If you were the nephew of the late, great Clive Sinclair, the inventor of the ZX Spectrum, then the chances are that computing would be in your genes. Grant Sinclair has followed in his Uncle's footsteps by creating possibly the world's sleekest handheld in the GamerCard, a Raspberry Pi-powered handheld that is the same size and thickness as the gift cards that you'll no doubt have seen hanging on the end of aisles or by the tills in supermarkets. At 6.5mm, it's an incredibly thin handheld and an amazing feat of engineering, proving that pioneering technology is in the Sinclair family's blood.
At 100 grams, it's insanely light too. It's hard to believe that there's a 4" IPS display and sapphire glass in this too, including a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, 512MB of RAM, and 128GB of storage, all while keeping everything incredibly thin. Not to mention the 1,600mAh battery!
It can also double up as a fully functional Raspberry Pi computer and support emulators like RetroPie, Recalbox, and Lakka, giving gamers access to all of their favourite retro games.
As reported by Yanko Design, the controls for the handheld are just as wild as the build itself. The GamerCard boasts silicone pads for controls and shoulder pads on the back. It's got that same sort of tactile vibe as the PlayDate, a hands-on experience that differs from the normal handheld design so much that it instantly sparks intrigue.
With a square ratio screen like the Anbernic RGCUBEXX, it's going to be better for some consoles than others. Games that were designed to work on a CRT will look great, though games in widescreen mode will end up either being squashed or having large black lines above and below the game screen.
And at £125 ($170), this isn't something that you would buy on a whim like the Super Pocket handhelds. This is something aimed towards design fanatics and handheld enthusiasts, those who really want something different in their collection as a talking point to show off when friends come round. It's definitely an impressive piece and a great example of what can be achieved by thinking outside of the box, and I applaud Grant Sinclair for his efforts with this one. I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next!
Head to his website now to grab a GamerCard for yourself!
