We NEED a Linux build with Box86, Box64, and Wine built-in for Light PC Gaming. Micro Linux and The Byte man have great channels on Light PC Gaming on a RK3399 processor.
Great video, mine should be arriving in the next few days. I do disagree on the role of Anbernic when it comes to firmware development. They are so far behind in Linux development that I don’t really want them touching the firmware at all. The best thing Anbernic could do is involve (and pay) the open source firmware devs during the development cycle instead of after the fact. Hard Kernel and Chi GameForce did that to great effect, and got official EmuELEC support in the process. Same should have been done with Batocera, 351ELEC, and Tech Toy Tinker, and ArkOS teams. They are all getting dev units but now they have to play catch-up without any compensation, and like you said, that’s not the dynamic we should have to live with.
It sounds like it might be a long time until this chip is as mature as the 2633. The old chip is old but it has tons of support history to back it up. We may never see a gold standard like that again in our hobby.
Agree completely. You may or may not be able to answer this, but what are the odds custom firmware allows the dual boot option to continue working, when/if 351elec and the like make a version for this device? I love my RG351M with 351elec, but the android support really makes me want this for a few games.
Based on how this is behaving, I'll stick with my RG351MP, and just wait for my Steamdeck to become available since it'll be monstrously more powerful, with access to the Steam game library, and able to handle full x86 linux OS instead of... whatever that thing is Ambernic threw into the 552. Depending on how much luck the community has with writing versions of 351elec or Arkos I *might* reconsider later, especially if a metal variant is released, but more than likely I'll just go with the Steamdeck
Anbernic just thought “let’s throw this product out before Odin and RP2+ comes out and kill us”. We will see this Anbernic with the price reduce in no time.
@@stevewallis661 so you think Odin is a scam? or a lie?, we will see but for the price of this I can buy two RP2+ and just that is win, I imagine you know why. And for the record, I’m not saying this Anbernic is bad product but the price is a little bit high
@@dawlyndiaz148 I think the odin is not coming out any time soon. Maybe by summer. They haven't even started mass production yet. Also buttons are going to suck on the RP2+.
@@BrooksyTech we will see how the performance of the RP2+ is when it’s comes out, but for only $99 without shipping can play some gamecube and ps2 games is a big advantage, and for the Odin, well you can actually see some performance test here in Taki or on their own TH-cam channel. And I say again, for me the problem of this Anbernic is the price nothing else 🤷♂️
Bruh, this isn't Anbernic's definitive Android Based Handheld. Anbernic is going to release the RG353V in a few months. This is their 16:9 Handheld meant to compete with the RGB10 Max and other 16:9 Handhelds.
The draw of the 351 was the size factor. It was essentially a better GBA. AGS-101 consoles routinely sell on eBay and etsy for more than $125. So the pricepoint is justified. At nearly $250, the 552 is more than a Switch Lite, which it can't compete with power or quality-wise, so this is a HARD pass.
This just makes me sad that the Switch Lite doesn't have a good hacking scene yet. It'd make an *amazing* emulation machine if only it could be easily jailbroken
I'd say what's a deal breaker for me is the 3399 cpu being produced on 28nm process, that's the reason those cores are clocked so low yet it requires such a big cooling system. I'd pay more for a better cpu, alas, only smartphones provide that, so I'm stuck with a Poco X3 Pro - 300$ for a snapdragon 860 with 8gb of ram and 256gb rom.
Yeah I really think that companies that make handhelds based on chips that are literally years old yet still require active cooling are completely missing the ball. That is the main reason why I'm never buying a Switch. Active cooling means worse battery life, unnecessary extra weight and worse portability and worst of all, possible reliability issues. It is mind boggling to me that companies don't just invest a few extra pennies on solving the thermal issues on a product that is supposed to be premium when we know for a fact they have the means to do it.
10W couldve been cooled with just a passive heatsink but they took the cheap way out. And that's 10W for the entire system including the LCD, the actual cooling required is way lower.
Great showcase bro!!! I'm sure a lot of us that wanted to add to the collection but 200+ and only a bit more power to play with??? Also I think these side devs should stop working for free it ain't fair!! We need rally together and support good companies that support their customers and products
The default OS on Anbernic devices has always been a bit of a mess, at least not performing as well as it should, and we're all running EmuELEC or ArkOS or something on our 351 now. I think Anbernic have just gotten used to the idea that the community will do better, and have really put no effort in. To an extent I can understand that. Even if they released what they thought was a perfect system, the community would release their own spin on it, claiming some minor gripe is a serious flaw, so there will _always_ be community-made firmwares for these. Unfortunately, that makes it totally unsuitable as a gift, without setting it up properly first, just like so many other handhelds.
I just checked and my notifications were off. I made sure to enable them so that I would be notified when your next video comes out. Seeing the android performance on this device is very important to me. Thank you for putting out useful, unbiased videos.
@@lownitro1385 You have to pay for that, plus Retroid already sells a pre built model of the RP2+. Personally I'd recommend you wait you the Retroid Pocket 3 it's going to be way more powerful.
All the planets are aligned with this?! From what I just heard, the PCB overheats when Space Invaders Atari 2600 version tries to boot, so it looks like I am not going to find the system I need in this galaxy.
But the problem is my DS4 is so laggy when I connect to my phone! Thankfully I ordered a GameSir X2 Type-C and the lag is completely gone now. But it has it flaws too, buttons are tiny and there's no analog triggers. Sucks that there's no perfect controller for Android devices I guess 😔
@@blues05 For anything that doesn't require analogue sticks the 8bit-do lite controller is amazing. For anything that does the 8bit-do pro 2 is as good as it gets and even has a phone holder sold separately.
