Powkiddy is to release their latest horizontal format handheld later today, and that handheld is the new RK2023.
This is one we had not heard of up until yesterday when Powkiddy gave developers the go-ahead to share the news.
I got that early info yesterday, but of course the news has spread like wildfire within the Discord community.
And Powkiddy themselves posted about it today on their blog.
The overall consensus in the Discord chat seems to be that this one is late to the party. And ugly.
So what do we make of the new Powkiddy RK2023? Let’s find out.
Powkiddy RK2023 Details
The Powkiddy RK2023 is a horizontal format 4:3 device with a 3.5 inch laminated display.
And it has an RK3566 chipset, which is quite familiar to retro handheld enthusiasts now.
That’s the same chip inside devices like the Anbernic RG353M and the GKD Mini Plus Classic.
That means that the RK2023 will be capable of playing things like Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Playstation 1, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, PSP.
Anything above that will struggle, though you will often hear that it can touch PS2 and Game Cube. I’d never recommend that.
These kinds of retro gaming capabilities are all too familiar if you have ever purchased a retro emulator in the past two years.
Even the Anbernic products that used the rk3566 chipset recently were a little late to still be pushing that configuration.
The RK2023 will feature a dual SD card slot and make use of current LINUX firmware options.
So our ArkOS, AmberElec, Jelos type firmware will all apply here, since those have been developed for an RK3566 chipset many times.
If we had to give it credit for anything, it does have HDMI out for television connections. Which I think is an underrated feature on some of the current handhelds. I love it.
And what do we make of the overall look of the RK2023? Well, it looks more like an RK2019, am I right?
It looks a lot like the tried-and-true Anbernic RG350.
A cheap looking plastic shell and a dpad looks like something we would find on a $20 Aliexpress device.
But in 2023, this new device will not be $20. In fact… this device that is doing everything we’ve already had in the scene for two years now will be coming in at around $90.
In comparison, you can pick up an Anbernic RG351p for around $80 and it will do pretty much the same thing. But look way better.
So in 2023 – this new RK2023 will not be the most aesthetically pleasing device to release. It will also not be the most affordable. Nor will it have the most features.
So what are we doing here, Powkiddy?
Powkiddy RK2023 Specifications
- Chipset: Cortex-A55 ARM Quadcore RK3566, 60HZ
- RAM: LPDDR4 1gb
- Display: 3.5 inch 4:3 (640×480) IPS OCA Laminated
- Operating System: Linux
- Battery: 3500mAH (8 hours)
- Misc: Dual SD Cards, Stereo Speakers, USB-C, 3.5mm Headphone
- Dimensions: 151.5 mm x 78 mm x 17.5 mm
Powkiddy RK2023 Impressions
The Powkiddy RK2023 is quite late to the party.
We’ve had devices that do pretty much exactly what the RK2023 is going to do, but for about two years now.
It has the appearance of an “affordable” handheld and it is using a chipset that we’d all consider old news.
But it does not come with the pricetag we’d expect for a device of this configuration and appearance.
With everything that Powkiddy surely has in the works, not sure why this is the one to drop.
Is there really room in the market for another rk3566 chipset device that plays up to 64-bit era games?
No. No there is not.
Powkiddy is dropping a device that nobody wanted.
And surely… they have much better offerings waiting in the wings.
Anthony has been a video game lover ever since he can remember. He became a fulltime nomad in 2018, living throughout most of Asia. He focused his passion in retro gaming and began creating a game for the Game Boy Color while living in Nara, Japan during the 2020 pandemic. He is now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he spends most of his time gaming, going on long walks and meeting as many stray dogs as possible.
