As I almost finish writing up my review of the ANBERNIC RG35XX 2024, a new handheld by ANBERNIC swiftly gets revealed! It’s becoming a full-time gig to keep on top of ANBERNIC’s reveals.
This time ANBERNIC has revealed on their YouTube channel the RG28XX, a horizontal handheld which looks like the old school Bittboy Pocket Go from back in 2019, a handheld which kick-started the emulation handheld industry.
There’s no official specifications as of yet, but as the name/trend goes, it looks like it will have a 2.8″ display and according to ANBERNIC enough power to emulate PSP, Nintendo DS and Dreamcast games, signifying it may have the same chipset as the popular RG35XX Plus.
It’s keeping the same buttons as the RG35XX too, alongside the same grey bezel around the screen, the same speaker grill designed like the Game Boy DMG and likely the same battery capacity, either 2100MAH’s or 2600MAH’s.
It’s the first time in a while that ANBERNIC has revealed new colours for their devices too, featuring a new “Beige White” and “Orange” designs. Personally I do like the white design, only because it has Retro Dodo colours!
I clocked that the shoulder buttons are not flared too, which is a shame because they are far more comfortable than these little lego blocks which are likely the ones featured in the RG35XXH.
There’s a trend which you can likely see with ANBERNIC over the last 12 months or so, they seem to be releasing as many handhelds as possible using many different components from many of their devices, lowering production and design costs.
As a business that isn’t a bad idea, but too much choice can infact confuse customers, which is a topic I discuss in my upcoming RG35XX 2024 review.
The RG28XX has a MINI-HDMI out port allowing you to use a display with this console, and using the USB-C port you can also connect up a wired or wireless controller too, just like the RG35XX. Although I will admit, it’s the most awkward way to play on a screen, as you can see towards the end of the YouTube video.
I hope ANBERNIC don’t release a “Plus” version in the future that has WiFi/Bluetooth for $14 extra just like they have done with the RG35XX Plus, because that’s not fair on their customers, they should have just released this device with those extras straight off the bat, but only time will tell!
I personally like the design here, mini handhelds are growing in popularity quite quickly and I think this variant will do well thanks to the adorable design, but theres no denying they could have upgrade some areas of this device.
I am speculating here, but my bet is that this device will retail for $49.99 and will officially open for pre-orders within the next few weeks, with shipping starting in mid-May.