Thanks for your early impressions Taki and I couldn’t agree more, these appalling builds that are supplied with these handhelds and mini game boxes are a travesty!! Normally not so much of a problem, however as you said here it would be terrible if someone bought this primarily for the linux build alone as it’s such a mess!!🤢
Completely agree with this. I know myself I almost always install a custom firmware or OS on these products if I can and I personally wouldn't care how terrible their original firmware/OS is. To me anyways I'm buying the device first for the specs and secondly for the controls/features, so what it come with natively software wise wouldn't matter as again I would be most likely replacing it out the box.
I love it when I look for information on an item and I come across a review like yours!! nothing worse than a half hearted review. Great job, just sub'd
This will change anbernic popularity going forward. I will prefer to buy the next anbernic with a Snapdragon or better. Why would they sell a system & not test the games to make sure they work properly. They need to demonstrate by playing games like what Odin is doing to sale their product. I'm looking forward to the Android video to see if it performs better. It's going to have to be no mess ups at all.
With Anbernic, always skip the first generation of a new device, and go for the revamp/second version. It is often cheaper, slightly better in build quality, and almost always has a metal version on offer.
with the price tag and the paint I thought it was definitely metal. now that I know its plastic and runs terrible on the included linux os I'll pass. i don't need one of these but the thought of jumping on with the new lineage of portable emu handhelds was nice, but ill have to take the time to setup my sx lite instead w/ retroarch.
Considering a Poco X3 Pro is only slightly more expensive, has a 8 core cpu, more RAM, better GPU, more storage, Android 11...And it comes with the screen protector already applied to the device, has better emulator support. As per design, it's nice to see they putting the airflow where someone with a different grip or larger hands could block it on the back and potentially burn their hands on the top. It would've been better for them to offer better hardware tailored for either only Linux or only Android, but a higher version. Also, the screen. How one designer with common sense would think the solution is taking a screen designed to be vertical and running it rotated instead of sourcing a proper screen for it. This design abortion is not exclusive to this device, however.
Your observations are quite off. Out of every fault these devices might have, I've never heard anyone dumb enough to block all the airflow and burn one, of any type or brand. And the POCO X3 lacks the controller which, for a good quality one adds another 120$ to the phone price. Now read again what you said and you'll see it doesn't make all that sense.
@@locked01 Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it's impossible to happen. A manufacturer with more than two neurons should never put airflow paths in places where they could be potentially blocked. That's design 101. As per price, you can probably find a X3 Pro nowadays for less than the price when it was new, which, it still has a better CPU, more RAM, higher resolution screen and so on.
This device has a lot of potential, and future iterations of RK3399 powered devices could benefit greatly from lessons learned here. The main draw I see here is the boosted processing and screen resolution, I see a lot of demand for fifth and even sixth generation emulation on affordable handhelds, which I'm interested to see if this device is capable of. For anyone content playing fourth generation games with some PS1 though, the RG351MP will probably satisfy. Whilst I agree that Anbernic need to do a better job with their shipped firmware, instead of yet again relying on the community to ship worthwhile firmwares, I can see that they are learning how to design the hardware around the needs of the user and the target systems.
@Vincent Yes, it's no surprise that Pocket Go 2 / RG350 are capable PS1 emulators, this is due to them using MIPS architecture processors (JZ4770) which gives them an advantage in emulating another MIPS architecture system. Although PS1 in general is much easier to emulate than N64 regardless of architecture, and ARM devices like RK3326 are still doing an excellent job of PS1 emulation.
I didn't notice this but it doesn't have an 'M' at the end of it. This whole time I thought this was a metal device which was why it had a high price tag. Nope.
You're not the only one that told them this. I've had doubts about sourcing and part prices for a long time. I can see where every penny went, but I don't know how that will impress a community that was hoping for a $150 device.
Most were fine with $199. Myself included as they usually include slow S&H for free. But $230? What in the hell? That is 15% more than the price that was expected. In the case of $150.that was never ever going to happen much less right now.
@@AlexDiaz-gw5ov I don't think they could source it for $199, to be honest. I think this device probably costs about $220ish to build. Taki might know more, but the basic list of components I see here is not cheap unless you are working directly with manufacturers. Total unit price also depends on how many they ran off/plan to run off. But I agree. I was ready to put about $200 into it, but $230 is beyond what most people should pay for this performance, ESPECIALLY when the x18s exists.
@@jedewitz All the materials in this are old. Like 2 to 5 years old. I doubt the cost of materials is more like $120. The issue here is they miscalculated something along the way. Either the building was a lot more expensive than normal. Or the price was set up this way to ensure a minimum profit margin higher than normal in advance. Who knows? But yeah, the price is horrible.
@@AlexDiaz-gw5ov Just because things are a few years old does not mean they cost less, unfortunately. The RK3399 is a flagship SBC SOC. I''ve got distribution in front of me as I type this and I'm seeing them range in price from $10-$40 per unit, BGA (just the chip, no mount, best price is $25 per 1000 up) and more for kits that include other components. Prices vary often as the chip supply varies. Add in ram, the screen (looks about $20-40 as well- I don't have the specific part number), the cooling solution, the tooling, engineering, plastic molds, the plastic itself (a unit this large is going to use 60% more material than the 351), build time and other various parts and labor they have to pay their engineers and logistics, compared to how many units they produce- To build one of these devices costs a lot more than $120. You can look up the prices if you wish on a site like findchips. It's cheaper if you're dialed into Chinese suppliers, but not by much. Still, I agree with you- the price is horrible. Even if it costs them $205 per unit to build and finish, it's a bad investment when compared to the other offerings that are about to release. RP2+ is like $95 bucks. Swing and a miss with the firmware too. Let's see how it plays out- I don't think this one will be popular.
