Some people are reporting issues with the d-pad on the New PocketGo V2 and on the black PlayGo. In fact I also returned my unit and I’m currently awaiting a replacement. This is why there’s been no review here yet.
I initially thought it was a problem with my unit only, but in the past few days I have seen reports elsewhere too. If you’re on the fence and haven’t ordered one yet I would hold out until these issues are resolved.
I was hoping to cover this in my review, but the new unit is taking longer than expected to get here. So in the meantime, here’s your heads up.
Mini arcade machines are not something I’ve covered on this site before, so let’s fix that. The first versions have been around for a couple of years now, and more keep on coming. They also seem to be getting bigger! So without further ado, let’s have a look at what’s available right now.
Powkiddy A7 (aka RS-12)
Starting with the A7, this little 3″ arcade was the first I ever saw. It’s very cheap and for good reason, the hardware inside this is the Ingenic JZ4725B. That’s the same chip as the both Dingoo A320 and the more recent RetroMini RS-90. Unlike the RetroMini, OpenDingux was never ported to this machine so you’re stuck with the software that it ships with. This is likely because it’s using a different LCD, which adds complications when porting the OS over. According to the PowKiddy store, this version supports GBA, NES, CPS1, CPS2, SNES and Mega Drive and comes with 520 ROMs built in. You can also add your own ROMs via the microSD card slot.
Although this thing was originally called the RS-12, if you search for RS-12 now you’ll find a similar device that only plays NES titles – so don’t bother with that.
The PowKiddy A7 is still available on AliExpress for about $30 at the PowKiddy store. This would make a decent gift for a young kid to mess around with, but if you’re after something better keep reading.
Despite its similar looks, the RS-07 is a decent step up from it’s smaller brother. Mountains of these arcades can still be found by searching for either PowKiddy A8 (I think it’s the same device anyway) or RS-07. That’s probably because it’s still pretty popular – for good reason too. This arcade runs the JZ4760B – the same processor found in the majority of recent handhelds. The LDK, RG300 and RS-97 all run on this processor and it’s had a lot of development over the past couple of years.
Aside from the addition of 2 extra face buttons, the RS-07 also has a larger LCD. The 4.3″ panel in this arcade is in a widescreen 480×272 layout. Imagine the screen on an original PSP, it’s the same size as that.
The RS-07 also has 2 USB ports on the back and ships with 2 external controllers. This means you can play 2 player arcade games with your pals on this thing as well.
The best thing about the RS-07 is that it’s been officially supported by RetroFW since the end of last year. This opens up a huge amount of potential for the device and gives you way more for your money than the stock firmware. Scroll down and check the impressive list of emulators and games available.
The RS-07 is available for around $60, which is roughly what comparable handhelds with the same CPU cost.
This is where things start to get more interesting. The Aiwo G1000 runs on a RockChip RK3128 (probably) and the stock firmware installed on the device is RetroArch. There is a custom firmware available for this arcade too and it’s currently in active development. Check the video from Johnny Liu to see the state of the CFW as of late December. He has links in the description to instructional videos to get this up and running if you’re feeling brave.
The Aiwo G1000 houses a chunky 7″ display at 800×480 resolution and also supports a pair of controllers via 2 USB ports on the back. At roughly $60, this gives the RS-07 a good run for its money.
The RageBee 7 / PowKiddy A9 is more or less the same device as the AIWO G1000, however it does also have a higher resolution screen. It’s still a 7″ panel but this one runs at 1024×600. It also runs RetroArch as stock, but unfortunately so far no progress has been made dumping the firmware or creating a custom image.
The RageBee 7 and PowKiddy A9 contain the same hardware as one another, but there are slight differences in the shell. I believe that the only difference between these and the AIWO G1000 is the screen and some cosmetic changes to the RetroArch UI. Honestly the G1000 is the better bet right now, solely down to the developer support that it’s currently getting. However, if you like the idea of that high res panel, the RageBee can be had for around $70 at gearbest.com
In case you weren’t confused enough with the various different names for the same hardware and slight variations between manufacturers – here you go. Our old friend JXD has also stuck their name on the 4.3″ and 7″ variants of these machines!
PowKiddy A10
Before we depart, there’s a couple more arcades we need to look at. Released just a few weeks ago, the PowKiddy A10 is the biggest “mini” arcade yet. It houses a whopping 12″ display and runs something on top of Android 5.1. This is the first arcade in this list to have a real stick and buttons, which gives you some idea of the size. The device boots up to a rudimentary menu from which you can select any of the 1000 built in games. Not much else is known about this arcade yet as it’s quite new, but it’s likely to be running on a low power RockChip CPU like the previous two machines.
Wicked Gamers & Collector has done a small video review of this on YouTube which shows it in action.
The PowKiddy A10 will cost you an eye watering $200 shipped from AliExpress. Unfortunately due to the size and weight of this thing I would guess that a lot of your $200 is going towards the shipping. Still, it’s a pretty neat looking machine and I hope someone manages to get some CFW running on it.
Lastly, whilst researching these arcades I stumbled across this monstrosity from the folks at 3A Game Company. If you’re into DIY kits and arcade machines then you’ve got to have a look at this. It’s a 10″ dual screen wooden DIY arcade running on the latest Pandora’s Box 6, and it looks fantastic. The Pandora’s Box 6 is a board with an AllWinner CPU running Android, and has various I/O for hooking up to controllers and screens. They’ve developed a heavily customised front-end running on top which provides a decent UI for navigating and launching ROMs. I believe that the UI on the Super Retro Handheld is very similar, make of that what you will!
The Pandora’s Box DIY arcade will cost you an almighty $247 shipped to your door. If you’re tempted to get stuck in to a DIY project, be aware that there will be soldering and wiring required to get it set up.
There are hundreds more of these things dotted around the web, and this is just a collection of the more interesting ones. If you’re tempted to grab yourself one and have questions about how to get CFW running, head on over to our discord server where you should find some answers!
This thing popped up on Baidu a couple of days ago. Release date is unknown, but it certainly looks about ready for prime time given the video below. Although nothing is confirmed yet, it looks like the Q400 is a RockChip powered handheld running on Linux.
