Before the RG351P was confirmed, a version of this chart was posted on Baidu. It shows the naming convention for Anbernic’s handhelds past and present. The inclusion of a “V” for vertical raised a few eyebrows, as the RG300 didn’t make use of that particular nomenclature. It was of course speculated that a vertical machine was in the pipeline from them, and here it is – the Anbernic RG280V.
The RG280V is the latest in a long line of Ingenic based handhelds from the Anbernic camp. It’s a dinky looking machine which resembles the LDK in some ways, whilst also adding a Famicom aesthetic. I think most people were hoping for the CPU digit to be a 1 or 2, but it doesn’t come as much surprise to see a zero. The zero of course indicating that this will be yet another JZ4770 handheld.
SPECIFICATIONS
Images of this handheld are limited to screenshots from a video posted on Bilibili right now. But we can see that the RG280V is aimed at the same customer base as the LDK. That is, gamers who aren’t really interested in analog sticks, and prioritise portability over anything else. The RG280V looks as though it has a brushed metal face plate reminiscent of the Famicom controller. Inputs on the front are limited to a d-pad, start, select and ABXY buttons. The top of the device reveals L1/L2/R1/R2 buttons as well as a USB Type C charging port and headphone jack.
The naming convention implies that the handheld will contain a 2.8″ LCD, probably the same one as the RG280. It will undoubtedly be running OpenDingux out of the box, and therefore will support most emulators up to and including the PS1. Other fifth generation machines such as N64 and Sega Saturn won’t be supported.
AVAILABILITY AND PRICE
As of early October the RG280V is not yet available, and the price hasn’t been divulged. I would expect to see this handheld in time for Christmas, and would hope that the smaller form factor and fewer inputs will mean it’s cheaper than other JZ4770 machines already on the market.
I’ll update this post with more information and images once available. You can quickly get back to this post via the “Forthcoming Handhelds” menu.
The post The Chip That Never Dies – Anbernic RG280V appeared first on Obscure Handhelds.