You sir, became one of my most respected youtubers. It is not easy to say the truth when some money and products from a company to help your channel are at stake.
As an adult with little time to tinker I I need a game system ready go from fay 1. Glad this youtuber is calling it the manufacturers who ship things that functionally dont work. If the software os crap...then I dont care how powerful the hardware is.
I wanna thank you for your sincerity. Sometimes it's hard to find content creators that are not feared to show the real situation about a new device because the consecuences of such review.
@@TakiUdon Don't know if I explained myself. It was a positive comment! :( English is not my primary language and sometimes don't know if I'm expressing what I want to express :/
Cheers Taki, looking forward to the Android showcase. Liking the screen and device size. Performance, price, battery life and firmware ... not so much.
I wonder is they are using a slow microSD card with their stock Linux image? It would be curious to dump the image of the Linux SD card and write it to a high speed Sandisk MicroSD card and see if the audio lag goes away.
Thanks for showcasing the issues in linux with this device. I already have 3 new chipset android devices either in my possession or on order, and I don't want to have to run this handheld in android for decent performance. I much prefer linux over android on my handhelds. Just a personal preference.
I currently only own the RG280v with the Adam image installed, it is an excellent device for casual gaming and runs well, apart from possibly wanting better battery optimisation. Although there are more powerful cheaper devices out there, they don't seem to have the same Anbernic quality. It's a pity they don't pay one of the great firmware teams out there to optimise their devices as I'm not one for tinkering. I suspect in a few months time some excellent team will make this device shine, but then again they may skip this one as the competition is fierce and other competitors are willing to pay for good firmware. It would be a pity for Anbernic to fail to succeed as they make good products, but old processors, lack of Bluetooth and unoptimised firmware could be their breaking point. Something like the Retroid Pocket 2+ for price and performance is appealing but I think I'll hang tight for a few more months until there is something a bit more rounded out there as I don't fancy a halfway product.
To spite being in a totally different price bracket I feel like even the Base model Steamdeck is going to cut in on their market because it's a beastly little linux machine that could not only run heaps of emulators, but also has the Steam Game library. I did however get a RG351MP, it's a perfect pocket size and runs all the old 2D games I could want to play with the 351elec firmware installed, and thanks to Portmaster I even have Undertale and AM2R installed (which is a blast, it feels almost perfect on this thing), the RG552 just lands in an awkward spot for me where it's not really something I want to toss in my pocket for a day out or work breaks, and if I'm going for something bigger I'd rather wait for my base model Steamdeck. I'll still keep an eye on Ambernic to see if they can make something more interesting however, a slightly more compact RG552V might make me change my mind especially once the community firmware catches up with it
@@UNSCPILOT The Steamdeck is fantastic value but it's just a little too high at the moment to reason with myself financially as a nice indulgence, then again if there is another lockdown (hopefully not) and I can't go on a holiday then I might as well pick one up. The RG351MP is tempting but I was slightly disappointed with the wifi module not being built-in and the old processor but the compromise might be worth it. The RG552V you are probably right, it might be just a bit too big for what it can do and as for the price for about an extra £150 you've got yourself a Streamdeck which will be a beast for emulation.
@@JamesWilliams-rw6qc I'm not really using the RG351MP's wifi for anything but updates and scraping game info/images/video. And as an added bonus your probably saving a bit of power and battery life not having it built in and left on all the time, bluetooth would be nice but generally I don't need internet access when playing old Metroid games, not even AM2R needs network access for anything. It might just be that because I don't play fighting games or otherwise that use the Internet access so that might just be a IMO thing
This trend of buttons being directly below the and above the analog sticks needs to end. You can't easily press the buttons with the the base of your thumb unless there's an offset. This is such a crucial design flaw that seems to be put in place by people that don't play games with camera controls.
In my opinion (and having a 552) the worst problem is bluetooth connection lack, as there are no bluetooth dongle which seem to work with it, either in android or linux mode. That means that if you link 552 to tv, you will not able to play with a wireless pad...
Thanks for this review. The price is bold but I thought the performance would at least somewhat justify it. Apparently though, my 351P with the current 351ELEC is doing even better that the stock RG552, especially in user experience. And with the RP2+ gaining popularity and the Steam Deck right around the corner, I think Anbernic shot itself in the foot. With a machine gun. Better luck next time.
I'm guessing that screen layout is trying to appeal to people who stretch their games out. it's not too skinny for 16:9 stretching but not too wide for 4:3 stretching
Great device, but yeah, it should only come with the Android and with the lower price (because then it wouldn't be dual boot system, old chip,etc.). I'm 100% sure that custom firmware will be available very soon after the release, but as you said, what's the point then? That way, they can sell and ship it without the games and OS, and we can wait for a custom ones to be made, and again, he price should be lower then. After 4 revisions (info from the device board), they could come up with something better in my opinion to justify its value, but we will see how it will go with the custom firmware, emulators, etc. Awesome review!
IMO every ARM-based emulation device should stick with 4:3 and just try to make the bezels thinner, until we can finally emulate ps3/360 that are actual widescreen consoles. Unless you're emulating PSP, the screen on these devices(rg552, rgb10 max, gpd XD) just make the console bigger for no reason.
