I received the Anbernic RG35XX H a couple of weeks ago, sent to me by Gogamegeek. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. This is the horizontal version of the very popular RG35XX and the RG35XX Plus, which I tested just over a year ago. It was a great little handheld capable of holding its own, playing games from platforms up to and including PS1 and Dreamcast.
The main difference between the RG35XX and the RG35XX H is its size and form factor. Shoulder buttons are now easier to use, and of course, this version has the dual thumb-sticks, which the other lacked.
Everything else is exactly as it was, which isn’t a bad thing if you don’t mind just playing up to Dreamcast. Build quality, as usual for Anbernic devices, is very good, and the horizontal styling makes it far more comfortable to hold and use.
Input-wise, things are the same. The D-pad is good, and the four face buttons are nice and clicky; I really like the glossy buttons and their colouring.
There are two MicroSD card slots, and mine came with one 64GB SD card full of retro games, around 4,000. It’s a shame I wasn’t able to test the 128GB version, just to see what sort of content you were going to receive if you bought the higher priced variant.
There are two USB-C ports, mini-HDMI port for connection to a television and a 3.5MM headphone jack. On the rear, you get the standard Anbernic rubber grips.
The 3.5-inch, 640×480 pixel IPS screen is fairly good, it has a nice colour balance and contrast to it. It’s not perfect as the blacks can be a little washed out, but overall, it’s okay.
Specification with the RG35XX H uses a H700 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53, which whilst not mind-blowing, it does the job for the majority of what’s on the SD card. I only noticed some slight issues with frame-rate drops on some of the more demanding Dreamcast and PSP games. You won’t be able to play God of War: Chains of Olympus on the RG35XX H.
PlayStation emulation worked really well too, as did everything else that’s available. For the price point, it’s a good option for anyone on a budget.
The RG35XX H has a 3,300mAh battery that will offer around eight hours of gameplay. This will, of course, vary depending on screen brightness, etc. As has been the case with quite a few of Anbernic’s handhelds lately, the software it comes pre-installed with is straightforward to use but feels a little half-baked; we’ve seen the community solve this with unofficial firmware in the past, so we hope the same thing happens with the RG35XX H and it gets a software experience to match the polished hardware experience.
That’s about it, to be honest. There isn’t a great deal more to talk about if you have read my previous article. If you have the RG35XX Plus, then you really aren’t going to get a great deal from upgrading, other than it being horizontal and more comfortable to hold.
Overall, it’s a great budget handheld and can be recommended as such. You can buy your RG35XX H directly from Gogamegeek by clicking here.
