Retro Handhelds

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Harrison

ut the 351Elec team have just released the final version, saying they have finished development and won't be doing any more. So no further updates.

---

Yeah, I read that some days ago.

I'm more into setup and go, although I wanna configure everything nicely, so that already takes time. Never was a fan of old school FPS anyways, so Doom and Quake are not important to me. Not into multiplayer either.

- - - Updated - - -

Here some pictures.

My Switch Lite with my nice yellow pouch

https://i.imgur.com/Bc6wqiQ.jpg

The RG350M and the PowKiddy RGB10

http://i.imgur.com/mhVXZF8.jpg

My 2 PS Vita

https://i.imgur.com/9QIofNS.jpg

And my RG351V

https://i.imgur.com/OSDyniK.jpg

Very nice collection of handhelds.

There's another new one just around the corner that looks like it could be something very interesting. No current name or where its from, so early previewers have nicenamed it the 199 because its rumoured to go on sale for that price. Here's some info and a video.

"A $199 Android Handheld that We've Never Seen – retromimi" https://retromimi.com/blogs/news/199-handheld

https://youtu.be/kHH8oSne6a0

Do we have the same subscriptions in YouTube :lol: I watched it already.

Amazing how smart the black Vita looks and yet how fugly the white one is. That white bezel makes unreasonably and disproportionately angry.

I think the wood-effect gameboy-shape device looks really cool. Is it comfortable to hold and play though?

It feels excellent in your hands. And it has 4 nice shoulder buttons which can be reached perfectly. Plus notice this little "bumps" or what you call them in english on the back, gives a perfect feel and hold for your hands.

https://i.imgur.com/EZG9LCj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uYVIxli.jpg

Wow that is not how I was expecting the back to look. I am impressed with that shaping. Looks good.

Anbernic are in a league of their own when it comes to build quailty and design. Especially when you consider this is a Chinese company designing retro emulation handhelds at a sub $100 price point.

There's also the final release of ArkOS out now, development will be stopped too, like EmuElec.

Really? I hadn't read that. Bit disappointing in a way. But equally if they have ironed all the bugs out and made them the best they can then no point continuing to tinker.

Plus it also means we can setup the final versions of these OSs, knowing it will be the one to keep, so more time can be devoted to make it exactly how we want.

I wonder if this Askaig hints at a new generation of Anbernic handhelds coming soon? A possible 352P? And if so let's hope the spec is increased enough to start exploring the next generation of system emulation.

PowKiddy just brought out the RGB10 Max, which is almost the same like the normal RGB10 although with 5" screen. And apparently the built quality is a bit better. Specs are unfortunately the same, and I tend to think that they always seem to miss big opportunities in doing that, instead of just releasing it with a bit better chip and a bit more RAM. Plus this one's also over 100$.

Yes I saw that. Looks better then the smaller one, but most of these manufacturers are sticking to the same reference hardware design. I hope later this year we finally see the next generation of these handhelds begin. Screensize and ram don't need to be any more, although higher resolution or touchscreen would be good, but a faster CPU and GPU would really aid PSP, N64, Dreamcast and Saturn emulation a lot.

5" screen would be nice though. One guy checked the Super Console Pro with 1GB and 2GB of RAM, and he display the RAM usage on screen, and indeed, around 750MB of RAM were used all the time, on either console. So there was definitely no benefit for the extra RAM.

That's probably because the firmware/OS is optimised from 1GB, so any more just won't be utilised. When a new generation with more the system would be written to take advantage.

One idea with enough ram could be to do what the new consoles do, where you could have more then one game loaded at once and just move between them (like multitasking windows on a PC or Amiga.

Aaargh!!! Now they came out with the One XPlayer console, started yesterday on Indiegogo.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/o...te&utm_term=#/

A 8,4" Windows handheld with 2.5K IPS screen and a 11th generation Intel i7 Tiger Lake CPU. Looks awesome.

I don't know now if I should get my AYA NEO refunded, and wail until this battle is over before choosing which one to get? The Intel i7-1185G7 is already a lot faster than the AMD Ryzen 7 4800U, and the AYA NEO "only" even comes with a Ryzen 5 4500U.

I saw that. Looks nice. Maybe if you have only preordered it might be worth cancelling.

I asked for a refund and already got the confirmation. I now ordered the OneXPlayer with the extra keyboard :thumbs:

I was checking out a bit the CPUs, they have the model with the 1185G7 (although already sold out), but that's almost 450€ more expensive, not considering the 2TB SSD. Comparing the 1165G7 and the 1185G7 shows only a very slight performance increase, but they say it's absolutely not worth it.

