So this retro handheld review might have been my favorite so far. I have such an obsession with design language (be it gaming or all the way to architecture), and seeing something as unique and different as this rotating touch screen on a retro handheld? It won me over without a second’s hesitation
This handheld is a nicely squished cube with rounded corners, has a touch screen, obviously flips up to be a gaming handheld you can (comfortably) play PlayStation/PSP and even some few GameCube/PS2 games. Although you’d have to be crazy to buy this for GCN/PS2. They’re just a happy bonus (really, this is NOT a PS2 machine)
Playing music or streaming music is a blast, as are audiobooks. I’ve had the most fun playing GBA and PS games on here, but if you’re interested in my review, you can check it out here:
https://gardinerbryant.com/hands-on-with-the-anbernic-rg-rotate/
Or, you can just ask me what you’d like to know if you’d prefer to not! I love this damn thing. If I could wear it on a belt loop, I promise you I would be doing that like it is the olden days of phones!
Oh, you can text on your sidekick?
Cute. :: pulls out rotate and starts furiously going through games, finally succumbing to option paralysis, and boots up Stardew::
Am I missing something, or did you not include a photo of it fully open? A gif of it opening/closing would also be neat to see the mechanism. What a weird device.
Edit: Ope, found photos of it open in the linked thingy. I’d still love a gif/video, it looks kinda like the LG Wing to me, and that thing is so satisfying to fiddle with.
You’re 100% right! I mean to some time today, record a lil video of me sweeping it open then convert it to a GIF. I’ve just got a few things to get through first! Someone else reminded me I forgot to do that, which is…concerning since it is the BIG point on this handheld!
For now, check Anbernic’s own video on YT, it was a short one which shows the rotation well:
I can’t make the “sign up” drop down thing go away when on your site (linked in your post). There’s no “x” to close it. It just covers the top of the page while I scroll.
That’s a bit aggressive, and made me not want to read your article. Love your passion though :)
Should be fixed now! Thanks for sharing your feedback, there’s a option to close it down, Gardiner just changed it
Yes, it’s fixed! Ok, you get all the upvotes now, lol.
That’s really interesting, I hadn’t even noticed that banner existed!
This is all Gardiner’s side of things, I just sent your thoughts over to him, thank you for the comment on it!
looks amazing and decently prized: https://anbernic.com/products/rg-rotate
but that one line makes it a neverbuy item for me:
AI: One-click game guide retrieval, real-time translation, intelligent dialogue, text-to-image generation, image processing, and more features.
Fair enough!
(Or just delete that app)
The price is nice. I’d actually consider buying this since it is also just a straight up Android device so it can do more than just be an emulator.
Note that it only has 32GB of internal storage, which could be kinda limiting for general Android use.
Usually I am a little hesitant to recommend things to people, but not this one. It is really, really fun. I have so enjoyed using it, and the fact it has a nice presence on my desk for things like music, podcasts, old anime? As well as gaming? Truly enjoyable!
Does it support adoptable storage for its SD card?
Neat, but… i feel kind of weird asking this: What is the point of rotating a square display?
Underneath I’m assuming is the hand help controls. Like flipping open an GameBoy Advance SP or a DS/3DS. But instead of flipping it open like a clam shell the screen is rotated open
How’s Stardew on this?
I don’t play that game, but someone on Discord asked me to try the Android version for them. The only issue I found was the UI was a bit squished in the intro set-up screen:
After that it is just fine! All the pinch to zoom gestures and so on work well.
Though to be fair I’m not sure what is normal and right, as I don’t play it!
This looks neat. But I already have an Analogue Pocket which seems to do everything this does, and a little bit more, except for being the same size when closed.
I do love the Analogue Pocket’s philosophy and design, but:
Analogue Pocket which seems to do everything this does, and a little bit more
The Rotate runs Android. Which is a bonus to some, and a caveat to others. But it is infinitely more powerful as a retro handheld than the AP! The 'Pocket can’t run systems from the 32-bit era or later, while this can emulate a whole lot (with varying degrees of success)
I just think wanted to address “…everything this does, and a little bit more…” for anyone coming across this in the future!
The Rotate runs Android. Which is a bonus to some, and a caveat to others.
Yeah, I’d rather have a Linux handheld, rather than an android one that will be abandoned as soon as it is sold, but then again, if it’s ARM then it needs a custom kernel which will be abandoned as well, so I’ll just avoid this whole kind of device completely.
It’s cool tho.
Is the market getting saturated? I have an Odroid Ultra and feel like there isn’t a real good upgrade out there.
I like to think of it as there’s a device for every single person’s needs!
How will the upcoming android changes affect this? Most of the emulators would be sideloaded right?
Would love this but worried it’ll become obsolete / locked out of updates once google does it’s stupid shit
None of these will affected! These retro handhelds aren’t officially certified Android devices, they just run the Play Store
You can find the list here:
https://github.com/androidtrackers/certified-android-devices
Why a square screen? What games support that?
Wasn’t the Gameboy screen pretty square? OP also mentions PS games.
GB, GBC, GBA (different aspect but they look great regardless, PlayStation, WonderSwan, Genesis, SNES
I don’t know, there’s a ton of 3:2-ish consoles which just look beautiful on here, people can get pedantic and state that none are true dead square, but they all suit this so well!
In addition to the obvious Game Boy, NES and SNES look great in 8x7 which looks really good on a square screen.
