Anbernic RG Slide Review: The Xperia Play of My Dreams

While many people are nostalgic for flip phones, sliders are the way to go for me. Of course Thwomp Make me feel like I was a secret agent every time I sent a text to my mom to pick up a little more Mountain Dew and Cheetos.

But when PSP Go and Xperia Play brought that form factor to play, I just didn’t get it. At that time I would not overlap my gaming devices with my phone. I still don’t, but it’s the unfortunate world we are now living in.

So when the anbernic RG light image was announced, I was skeptical. Clamshells like Retroid Flip 2 had me hungry for more unique form factors in Retro gaming handheld The world, but can this slider overcome my previous prejudices?

After having the unit and pushing it up, so familiar Thwomp Immediately got me hooked. The RG light picture may not be perfect, but it is excited about the future of handheld in a way that few units have the past year.

Apart from the smooth sliding mechanism, the first thing that stands out is about the RG light image. It is incredibly thick. The 4: 3-side relationship, a 4.7-inch screen and rounded design make it look like a phone from two decades ago, but the thickness reminds me of even older handheld from the 90s-the type who ate through the AA batteries that I went through Mountain Dew.

When I came across the first shock, I found that the size actually worked in its favor. When I got used to the main part, it was surprisingly comfortable to hold, and the thickness makes it possible to realize capacitive pins with a nice range of movement. The controls in general are fantastic, with a soft D-pad and quiet buttons. The triggers are very clicking, and the small power and volume buttons are discreetly hidden on the side.

There are two extra buttons and they are on each side of the screen. These are great for emulation of quick keys, and they make it so I never really needed to touch the screen. That alone made it feel more like a game console and less like an Android phone.

The screen itself is beautiful. 120Hz update frequency is absolutely overkill for a device like this, but the colors and brightness are perfect. It’s not a OLED panel, but I don’t want any complaints if Anbernic and other companies continued to use this screen on multiple devices in the future. However, it is quite exposed on the outside of the device, so I would definitely recommend using the supplied screen protector.

By taking another page from the book with older smartphones, it also has stereo speakers on each side of the screen. They sound good, and the location means you never cover them with your palms. They actually make the RG light image a solid media view unit, especially for the elderly, not-16: 9 content.

If I have a complaint about the design, it is that the screen is ever so slightly outside the middle. It is not felt when the slider is open and you play games, but it is felt when playing touch screen. More about it in a moment.

I was originally disappointed with the UNISOC T820 chipset on the RG light picture, since it felt like a unit this unique should have somewhat more powerful. However, the T820 has been used on many anbernic devices lately, and it is a solid performer for everything even PS2. Just don’t expect to enjoy the limit switch or PS3 -Temulation.

I drove the device through our standard package with benchmarks to get a general idea of ​​what we are talking about. There is only one configuration available, with 128 GB of storage and 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM. You can increase the storage with a microSD card, and Anbernic sells the device with the ability to include a 128 GB or 256 GB card, loaded with the play of questionable legality.

Check out the results of our tests above, pitty against two retroid devices on each side of the RG light image when it comes to price. The Pocket flip 2 have an aging but skilled snapdragon 865 soc, and Pocket Classic have the new handheld focused Snapdragon G1 Gen 2.

The results are mixed, with the RG light image that falls somewhere between the two retroid units in most tests. The newer G1 gene 2 shows impressive performance for how cheap it is, but the UNISOC T820 still blows it away in GPU performance. Personally, I would like to see a follow-up of the RG light image containing the midrange Snapdragon G2 gene 2 chip set to drive Next retroid flagship. Anbernic has never used a snap dragon chips in any handheld, but it can never be done.

When it comes to actual emulation, the RG light picture handled everything I wanted it to. Retro -Systems obviously ran well, and the 4: 3 screen is perfect for Ps1,, N64And more. Unfortunately 16: 9 systems that Psp Has quite heavy letter boxing. Ironically, I would not recommend paving this PSP-shaped device to play PSP games.

Gamecube and Ps2 Is also playable, but you have to make some compromises. I couldn’t get all the games to play at full frames, let up scaled up. Without upscaling, PS2 games play at 640 x 480, which is half of the native resolution of the RG light image 1280 x 960 IPS panel, and it looks quite muddy on the 4.7-inch display. It is playable, but it is far from ideal.

Like a sideote I left my beloved Es de frontend For the sake of this review, sticks to Anbernic’s homemade RG launch. It took some work to get it to recognize the games in my MicroSD card, but when it was set up, it was surprisingly great. The console comes with many emulators that are pre -installed (although I ended up switching someone for more updated versions), and you can choose which emulator you want to start right in the launch settings.

There is an exchange in the warning shadow to change the standard thrower so you can play your games without seeing an app icon. With everything that is configured correctly, the RG light image becomes a Bonafide game console instead of an Android phone sermon. There is even an option to lock and unlock the unit with the sliding mechanism, which is indescribably cool.

Native Android games do not appear in this menu, but they are also good at this device. I usually only play Controller-compatible Android games On these game handling, but on this device, I also liked portrait touch screen. It looks and works just like a thick phone when the slider is closed, so it didn’t feel difficult to play mobile-first games like Monument Valley, Clash Royale or Subway Surfers. As mentioned above, the screen outside the center is sharply felt when you hold the device vertically.

The last note here is battery life, and for the most part the 5,000 mAh cell goes the distance. Depending on the settings and systems I mimicked, I got anywhere from five to 12 hours of battery life.

The disadvantage is the charging speeds, which top 10W. In my testing, it took about two hours to fully recharge, so don’t expect a quick top between the matches.

While the RG light image is a fascinating unit, it is also quite expensive. It starts at $ 189.99 for just the console, which puts it in a strange place when it comes to value. Middle chipset and mixed PS2 emulation make it a hard sale at that price, but it makes up for it with a design that is a cut over the competition.

It is a relatively new position for Anbernic. The brand is not exactly known for innovation, but rather for step -by -step improvements to existing designs and ideas. The RG light image can be the unit to turn the reputation of the head.

If you are looking for more performance, look at another form factor. Retroid flip 2 ($ 229 on the manufacturer’s website) Is one option, and it offers quite a lot more performance for PS2 emulation, but it also costs quite a lot more, and starts at $ 229 before shipping and taxes.

Otherwise, you look at more standard vertical or horizontal handheld, which honestly does not hit the same as the RG light. If you have any nostalgia for sliding devices such as Xperia Play or PSP Go, this device can scratch that itching.

Of course, you will also wait for Anbernic to do their things and iterers on this device. If it was just a smuggling smaller and a hair that is more powerful, it would be an absolute sludge.