Though I’m not a technical expert on these specifications, what you say sounds very similar to what I have also heard.

But, for some reason, I continuously hear that the Miyoo Mini (not the Plus) can be damaged by attempting to use a power adapter with too high voltage. I don’t have one (the original). The Plus also does come with a little flyer that says to never use any power adapter over 5v, even c to c. I’ve never broken that rule, just because I do not want to prove it to myself that they were correct and deal with all of that hassle.

Wow. I can’t believe a device at this price point had to leave off wifi. That may not be a deal breaker for some (most?), but it is for me. Ah well.

Thanks for the answer! Yes, you’re right. I should have just checked my “subscriptions”. It is working as normal. Not a big deal to have an orange button there sometimes lol!

Sorry for the other comment. Since you’re the…creator of the magazine? Is that right? Do you know why my subscribe button for this magazine/channel has been stuck at pending for a few days? Every other magazine/channel I’ve been to on Lemmy ml, Lemmy World, and kbin they all go through immediately.

Thanks! Not really sure what the tone should be, so just trying to keep it all very light and easygoing! It was done during the slow times and I was not able to check it until just now! Guess it went through after all. 😀

Between the two? I prefer the Flip. Overall? That's more difficult to answer.

I've been spending almost all of my time lately on my Miyoo Mini Plus. It is a cute form factor and I've had to be outside my home waiting a lot lately, so it is very convenient. Mostly I'm playing it the most just because the current rom I'm playing on it is just amazing.

The G Cloud is a strong contender for favorite. It is the most comfortable to hold, but oddly enough, I cannot play it as long as the MMP. My hands just start hurting faster. But, even when they are hurting, I can hold both the GCloud and the MMP and still think the GCloud is more comfortable...I'm weird.

The Odin might actually be the best I own right now objectively. It is the most powerful. The price was very good (cheaper than the weaker GCloud). The screen is excellent. It is super comfy to hold (though it is a fingerprint and hand-grease magnet). It has no downsides really. It takes a bit too long to charge it to full, if I had to nitpick?

I have other older devices. The RP2+ might be my absolute favorite device, at least from a design standpoint, but I don't play it as much anymore just because it has gotten a bit weak in comparison to others. And for weak games, I'd probably rather play the MMP. Others like the RG280v and RG351v are very good, no complaints, but they just aren't my favorite. 405m I had to return because my screen fell off (got it through Amazon, so easy return). Things like the PlayDate and ArcadeGamer are similar but I would not consider them retro handhelds of the same variety. And my poor M1 Air, which has been sitting unused since I got it on a Black Friday sale a year (or two??) ago, has recently been used for emulation too (and it has been pretty amazing for that). But, it wouldn't really be fair to compare that to a retro handheld.

Russ has been leaving vague comments regarding T618's over the last few weeks. In this most recent video, which directly discusses his favorite T618, he only mentions that he isn't sure if it is still the value king any more. He does not give a replacement. The widening of devices (particularly in the massive amount of new SKUs in the super high-end price point) might mean that it takes a bit for things to settle.

I'm not as smart as Russ or any of those big reviewers (like Phawx, ETA, etc), but I suspect the next value king will not be a T618, just because we already have amazing devices and price points for those.

To be honest, they both have their issues and neither one is currently my favorite device. I did give the RP3+ away but I used it for many months so I do have a good sense of it.

I think Retroid's hardware is, in general, pretty good! But, they always have a strange quirk, at least lately. I say lately because I think the RP2+ is about as perfect a retro handheld as I've ever used (power and obsolescence notwithstanding).

The RP3+, for me, always had strange quirks with its battery, particularly in sleep mode, to the point where I never knew if I'd lose 5% over a night's sleep or 100%. I never got used to the start/select placement. It felt good in the hands but still a bit flimsy.

The Flip has really great first impressions. But, the hinge is so thick it makes the bumpers uncomfortable for me. The triggers are not great and I can already tell my right trigger will be the first thing that breaks. The screen being recessed and no Android physical buttons means it is annoying to swipe from any edge, but from the bottom is the worst. And it also has some of the same sleep mode problems. Lastly, I do like the sliders quite a bit (which surprised me), but I don't like pressing down on them at all (L3/R3).

I’m definitely on the prowl for more retro information now that The Old Place seems to have had a huge drop in quality, at least for the areas I used to browse.

What percent would you say is directly about the KTR1? And what percent would you say is about retro handhelds and emulation?

I ask because I probably will not purchase a KTR1 (at least not right now), and wouldn’t want to just “take space” in a discord if I’m not going to contribute too much to it…

Thanks for the link!

I hope you see this! Please let me know if you do, and if my tip helps you!

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I’ve been pretty busy the last few days. Anyways, I just got around to trying River Raid for the A800. It’s been a bit since I’ve used any Atari device, so I didn’t know which cartridge option to pick, so I just chose the first option.

After choosing that option, I did see the “demo crawl” of the game running, but, probably like you, I couldn’t do anything.