The badly translated conversations on Baidu seem to hint that the Q400 will be powered by the RockChip RK3128. Various listings on domestic Chinese retailers state “Linux” in the product title, and according to the internet the RK3128 does have good Linux support so perhaps this is correct. The RK3128 is a 1.3GHz quad core Cortex A7 SoC with 1GB RAM and a Mali400 GPU.
It’s no powerhouse by any means, having been released in 2014 as an entry level chip at the time. It should easily hold its own against the latest round of Ingenic based handhelds we’ve seen recently though.
The Q400 also claims to have an 800×480 display which is unusual for a device like this. I’m not sure it’s 5:3 aspect ratio will be much use for a lot of games though.
Current listings show this at about ¥400 which roughly equates to £44 or $57. Add $20 – $30 on to that and you’re probably in the right ball park for the price from somewhere like AliExpress.
Some images show 4 USB ports along the bottom of the unit too. Going by some of the promo material, it looks as though it’ll support 4 gamepads for multiplayer. It even claims to have a HDMI output too.
With four shoulder buttons, analog sticks in the right place and a powerful enough CPU this thing could really take off if the right developers get involved. I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes open for this one if the price is right. Alongside the Odroid-Go Advance, the Q400 is the 2nd Linux based ARM handheld announced this year already. 2020 looks set to be an interesting year for obscure handhelds, and I’m glad we’re finally moving away from those ancient Ingenic chips!
I am probably the last person on the internet to review this handheld. I was in two minds whether it was worth it at this stage. The main reason for the extreme lateness of this review are the problems I had with the d-pad and buttons. I thought that this was only an issue with the pre-production units, so I waited patiently for a replacement. Unfortunately it looks like some retail versions are affected by unresponsive buttons as well. My second replacement New PocketGo is a little better, but still not perfect. Read on for my New PocketGo Review.
The PocketGo V2 houses the same chip as the GCW Zero, Neo Geo X and the RG350. It’s the natural successor to the JZ4760/B handhelds from 2018 and 2019. The Neo Geo X and GCW Zero are considered old and obsolete handhelds now. It’s slightly bizarre to see this same chip creating so much hype again almost 8 years later.
The PocketGo V2 aims to improve over its predecessor by offering a larger screen, an analog stick, two extra shoulder buttons and a more powerful CPU. There are some other nice additions such as 2 microSD slots, both accessible from the outside of the shell. A user replaceable battery is a very nice addition too.
Out of the box
Out of the box the PocketGo V2 is a good size, with the 3.5″ IPS display occupying a large vertical area on the face of the device. The unit feels well built in most areas, although I must admit that the V1 feels like a slightly higher quality handheld. The battery cover is a bad fit, on my 3 units it’s not possible to make it sit perfectly flush with the case.
On boot up you’re greeted with a colourfully skinned version of OpenDingux. This OS works fine in most cases, but it’s unlikely there will be many official updates from the BittBoy team for this OS.
For this reason there are a few developers working on replacement Operating Systems, the most popular currently being ROGUE.
Rogueand performance
Flashing ROGUE is as easy as visiting the github and downloading the latest image. Simply flash it to a slot1 microSD and away you go. The OS comes with minimal additional software, you can grab emulators and such from here. Emulators and games go into media/data/apps on the OS card, or into media/sdcard/apps if you’re using the second microSD slot for this. If you’re using the 2nd SD card on a Windows machine, simply create a directory named ‘apps’ on the card and drop your OPKs in there. The PocketGo will correctly map the directory.
If you’re concerned about losing ROMs, connect via FTP first and copy them to your PC. You can then transfer them back to the device afterwards.
The performance is as you’d expect for another JZ4770 device. It handles a large portion of PS1 games very well, and the harder to emulate SNES games mostly run at full or close to full speed. CPS3 is where it bottoms out on the arcade front, with some games running OK but a lot being unplayable. If you’re hoping for N64, Dreamcast or anything later then you need an Android device like the GPD XD+. The upcoming Linux based Odroid-Go Advance will probably be a good bet too.
The bad things
It wouldn’t be a BittBoy product without some issues. The PocketGo V2 has its fair share. As mentioned previously, many units seem to suffer from unreliable inputs. My pre-production model had problems with not only the d-pad but also the ABXY buttons. My replacement retail units have d-pad issues too. I’ve tried all the usual tricks such as cleaning the board contacts and membrane with isopropyl alcohol. I also tried adding a little height to the d-pad legs with tape, as others have reportedly had success that way. The result still isn’t perfect. I do find that in games I naturally tend to press the d-pad with enough force for it to function normally though. It’s mostly in the menu that a lighter touch fails to register.
Some people have had success fixing the inputs using one or both of the above methods, but others have said that the fix is temporary and over time the inputs become unreliable again. Personally I think the fault is with the membranes. Unfortunately the only replacements I have are for the GBA and they don’t fit. I will be looking for a compatible replacement to see if it does the trick.
Another issue is with the volume control. From silent, the first increment in volume takes you straight to 32 out of 100 in alsa mixer. Apparently though this is not the source of the problem, as the hardware reports only a 3% jump from 0% on the first increment. For many this is too loud and unfortunately this doesn’t seem like something that can be fixed in firmware. The solution requires soldering a ~64ohm resistor to the board. Thanks to xs4all on the Discord server for these explanatory images.
You could also bodge it by applying tape to the inside of the speaker grill, but this does have a detrimental effect on the sound quality.
The analog stick is also a major gripe. It’s all very well having a slider that registers analog movements, but comparing it to the sticks on the RG350 is like comparing apples to oranges. The range of movement is smaller and it’s much harder to apply small calculated increments. The thumb stick is slippery and the entire thing spins around in its socket. On the upside it makes the handheld much easier to slide into a pocket, as the stick only protrudes a few millimetres from the shell. I would take the RG350 sticks over this though, they’re much better.
The good things
The PocketGo V2 does do many things right. Having 2 accessible microSD slots is a great solution. It makes adding ROMs or replacing the OS a breeze. The user replaceable battery is also a massive bonus. You can buy replacement batteries on AliExpress for a few dollars. It means you can carry around a few pre-charged if you’re going on a long trip.
