Don't Buy The RG552

We review the ANBERNIC RG552 handheld, one that we were excited about but soon realised it was not the one for us.

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[carterlink]

Personally, I’ve always preferred the headphone socket on the top, as it allows me to rest the bottom edge of the handheld on my chest when playing it in bed.

[eblislyge]

Finally, an honest review of this device. I was wondering when someone would do that. I have nothing but respect for this. Thank you,

[finnwheetley]

I have the 552 and I like it a lot, but you're not wrong. Im pretty tired of having to figure out the software on my own. The shoulder buttons suck. The screen is amazing though and the dpad placement. If you like older 8 to 16 bit games it's dope. It is however just not worth the price and that's the real main issue. If the same thing was 100 bucks you'd be singing a different song.

[thecjwolfpack]

I didn't know this hobby existed until today but I can tell I'm going to be neck deep in it soon.

[polaris]

You make a great point. Setting these things up is such a time-suck. Having to get the games on, pushing APKs, setting up key mapping, tweaking graphics settings, etc. Anbernic just keeps churning out new models as fast as possible.

[KDiaz-hyxx]

While I agree with the general sentiment "don't buy it" (not quite powerful enough and clunky software), I wish more people would give Anbernic more credit for the screen. The idea that they didn't do anything new here is just not fair. As someone who got into these handhelds to replace my GBA (not to play home consoles) I'm glad SOMEONE finally took the time to develop a screen that can give you good integer scaling for GBA's wonky resolution, while still providing good real estate for 4:3 and 16:9 games. This in itself is revolutionary for handhelds, frankly. As a pixel purist, I would never buy an Odin. 16:9 is ONLY good for PSP games (and I guess Android games). What good is emulating PS2 games, if most of your games have black bars around them? That's just poor design.

[WickedGamerCollector]

Great video and up to 2:00 ... perfect 👌 / Agreed ... they make to many handhelds 😅 ?
I had this feeling you where going to strow this Handheld somewhere in the video 😂
Edit - Yes... they wait for Russ / Retro Game Corps to make piles of tutorials 🤣

[GoatV]

Very disappointing. This is the one I was looking forward to most this year because of how great the 351MP is. I personally really like the basic/brick-like design. But the competition destroys this thing.

[spaceranger]

I think the reason that they are moving into the larger handheld market is just because of the current limitations of affordable processors. Ambernic have already done as much as they can with the rg352m, other than itterating on different form factors, I think that niche has been fully explored for now.

[JordiLA]

I bought one and liked a lot! thanks for the advice! 👍

[Infyra]

One thing to consider compared to the RP2+ and the Odin, the RG552 is available the other ones arent. I ordered all 3 devices 2 months ago, and I have had the RG552 to play with for 1, 5 month now while the RP2+ and the Odin do not even have any indication on when they will ship at all.

[arkworthy]

3:44 when your mind wanders, thinking about all the bricks you MIGHT want to spend $230 on..

[michaelmcclintick]

LOVE LOVE LOVE the honesty. That is why I follow your channel and have the "bell notification"

[AlteredCarbons]

Way ahead of you. I think only the major content makers like yourself bought them.

[Cyko..]

I agree with a lot of what you said, but I own the RG552 and I think it's fantastic. For the price, you're getting 2 devices in 1, so say on one side, you're getting a cheap Android phone but with a beautiful looking touch screen, unlike most cheap Android phones, so say $150 for that. On the other side, you're getting an RG351P, running Linux, but with a bigger screen, which goes for about $100 on Amazon, so overall it's about $250 worth of devices rolled into one. Granted, the price could have been more reasonable around the $180-200 range.

On the Linux side, I got 351ELEC beta installed and it runs incredibly well. On the Android side, the latest update I installed included both the Google Play store and key mapping functions which are very helpful for games like Call of Duty or Genshin Impact. I got DIG installed on the Android side so it makes browsing through your games a little easier. I may try LaunchBox though as they have preview videos. This thing also has HDMI out, so it's almost like a docked Switch.

Overall, I'm enjoying the device very much, but yes, they could have changed some ergonomics and charged a little less. But not too much less though because this thing does not feel cheap. It feels great in the hands and the controls are wonderful.

[gvanderlee]

Feels like Anbernic was caught off guard with the release of a PS2 emulator. They thought they could get away with only a mediocre upgrade and a bigger screen for a hefty price. In this market companies cannot afford to get lazy, or all attention goes to the new players in town that do stuff better.

[RyanSaotome]

Love it, best screen I've ever seen on any of these devices. Maybe the power isn't up to snuff but theres not a better way to play 32 bit games and below on the market due to the high resolution 5:3 screen that scales to older console ratios far better than a 16:9 screen does. I also have little issue getting any of the PSP games I play to run at 4x resolution, but I'm mostly into the Japanese games which don't push the system as much so mileage may vary.

[ChrisJones-eelx]

Thank you, always great info. Much appreciated🙏

[SWPLGAMING]

This is a very fair and accurate review, Its not pocket friendly. I think they dropped this a little late. Im more of an Android fan, But it does require work to get it how you like. If you already have a better performing device then I guess you can live with the problems this device may pose. Again a they dropped this too late with what they have out now. As far as PC Handhelds go they have their work cut out, they could get by with better price options. Thanks for another awesome review 👍🔥.

[MyChannel-vmdw]

Great honest review pointing out the device's glaring flaws. For people who just want a game and don't wanna tinker and deal with all this devices BS this is not the machine for you.