BATLEXP G350 Retro Handheld
Apr. 11th, 2025 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroThis is a vertical Game Boy styled 3.5” screen device that we’ve seen plenty of before. It’s got USC-C charging and a headphone jack, two SD card slots (but you only need one), and a dedicated menu button. (And oddly, a downward-firing speaker. Not sure I’ve seen that before?) Side-by-side with a R36S, it’s a little bit heavier and feels a little sturdier, but has basically the same dimensions. It’s also running EmulationStation as the front-end, with a different default UI from an R36S, but similar results. (After tuning it to my preferences, I expect the experience to be very similar.)
I had seen this referred to as “the R36S killer!” because it was basically at the same price point but better. And you know what? It absolute is better. It’s got a better build quality that makes it feel less cheap. I’m not sure if it’s slightly better hardware or slightly better software, but the emulation is nominally better and the screen looks crisper. It’s also just more comfortable to hold.
I also saw a bunch of people wondering if it was secretly an Anbernic device because of the build quality and style…and yes, that’s apparently exactly what it is. Anbernic created this secondary brand, not officially affiliated with them, to use up excess pieces from older devices. All told, this G350 is not actually terribly different from anything in Anbernic’s RGXX line, which in turn really only differ in form-factor—I didn’t buy or review most of them because I knew exactly what they were going to be after trying the RG35XX, RG35XX-H and RG40XX.
Overall: The big selling point here is that it’s better than the R36S at the same price point as the R36S. This is probably the best Tier 2 device at the $30 price point, so then it’s just whether you want to pay up for higher-end system performance or a different form-factor.
I had seen this referred to as “the R36S killer!” because it was basically at the same price point but better. And you know what? It absolute is better. It’s got a better build quality that makes it feel less cheap. I’m not sure if it’s slightly better hardware or slightly better software, but the emulation is nominally better and the screen looks crisper. It’s also just more comfortable to hold.
I also saw a bunch of people wondering if it was secretly an Anbernic device because of the build quality and style…and yes, that’s apparently exactly what it is. Anbernic created this secondary brand, not officially affiliated with them, to use up excess pieces from older devices. All told, this G350 is not actually terribly different from anything in Anbernic’s RGXX line, which in turn really only differ in form-factor—I didn’t buy or review most of them because I knew exactly what they were going to be after trying the RG35XX, RG35XX-H and RG40XX.
Overall: The big selling point here is that it’s better than the R36S at the same price point as the R36S. This is probably the best Tier 2 device at the $30 price point, so then it’s just whether you want to pay up for higher-end system performance or a different form-factor.