The IPS display is very high quality too. Colours are super vivid and vibrant and the viewing angles are excellent. The refresh rate is correctly set at 60hz which means no screen tearing at all in any emulators. It would be nice to start seeing higher resolution screens in these things, but for most consoles 320×240 does the job OK.
Conclusion
If this handheld had come out a year ago and didn’t have the issues it currently has, I would probably be singing from the rooftops about it. As it stands though it’s difficult to recommend. Assuming you get a unit without any problems, it’s a very neat little handheld. It has enough grunt to keep most people happy, and at around $65 it’s quite the bargain. It certainly has some plus points over the RG350, but overall the RG350 is a superior handheld in most ways in my opinion.
If you’re in the market for a cheap and capable JZ4770 handheld with a very active community, and are willing to take a risk on the controls then the New PocketGo is a reasonable choice. It you’d prefer higher quality dual analog sticks and are willing to look past the slightly awkward d-pad placement then I would recommend the RG350 instead.
Having said that, the Odroid-Go Advance is just around the corner. It promises a lot that more than either of these handhelds can offer in terms of performance.
The New PocketGo is currently available in 3 colours. The PocketGo branded version is grey and it’s available from RetroMimi. The manufacturer, Wolsen, have black and red versions branded as PlayGo on AliExpress too.
Hardkernel have kicked off 2020 with the surprise release of their new Linux powered handheld – the Odroid-Go Advance. This is the second handheld from HardKernel and promises to deliver magnitudes more raw power than it’s older brother. I’ve had mine for a couple of weeks now. It’s a very impressive handheld in many areas, but the Odroid-Go Advance has a long journey ahead. Let’s take a look.
The OGA is something of a game changer in the obscure handheld niche. The RK3326 in the Odroid-Go Advance wipes the floor with any of the Ingenic based processors we’ve been force fed over the past few years. The JZ4760B and even the JZ4770 in the New PocketGo and RG350 cannot compete with the power of the RK3326. The fact that it runs on Linux (with source code available!) means that development for the device has taken off immediately, with at least three separate teams working on their own Operating Systems. And added to all of that, the $55 price tag (excl. shipping) is very reasonable. It’s difficult to imagine what direction Chinese manufacturers will turn next, they’re going to have to come up with something rather amazing to convince people to not buy the Odroid-Go Advance.
Inside the box and assembly
Just like their original handheld, the Odroid-Go Advance is only available as a DIY kit. Although this may put some people off, it’s really not as bad as it sounds. They have purposefully designed the OGA with as few parts as possible. Assembly is very straight forward (with some caveats).
Inside the box you’ll find all the bits and pieces in separate bags and wrapped in bubble wrap. Inside the red bubble wrap is the LCD, and a little slip of card telling you where to find the assembly instructions. There’s also a stark warning on the card to be careful with the LCD. It is incredibly fragile and you should take your time when clipping it in to the shell!
With the exception of the LCD, the only other slight difficulty is clipping the shell together. It requires an awkward direction of pressure to get the shell to click in to place properly. It may look as though it’s locked, but if the seams of the shell aren’t completely flush then you’re not there yet. The instructional video shows the correct way to do this, and with a little practice it’s easy enough.
Build quality and LCD
When the Odroid-Go Advance was first announced there was a bit of hoo-ha about the choice of TFT instead of an IPS display. As it happens, IPS technology is also known as ‘Super TFT’ and the screen in the OGA is absolutely fantastic. It is better than the display in the New PocketGo and RG350, and is most comparable to the IPS display now being used in GBA mods. On the topic of GBA, the resolution of the OGA screen is 480×320. This means that with the right scaling options (the official image uses the right scaling) GBA looks absolutely amazing on this device. 480×320 is exactly double the horizontal and vertical pixel count of the GBA’s 240×160 display. This means perfect 2x integer scaling for GBA games, and because of this they look incredible on the Odroid-Go Advance.
It has to be said that the build quality of the OGA isn’t as good as some of its rivals. The shell is made of transparent poly-carbonate and it has a matte finish on the front and back, with a glossy finish on the sides. The unit does feel solid and weighty once put together, but there is no denying that the plastic feels a little on the cheap side. Handhelds such as the RG350 feel like a more premium product and to compare this to anything from the likes of Nintendo or Sony would be silly.
Controls
Having said all of that, the controls mostly feel good. One gripe would be that the d-pad has sharp edges, but this is easily remedied. The d-pad from the Game Boy Pocket is a perfect drop in replacement and can be bought from AliExpress for next to nothing. I have read complaints of mushy d-pad, but honestly it feels OK to me. The analog stick is a clone of the PS-Vita stick and works fine. It’s not as good as the RG350 analogs, but vastly better than the slider on the New PocketGo.
Some people have had success customising the ABXY buttons with modded buttons from the Game Boy Pocket. It could depend who manufactured your buttons, but the ones I ordered were no good. Whilst they fitted OK after trimming a leg or 2 off – the response from them was flaky. Sometimes they registered and other times they didn’t. Because of this, I chose to stick with the stock ABXY buttons. The shoulder buttons are clicky but easy to reach and perfectly acceptable, and the six under screen buttons are OK too.
Software
As previously mentioned, there are 3 choices of software for the Odroid-Go Advance right now. Crash and his team of developers are in charge of the official image and it can be found here. The Retro Arena (aka TheRA) have a release candidate available and it’s on the Tech Toy Tinker site for download. There is also a Batocera image in development and that’s available here. I think that all of these images are based on Emulation Station, and as such they all share some similarities. One of the other similarities that they all currently share is they’re not really ready for general release yet. Yes even the official image!
Maybe we’ve been spoiled by OpenDingux and Gmenu2x over the years, but I have tried all 3 systems and each one has shocked me at how unfinished it is. Whether it be the inability to map emulator specific controllers in the software*, or having to back out of a game to change the volume, or certain emulator menus loading in portrait mode instead of landscape – the software for the Odroid-Go Advance has a long journey ahead of it.
*Apparently you need to edit a config file in the Linux terminal to set these up.