I’m curious to see android performance but I’m tempted to just pick up a refurb LG V60 or used one plus 8 with a snapdragon 865 at this point with a razer kishi and use that as my handheld emulator
I don’t know about everyone else, but I think most early 3D games suck, and certainly didn’t age well. I enjoy the 8, 16, and some of the 2D 32 bit games, without bezels, and find that the RG 350m is my favorite handheld, with the RG 351V being a distant second. I absolutely love my 350M, especially with the feel of the metal body, and the correct size screen. I’m disappointed with this new handheld, just because of the aspect ratio, and the plastic, without even knowing how it runs.
In Canada, this thing costs around $320... So that is A LOT of money for a weird screen ratio, a CPU that is at least 3 years old, plastic casing with flex, 2.4ghz wifi only, no bluetooth (unless I'm missing something), and horrible audio lag and performance with initial Linux-based OS release. Oh, and still using old L2 R2 configuration when others are moving away from this setup (RP2, RGB10 Max2, etc...). All of this for $320??? This is HORRIBLE value for the price. And I say that as someone who loved previous Anbernic devices (have 2 of them already). Not falling for this one. Will wait until Odin releases, or will buy a Retroid pocket 2+ or 3 when it gets out. This feels like a product rushed out to market in the hopes of getting a headstart over their competitors' better products.
I wonder what firmware is running in the secure context. My Pinebook pro still has suspend issues, that is it doesnt really suspend due to dram restore not been fully figured out in the open source firmware.
A bummer that it's running an old version of Android, but can that be updated ? Could you some videos showing how to update the device with other firmwares?
Hey Taki, Awesome review; I just subscribed. I truly appreciate how transparent you are in your reviews. This looks really bad, so I cannot wait for the Android review. Thanks for your time. :)
Update on the audio lag I talk about in this video: th-cam.com/video/Io6E3hlR1I8/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=TakiII
Awesome
Can’t wait
We NEED a Linux build with Box86, Box64, and Wine built-in for Light PC Gaming. Micro Linux and The Byte man have great channels on Light PC Gaming on a RK3399 processor.
Dust and Elysian Tale and Momodora are fully playable on a RK3399 processor.
Hi. When will the Android review come out? N64 performance hopefully much better.
This was very thorough and thoughtful initial review. Thanks for showing the power consumption for each emulators and how long the battery would last.
It's not just expensive. It's expensive AND buggy! Nice going, Anbernic!
👍😂
PSP gc n64 DC Retroid pocket2 plus Buy 2X1 rg552
Or your just a hater and got a bad unit! No problems here……..
@@TheAztec010 Do we really need to pull out the "hater" card?
You're completely right to bring up the sub par firmware
It's completely unacceptable that advice this expense has crap software.
Great video, mine should be arriving in the next few days. I do disagree on the role of Anbernic when it comes to firmware development. They are so far behind in Linux development that I don’t really want them touching the firmware at all. The best thing Anbernic could do is involve (and pay) the open source firmware devs during the development cycle instead of after the fact. Hard Kernel and Chi GameForce did that to great effect, and got official EmuELEC support in the process. Same should have been done with Batocera, 351ELEC, and Tech Toy Tinker, and ArkOS teams. They are all getting dev units but now they have to play catch-up without any compensation, and like you said, that’s not the dynamic we should have to live with.
I guess if EmuElec is being developed for this device it'd be 552Elec
I agree 100%, I'd like to see Black Seraph get a unit too.
They are so far behind because they never had to invest money in proper software development.
It sounds like it might be a long time until this chip is as mature as the 2633. The old chip is old but it has tons of support history to back it up. We may never see a gold standard like that again in our hobby.
Agree completely.
You may or may not be able to answer this, but what are the odds custom firmware allows the dual boot option to continue working, when/if 351elec and the like make a version for this device? I love my RG351M with 351elec, but the android support really makes me want this for a few games.
Bold choice of a price for a system that can't play N64 that well. I think the best option for the price right now is the Retroid Pocket 2+
Based on how this is behaving, I'll stick with my RG351MP, and just wait for my Steamdeck to become available since it'll be monstrously more powerful, with access to the Steam game library, and able to handle full x86 linux OS instead of... whatever that thing is Ambernic threw into the 552.
Depending on how much luck the community has with writing versions of 351elec or Arkos I *might* reconsider later, especially if a metal variant is released, but more than likely I'll just go with the Steamdeck
Still enjoying mine! TV output and the 4:3 screen make this the ideal GBA/NDS emulator.
@Armament Armed Arm RP2+ can't. Sadly.
Anbernic just thought “let’s throw this product out before Odin and RP2+ comes out and kill us”. We will see this Anbernic with the price reduce in no time.
You act like Odin will actually release a product.. I don't think anbernic is worried..
@@stevewallis661 so you think Odin is a scam? or a lie?, we will see but for the price of this I can buy two RP2+ and just that is win, I imagine you know why. And for the record, I’m not saying this Anbernic is bad product but the price is a little bit high
@@dawlyndiaz148 I think the odin is not coming out any time soon. Maybe by summer. They haven't even started mass production yet. Also buttons are going to suck on the RP2+.
@@BrooksyTech we will see how the performance of the RP2+ is when it’s comes out, but for only $99 without shipping can play some gamecube and ps2 games is a big advantage, and for the Odin, well you can actually see some performance test here in Taki or on their own TH-cam channel. And I say again, for me the problem of this Anbernic is the price nothing else 🤷♂️
Bruh, this isn't Anbernic's definitive Android Based Handheld. Anbernic is going to release the RG353V in a few months. This is their 16:9 Handheld meant to compete with the RGB10 Max and other 16:9 Handhelds.
