Anbernic RG Rotate now available for $83 and up (handheld game console with flip-out display)

The Anbernic RG Rotate is a handheld game console with mediocre specs that should be good enough for retro gaming, but which may struggle with some newer games. But it’s still an interesting little handheld for two reasons: its flip-out display makes the RG Rotate a very portable option for handheld gaming, and it’s pretty cheap.

Anbernic introduced the handheld earlier this year, and now the company is selling it for $88 and up (although a launch promotion knocks $5 off that price at time of publication).

The starting price is for a model with a black case that’s made of a mix of aluminum alloy and plastic. There’s also a silver model with an all-aluminum alloy case that sells for $100.

Both models feature a 3.5 inch, 720 x 720 pixel display that’s on a hinge that allows you to flip the screen down so it covers the gamepad, or flip it out to reveal the gaming buttons. This makes for a pretty compact device that measures just 80 x 80 x 21.6mm (3.15″ x 3.15″ x 0.85″) when in its “closed” position.

With a touchscreen and an Android 12-based operating system, you can use the device even in that mode. For example, you could use it as portable media player or clock. I suppose you could also use it for web browsing or chat, but the display is small enough that an on-screen keyboard would likely cover most of it while you’re typing.

Flip the screen upward and you’ll get access to a D-Pad, four action buttons, and three additional keys. There are also shoulder triggers on the back. With no analog sticks, the RG Rotate might not be a good fit for some newer titles, but with a Unisoc Tiger T618 processor featuring an 850 MHz Mali-G52 graphics, two Arm Cortex-A75 CPU cores, and six Cortex-A55 cores, and just 3GB of RAM, the RG Rotate isn’t really powerful enough for anything beyond PS2 or Nintendo Wii emulation.

It also has just 32GB of built-in storage, but the handheld has a microSD card reader with support for up to 2TB of removable storage.

Other features include a 6-axis gyroscope 2,000 mAh battery, support for WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, stereo speakers, and a USB Type-C port for charging, data, and audio output.

via NotebookCheck