This isn’t meant as a slight on the developers, they are doing God’s work here. Rather, it seems strange that HardKernel were happy to release the device before allowing the developers to polish the official image a little more. I understand that this is a device for tinkerers, releasing it as a DIY kit makes that plainly obvious. But it would have been great to have a well rounded OS for it on release.
Having said that, part of the fun of a device like this is watching it evolve and improve over time (or contributing yourself if you have the skills). The Odroid-Go Advance is going to be around for a very long while yet. I’m confident that we’ll see some amazing advances in the usability and performance in the coming months.
Performance
One of the main pulls of this handheld is the promise of PSP and N64 emulation. Whilst the RK3326 isn’t powerful enough to conquer the entire library for these systems, it is already capable of playing some games at near to full speed.
Some of the 2D PSP library runs well, with 3D titles being touch and go. For example GTA Vice City Stories runs at an acceptable framerate, but the audio is messed up. Ridge Racer runs OK but occasionally lags massively. N64 is in a better state, many first party games such as Mario Kart 64 run very well indeed. I’ve played a good few hours of Diddy Kong Racing and F-Zero X on this thing with some acceptable dips in framerate once in a while.
There are plenty of videos on YouTube showcasing various games, but it’s worth taking them all with a pinch of salt right now. Performance should improve over time, and games that are unplayable today may well be playable in the future once some optimisations have been made.
Currently my favourite console to play on this is GBA on the official OS. As mentioned previously, the LCD is perfect for GBA. I can’t imagine a better non-official handheld than the Odroid-Go Advance for GBA emulation.
Extras
If you don’t run a Linux machine, I would strongly recommend getting a WiFi dongle. Not all are compatible, but I can confirm that the EW-7811Un (US / UK) works great. Someone on the HardKernel forums has also confirmed that the TL-WN725N (US / UK) works as well.
Once connected to your home WiFi, you can simply login in to the OGA by typing \\<ip_address> in to a Windows explorer window. From there, just drag your ROMs into the specific directories. It’s worth noting that some emulators or operating systems don’t yet work correctly with zipped ROMs. If you find that some are missing, try unzipping them and they should show after a refresh.
As previously mentioned, you can replace the sharp grey d-pad with one from the Game Boy Pocket. No modifications are needed, it can just be dropped in. The cheapest place for these is AliExpress.
If you feel like giving your shell some colour, The Tamiya PS (US / UK) range of paints are suitable. Just make sure to mask off the outside of the shell and give the inside a few light coats until you’ve got the depth of colour you want. Some people have also had luck dyeing their shell using Rit iDye Poly (US / UK) though that seemed like too much hassle at the time. I used Tamiya PS-45 on my shell, and it came out OK. I was perhaps a bit too eager, and the paint job is spotty due to that. But I’m happy with it.
If you’re not planning on painting your shell or you’re going to use a transparent colour, it might be worth using electricians tape on the LCD. The LCD does leak a lot of light through the left side of the shell. By adding tape (probably a little more than this if I’m honest) you’ll reduce the amount of light leakage.
Final thoughts
The Odroid-Go Advance changes everything, and presumably it has given our Chinese manufacturer friends something to think about. It’s doubtful that people will be interested in any more Ingenic handhelds after this. Hopefully the OGA will help to usher in an era of powerful ARM based handhelds with Open Source operating systems. Whilst the Odroid-Go Advance hasn’t done everything right, the steps that HardKernel have taken with it are most definitely in the right direction.
The evidence of this is that the console is already sold out in many places. The official UK vendor sold out within days and HardKernel themselves have said that they are overwhelmed with demand.
Whilst the software is rough around the edges right now, it’s going to be interesting watching it mature over the coming months. The handheld has a lot of promise and I’m really happy to be along for the ride.
It was previously rumoured that the Super Retro Game handheld released back in November was a prototype. There were plans to release the official device complete with a real d-pad at a later date. Although nobody seems to know (or is willing to tell) the real story behind this device, it looks as though the d-pad version has finally been released. Sort of.
On one of the official PowKiddy stores on AliExpress, this listing recently went up. It’s the Super Retro Game aka the Pandora’s Game S Mini (re-branded as the PowKiddy A19). Take your pick of names. And it ships with a separate d-pad.
It would be reasonable to assume that these are the same units available since November and PowKiddy are just reluctant to disassemble units to retrofit a d-pad. But there have been hardware revisions since then that fix bugs and add features. Bluetooth now works, and there is a built in (highly dubious) marketplace from which you can directly download ROMs. I’m not sure why they decided to ship the d-pad seperately instead of fitting it. But this is a win-win for PowKiddy. Not only can they add $7 to the price, but they can also blame the customer’s meddling if a unit ends up being defective. I am being cynical, but only half.
If you already have the unit, you can also purchase the d-pad seperately for $7. Take your pick of black or turqouise, and be careful!
Cynicism aside, the Super Retro Game handheld isn’t a bad machine. If you’re in to playing Arcade ROMs you could do worse than this quad core 1.3Ghz Android powered machine. The six face buttons are perfectly placed for Capcom fighting games, and the user friendly interface makes it a good choice for the not so tech savvy and younger gamers.
You can grab the “new” version of this handheld from AliExpress right now, and it’s available in three colours.
The video below shows how to build a ZPG handheld almost in its entirety. It takes the assembler roughly 5 hours from start to end, and at around 41 mins you can see that the donor motherboard is harvested from a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. This means that the ZPG runs on a Snapdragon 800 series SoC with a 2.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8974 quad core CPU.
The ZPG has been available in China for a few months, albeit in very small batches which sell out immediately. It’s quite unlikely we’ll ever have the chance to buy these in the West, for reasons which should be clear from watching the video. The immense amount of manual labour involved in creating one of these handhelds shows it is more a labour of love than a business enterprise. It’s possible that the creator(s) will eventually design their own custom board and have a version 2 mass produced, but there is nothing on the radar right now.
All is not lost if you’re after a gaming handheld that runs on Android though. There are a couple of other good choices that are widely available at the moment.
Despite being available since 2018, GPD did release a new hardware revision of the XD+ in 2019. The specs of the machine remain the same between versions, but the new revision has a stronger hinge and a more matte finish. The XD+ is powered by a MediaTek MTK8176. It has two Cortex-A72 CPU cores running at up to 2.1 GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores for power-saving. 4GB of RAM and a nice 720p display make this a decent gaming device even today.
