Another day, another retro handheld. Variety is the spice of life, right? That's what every Chinese handheld gaming company obviously thinks, because the market is a maelstrom of new designs and products to try and conquer every price point.
I wrote last week about the GameMT E3 Vigor and the company's plans to take on ANBERNIC with their new device. Now, they're planning to take on AYANEO and Powkiddy with the EX8, a handheld that will fall into the same space as the Pocket Micro and the RGB50.
So what do we know about the EX8? Well, a recent teaser video has shown us that the handheld will boast a 3:2 aspect ratio with a 4.88" 1080x1620 display. From the side-view shown in the video, the handheld looks just as sleek as the AYANEO Pocket Micro in its design, but the EX8 wins out with a bigger screen size than AYANEO's offering with its 3.5" screen. It means that playing games for the PSP and PS1 will be much more comfortable on the eyes via the EX8. Obviously, we need to take the design with a pinch of salt, however, as they never end up looking quite this polished in real life.
In terms of processor, the EX8 is reported to be using a Helio G99 processor with 6GB of RAM, the exact same specs as the Pocket Micro. So in essence, it will be just as powerful with a bigger screen, and hopefully for many gamers, a smaller price point.
I'm a huge fan of the black and red colour scheme, though it also comes in white with purple buttons. The EX8 has symmetrical thumbsticks that have ring lights around them just like the MANGMI Air X (which plays PS2 games for under $100!), and a 5,000 mAh battery.
We don't know when the EX8 is coming, but the description on the video says 'soon'. With the black variant of the Pocket Micro costing $199 on AYANEO's store, I'm assuming that the EX8 will try to come under or match that price to take custom away from AYANEO, but your guess is as good as mine right now. It's another case of 'watch this space', and I'll report back with more concrete information as it drops from GameMT!
