Back in 2021, SouljaBoy himself revealed that he was releasing yet another games console, not the one that looked like a fake Xbox, but a handheld that “will change the game”, also known as the TRDR Pocket.
Long story short, they said it was brand new, when in reality they purchased an old mould of the Retroid Pocket from China, it flopped due to misleading false advertisements, lies regarding SouljaBoy being “CEO” while selling out to ATARI and it being a genuinely bad product.
We know this because we reviewed it, and it was one of the worst handhelds we have ever tested, see the video review below, it’s as funny as you can imagine.
Many old customers never received their original TRDR Pocket’s and when asked for refunds they were ignored for weeks, if not months. They even lied to influencers after sending them samples.
As of today the “new TRDR Pocket” 2 has come to fruition, and their website has been fully updated with the new console all while making the original non-existent. This went under our radar until a Retro Dodo community member emailed us asking for advice.
We replied: don’t go anywhere near it.
The new TRDR Pocket 2 looks to be targeting the same kind of demographic, those who want to buy an incredibly poor handheld games console.
They forked out a load of money for the mould, so it seems like they have made the decision to stick with the same design. Instead this time it comes with new internals and “the world’s smartest AI”.
One of the highlighted features is that you can even ask it “what you can eat tonight”. Amazing, the one feature we all wanted in a handheld!
TRDR Pocket 2 Specifications
- 3.5″ Touchscreen
- Helio P60 Processor
- 4GB RAM
- 4000MAH Battery
- Android OS
- Bluetooth 4.0
- 128GB Storage
- USB-C Charging
- HDMI Out
- “HD Surround Audio”?
- “Life Changing AI”
They claim the handheld will feature “life changing AI” and its going to be “America’s favourite new handheld”.
On paper the specs are quite nice, it’s the same processor that is going to be used in the upcoming Miyoo P60, enough to power Dreamcast and maybe even Gamecube emulation.
But the device lacks shoulder buttons, making it near impossible to play retro games and Android games on this device, unless you map them to your action buttons which will just make the gaming experience incredibly awkward.
We’re all down for new companies creating handhelds, just look at the OH WOW handheld for example, they seem to be doing it right. But this handheld here has such bad history that it’s also likely to flop or potentially be misleading for customers.
Yes, it may be a funky new way to check your emails, or explore Tik Tok using a analogue stick, but it’s not going to play any of your games comfortably, even with large specs. The layout is simply terrible.
Even if you do buy it for social media, the 3.5″ is too small to read anything, and when testing their previous device we had to somehow type on a keyboard just 3″ wide, and even then the touchscreen wasn’t calibrated correctly!
A.I In A Handheld?
Apparently so. Could they have built the AI themselves? Highly unlikely. But they may have added a third party AI to help navigate the Android operating system.
Just like Siri you can ask it to set reminders, open apps, maybe even ask it for some advice, but “life changing AI” is also highly unlikely.
We’re not sure why gamers would buy a handheld to ask it what to eat today, or to ask it about “real life matters”.
From TRDR Pocket’s past experience this is likely a marketing tool that fails to do what it was marketed to do, we will only know once we see the device in action.
Who knows when this will be, but if they have started shipping then it should be any day now… right?
Should you buy one?
We can’t say because we don’t have one, and we never will because of the history that this brand has. We’re more than willing to give them another chance, but we cannot recommend this to any Retro Dodo reader because it’s more than likely not worth the $399 price tag.
Apparently, it has already been “released” according to their website, as they have “started shipping on the 6th September”, but we messaged them through their on-site chat and in fact the haven’t even shipped yet, and estimate that they will start shipping at the end of September.
So already, they are misleading customers on their website, an in fact you are “pre-ordering” a product that hasn’t been produced yet.
There are no real photos of the device, nor any video footage, every image on their website are renders, cementing our thoughts about the handheld not being complete yet.
This is the strategy they likely used last time. They would happily accept pre-orders and customers money before launch, or before they shipped in hopes they can obtain enough cash to make the product a reality, and then when customers asked where their orders were, they would say things like “we are adding upgrades to the product” or “shipping has been pushed back by X months”.
For more information you can visit the TRDR Pocket website, but we cannot state this enough, we do not recommend buying their products.