The XD Plus is capable of some GameCube, N64, Dreamcast and PSP emulation as well as the usual host of retro emulators available in the play store. There’s also a CleanROM available for this machine, and development is still on-going to this day.
I’ve had an XD+ since 2018 and I don’t think it got the attention that it deserved. It’s still relevant to this day, especially if you’re comparing the power of its processor. It’s way more powerful than the new PocketGo or RG350 released just last year, and with a play store full of compatible games and emulators it’s a decent machine despite its high price tag.
The newest kid on the block and by far the most impressive device of the lot is the Moqi i7S. This is an upgrade over the previous i7 and the biggest difference is the move from MediaTek to Qualcomm. The Snapdragon 710 gives it the edge in performance over either of the machines above, and allows for some more demanding emulators to run very well.
The i7S opens the door to the vast majority of native Android games as well as some N64, PSP, PS2, Wii and GameCube emulation. Bear in mind that the more demanding emulators do require some configuration to get the best performance.
The Moqi i7S functions as a full blown Android phone and has a comprehensive set of gaming controls too. The Snapdragon 710 sports six high-efficiency cores operating at 1.7 GHz, along with two high-performance cores at 2.2 GHz. The handheld contains 6GB of RAM, an Adreno 616 GPU and 1080p 6 inch display. The SoC is by no means bleeding edge, having been released as mid-tier in 2018. However, it does offer the best performance after the almost unobtainable ZPG.
The Moqi i7S is available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, AliExpress and pre-orders are available at droix.net. You can use the same DRX5OFF discount code at droix.net to knock 5% off the price.
Other Forthcoming and current Android handhelds
There are other Android handhelds available, such as the PowKiddy X15. The jury is out on whether it’s a reasonable purchase or not though. The d-pad alone hints towards it being junk as a gaming device. There is also a PowKiddy X2 in the works, which mimics the look of the Switch and could potentially be OK – but we’ll have to wait and see.
GPD are also planning a new XD handheld with detachable controllers and 4G data. Images have been circulating since last year, but we can expect their new Android device some time this year. It looks like they’ll be releasing a new Windows gaming machine (Win Max) this year too.
Whilst its unfortunate that we can’t easily get hold of the Z-Pocket Game, it’s human nature to crave something that we can’t have. There are some good alternatives currently available though, and if you’re willing to wait a little while some of the forthcoming devices might prove to be as good or better.
Some of the first posts I ever made on Obscure Handhelds were about an upcoming handheld from Panasonic. The Panasonic Jungle was designed as a clamshell device intended for playing MMOs on the go, and it was due to run on Linux. Obviously the handheld never came to light, being cancelled in early 2011 due to “changes in the market”.
It’s always a shame to see something as weird and wonderful as this get cancelled. The world of handheld gaming might have been a bit different today if the project hadn’t been canned, although I always thought their MMO target market was kind of odd.
It’s perhaps unlikely that the device would have been successful at the time, but I do think that this niche could benefit from a highly polished handheld from a renowned and well respected manufacturer. Something that lesser known manufacturers could aspire to. Right now the closest with have is HardKernel’s Odroid-Go, which is a good start.
The only reason I bring this up now, is this eBay listing. It’s a prototype Panasonic Jungle device, unusable save for some hardware testing scripts – but cool to see never the less!
Unless you’re a hardcore collector of cancelled prototypes, or the world’s biggest Panasonic fanboy (do those exist?) then it’s unlikely you’ll be bidding on this thing. $10k is quite an ask!
2020 has seen the beginning of a shift towards more powerful ARM SoCs in our obscure handhelds, but does that mean the Ingenic chips of yesteryear are doomed to fade into obscurity? Well, nope. Not just yet anyway. Enter the aluminium alloy RG350m.
The hugely popular but semi-flawed RG350 from 2019 is getting an interesting refresh. The RG350m fixes the biggest issue of its older brother, the d-pad placement. It also adds a couple of nice touches which could make the RG350m the definitive Ingenic machine.
Changes and Improvements
The main complaints of the RG350 have all been addressed in this revision.
The d-pad position is swapped with the left analog stick. Now the d-pad is up top and the analog below it.
The internal microSD card is now accessible from the outside of the shell. The secondary microSD slot is still present too.
The analog sticks are now low profile versions, which protrude less distance from the shell. This should mean the device is more easily pocketable than its older brother.
The LCD has even had an upgrade, from 320×240 to 640×480.
Rumour: WiFi has been added (this is unconfirmed).
There has also been some tweaking of the other buttons on this new iteration.
The power button is now on the left hand side of the shell.
The volume rocker is now on the right hand side of the shell.
Both microSD slots are accessible on the bottom of the RG350m.
Whilst the HDMI port is still present it’s unlikely that it’ll be functional in software. If it’s ever worked out, the RG350 will likely have the functionality enabled as well.
Availability and Price
Currently the device is only available in an aluminium alloy shell. The RG350 also had this option, and it came with a high price tag. The aluminium alloy RG350m is shipping for around $160 shipped. We don’t know yet if a plastic version will be made available in future, but I hope that it will. An Ingenic JZ4770 device is a hard sell right now, made even harder with a $160 price tag.
For me this is the perfect form factor and I think that a plastic ~$80 version of this handheld would be a very elegant and dignified end to the era of the JZ4770.
Whilst the RG350m is available on AliExpress right now, it’s not on the official Anbernic store just yet. Anbernic will apparently be listing this device in the coming days, in a choice of 3 anodised colours.
The RG350m will be available in Pink, gun metal and pale blue. Here’s hoping the price tag is a little lower too. More to follow.
As mentioned in the previous post, the PowKiddy and Anbernic stores on AliExpress have officially released the RG350M.
For $135 you get a much improved aesthetic over the original RG350, as well as a 640×480 display and apparently even working HDMI output. The RG350M is currently available in a space gray aluminium alloy shell, and looks amazing for it.
Whilst it can’t hold a candle to the power of the Odroid-Go Advance, the RG350M is probably the best of the Ingenic JZ4770 devices in terms of design and functionality – and it certainly still has its place in the retro handheld arena.