The draw of the 351 was the size factor. It was essentially a better GBA. AGS-101 consoles routinely sell on eBay and etsy for more than $125. So the pricepoint is justified. At nearly $250, the 552 is more than a Switch Lite, which it can't compete with power or quality-wise, so this is a HARD pass.
This just makes me sad that the Switch Lite doesn't have a good hacking scene yet. It'd make an *amazing* emulation machine if only it could be easily jailbroken
226$ for a device that will still struggle to run PS2 emulation. Buying Steam Deck for 399$ was a good choice considering what games it can run.
@@DJDanceClassic expensive
What I heard not all game works on Steam Deck, so I rather wait until they fixed em.
@@The_MEMEphis too big
Too power hungry
I'd say what's a deal breaker for me is the 3399 cpu being produced on 28nm process, that's the reason those cores are clocked so low yet it requires such a big cooling system. I'd pay more for a better cpu, alas, only smartphones provide that, so I'm stuck with a Poco X3 Pro - 300$ for a snapdragon 860 with 8gb of ram and 256gb rom.
Yeah I really think that companies that make handhelds based on chips that are literally years old yet still require active cooling are completely missing the ball. That is the main reason why I'm never buying a Switch. Active cooling means worse battery life, unnecessary extra weight and worse portability and worst of all, possible reliability issues. It is mind boggling to me that companies don't just invest a few extra pennies on solving the thermal issues on a product that is supposed to be premium when we know for a fact they have the means to do it.
10W couldve been cooled with just a passive heatsink but they took the cheap way out. And that's 10W for the entire system including the LCD, the actual cooling required is way lower.
@@nsp6590 v1 switches are really good I literally play everything on it
@@randyguzman7906 battery is shit
@@asmc1492 It’s better than these handhelds, getting 3-5 hours in demanding games.
Great showcase bro!!! I'm sure a lot of us that wanted to add to the collection but 200+ and only a bit more power to play with??? Also I think these side devs should stop working for free it ain't fair!! We need rally together and support good companies that support their customers and products
Looking forward to your next video on the RG552. I'm sure it will be absolutely fantesting.
Great critique Taki. Thanks lad.
The default OS on Anbernic devices has always been a bit of a mess, at least not performing as well as it should, and we're all running EmuELEC or ArkOS or something on our 351 now. I think Anbernic have just gotten used to the idea that the community will do better, and have really put no effort in. To an extent I can understand that. Even if they released what they thought was a perfect system, the community would release their own spin on it, claiming some minor gripe is a serious flaw, so there will _always_ be community-made firmwares for these. Unfortunately, that makes it totally unsuitable as a gift, without setting it up properly first, just like so many other handhelds.
mr. taki carrying the handheld scene so hard
I just checked and my notifications were off. I made sure to enable them so that I would be notified when your next video comes out. Seeing the android performance on this device is very important to me. Thank you for putting out useful, unbiased videos.
That F button on the bottom is there to pay respect to our fallen dreams of an affordable, relatively powerful device.
The RP2+ is coming though, so there's still hope.
Finally went for the Retroid Pocket 2 for $77 US after shipping.
Same here mate, paid £85 in the UK. Very pleased with it. I can play it on my TV which I love.
You understand that's not the Retroid Pocket 2+ right?
@@Pridetoons but it's upgradeable to "become a RP2+"
@@lownitro1385 You have to pay for that, plus Retroid already sells a pre built model of the RP2+. Personally I'd recommend you wait you the Retroid Pocket 3 it's going to be way more powerful.
@@Pridetoons you understand that I can upgrade to a RP2+ for £65 right? Or I could sell my model and buy a RP2+ for next to nothing...right?
All the planets are aligned with this?! From what I just heard, the PCB overheats when Space Invaders Atari 2600 version tries to boot, so it looks like I am not going to find the system I need in this galaxy.
I get rickrolled every time.
@@TakiUdon I have no idea what you are talking about. I am a genuine, and pressingly concerned, customer-in-waiting.
@@ncf1 😂. Best comment on here.
Ironically the more these devices come out the more I just wanted to play on my phone with a ps4 controller
Same, I mostly just use my poco x3 pro with an ipega pg-9167 controller now
But the problem is my DS4 is so laggy when I connect to my phone! Thankfully I ordered a GameSir X2 Type-C and the lag is completely gone now. But it has it flaws too, buttons are tiny and there's no analog triggers. Sucks that there's no perfect controller for Android devices I guess 😔
@@blues05
For anything that doesn't require analogue sticks the 8bit-do lite controller is amazing. For anything that does the 8bit-do pro 2 is as good as it gets and even has a phone holder sold separately.
Thanks for your early impressions Taki and I couldn’t agree more, these appalling builds that are supplied with these handhelds and mini game boxes are a travesty!!
Normally not so much of a problem, however as you said here it would be terrible if someone bought this primarily for the linux build alone as it’s such a mess!!🤢
Completely agree with this. I know myself I almost always install a custom firmware or OS on these products if I can and I personally wouldn't care how terrible their original firmware/OS is. To me anyways I'm buying the device first for the specs and secondly for the controls/features, so what it come with natively software wise wouldn't matter as again I would be most likely replacing it out the box.
I love it when I look for information on an item and I come across a review like yours!! nothing worse than a half hearted review. Great job, just sub'd
“It’s gonna be a retroid pocket 2 plus from me dawg”
Hey look Taki's rocking the new Anbernic!
