This thing popped up on Baidu in late January, and is finally available to pre-order. The Q400 is a RockChip powered handheld running on Linux.
The badly translated conversations on Baidu seem to hint that the Q400 will be powered by the RockChip RK3128. Various listings on domestic Chinese retailers state “Linux” in the product title, and according to the internet the RK3128 does have good Linux support so perhaps this is correct. The RK3128 is a 1.3GHz quad core Cortex A7 SoC and a Mali400 GPU. Whilst the SoC can accomodate up to 2GB of RAM, I’m not sure what’s on this particular configuration – it’s probably far less than that.
It’s no powerhouse by any means, having been released in 2014 as an entry level chip at the time. It should easily hold its own against the latest round of Ingenic based handhelds we’ve seen recently though.
The Q400 also claims to have an 800×480 display which is unusual for a device like this. I’m not sure it’s 5:3 aspect ratio will be much use for a lot of games though.
Current listings show this at about ¥400 which roughly equates to £44 or $57. Add $20 – $30 on to that and you’re probably in the right ball park for the price from somewhere like AliExpress.
Update: Actual price is $80 and the device is now available to pre-order from supbor.com.
Some images show 4 USB ports along the bottom of the unit too. Going by some of the promo material, it looks as though it’ll support 4 gamepads for multiplayer. It even claims to have a HDMI output too.
With four shoulder buttons, dual analog sticks and a powerful enough CPU this thing could really take off if the right developers get involved. I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes open for this one if the price is right. Alongside the Odroid-Go Advance, the Q400 is the 2nd Linux based ARM handheld announced this year already. 2020 looks set to be an interesting year for obscure handhelds, and I’m glad we’re finally moving away from those ancient Ingenic chips!
As of April 30th, the Q400 is now available to pre-order from supbor.com. Be sure to check my more recent posts for more info on this machine, it looks like it’ll be a winner.
For sale on Amazon for $172.
https://smile.amazon.com/Handheld-Console-Supporting-Connection-Portable/dp/B086ZRRFCR/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=q400+handheld&qid=1587672627&sr=8-10
Anyone buy one yet that can comment/review it?
The RG350 is looking more and more like a waste of money by the day. The fact that I had to chop down the sticks to not only make it easier to pocket, but also lessen the annoyance of the right stick’s placement when using the face buttons and also having to replace the fragile glass lens makes me regret my purchase. For what I ended up paying in total I could’ve gotten both this and a PocketGo2.
The Q400 is dead in the water by the looks of it. And imo the RG350 is a way better purchase than the PG2.
Well that’s really sad 🙁
And I just read your review on the PG2. Very disappointed in that device now.
That said, I will still say that I would never, ever recommend anyone buy the RG350. I bought it after members of the GPD Discord community wholeheartedly recommended it despite me feeling apprehensive about it, and it turns out I was right to feel that way. The layout is terrible, the sticks are too high, the shoulder buttons don’t feel very nice, accessing SD card slot 1 feels unnecessarily annoying, the FTP method for transferring files over USB is slow and clunky, and, while I understand the point of these devices is for the community to provide all the software development and support, the fact that you’re paying close to $100 for an unfinished product rubs me the wrong way.
If it were $50 or less, the design issues with the controls and SD cards/file transfer might be bearable, but all its many flaws are compounded by the high price.
I disagree in most of your arguments. The layout could be better, but is not terrible. The shoulder buttons are fine. I have no problems with SD slot either. The only downside of the analogs is the “pocketability”. To me this is not a problem at all because I never put a big handheld like this on my pocket. But the analogs are great. Way better than flat Pocket Go Analog, better than PSP, PSVita and 3DS Analogs.
However I agree with you with that FTP transfer over USB. It could be better but I understand why they choose this way of transfer: you can access easily the linux partition, and that would not be possible with a direct usb connection.
I really like RG350. To me it is the best handheld available to play PS1 games. No other handheld in the same range of price offers dual analog with L3+R3 buttons and rumble.
Odroid go advance have a great soc. The only downside its the extremely tiny display
https://www.ebuy7.com/item/sundance-kid-q400-high-definition-models-handheld-game-retro-nostalgia-linux-open-source-quad-core-systems-gba-emulator-old-arcade-joystick-multiplayer-handheld-tv-611010862999
found this but only ships to mainland china $105
not sure I would be filling to pay this for it like, but it is also listed on this sight https://www.rghandhelds.com/ for the custom software as well..
So look s like it will be supported for retro gaming outside of company support.
I’ll stick with my beloved RG350. Thanks.
Sadly throughout the year the 350 will completely become obsolete , hell even the Gkd350 is anihilating it in Cps3 performance.
Your sadly mistaken the RG is the only handheld thats updating its firmware all the time and the only that has the HDMI
The odroid-go advance will have far more development than the RG350. There are already three separate operating systems working on the device and it’s not even released yet. The OGA is also waaaay more powerful than the RG350. Granted it doesn’t have HDMI, but HDMI isn’t even working in the RG350 yet.
RG350 is the best handheld available to play PS1 games. No other handheld in the same range of price offers dual analog with L3+R3 buttons and rumble.
Mono sound, no l2 r2- l3 r3, no volume button, no right stick. Odroid go is a hard pass.
it’s on TaoBao now for RMB448. ~64 USD
yeah, i saw it at a few chinese stores. i doubt anyone’s that desperate to jump through hoops though.