We’re all hoping for a plastic version of the RG350M!
There’s no word of a plastic shell version of this revamped model yet. In fact the “M” implies it may only be metal, but I wouldn’t be too surprised to see plastic shells pop up in the coming weeks or months. For now, head on over to AliExpress to check out the heavy metal beast in all its glory.
Which store to go for? Just go with whichever is cheapest on the day, prices will probably vary now that the RG350M is officially released.
The RG99 is a new portrait mode handheld that has recently appeared on AliExpress. It shares the same shell as the RG300 so you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a rebrand or clone. But under the plastic exterior, the RG99 isn’t what it looks like.
The RG99 quietly appeared at various retailers on AliExpress a while ago now. I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what it is, as the listings typically don’t share any information regarding the CPU or software.
One of the differences between the RG99 and the RG300 is the price. The RG99 is around $10 cheaper than the newer IPS version of the RG300, so you may be tempted to go for it over the RG300. But be aware, the RG99 is not nearly as powerful as the RG300.
So what is the RG99?
The first clue is that there is no secondary microSD slot underneath the battery. These images come courtesy of a user on the RetroFW discord server.
But the main difference, and the reason these are cheaper than the RG300, is visible once you check the mainboard.
That chip highlighted in red is a JZ4725B. That’s the same as the one in the RS-90 and it is a vastly inferior chip to that of the JZ4760B in the RG300.
Model
CPU (MHz)
GPU
Release Date
Handhelds
JZ4725B
360
N/A
2005
RS-90 Retromini, RG99
JZ4740
360
N/A
2007
Dingoo A320 (Later models)
JZ4760(B)
600
Vivante GC200
2010
LDK, RS-97, RG300
JZ4770
1000
Vivante GC860
2011
GCW Zero, RG350, PocketGo V2
In fact, as you can see above the RG99 isn’t capable of nearly as much as the RG300 in terms of raw power. That’s not to say the JZ4725B is useless, in fact the work that pcercuei did on the RS-90 Retromini has turned the machine into a beautiful little handheld. But can we expect the RG99 to get the same treatment? Probably not, at least not right now. For now you’d be stuck with the stock firmware, which is likely to be pretty poor.
If you’re after a device with this formfactor, it’s advisable to spend the extra few dollars and go for the trusty RG300. With the RG300 you’re getting a machine with a robust and mature custom firmware in the form of RetroFW, as well as the raw power to properly emulate some more demanding titles.
The Raspberry Pi4 was released back in June 2019, but it hasn’t yet found its way in to any mass produced handhelds. There are two main reasons for this. The lack of a more compact Compute Module variant of the RPi4 means that any handheld would have to accommodate the comparatively bulky full sized board. Secondly, there is no official build of RetroPie for the Raspberry Pi4 yet. That hasn’t stopped these guys though, and the PiBoy DMG may be the first RPi4 handheld to be mass produced.
A company named ExperimentalPi have been posting regular updates on the progress they’re making on their own RPi4 powered handheld. The PiBoy DMG has been designed to closely resemble that of an original Game Boy DMG. It’s aesthetically similar in some aspects to RetroFlag’s GPi Case released last year for the Pi Zero.
Unlike the GPi Case though, the PiBoy DMG has been configured with 6 face buttons and an analog stick. It also contains a larger 3.5″ screen with a higher resolution 640×480 panel. On the back of the unit are two shoulder buttons, and there are various I/O around the shell. The addition of a hardware brightness control is a very nice touch too. The PiBoy DMG is built to accomodate your choice of Pi Zero, RPi3B+ or RPi4.
Availability and price
Although the base kit is currently available, this is only suitable for a Pi Zero or Pi3B+, unless you’re willing to do some tinkering.
The $90 base kit lacks a fan (required for RPi4), a Li-Po and a charger. A $120 full kit will be available in the near future, and contains everything required to get started. You’ll just need to supply your own RPi4. And finally they will also offer a fully assembled unit with RPi4 included for $180. All you’d need to supply are ROMs.
Personally I think this handheld looks decent. My preference is for landscape oriented machines, but until a CM4 is released then the chunky Game Boy style shell suits the full sized RPi4 board nicely. For most people the $120 full kit will be probably be suitable. With the addition of a 4GB RPi4 this makes a well priced handheld considering what the board is capable of. With better performance for systems such as N64, Dreamcast and PSP the RPi4 is a pretty compelling option in handheld format. I look forward to getting my hands on one of these things!
The elusive Q400 is still not available in any West facing stores, but it could be arriving soon. And according to a user in Discord, the Q400 has had some pre-release upgrades since we first saw it.
Firstly, the poor quality LCD in those early units has been replaced with an IPS panel. The Q400 promotional material stated 800×480 for the previous panel, so hopefully that remains in the replacement. The poor viewing angles were the biggest complaint on the Chinese forums back in January, so maybe the manufacturer has taken note.
Secondly, the UI has been overhauled. It’s not clear whether this is an entirely new OS or just a re-skin, but it looks better than the earlier version. The promotional material states that the OS is built on Linux, and that can be interpretted in many ways. The advertised RockChip RK2138 does support Linux though, so there is a possibility for some community development.
The handheld will apparently now be available in teal (as pictured) and pale yellow. I would assume that the black version will also carry through to the final product, but we’ll have to wait and see.
It’s unusual for a device like this to be around on the internet for so long without showing up on somewhere like AliExpress. It reminds me of the DigiRetro Boy, which also took months to show up. Hopefully some more solid information will surface soon. I’ll keep you posted when I hear any more.
As we thought, the Q400 is now available for pre-order!
This RK3128 powered machine runs on RetroArch (we think!) and sports a high resolution 800×480 panel, as well as dual analog sticks and four shoulder buttons. The Q400 costs a very reasonable $80 shipped, and should have far better performance than the RG350 and PocketGo v2 handhelds of 2019.
It will be really interesting to see where developers can take this machine this year. I should have mine sometime in May, so will be sure to let you know what I think of it. For more info, check my other post here.
Stock is expected towards the end of May at Supbor.com, and as usual the machine will ship from China.