I always look for this comment when I see that Taki is rocking the new Anbernic
This will change anbernic popularity going forward. I will prefer to buy the next anbernic with a Snapdragon or better. Why would they sell a system & not test the games to make sure they work properly. They need to demonstrate by playing games like what Odin is doing to sale their product. I'm looking forward to the Android video to see if it performs better. It's going to have to be no mess ups at all.
The RG353V might come with a SnapDragon.
I don't think this will change Anbernic at all. None of their OS's are good. Most of the customers are going to install custom firmware anyways.
Thanks for the review man.
I'll stick to my rg351p.
"Auto here, seems to mean that, you automatically have to change this... Yourself." Ha, THIS is what I come here for, this guy knows how to script :)
Already ordered a retroid pocket 2 plus just waiting on it and hoping that holds me over till the steam deck
watching this making me excited for the rp2+
Taki rocking the new Anbernic
Thanks Taki 👍 Nice device! ❤️
If this was a metal device I’d be interested in it at the price they are asking, but seeing that it is not I’m going to pass on this one
With Anbernic, always skip the first generation of a new device, and go for the revamp/second version.
It is often cheaper, slightly better in build quality, and almost always has a metal version on offer.
with the price tag and the paint I thought it was definitely metal. now that I know its plastic and runs terrible on the included linux os I'll pass. i don't need one of these but the thought of jumping on with the new lineage of portable emu handhelds was nice, but ill have to take the time to setup my sx lite instead w/ retroarch.
I'm waiting for the price drop.
I was thinking the same re metal case
@Pete Richards, I expect there will be a metal shell version in the near future. I do hope so.
Awesome review man!
Your honesty regarding N64 emulation was golden 😄 best advertisement for buying a genuine N64
I was really looking forward to this device but it looks like you saved me about $220-$250. Thank you.
Considering a Poco X3 Pro is only slightly more expensive, has a 8 core cpu, more RAM, better GPU, more storage, Android 11...And it comes with the screen protector already applied to the device, has better emulator support. As per design, it's nice to see they putting the airflow where someone with a different grip or larger hands could block it on the back and potentially burn their hands on the top. It would've been better for them to offer better hardware tailored for either only Linux or only Android, but a higher version. Also, the screen. How one designer with common sense would think the solution is taking a screen designed to be vertical and running it rotated instead of sourcing a proper screen for it. This design abortion is not exclusive to this device, however.
Your observations are quite off. Out of every fault these devices might have, I've never heard anyone dumb enough to block all the airflow and burn one, of any type or brand.
And the POCO X3 lacks the controller which, for a good quality one adds another 120$ to the phone price.
Now read again what you said and you'll see it doesn't make all that sense.
@@locked01 Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it's impossible to happen. A manufacturer with more than two neurons should never put airflow paths in places where they could be potentially blocked. That's design 101. As per price, you can probably find a X3 Pro nowadays for less than the price when it was new, which, it still has a better CPU, more RAM, higher resolution screen and so on.
Oh damn, Taki's rocking the new Anbernic 😯
And it's $230!
Waw this is the one that I'm waiting for for a long time
This device has a lot of potential, and future iterations of RK3399 powered devices could benefit greatly from lessons learned here.
The main draw I see here is the boosted processing and screen resolution, I see a lot of demand for fifth and even sixth generation emulation on affordable handhelds, which I'm interested to see if this device is capable of.
For anyone content playing fourth generation games with some PS1 though, the RG351MP will probably satisfy.
Whilst I agree that Anbernic need to do a better job with their shipped firmware, instead of yet again relying on the community to ship worthwhile firmwares, I can see that they are learning how to design the hardware around the needs of the user and the target systems.
Considering mid end phones are powerful enough to do them, it's not unreasonable to ask that at the same price point.
@Vincent Yes, it's no surprise that Pocket Go 2 / RG350 are capable PS1 emulators, this is due to them using MIPS architecture processors (JZ4770) which gives them an advantage in emulating another MIPS architecture system.
Although PS1 in general is much easier to emulate than N64 regardless of architecture, and ARM devices like RK3326 are still doing an excellent job of PS1 emulation.
Nice video Taki 🤗👍 Greetings my friend 👋👾
I didn't notice this but it doesn't have an 'M' at the end of it. This whole time I thought this was a metal device which was why it had a high price tag. Nope.
so far I'm on the wait for the revision/price drop train. maybe this or the next review will change me.
You're not the only one that told them this. I've had doubts about sourcing and part prices for a long time. I can see where every penny went, but I don't know how that will impress a community that was hoping for a $150 device.
Most were fine with $199. Myself included as they usually include slow S&H for free. But $230? What in the hell? That is 15% more than the price that was expected. In the case of $150.that was never ever going to happen much less right now.
@@AlexDiaz-gw5ov I don't think they could source it for $199, to be honest. I think this device probably costs about $220ish to build. Taki might know more, but the basic list of components I see here is not cheap unless you are working directly with manufacturers. Total unit price also depends on how many they ran off/plan to run off.
But I agree. I was ready to put about $200 into it, but $230 is beyond what most people should pay for this performance, ESPECIALLY when the x18s exists.
@@jedewitz All the materials in this are old. Like 2 to 5 years old. I doubt the cost of materials is more like $120. The issue here is they miscalculated something along the way. Either the building was a lot more expensive than normal. Or the price was set up this way to ensure a minimum profit margin higher than normal in advance. Who knows?
But yeah, the price is horrible.
