It’s been a turbulent ride getting to this point. The GKD350H has been sporadically available to the Chinese market for the past few months, but global availability has been non existent until now.
The reason for this lack of availability is apparently down to manufacturing capacity. The demand for this handheld is greater than the manufacturers anticipated, so it’s only been available in the Chinese market until now.
The GKD350H is the first handheld console to house the Ingenic X1830. It’s a chip that runs at a whopping 1.5Ghz, 500MHz faster than the JZ4770 found in the RG350 and New PocketGo v2.
In real world terms this means a solid 15fps increase is many hard to run games. SuperFX2 games such as Yoshi’s Island on the SNES and Tekken 3 on the PS1 benefit greatly from the X1830. Despite the lack of a GPU, the sheer horsepower of this chip is enough to push through the boundaries that currently hold back some titles on other current devices.
The GKD350H is currently available at AliExpress for about $70. Compared to the RG350 it’s a more powerful device for a slightly cheaper price. Whether the build quality and attention to detail is as good is up for debate though. With only one set of shoulder buttons and a singular analog nub, it’s not as fluent as the RG350. But y’know, at least the dpad is in the right place. And if raw power and hard to emulate games are your thing, then this might be your jam.
It’s available in transparent blue, grey, yellow and smokey grey at AliExpress now. Expect an influx of new videos and reviews in the coming weeks. It’ll be interesting to see how this thing fares against the RG350 and PocketGo V2.
yeet\
Powkiddy aliexpress is selling the Q30 now, which has a 3 inch screen. Only $50. Plays same games?
I mean the Q90
It looks like the Q90 is PocketGo V1 hardware in a new shell and with a $15 markup.
edit// i just spoke to them and they’ve said it’s “similar to the JZ4760″… which either means they’re wrong or their AliExpress listing is wrong (because on AliExpress it says ARM9). Either way they’re wrong, and this is very likely not the JZ4770 or X1830 which feature in the latest and most powerful handhelds.
Physically it just looks exactly like an LDK Landscape with rounded edges and the power switch moved to the other side…and those apparently pointless + and – buttons. If they decided to also change the board to accommodate a worse chip, then this is even more pointless than I thought.
https://retrododo.com/powkiddy-q90/ is also wrong?
He’s usually wrong. But what specifically are you asking about?
He says “ putting it in the same category as the new Bittboy Pocket Go V2 “
He’s wrong.
There’s not many games I actually enjoyed playing on PS1 that relied on L2/R2 and neither GBA nor super nintendo need them so it’s not a big issue for me.
The lack of the second thumbstick is worse, but if this means I don’t have to replay the average early 3d games with dodgy camera controls that’s no real loss in my book.
The PocketGo V2 is a better looking device in my book so it really comes down to price and input quality.
I’ll be reviewing the PocketGo V2 soon. I have a pre-production one here but it’s totally fucked up so I’m waiting for a retail version before I review it. It is a lovely device aesthetically, I just hope they fix the issues before retail.
Do you think the GKD 350H is still worth it in 2020?
I mean, there are metal housings, battery upgrades and kits to add the second set of shoulder buttons. The only thing I’m really looking at though is the processor and the easy overclock levels the firmware provides. Aftermarket upgrades will come eventually, but I just want to know if it’s worth it still.
d-pad in the right place, but no 4 shoulder buttons, no metal gear for you… Prices are still a bit high, just thinking when it stops at customs and adds 20-25% tax :\
Rarely ever any customs from AliExpress to UK or USA. Not sure where you’re from though.
So best specs for this generation of open source handhelds, but last gen’s controls and I/O. Yeah it’s going to be a hard pass, as the RG350 emulates everything I want it to.
Agreed
What happened to the alum version that had the 2nd stick?
I guess it’ll come later like the aluminium RG350 did. That’s if they decide to mass produce it at all.
I thought the aluminum version only had a second set of shoulders, not a second stick?