Classicamiga Forum Retro Edition
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Thread: Retro Handhelds
Harrison 13:25 16th January 2021
That's the thing. It's all about price. My current Samsung S20 phone is far more powerful than any of these retro handhelds. Even my 3 year old Samsung S8 is far more powerful. But that's comparing a $1000 phone with an $80 retro handheld, and that price difference just highlights what amazing value for money these newer ones are, especially the RG351P, which I got for £72. Amazing price really.

I I suspect you are the same. Although our smartphones are so much more powerful they are just not practical to play retro games on, and the physical controls of these little retro handhelds makes all the difference between watching a game running well and actually being able to play it.
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Demon Cleaner 13:43 17th January 2021
Originally Posted by Harrison:
I suspect you are the same. Although our smartphones are so much more powerful they are just not practical to play retro games on, and the physical controls of these little retro handhelds makes all the difference between watching a game running well and actually being able to play it.
Exactly. I like gaming on my iPad, but games meant to play on tablets, definitely not retro gaming. There are loads of great strategy, adventure, RPG, puzzle and even racing games that work well on the tablet.
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Harrison 14:39 17th January 2021
Have you tried using an 8BitDo controller with a smartphone mount?

Personally I know it would give the best Android emulation preformance far more powerful than any dedicated retro handheld, but I just think it's a too cumbersome a setup to use out and about. I could see me using it if I were camping or somewhere static, but not on a train, bus or sitting in the park.

The other issue is battery life. Smartphone drain their batteries really fast playing games. They are much better with far larger batteries and super fast charging is brilliant these days. I can charge my S20 from 15% to full in 45 minutes, which is quite impressive, but then gaming you would be lucky to last 2-3 hours. On something like the Anbernic handhelds you can easily get 6 hours and being so small can just drop it in your bag or coat pocket.

I also think other than the price point the hardware components in retro Handhelds are lower powered than current smartphones to reduce power consumption to increase battery life.

Although not an Apple fan I'm hoping their shift from Intel to fully adopting Arm based M4 processors in all their Macs could see a big knock-on effect in a year or 2 for more powerful mobile processors that are more enery efficient. And that could greatly benefit the retro Handhelds in the future.
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Demon Cleaner 06:22 18th January 2021
I have absolutely no interest of using a controller together with my phone, the point is being mobile. And when I'm home, what is the point of gaming on a handheld or a tablet with a controller, when I can play on my 75" TV or 108" beamer in 4K?

I have a 12.1" iPad Pro, and the battery drains quite fast when playing, a lot faster than on a normal iPad, I guess it's due to the large screen. Plus charging takes also quite a while until full 100%, only negative thing about it. But I don't mind too much, as I'm never playing longer than 30 minutes or such.
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Demon Cleaner 23:17 21st January 2021
There's also the AYA NEO starting on Indiegogo soon, looks very interesting too.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a...atus=confirmed
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Harrison 11:17 24th January 2021
Droix.net keep posting previews about this one. Looks interesting, although pretty big for a handheld.

47Wh Battery!

That's quite a battery.. must be heavy. But you would need something quite powerful to power what is basically PC hardware in a handheld.
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Demon Cleaner 14:39 5th February 2021
Btw, did you see this one, looks amazing in my opinion, fantastic design.

https://retrododo.com/new-sega-game-gear/

- - - Updated - - -

I bought a Nintendo Switch Lite yesterday

I was browsing, and saw that they had the yellow edition in stock, which is my favorite color, and it was reduced by 40€, so the price was 189€. Plus I got a really nice yellow pouch to store it for travel, and I also got a yellow official MicroSD card from Nintendo with 256GB. Yellow all the way

I never considered buying one, but during this pandemic I save loads of money and sometimes I just need to buy something. Being able to play some nice Nintendo games or indie titles on the go seems fun though.

Didn't research yet about Switch Lite hacking, don't know if that's possible yet?

UPDATE: Apparently there's not softmod for the Lite, you have to install a modchip called SX LITE.
[Reply]
Harrison 12:41 12th February 2021
Is there a Softmod for the normal Switch then? I didn't know that. If so I'm getting one! I'd held off buying one until a working softmod was available as the games are too expensive, although I would still buy the key games such as the Mario titles but a mod would be great to run the older ported Nintendo games as I refuse to rebuy N64 and SNES games I already own.

But there is a lot of rumours of a new updated Switch with a higher resolution screen, faster CPU and 4K TV mode support coming this year some time after April.
[Reply]
Demon Cleaner 17:23 12th February 2021
Originally Posted by Harrison:
But there is a lot of rumours of a new updated Switch with a higher resolution screen, faster CPU and 4K TV mode support coming this year some time after April.
Do you mean this one: https://retrododo.com/super-nintendo-switch/


[Reply]
Harrison 00:19 13th February 2021
Yes, that's one of the latest renders of what it might look like. Makes it look more like a Sony Vita. Lots of sites reporting slightly different rumours.

There's some new rumours saying it will be a proper console and not support mobile gaming, but I think that would defeat the whole point, although maybe Nintendo are thinking the Lite will take over as the main handheld version, and a full TV based Switch as the main system. But then wouldn't that make the name Switch a bit meaningless?
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