It's been a rollercoaster ride this poast couple of days, looking out for news dropping from Retroid HQ about the new Pocket Duo. First we had a little tease of the concept, then we had some specs, and now we've got a full on trailer showing off both the Pocket Duo and a Pocket Duo Lite version, with a different chipset that will undoubtedly come in at an even lower price.
I'm just going to jump straight in here and start talking about both handhelds. The Pocket Duo, which is going to the be handheld that Retroid has stated will deliver flagship performance, has a 5.5" 120Hz OLED 16:9 top screen and a 4.5" 120Hz OLED 4:3 screen at the bottom. That's actually better than all of the AYN Thor models; although they have a 6" screen as opposed to 5.5", their bottom screens are smaller (3.92") and have a refresh rate of 60Hz.
The Pocket Duo Lite has a 5.5" 60Hz LCD 16:9 top screen and a 4.2" 60Hz LCD 4:3 screen at the bottom. That's not the only change in both handhelds, and although I don't have pricing figures for them yet, I can already tell that there's going to be a big gap between them. It looks like Retroid aren't just going to create a console that could divert people from buying the mid tier (affordable) Thors, but also from purchasing the Lite option too.
Both the Duo and the Duo lite will come in:
- Black
- Gamecube-inspired design
- 16-bit (SNES-inspired)
- Ice Blue (transparent)
- Clear Purple (transparent)
Honestly, it's the GameCube and the 16-bit for me here - they look amazing, and I can't wait to get my hands on one to try it out for real. In terms of casing and button placement, the consoles are exactly the same. It's when it comes to the triggers that you really notice the difference.
The triggers on the Pocket Duo look great. Ok, the R1 trigger is a little thin compared to the AYN Thor, but I already know that I"m going to like the textured feel of it. The R2 button is much bigger, as it should be - it'll end up getting used for way more while playing, and it looks both a great size and as though it will have plenty of travel to it. I'm not complaining at all there.
The trailer also shows the screen being poised at multiple different angles, including 180. They're pretty confident that the hinges are going to withstand the test of time which I like, but 10 minutes in Brandon's gormless southern hands will test them to their limits.
The triggers on the Pocket Duo Lite, however, look exactly like the Anbernic RG28XX, and they were some of the worst triggers I've ever used. They're tiny, and they're not fun to use. That''s what is making me think that the Pocket Duo Lite is going to be much cheaper than the Duo. The chipset's also tell a story too.
The Pocket Duo brings 'performance without compromise', whereas the Pocket Duo Lite brings 'just right performance'. As we know from yesterday's tease, the Pocket Duo has a Dragonwing Q-7790 chipset, whereas the Duo Lite uses a QCS6125. The Pocket Duo runs on Android 16, whereas the Duo Lite runs on Android 15. The 6,000mAh battery appears in both handhelds.
What does that mean? Well, the Duo Lite says it's an entry level dual screen handheld, delivering just the right performance at an affordable price. The Pocket Duo brings flagship gaming performance and exceptional efficiency. My take on this is that the Duo Lite will be able to play 3DS and DS games, but with no upscaling. I think it has to be able to do what Retroid say it will - that's the whole reason for making a dual-scren handheld, after all. I think the main difference is that the Pocket Duo will allow you to upscale games and push them to the full, getting better graphics and also coping with Nintendo Switch Emulation.
Essentially, if you just want to play DS games, you'll buy a Pocket Duo Lite, but if you want to do much more and have the latest operating system, you'll go for the Pocket Duo.
Advanced active cooling makes me think that the Pocket Duo also has the capabilities to stream games and take on heavier titles. Again, I'll need to see how Switch emulation works on here and how it can cope with higer-load games like Breath of the Wild. It should pass our Need for Speed PS2 test with flying colours, and I reckon it will be able to cope with most of the Wii U games I throw at it too.
As I said, the one thing we need to find out now is going to be the pricing, which we should find out tomorrow at the rate that we've been getting information from Retroid.