Here's a nice comparison review: https://www.techspot.com/review/2168...core-i7-1185g7

But the 1165G7 is a lot better option than the Ryzen 5 4500U, plus the Iris XE GPU is also a lot better than the Radeon 6. Not to mention that the 4500U is the direct competitor to the Intel Icy Lake CPUs and not the newer Tiger Lake.

Plus that bigger and much nicer IPS is a great addition. Apparently what I saw in video reviews so far it's excellent.

The size is quite big though for a handheld, but probably still manageable, as I also have quite big hands.

There's a new big 351 Elec update out. It includes a 351V specific version that has been made to fit the different screen resolution in menus. Using the retroarch menus is also a lot faster.

There is also a new Dreamcast emulator included (not working in the V firmware yet) that really speeds up many games, but some are still running around the high 80% frame rate.

I just saw this this morning: 351ELEC REBORN

Yes. But annoying as I've been setting up ArkOS as the main one I'm using, mainly because I'm using its Ports feature to play ported PC games. Will have to grab another SD card and setup 351ELEC too for future proofing.

Anbernic is probably gonna release a 5" handheld too, the RG552.

https://retrododo.com/rg552/

It would be great to get one from them with a larger screen. And if it could be touchscreen even better. But like mentioned in that article, only if they increase the hardware capability. More powerful, with a larger display, I would definitely get one.

But I don't agree with his suggestion to move to Android. One of the reasons the Anbernic handhelds are so great is Linux. It makes it really stable, very smooth and easy ro usr and well supported in the community. I already have an Android Handheld with the RP2, and whilst it's a great little handheld it isn't as user friendly as the 351Ps Linux based OSs.

The fact that portable handhelds made by independent companies can come even close to emulating a range of big and powerful consoles like the Dreamcast or PS2 (albeit they are ~20 years old) is still somewhat staggering to me.

PS2 is still a way off, but will be amazing when it happens. But I do agree. Even with them being 20 years old, being able to build sub £80 handhelds that are high quality products, well supported and can run every game up to PS1 and Dreamcast is still amazing.

It is a great time for retro gamers. What with these handhelds and cheap RPi and Android boxes able to provide retro gaming at cheap prices.

Interesting recent new firmware release for the Anbernic RG351 P/M/V range called 351Droid.

As the name suggests this is Android on the 351 devices. And it's Android 11 too. Quite impressive when you consider until now all firmwares on these devices have been Linux EmuElec based.

It's still in beta and things such as audio has some issues. The current build once installed is fairly barebones too at the moment, with minimal apps installed by default, and no play store. I think this is intentionally fine though so it's lightweight really to just add emulators, frontends etc to the system. You don't need all the apps and stuff a full Android system comes with normally as this is intended purely for gaming. But it does work and fully supports all hardware in the system. This I'm sure is for the hope other builds utilising this base setup will appear that are preconfigured with emulators and frontends setup and ready to go.

You obviously don't have a touchscreen, and at the moment (unlike the Retroid Pocket 2 which is Android based) there is no mouse pointer emulation, but it does support plugging in usb keyboards and mice to do this. You would only need to do this whilst setting up the system and emulators. Once you are just gaming you wouldn't need this.

Emulation speed is as you might imagine fairly similar to the hardware running is existing alinux based firnwares. But what this does is open up these Anbernic devices to a whole new system of apps and emulators. And as it's still in beta, but already working pretty well, I'm really looking forward to the final release.

You can check out an intro/preview to 351Droid here:

https://youtu.be/tqTdqTyLFMM

I just came back from Finland, was there for almost 5 weeks, and I used my handhelds quite a lot, during the boring times at home :D

I took the Switch Lite, and played some nice stuff on it, having already over 100 games in my library helps, variety is definitely there. And I also took my PS Vita and played some PSX, PSP and Vita games, some retro emulation, but mainly I was playing Amiga games, and I can happily say that they work quite fine on the Vita.

I still didn't do anything with my RG351V, but I also didn't have time to do so.

RG351MP coming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaFzaQRXAns

But again, nothing really new, same old RK3326 chip, same old features, just doing nothing new at all since 2+ years now. Market is flooded with devices, but nobody seems to take it a step further, like perhaps Odin, Valve or the OneXPlayer, which are obviously for a different clientele.

Anbernic starting to be eventually the worst, always waiting some months, then bringing out a slightly different model, obviously a bit better one, but with same specs.

