The Pocket Advance is an upcoming retro handheld by AYANEO that looks just like the GAME BOY Advance. Instead, it will likely come with some decent power, an Android OS and a sprinkling of AYASpace, AYANEO's custom front-end allowing you to organise and manage your ROM files efficiently.
This handheld is receiving a lot of attention since they dropped us an exclusive image of the device a few days ago. Many have asked AYANEO for a GBA-like device that can upscale the games by 4x, alongside dabbling in other retro emulation and Android gaming. Many are saying AYANEO are flying too close to the sun here in regards to the GBA design, annoying Nintendo enough for them to come knocking, but that's not our problem.
Today, AYANEO's CEO, Arthur, held a (very long) livestream on YouTube, showcasing a look at the Pocket Advance in person and answering questions from their community. The first thing I noticed is that although the sizing and button layout are the same, it does have a slightly more rounded look, likely because of the oversized shoulder button design, which I kinda dig. It features more action buttons, a couple more menu buttons, added "RC/LC" shoulder buttons for extra mapping, an oversized bezel, an SD-card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and USB-C charging.
It's also going to be on the heavier side, coming in at 244g, in comparison to the 140g GAME BOY Advance. It's heavier, yes, but it's packed with tech, so it's expected. For comparison, the ANBERNIC RG34XX, which also looks like a GBA, is 188g. Sizing-wise:
- KONKR Pocket Advance = 151.3mm x 82.4mm x 22mm
- GAME BOY Advance = 144.5 mm x 82 mm x 24.5 mm
Arthur also gave us some new information regarding the screen. It's going to be a 3.5" 3:2 LCD display, with the opportunity to naturally scale GBA games at 4x native resolution on this 960 x 480 display, something we all predicted. This gives it a crisp 307ppi. I believe this is the same display being used in their recently announced Pocket Micro 2.
It will also come in two colours, Orange (Coral) and Purple (Navy), just like the original GAME BOY Advance. It's clear AYANEO wants this to look and feel like the original as closely as possible, while adding some quality of life advancements that may bulk the thickness up a little.
The livestream also shows off its Android capabilities, with AYASpace, showing applications organised and managed. The volume wheel at the bottom is a nostalgic feature I really like, and it seems like it works well with Android's volume settings too.
As of now, that's all from Arthur and AYANEO regarding the Pocket Advance. He stated that they'll announce more information about the CPU and power "next week", which may be a full look at the specifications, so make sure to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to not miss out on that news hitting your inbox! He did slip in that they're working on a AYANEO GBA SP handheld too! Anyway, i can finally turn off his livestream that's been going on for hours!