It’s been around 8 months since the original RG350 was released with a non-functioning HDMI port, but Chinese devs have finally solved it. We’ve been teased with videos recently, and finally the code has been released to enable HDMI Output for RG350 and RG350M.
It’s worth noting the comments in the YouTube video. They state that this is only working reliably with the stock firmware right now.
The consequences of running this code on RetroFW or any other custom firmware are “irreversible” according to the text file supplied with the patch.
What this means exactly, we don’t know yet.
Links to the files are in the video description and I’ve also linked them below.
Bear in mind that this is still an beta release, and you should fully expect it to be janky right now. In fact the text file lays out with reasonable clarity what settings are required in each emulator for the HDMI output to work correctly.
Unfortunately I don’t see any link to the source code for this patch, so currently we’re relying on the Chinese developers to make further improvements. Hopefully in time they will release the source so that our developers can help as well.
This is a nice surprise for everyone who bought an RG350 or more recently an RG350M. It adds functionality that arguably should have been available to begin with, but better late than never hey?
The RG350 and RG350M are still widely available to purchase, and community development is as strong as ever. This is likely to be one of the best and one of the last Ingenic JZ4770 handhelds so if you’ve been sat on the fence, now’s a great time to grab one.
They can both be got direct from Anbernic on AliExpress.
The highly anticipated release of RetroPie for the RPi4 was the excuse I needed to grab a RPi4 along with a nice case to house it in. After hunting around I eventually settled on the Argon One RPi4 case. It’s a very reasonably priced aluminium alloy case with both active and passive cooling, and some other clever tricks up its sleeve.
ASSEMBLY
The Argon One allows for better cable management than most cases by re-routing HDMI, Power and AV to the back. This means that you can sit the Pi on a TV table for example, and all cables run out the back, out of sight. This is partially achieved with the use of a daughterboard which connects to the RPi4 as below.
The USB-C and Power button are not on this daughterboard. Instead they’re mounted to the pre-installed board that also contains the fan and GPIO connector.
Before placing the assembly into the case be sure to add the supplied heat sink pads to the two raised columns inside the case. These make contact with the CPU and RAM and provide passive cooling for your RPi4.
Placing the Pi and connected board into the case requires making sure that the GPIO pins are lined up perfectly. It’s a very tight fit even when everything is lined up. The cut out for the Ethernet port could do with being a hair wider, but it does all fit snugly if you take your time.
But what about the GPIO header I hear you ask. Well, it’s still accessible underneath a magnetic cover on the back of the unit.
The bottom of the case is made of smokey grey plastic rather than aluminium alloy, and the microSD card is still accessible via a cut out in the bottom of the shell. Once fully assembled it’s a very neat and tidy looking thing.
You’ll notice a power button on the back of the shell too. Argon40 provide a link to a script which when installed allows full configuration of the power button and fan. By default, the unit will shutdown safely via a 3 second press of the power button. Five seconds will force it to shutdown if it’s become unresponsive. If you’re interested, the script can be found here.
FAN AND POWER BUTTON SCRIPT
The fan is pre-configured to run at varying speeds at 55, 60 and 65 degrees Celsius. You can also configure these thresholds yourself in the terminal. Unfortunately, in RetroPie I can’t get the fan to switch on at all. The power button behaves like it’s supposed to, but even setting the fan to ‘Always On’ fails to initialise it. I’ve contacted Argon40 about this issue and they’ve been prompt in getting back to me. They’ve said they’ll test it and will hopefully provide a revised script sometime soon. The fan runs as expected in Raspbian so it’s not a hardware fault, more likely something to do with the way RetroPie is configured.
Having said that, the passive cooling of this case is very good. Explaining Computers ran his usual tests on this case which came out with great results even with passive cooling.
OTHER BITS
I did read online that because the case is metal, it prevents the WiFi from working. Although I was planning to use an ethernet cable with it, I have tested the WiFi and it works fine. I get a full WiFi signal, however the Pi is in the same room as my router. Bluetooth controllers also work as expected.
I spent a long while looking at cases for the RPi4 before settling on the Argon One. I very nearly ended up going down the Geekworm rabbit hole. Geekworm make a range of cases and add-on boards for the Raspberry Pi such as SATA controllers and power management boards. Whilst I’d enjoy messing around with all that, they’re pretty expensive and not really necessary in this instance. Eventually I’ll build a NAS using a Raspberry Pi, and maybe I’ll re-visit Geekworm when that time comes.
Overall the Argon One is a very well thought out and executed case. The assembly instructions are easy to follow and even the relevant script installation commands are included.
I hope that Argon40 fix the script so that it works in RetroPie, but until then I’ll be happily using it anyway. The Argon One case is available at the below retailers, if you’re interested.
The PowKiddy X2 is a pretty brazen attempt to cash in on the aesthetics of the original Nintendo Switch, even by Chinese standards. But hey, at least they switched the colours over! Whilst the PowKiddy X2 is a Nintendo Switch lookalike, it should be no surprise that underneath that Neon Red and Blue colourway it’s another story.
The PowKiddy X2 first showed up in some promotional material earlier this year. It’s now available to buy, and looking at the vague specifications we can glean some things about this new device.
POWKIDDY X2 SPECS
The product page on AliExpress states a 7″ 1024×600 non-touchscreen IPS display. As well as having a HDMI output, the X2 also has 2 Micro USB ports for external controllers. I can’t imagine why they chose Micro USB, I assume an adaptor will be required to use most controllers. It doesn’t look as though any are shipped with the device. Strangely both of these ports are marked as DC 5V, so I assume this is also how you charge the device?
The X2 has 2 analog sticks, ABXY, a split d-pad as well as two shoulder buttons. It doesn’t look as though the controllers detach from the device. The top of the unit also has a MicroSD card slot, headphone output, a volume rocker and an “Open” button.
The processor is listed as an ARM Cortex A7 at 1.3GHz. Reading between the lines, this could be another RockChip RK3128 machine. That’s the same chip as found in the upcoming Q400 as well as the Aiwo G1000 arcade machine. This particular machine is advertised as having 11 emulators, with PS1 and some arcade machines being the extent of its emulation prowess.
