The RG350 May Have A More Powerful Competitor Soon

The release of TonyJih’s RG350 is apparently right around the corner, with some rumours suggesting that we’ll see listings go up on AliExpress at the end of this month. But if the manufacturers of the device were quietly confident of having a hit on their hands, they’re probably a little concerned to see a rival handheld that has very cheekily been nicknamed the RG350H pop up.

The GKD350H is now available at AliExpress for $80. Check it out here.

A very dark video of the RetroGame 350H (RG350H) actually appeared on Tieba Baidu a few weeks ago, but it was unclear at that point if the device was real or merely a trolling attempt by someone unhappy with the way the RG350 was turning out. But yesterday a new prototype video of the device surfaced, and by all accounts it looks to be the real deal.

Ordinarily there would be no need to make too much of a fuss, after all we’re seeing new handheld announcements at least once a month at the moment. The problem is though that the RG350 was due to be the most powerful non-Android (or Windows) handheld available since the 2013 GCW Zero, and now the RG350H is claimed to beat it.

Although the specs of the RG350H aren’t released yet, numerous comments on the Tieba Baidu forums state that the processor will be running at 1.5GHz. Some people are speculating that this is a move away from MIPS to ARM. MaxZhou88 (creator of the Revo) even stated the words “Quanzhi CPU” in a reply to the original post. If you google those words, you’ll end up with AllWinner’s website as the first result.

But it’s also worth noting that the previously unseen Ingenic CPU, the JZ4780, runs at 1.2GHz – it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine this chip overclocked to 1.5GHz. If the device is running this chip it will possibly even run one of our Open Source operating systems as stock.

Lastly, the Raspberry Pi4 is also clocked at 1.5GHz – but looking at the shell of the RG350H it doesn’t seem big enough to house one of those. The smaller Compute Module variant of the RPi4 isn’t available yet either.

Whatever this thing is, it looks to be in the final stages of development. Numerous commentors have suggested the release is “soon” and that we could potentially expect it around the same time as the RG350 – or at least by the end of September. With the RG350H’s “correct” d-pad placement and the promise of even more power it looks like it may give the RG350 a run for its money.

Update 23/8: An image of some shells, prototypes and the box has been leaked. The text on the box doesn’t tell us much, but here’s the transcript anyway.

– 3.5″ 320×240 pixels IPS LCD: 4:3 aspect ratio is ideal for retro gaming
– high performance: low power consumption processor
– microSD card slot. maximum support 64GB TF card
– analog joystick, d-pad, four action buttons, two LR buttons and two system buttons
– a stereo headphone jack: 1W speaker with mono audio power amplifier
– micro USB port for data copy and charging
– rechargeable battery (6+ hours of gaming) and the capability of playing videos and music
– super portable and will easily slip into your bag or pocket

17 thoughts on “The RG350 May Have A More Powerful Competitor Soon”

    • It’s been up a while but I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s likely that the manufacturer Anbernic on AliExpress will have stock before this site does, and it may be cheaper there as well.

      Reply
  1. I am immensely interested in this. I genuinely think i will buy this one. The placement of the Dpad on the RG350 is a deal-killer for me, but this one is perfect!

    Reply
  2. Just get an older android console like a GPD G7/Q9/XD with Legacy ROM, or you could get an old JXD S602B/S5110B/S7300B/7800B if you want something more demanding N64/PSX/etc.

    The RG300 is genius for quick bursts of 8/16 bit gaming, but honestly a PSP Go has a better screen and more power/options The size is better too. People need to look at the OLD options as they are simply better made, and much faster and not too expensive now.

    I think the market is a bit silly if it starts going into ARM based systems, Rpi3 cannot even play n64 games properly at times… Think about that… The JXD S7800B and the original XD/Q9 was amazing in retrospect. Maybe a bit rare though.

    Just saying my 2 cents. I keep up with these handhelds like you guys do, and I have been selling all the other systems that I never should have bought period. I even sold my Shield Portable K1 prototype, among many other systems. dingoos, clones, etc…

    The best value you can get right now is a GPD XD, or a GPD Win1. They are the most versatile in price and performance. The RG300 is a great lil device too, just not perfect. My personal pick is the PSP Go for the size, I have soldered a 128GB micro SD card into mine for 144GB of space total. That is plenty.

    Research your options and be careful about spending $400 on some RPi3 portable system that has cooling issues too. This website is a goldmine of info!

    Reply
    • Hah, good luck finding any non XD GPDs! I have a Q9 and like a lot, so I tried to find a backup one for sale. Nada.
      Same with the good JXDs, very hard to find for a good price.

      Reply
      • I find the GPD G7A with modified GUI/Launcher and cleaned up apps to be the best. I have big hands though. I modified a special sega dpad onto my my Q9 PSV, it works well BUT that stock Q9 Dpad was prone to breaking at the stem. I think the G7/G7A is the best unit. The G7A has no custom ROM but the performance with tweaks is perfect to me. SkelROM/Legacy ROMs are great but with some tweaks the G7/G7A is the best device I have owned. 6 face buttons and REAL sticks. Just needs some DZ adj.

        I have owned them all, started collecting these in 2008. Sold so many but only kept a few. I am selling a ton of these on my local FB Marketplace. If you want some units I can ship in bulk if you like these types of GPD/JXD/Clone units. I have a S5110B, a S7300B, S5800, and many others. I even have a super rare Ritmix Dingoo with a Gyro tilt sensor on there for sale. Let me know if you care interested. I can make a listing a the Dingoonity Forums.

        Reply
        • The issue I have had with all of these Android based systems is the audio lag in most emulators. It ranges from slightly noticeable to awful (like N64 being almost 1 second off!).

          Reply
    • For me android is both a plus and a con for GPD XD:
      It is a plus because the Android emulator library is huge (but usually not free…)
      It is a con beacuse it is android and it takes ages to bootup. RG-300 takes few seconds and you are good to go.

      Finally GPD XD costs twice the price of the chinese handelds.

      I think if you want to use android for retrogaming you would better buy a cheap phone with snapdragon SoC + a good bluetooth controller (like saitake or ipega). GPD XD plus SoC is a bit shitty (especially on the GPU side).

      Reply
  3. Well shit, all of that sounds nice, and the dpad placement and all………… but that shell design is so basic I think I’d rather have the RG350 instead.

    Reply
  4. Frankly, the GHz rating on these chips won’t matter. If the RG350h is running ARM, and has a reasonably legit 3D core in it, it’s got a huge leg up on the Ingenic MIPS chips, which have no 3D co-processor. That coule be huge in getting effective PSX, PSP, Saturn, and N64 emulation going. Not to mention all of the ARM compatible code already out there.

    Reply

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