@@AlexDiaz-gw5ov Just because things are a few years old does not mean they cost less, unfortunately. The RK3399 is a flagship SBC SOC. I''ve got distribution in front of me as I type this and I'm seeing them range in price from $10-$40 per unit, BGA (just the chip, no mount, best price is $25 per 1000 up) and more for kits that include other components. Prices vary often as the chip supply varies. Add in ram, the screen (looks about $20-40 as well- I don't have the specific part number), the cooling solution, the tooling, engineering, plastic molds, the plastic itself (a unit this large is going to use 60% more material than the 351), build time and other various parts and labor they have to pay their engineers and logistics, compared to how many units they produce- To build one of these devices costs a lot more than $120. You can look up the prices if you wish on a site like findchips. It's cheaper if you're dialed into Chinese suppliers, but not by much. Still, I agree with you- the price is horrible. Even if it costs them $205 per unit to build and finish, it's a bad investment when compared to the other offerings that are about to release. RP2+ is like $95 bucks. Swing and a miss with the firmware too. Let's see how it plays out- I don't think this one will be popular.
Thanks man for the honest review. I appreciate it. 👍
Thank you very much for this honest review. You've earned my trust sir.
You sir, became one of my most respected youtubers. It is not easy to say the truth when some money and products from a company to help your channel are at stake.
As an adult with little time to tinker I I need a game system ready go from fay 1. Glad this youtuber is calling it the manufacturers who ship things that functionally dont work. If the software os crap...then I dont care how powerful the hardware is.
I wanna thank you for your sincerity. Sometimes it's hard to find content creators that are not feared to show the real situation about a new device because the consecuences of such review.
:(
@@TakiUdon Don't know if I explained myself. It was a positive comment! :( English is not my primary language and sometimes don't know if I'm expressing what I want to express :/
@@antonioroman8684 I understood your messsge. Making this video came at a cost and it really sucked for me.
Love the big screen
Me too
I’ll stick with 350m. Thanks for the video!
rg351v remains the King \m/
THANK U !! ps big fan
I was hoping despite perhaps just using the rk3399, it would have a 5ghz for better streaming. Very unfortunate.
Rg552M will not have the flex but 300+
Hope teams will solve those issues, because Linux menus in retro-arch is the only reason i prefer this to Android devices. Thanks for your test.
You are incredible
Still better than steam deck that won't be around till mid 2022
Cheers Taki, looking forward to the Android showcase. Liking the screen and device size. Performance, price, battery life and firmware ... not so much.
I wonder is they are using a slow microSD card with their stock Linux image? It would be curious to dump the image of the Linux SD card and write it to a high speed Sandisk MicroSD card and see if the audio lag goes away.
Damn you make good videos
those names on the specs transport me to a decade ago
Thanks for showcasing the issues in linux with this device. I already have 3 new chipset android devices either in my possession or on order, and I don't want to have to run this handheld in android for decent performance. I much prefer linux over android on my handhelds. Just a personal preference.
I currently only own the RG280v with the Adam image installed, it is an excellent device for casual gaming and runs well, apart from possibly wanting better battery optimisation. Although there are more powerful cheaper devices out there, they don't seem to have the same Anbernic quality. It's a pity they don't pay one of the great firmware teams out there to optimise their devices as I'm not one for tinkering.
I suspect in a few months time some excellent team will make this device shine, but then again they may skip this one as the competition is fierce and other competitors are willing to pay for good firmware. It would be a pity for Anbernic to fail to succeed as they make good products, but old processors, lack of Bluetooth and unoptimised firmware could be their breaking point. Something like the Retroid Pocket 2+ for price and performance is appealing but I think I'll hang tight for a few more months until there is something a bit more rounded out there as I don't fancy a halfway product.
To spite being in a totally different price bracket I feel like even the Base model Steamdeck is going to cut in on their market because it's a beastly little linux machine that could not only run heaps of emulators, but also has the Steam Game library.
I did however get a RG351MP, it's a perfect pocket size and runs all the old 2D games I could want to play with the 351elec firmware installed, and thanks to Portmaster I even have Undertale and AM2R installed (which is a blast, it feels almost perfect on this thing), the RG552 just lands in an awkward spot for me where it's not really something I want to toss in my pocket for a day out or work breaks, and if I'm going for something bigger I'd rather wait for my base model Steamdeck.
I'll still keep an eye on Ambernic to see if they can make something more interesting however, a slightly more compact RG552V might make me change my mind especially once the community firmware catches up with it
@@UNSCPILOT The Steamdeck is fantastic value but it's just a little too high at the moment to reason with myself financially as a nice indulgence, then again if there is another lockdown (hopefully not) and I can't go on a holiday then I might as well pick one up.
The RG351MP is tempting but I was slightly disappointed with the wifi module not being built-in and the old processor but the compromise might be worth it. The RG552V you are probably right, it might be just a bit too big for what it can do and as for the price for about an extra £150 you've got yourself a Streamdeck which will be a beast for emulation.
@@JamesWilliams-rw6qc I'm not really using the RG351MP's wifi for anything but updates and scraping game info/images/video.
And as an added bonus your probably saving a bit of power and battery life not having it built in and left on all the time, bluetooth would be nice but generally I don't need internet access when playing old Metroid games, not even AM2R needs network access for anything.
It might just be that because I don't play fighting games or otherwise that use the Internet access so that might just be a IMO thing
I don't feel like it's overpriced and I'd gladly pay more for this in a metal shell. Silver of course :)
This has the same SOC as the Pinebook Pro which I have and like very much. The SOC has a lot of potential and developers have been making strides.
Maybe try a different version firmware. Maybe recalbox or arkos.