The fix, for me at least, was going into Quick Menu (boot up River Raid first, then hit your RetroArch menu button, and you should already be in the Quick Menu; if not, back out as far as you can, choose Main Menu, then Quick Menu will be the top option). Once in Quick Menu, choose Controls, then Port 1 Controls, then in the first option “Device Type” change this to “Atari Joystick”. Make sure you scroll down and have keys or buttons set to every possible keypress, but really as long as you have directional controls, “fire”, and “start”, you can probably play this game just fine!

I forgot how much fun this one was (though I never had an A800, I think I played this on an Atari console or maybe my C64 or Apple IIe)?

Nice! That pocket sprite…wow is it tiny. Not quite as tiny as the Thumby, but I think it beats the Funkey S and the Nano? I don’t think my old eyes could handle that one or the TrimUI…though I was close to buying that one several times!

My most recent device is the Miyoo Mini Plus and I thought it would also be too small for these eyes, but I’m loving it so far. It’s funny; I bounce between my smallest and biggest screen and pretty much ignore most of the others in between on average! (The MMP and the G Cloud)

You sound like me; I just have random tech lying around everywhere, lots of Pis, tablets, etc.! And it seems you have a similar attraction to clamshells!

What are your thoughts on the Flip? I like mine quite a bit, but I’m willing to overlook a lot, just because it is a clamshell.

Clamshells are my favorite as well. I hope the Retroid Flip and possibly the Miyoo Flip will usher in a new era of retro clamshells.

That’s really great! And what a machine for their first! I think they might get a bit spoiled tbh…

I will post a short summary of some things Russ said (not everything, because I do not want to take views away from him). Would you prefer my comments being part of the main post (which was long this time as I asked questions and preferences) or as a response?

Some things Russ said:

— RP3+ still a great machine. May not be the value king any longer just because of so many new devices coming out.

— He still dislikes the start/select placement on this device. I go much farther and absolutely hate it. It’s the reason I gave my 3+ away and got a Flip instead (which, unfortunately, also has some issues).

— He loves the color option, though it is apparently the only color option available for this metal version at this time.

— The metal feels very good. He does not dislike pressing buttons/d-pad against metal the way he has other metal devices.

Thanks for the great reply! I also love itch! I have gotten a lot of amazing software (mostly games, but a lot of great books and other pdfs) from there for very good prices.

Agreed on the keyboard overlay. I know the simplest/easiest solution is to just emulate any computer on another keyboard-enabled device, but there is still a fascination (for me at least) to running Apple/C64/Mac gen1/2 era software on a retro handheld. I think if I had to use any keyboard overlay to play a game, I’d probably not want to play that game. That’s just based off of every one that I’ve ever seen. Maybe there is a decent one to use that I haven’t seen yet…

A few questions for you, if you don’t mind. Are you emulating via RetroArch or using a standalone C64 emulator? If so, which one?

The reason I ask is I’m not sure if a bluetooth keyboard/mouse combo (I have one myself; not the same, but a slightly smaller one that I’ve had for years) will work in the way that you want it to. I’ve never tried this before on RetroArch, but I’m going to assume a BT kbm would be recognized by RetroArch in the same way that a BT controller would be.

If that’s true, then you would not be able to use the controls of your device at the same time as the BT kbm. They would be marked as device 0 and device 1, and I don’t think you could merge them (to use the buttons from the handheld alongside the keys of the kbm). I think, by default, that the handheld would be set as Player 1 and the kbm would be set as Player 2. You could swap back and forth during a game by just going into the RetroArch menu (then Settings, then Input, then Player 1, then change input device), but that could get very messy. You’d have to have shortcuts for any features you need (at least a way to return to the RetroArch menu, and maybe save/load states and other things) that would be compatible across both control methods. That would be fine for just the RetroArch menu (as they even give you two hotkey combo entries, one for controllers and one for keyboard) but the other features would likely not be able to be used by both sets of controls.

Just something to think about. As I said, I’ve never tried that before. Someone more versed at this might be able to agree or disagree with what I’ve said.

Pretty nifty. I can’t remember every C64 game I ever played way back when, but I remember a fair few of them requiring a keyboard, sometimes prior to getting into the game, sometimes in the game itself (text entry being a major part of the game, for example).

Did you connect a keyboard for this? Or just carefully playing only those C64 games that you could get by with a few key presses and a joystick?

I love my little 280v. Do you find it as indestructible as I do? I’ve never seen a PinePhone in the wild! How does it compare to the other common OS? (iOS / Android)

I’m mostly convinced we might see a small-ish ARM handheld with full PS2 and GC compatibility with minimal or zero tweaks needed per game within the next year or two. What do you think?

That’s amazing. I was torn for the longest time between the RG35xx and the MMP. I think the RG is better built, but I had to go with the MMP for the wifi (for retro cheevos!). But, I see there may be a version 2 of the RG35xx with wifi??

I agree with you on the Analogue devices. They are very pricey for me and I think I would prefer a Mister or a Polymega if I wanted to go FPGA.

I think Garlic (and Onion) absolutely make those devices shine!

That sounds like a lot of fun to me. =)

I don’t know why…I have much more powerful devices with much bigger and better screens, but I can’t stop playing on my MMP! I literally take it with me everywhere and have to hotspot it so I can get my Retro Cheevos lol!