It was only a couple of weeks ago that we got a fleeting look at what we hoped was Anbernic's new flagship large-screen handheld. While the only specs I could find were a reported 5.5" display and the use of a Qualcomm Snapdragon Custom G2 chipset as an upgrade from the Unisoc T820 in the RG 556, other factors such as whether it would be touchscreen like its predecessor and what consoles it would be able to emulate were purely left to speculation.
ANBERNIC have officially debuted the RG 557 in a YouTube video posted today, however, with both translucent smoke and matte white variants available to purchase. Complete with an ergonomic grip, ANBERNIC have confirmed that the AMOLED screen will be 5.48" (I was almost right at 5.5") with a resolution of 1920x1080. The video shows everything from touchscreen Wii-U titles (albeit hidden behind a cloud to avoid Nintendo's wrath) through to PSP & PS2 emulation, with ANBERNIC confirming that their new device can also stream AAA titles and emulation PC games.
From what I can see on the video, the visuals are insanely crisp with some serious upscaling for PSP games that look incredible. The screen size makes it perfect for PSP and modern consoles that we're used to seeing on widescreen TVs, though I wouldn't imagine you would want to buy this for classic consoles like the ZX Spectrum or the Game Boy. ANBERNIC are definitely aiming to compete with higher-end emulation devices and the likes of the SteamDeck and Lenovo Legion Go S with the RG 557, and there are plenty of devices available that emulate those older consoles that you really wouldn't need to load the RG 557 up with 'Horace Goes Skiing'.
The only thing I worry about is the front-end UI; ANBERNIC maintain that the RG front-end is easy to use, but we've always found it so clunky and hard to navigate. We're unsure as to what the other specs are at this time too, though as the RG 556 came with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, we can reasonably expect a slight upgrade in these departments on the RG 557. I would imagine the 5,000 mAh will remain unchanged, and that we'll see an RRP of around $220, though that's just speculation on my part for the time being.
As always, I'll update this article with more news as it arrives!