Is this an ad?
Its a review. My honest review. I’m not paid to write on my friend’s site, nor do we run a single ad on there. Anbernic don’t have any say in what I write, and if I gave up my reputation as a writer for a device this cheap, I’d be an idiot.
I love the device, but if I loathed it I’d still share it here. I post all of my articles here.
Check my post history, if you still think I’m some deep cover ad agent then you can have my account, I can’t even be bothered with these insinuation today.
One little edit:
I spent a solid 18 months covering Steam Deck news. I did so with a weekly news post (elsewhere, then actually here on Lemmy after I’d given it up for a long time), I’d cover what was happening, befriended devs to share their news and what was coming up, and built up a nice little community around that.
From there I started to interview these developers, because no one did so before I did. That sounds a bit tickets-on-myself-y, but it is just true. I wanted the developers of projects like Heroic, Lutris, EmuDeck, Decky Loader, Junk Store and RetroDECK to be able to share their side of things, since most of the time people tend to forget who is behind the project or program they know, use and love. Some of my articles and interviews were posted on big sites, some on smaller sites, a couple on Gaming on Linux and SDHQ and so on.
From there I made friends with Gardiner Bryant, who is now one of my closest friends. I share on his site exclusively now, because I LOVE gaming. I’m not paid for my articles (nor do I want to be), I just write because I love to. After picking up retro handhelds for awhile, some of those companies got in touch with me, asking if I’d like to review their devices. I said yes, but that I’d do so in accordance with our ethics standards we have on the site
If you think I’d risk all of that (literally years of writing content just on social media, then on sites, now with my friend Gardiner) for one little handheld? You’d be wrong. I just hate how this kind of shit gets thrown out as an offhand comment, it is so dirty and insulting.
No, this isn’t an ad.
Listen, pal, your beef shouldn’t be with folks like me questioning if your “rave review” stippled with flowery adverbs is an ad. If you’re just some dude writing, then you’re just some dude writing.
Your beef should be with marketers and advertisers who for the past decade+ have dishonestly inserted their scumbag bullshit ads into social media threads pretending to be just another excited commenter/content contributor leaving rave reviews with flowery adverbs. Go be pissed at them.
Glad you like your Anbernic. I have an RG556 and two other lesser Anbernic devices. The lesser ones both stopped turning on after about a year – for no good reason. The RG556 still works 16 months after I got it. It’s fine at what it’s intended to do, but sucks as a Steam Link device.
Yeah, Retro Game Corps has a great, in-depth video on this if anyone is interested. Good quality, good controls, good screen, good gimmick.
The dealbreaker for me is the legendarily awful combination of shitty, delayed bluetooth, a back-facing speaker, and no headphone jack. The most reasonable way to actually hear your games is by adding an awkward and easily losable dongle, which is not acceptable imo, especially because then you have no way to charge while you play.
Other than the unforgivable audio choices here, it looks like a really great and sleek little device.
Who releases a product with busted AF bluetooth these days?! Hard pass until that, at least, is corrected. 🥹
It’s unfortunately still pretty common among discount handheld manufacturers trying to save a few cents. They can still advertise it with Bluetooth, so unless people actually watch a review that criticizes it, they are still likely to buy it none the wiser.
Seems like it would backfire due to heavy amounts of returns - especially in an economy like this where fewer people can afford to blow money on something that winds up just sitting there because it’s not meeting their needs.
Yeah, that model strikes me as some boomer logic.
If the dongle you need is USB-C, I’ve got one for my phone that lets you charge at the same time, and it’s pretty low profile. Not ideal, but an option.
So Bluetooth headphones are a no-go?
You can use them, but there is a distracting delay in the audio.
Well that’s disappointing. Maybe I’ll wait for a rev A.
A GameBoy Advance SP is still worthy of being a daily carry. Rock solid hardware with a huge library of timeless games.
That this thing is effectively the exact same dimensions using current tech makes it the first dedicated handheld I’ve considered getting since the DS Lite.
still use mine almost daily. thing is built like a damn brick house too, rock solid. Metroid and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance are my go tos.
Oh, man. The hours I’ve poured into FFT back in the OG days… Not even Skyrim, BG3, and Starfield combined can top it. 🤓🤘🏼
If you’re looking for something akin to the GBA-SP but modern, check out the Anbernic RG34XX-SP.
It looks almost the same as the GBA-SP, but with better everything and can emulate other systems. Same aspect ratio too which makes it perfect for GBA emulation, and it comes in fun colors.
They also have an original GBA variant. There are like 5 handhelds they made with the same internals, just different form factors. It’s so great.
Very strange this doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack. That’s one of the main reasons I daily carry a handheld (psp) these days. It’s as valuable to me as a mp3 player as it is a gaming device.
I would love to have one as a Pico-8 playing device !
A bummer that it doesn’t have a jack, the speaker is on the back and there is a sharp thing over the shoulder button. Also, delayed bluetooth…
I saw one reviewer was annoyed by a shoulder button feel. But I have tried my hardest and I haven’t been able to feel that sharp point/edge. I do have smaller hands, so that could be a factor as I play (where it might be a issue with larger hands)
I checked in with other reviewers, and I didn’t find anyone else who found that an annoying issue! But as with everything on retro handhelds, YMMV!
Thanks for the heads up !