This trend of buttons being directly below the and above the analog sticks needs to end. You can't easily press the buttons with the the base of your thumb unless there's an offset. This is such a crucial design flaw that seems to be put in place by people that don't play games with camera controls.
No, I would prefer they move the buttons even closer.
Excelente, ^^
At the price point I also wanna go with the AYN Odin Pro
Great review; thanks. That already costs more than a GPD XD, which still preforms MUCH better.
13:20 While there'd still be the concern of seeing through objects, the framerate seems to top off at 50FPS because you're running a PAL/European ROM.
It's a notoriously hard to emulate game as well.
Ruh roh. Not a good sign.
Now back to more RP2+ test videos please :D
In my opinion (and having a 552) the worst problem is bluetooth connection lack, as there are no bluetooth dongle which seem to work with it, either in android or linux mode. That means that if you link 552 to tv, you will not able to play with a wireless pad...
"Jack of all trades, but a master of none"
...but oftentimes better than a master of ONE
Nice review, at least we are seeing bigger screens. The price is a bit much.
That USB volt meter is amazing! Where can we buy?
What happened to Rockchip 3588? Will it be released someday?
Next month
Thanks for this review. The price is bold but I thought the performance would at least somewhat justify it. Apparently though, my 351P with the current 351ELEC is doing even better that the stock RG552, especially in user experience. And with the RP2+ gaining popularity and the Steam Deck right around the corner, I think Anbernic shot itself in the foot. With a machine gun. Better luck next time.
I'm guessing that screen layout is trying to appeal to people who stretch their games out. it's not too skinny for 16:9 stretching but not too wide for 4:3 stretching
Great device, but yeah, it should only come with the Android and with the lower price (because then it wouldn't be dual boot system, old chip,etc.). I'm 100% sure that custom firmware will be available very soon after the release, but as you said, what's the point then? That way, they can sell and ship it without the games and OS, and we can wait for a custom ones to be made, and again, he price should be lower then. After 4 revisions (info from the device board), they could come up with something better in my opinion to justify its value, but we will see how it will go with the custom firmware, emulators, etc. Awesome review!
IMO every ARM-based emulation device should stick with 4:3 and just try to make the bezels thinner, until we can finally emulate ps3/360 that are actual widescreen consoles.
Unless you're emulating PSP, the screen on these devices(rg552, rgb10 max, gpd XD) just make the console bigger for no reason.
Geeze, how many different version of this handheld system are they going to keep producing?
I’m curious to see android performance but I’m tempted to just pick up a refurb LG V60 or used one plus 8 with a snapdragon 865 at this point with a razer kishi and use that as my handheld emulator
I don’t know about everyone else, but I think most early 3D games suck, and certainly didn’t age well. I enjoy the 8, 16, and some of the 2D 32 bit games, without bezels, and find that the RG 350m is my favorite handheld, with the RG 351V being a distant second. I absolutely love my 350M, especially with the feel of the metal body, and the correct size screen. I’m disappointed with this new handheld, just because of the aspect ratio, and the plastic, without even knowing how it runs.
i agree..
so it looks metal but it ain't metal, well, not good, not good at all, I'll stay with my RG351mp, it already does everything I want
In Canada, this thing costs around $320... So that is A LOT of money for a weird screen ratio, a CPU that is at least 3 years old, plastic casing with flex, 2.4ghz wifi only, no bluetooth (unless I'm missing something), and horrible audio lag and performance with initial Linux-based OS release. Oh, and still using old L2 R2 configuration when others are moving away from this setup (RP2, RGB10 Max2, etc...). All of this for $320??? This is HORRIBLE value for the price. And I say that as someone who loved previous Anbernic devices (have 2 of them already). Not falling for this one. Will wait until Odin releases, or will buy a Retroid pocket 2+ or 3 when it gets out. This feels like a product rushed out to market in the hopes of getting a headstart over their competitors' better products.
Price aside, firmware issues will be fixed from the community. Hdmi out is nice if bt works. That screen ratio is pretty good for zoomed in 4:3 games
I wonder what firmware is running in the secure context. My Pinebook pro still has suspend issues, that is it doesnt really suspend due to dram restore not been fully figured out in the open source firmware.
To be fair, that's a "Christmas is coming up!" sort of price. It'll go on sale soon enough.
Damn I was hoping this would be a good buy, hopefully the retroid 2 plus isn't a dumpster fire as well
Performance has already been tested and the RP2+ destroys this piece of trash.
Anbernic didn't use mainline linux and mesa panfrost???? That's odd.. this would be much better on linux with Panfrost.
Anbernic is horrible at making Software.
rocking the new ambernic!
At this point I might as well just start emulating games on my phone.... also unrelated but where'd you get that botw deskmat?
A bummer that it's running an old version of Android, but can that be updated ? Could you some videos showing how to update the device with other firmwares?
How is the Saturn emulation for this one? Been looking for something that can run Saturn games properly.
Hey Taki,
Awesome review; I just subscribed. I truly appreciate how transparent you are in your reviews. This looks really bad, so I cannot wait for the Android review.
Thanks for your time. :)
Thanks for the sub!
No 5Ghz Wifi, no BT and with a case that flex.
Yeah, don't think this is worth the $230 price tag.
Finally the RK3326 has been laid to rest.
The RK33xx is dead. Long live the RK33xx.
other anbernic devices are now on sale
Looking forward to the Android review, I have a feeling you will be praising the device. I do like it's smaller size I have to say.
Sub-par product, a 4 years old SOC, screen with wrong aspect ratio and overpriced. This chip (and wi-fi) should have been included on the RG351 MP.