For an independent third-party, Anbernic makes rather compelling hardware in the retro gaming space; as I pointed out when I reviewed the RG350P and R351P. Given their strong hardware impression and being receptive to community feedback, the company also gathered a significant international following but official news and videos of the company’s plans were limited to forums and word of mouth.

Recently, Anbernic announced its plans to have a bigger international presence and started by maintaining an official YouTube account with videos and announcements. Now the China-based console maker has taken the next step in this plan with the launch of its official English website. Visitors can find detailed information of Anbernic’s line of products, social media links and an official store to place orders. It was developed by the guys over at Venture Electronics, whose audio peripherals performance I’ll share in an upcoming impression piece.

In addition to its English website, Anbernic has also recently launched its latest handheld, the RG280V. The latter sports the JZ4770 processor like the RG350 line of handhelds but it packs a radically different form factor, being vertically-oriented (as designated by the “V” suffix). The company also calls it as its “most compact” device yet but performance should be on par with the popular RG350. The 280V starts at $80 and you can find more about its specs in the thumbnail below.

​

Official Anbernic website

 

[Veho]

The RG280V looks totally cute Not sure how comfortable it is to hold and play, but it looks great

 

[luigirockz]

The RG280V looks totally cute Not sure how comfortable it is to hold and play, but it looks great

Looks like a GBA SP that doesn't fold. Very pocket-able for sure (:

 

[Issac]

Damn.... I want it really bad :o

Like... for real! :o

 

[spotanjo3]

LOL. None of them played PCSX2,CMU, and YUZU at all. SKIP!

 

[Rahkeesh]

LDK pioneered this form factor but they haven't done anything with it in a while, so nice to have an updated option.

 

[pedro702]

first no analog stick means it sucks, second 4:3 screen? even gba had widescreen of sorts, most games will look preety wierd specialy gba games and such, and third seems way too tiny for any adult hands, and this is a retro emulator of sorts most people playing this will be adults imo.

 

[vincentx77]

Awww hell no. I can only see this having an appeal to the younger crowd. It might make a good stocking stuffer. Just look at the dude in the video, tho. The awkward way he's holding that thing... I'm pretty sure my hands don't do that anymore. If they do, they don't do it for long. GBA/PSP style devices or get out.

 

[LightBeam]

Starts at 80$ ??? Damn, would prefer a Retroid Pocket 2 at this price point, it already runs better than the RG351P

 

[gatoula]

They are stealing the console design from LDK handheld.

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

gbatemp looks too friendly with anbernic.

 

[cearp]

The video is like a review, but it's from the company themselves... so it's obviously biased!
Not that I'm opposed to the device, but it certainly isn't going to fill a gap for me.

(Although I'm not sure what gap the Analogue Pocket I bought is going to fill, but near perfect reproduction of GB/A logic is very cool, and in a premium device. For me it was an easy decision!)


-- but rumble is very cool!

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

oh sweet, it has rumble

does R351P have rumble

 

[Ninoh-FOX]

Yes, RG351P has rumble.

 

[RichardTheKing]

Hey it's got the Nintendo button layout; SWEET.
So many third-party controllers and consoles use the backwards Xbox layout, which is just awful; clashes with more than a decade of built-up muscle memory and intuition. If I can say one thing about Anbernic, it's that they know which button layout is king!

 

[fvig2001]

What is the OS supposed to be? Is it like a Dingoo that you need specific builds for it?

 

[the_randomizer]

Still better than the Game Gear Mini x3

 

[Prans]

What is the OS supposed to be? Is it like a Dingoo that you need specific builds for it?

It's OpenDingux, which is the same as the RG350P

 

[TheRealNGB]

I got one in hand already, picked it up specifically for the form factor because I wanted something that would easily fit in my pocket without being to bulky or analog sticks snagging on anything, for this purpose it is great, and the screen is really nice.

There is no wifi or av out which probably isn't a big deal if you knew that going in but the system would have felt a LOT better at least at $60, and would be killer at $40. The headphone jack would be better at the bottom instead of top, and the r2/l2 buttons are nearly useless for games that require you to hold them down, my fingers cramped trying to use them almost immediately, but it might be better for someone with bigger hands, if your not using them or only need to push them every once in a while they are fine. I have also had issues with directional button pad in some games where pushing down would also push forward or back, but in most games it is not noticeable at all, finally almost everything included was in chinese so be prepared to have to wipe all the included games, and add your own.

Its a great little system for what it is, and I could see myself using it often, even playing through some of great ps1 jrpgs available, but it would benefit greatly from some small design improvements and/or a price cut, I paid $120 total for the system, 64gb card, and express delivery, which felt over priced, but not so much that I had buyers remorse.