POWKIDDY X2 OPERATING SYSTEM
The UI is new to me. It’s certainly not Android, and it’s a little bit more fancy looking than most of the stock firmware we see. Assuming this is what actually ships on the device, it looks pretty nice. I would guess that it’s built on RetroArch, but don’t take my word for it.
The PowKiddy X2 is available now from the PowKiddy store on AliExpress for $79.99 shipped. Whether it’s worth it or not is anyone’s guess right now. It’d be nice to think that these RK3128 devices will get new OS ports at some point, but the manufacturers sure don’t make it easy for the community developers. It’d be safest to assume you’ll be using the stock OS, at least for now.
We all knew it would happen eventually. Chinese manufacturers have seen the success of the Odroid-Go Advance and decided to get a piece of the action.
The RK2020 is a hardware clone of the Odroid-Go Advance, all the way down to the RK3266 and LCD screen. The main difference is the addition of L2/R2, though we now know that the revised OGA will also have these.
I was really hoping that this clone would make some improvements on the original design. Dual analog sticks or a higher resolution panel would have been interesting amendments. The benefit of mirroring the original design so closely though is that any OS for the OGA should also work with the RK2020 with very little tweaking.
The RK2020 does look to have made improvements in one area though, and that’s the quality of the shell. It’s no secret that the OGA feels like a DIY device and the RK2020 appears to be a bit more premium looking. Of course we’ll need to get our hands on a unit to judge it properly, but first impressions are positive.
The unit has one microSD card slot on the bottom and a USB-A port which will apparently work with WiFi dongles in the same way as the OGA v1. The RK2020 will ship with EmuELEC pre-installed, and we can probably expect other Operating Systems to be ported in the future.
You’ve probably noticed that the device has fewer buttons than the OGA, which may make it difficult to re-use images from the OGA on the RK2020 directly. Some alterations will need to be made to button mapping to account for the lack of F1-6. You’ve probably also noticed there’s no volume control. Volume can be changed by holding R2 and pressing Up or Down on the d-pad.
The RK2020 is due in stock in the next 2 weeks and can be pre-ordered from rkconsole.com for $85.99 shipped. Let’s see if it can give the OGA a run for its money. What do you think?
It’s been a long time since that first batch of Odroid-Go Advance’s started shipping out back in January. The devices quickly sold out and many people have been waiting months for HardKernel to announce fresh stock. Well, the wait is over as HardKernel releases the revised Odroid-Go Advance version 1.1. Read on to see what’s changed.
Unprecedented demand and component shortages meant that manufacture of the OGA had to stop in the first quarter of this year. Thankfully, HardKernel took that time to revise the design based on feedback from those with a first revision.
CHANGES
There are three main changes to the v1.1 OGA. The addition of two extra shoulder buttons is the biggest upgrade, although you can tell that they struggled to fit these inside the unit. The additional shoulder buttons are very small, and will probably be something of a chore to use. Still, it’s better to have them than not.
The second change is the replacement of the barrel jack charger for a USB-C plug. Some modders added this to their original units, but this official replacement means no more scrabbling around for the official charging cable. It’s worth noting that the USB-C port will only work for charging the unit, the data pins are not connected.
Lastly, the addition of WiFi on the board means that we no longer need to use a dongle in the USB-A port to enable WiFi. WiFi is a very useful addition for those that run Windows machines at home. The easiest way to transfer ROMs to the device is wirelessly via something like WinSCP or FileZilla.
All that said, the new OGA v1.1 comes in two colours, an Aura Black version and a Clear White version. The v1.1 PCB colour has changed from white to black, making the transparent version look a little different to the original.
The addition of WiFi has bumped the price from $54 to $59, which is still very reasonable considering what this machine can do.
COMPETITION
By now most of you are probably aware of the RK2020, a device based closely on the OGA. According to rumours, the RK2020 is only the first of the OGA clones to hit the market and we can expect to see another RK3266 powered handheld hit the stores in the coming months. It’s safe to assume that the era of Ingenic JZ4760/70 powered handhelds is finished.
It’s strange that we were almost at this stage years ago and we’ve gone full circle. The likes of Yinlips, JXD and GPD already made powerful ARM handhelds in the early 2010s, but evolution seemed to stop and we were thrust back into the dark ages. Now we’re back for round two with more powerful hardware and dedicated gaming oriented Operating Systems. I fully expect to see more powerful RockChip and AllWinner machines in 2020 and 2021.
You can buy the OGA v1.1 from the HardKernel store. Shipping to UK and Europe is pricey, but local vendors will start to get stock in the coming weeks.
If you’d like to read my review of the original Odroid-Go Advance you can check it out here.
The original ZPG was a DIY handheld that used the guts of a cell phone for its mainboard. It was mostly the work of Lao Zhang, he made use of Vita controls and the motherboard of a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact to create the device. The ZPG was released in very small batches to the Chinese market, and was almost impossible for Westerners to buy. It’s always been rumoured that the ZPG was leading up to something else, and that rumour has just been substantiated. Over on the Chinese forums God of light and darkness (cool name) is posting short teaser videos pertaining to a ZPG Pro. Let’s have a look at the ZPG Pro rumours and speculation.
There have been a couple of these short videos released so far, and that implies there is a reason to hype it up. If the ZPG Pro was only going to be available in miniscule batches again, would there be a need to invest time and effort promoting it? After all the original ZPG batches sold out in seconds, without any fanfare required. Alongside that fact, this quote states the ZPG Pro will be going in to mass production.
God of light and darkness posted the video and is a reliable source of information on these forums, so let’s assume he’s right.
MULTIPLE ZPG VERSIONS?
Another user claims he has information from the maker regarding different versions of the ZPG.
Something worth bearing in mind is that there have been perpetual rumours of more OGA clones coming up. It certainly makes me wonder if either the ZPG Pro, ZPG Mini or ZPG Max could be one of them. Whatever the hardware, it’s safe to assume that any mass produced units won’t be made using gutted cell phones.
If I had to guess, I would say that these devices are going to run on RockChip. It’s possible that a custom Snapdragon board has been designed for one of the versions, but historically unlikely. Things are moving fast in 2020 though, so anything is possible. I’ll update this post with more news as it surfaces.