The RG351MP is definitely the best RK3326 based handheld the date. But for anyone who already owns anything already using that hardware it's a bit pointless.

They have basically taken all the best bits from their 351 range and combined them to create the best version. If I didn't already own a 351P I would probably buy one. The larger screen that matches the V is a nice upgrade, as is the metal case. And the return of 2 SD card slots is nice. But it's not enough for any existing owner to upgrade. It's also missing the built in wifi. This time the excuse is chip shortage. Not sure because they have made the sides of the case metal, whereas the 351M has plastic sides, which was stated as needed for wifi to work.

I don't think Anbernic will ever be first to market with new hardware, but they are great at product design and quailty end products. I bet they are waiting for the Odin to see see if they can copy the hardware for their next generation.

I got my RG280V, nice little device, and I ordered also an RGB10 Max, panda edition.

I set up the RG280V with the same image (Adan 1.0.3) than the RG350M, and also both have now the exact same 256GB SD card full of games. I almost prefer the 280, as it's really nice, although the screen is quite small. Daphne and ScummVM emulation are great though :D

I also hacked my slim PS Vita with the VitaDeploy method and it worked like a charm, although after having initial problems to connect the Vita to my PC, had to use some workarounds and eventually managed to get it working.

I finally set up the RG351V now, with the latest 351Elec image, and I'm also using a 256GB SD card in here, but the setup is a bit different here, as this uses EmulationStation, and the RGs use the Dingux based SimpleMenu frontend. But I have one of those Android boxes, the Super Console X Max, which uses EmulationSation and thus I can easily copy the games from that setup to fit the correct folders.

I have to say after trying the 351V out a bit, I'm a bit disappointed. Everything runs well, as it does on the 280 and 350, but trying to emulate something a bit higher, makes it struggle. Dreamcast is very slow, did not test a lot of games though, but the ones I tested didn't run well at all. Same is for PSP, doesn't even come close to be able to run them that they would be playable. Also Saturn is completely slow and almost unplayable. I still will have to find some games that run better, probably only 2D games. N64 is ok, but nothing groundbreaking, plus again some games don't run well at all. PSX runs well as it does on the lower models, so nothing new here.

I did also some tweaking to the emulators, but nothing really helps, it is how it is, we'll have to wait for a device with a higher end chip to be able to run 32bit emulation smoothly.

Next up will be my 2 PowKiddy consoles, RGB10 and RGB10 Max, although I think I keep the RGB10 in the drawer, exactly same console with smaller screen. Might sell it at a later point, although I have the yellow model which is quite cute :lol:

The 351s need a lot of tweaking and playing around with settings to make more demanding systems work well. The graphics scaling and filtering make a massive difference to performace, especially in N64, DC, and PSP games. Complete guides to do this fairly quickly are I the various YouTube reviewers sites. RetroGameCorp especially.

But the reality is that's the power of current hardware. The Odin should be the first handheld to really push the performance to the next level. So long as this new start-up can deliver the product as promised. I think by this time next year we will have far more powerful hardware to play around with. Really looking forward to it.

But there will still be a place for these current systems. So many great 16bit games to play and these run them perfectly.

Retroid Pocket 2+

5x faster then the RP2, and with a touchscreen!

What's the catch?

Well you can't actually buy a RP2+. Instead it's an upgrade for the RP2. You get a new PCB, open up the handheld and swap the old one over. You can also opt to replace the screen with a touchscreen too.

Is it worth it?

We don't actually know the price of this upgrade yet, so depending on that it might be. But the Retroid Pocket 3 is in development, which will have a larger touchscreen and be faster. So it will depend on if you can wait, or if you just want to make your existing RP2 even better.

Read more here:

https://retrododo.com/retroid-pocket-2-plus/

I'm tempted. But then the Ayn Odin is about to come out, so it might not be worth it.

I can't really be bothered to click through, so tell me - is there a scheme for the old board after doing the upgrade, what do you do with that?

I like the idea of trying to minimise e-waste even just a little bit.

You get a display case for the old PCB, just in case you ever want to swap them back again. It would have been good if the company had taken back the old pcb for recycling, but being located in China that's not so practical.

I just think it's so great the level of end user support these Chinese retro devices are now getting. When they first appeared it was a clear cashing in of illegal roms running on cheap hardware. That still very much the case of you look on ebay, especially the cheap all in one mini tv consoles with a couple of cheap controllers. But these handheld companies have now realised there is a proper market for quality products and after sales support make users keep buying their products.

There is a much more powerful generation about to appear next year that should run Gamecube and Dreamcast well, and maybe even some PS2.