial sticker on the back, spoiling the look somewhat:
I haven’t seen it mentioned elsewhere, but the START/SELECT buttons are actually different in the European models. For the other models, they are steel with the letters START and SELECT milled out to let the blue light through. The European models replace these with transparent rubber/plastic buttons. Not quite as nice.
The other regional oddities are in colour variations - personally I prefer the Japanese blue and pink models. The European colours seem aimed at taking on the iPod Mini at that time.
The only real downer is the face plates - the plastic scratches easily on them (though every Micro came with a carry case) and they add a small air gap between the plate and the screen. It’s still surprisingly usable outdoors, though. I’m replaying Boktai at the moment.