Retroid's Pocket Nova takes a second shot at getting 4:3 right

Retroid announced details of its Retroid Pocket Nova, a horizontal handheld built around a 4.5-inch 1280×960 120Hz AMOLED display in the 4:3 aspect ratio that God intended.

Inside is Qualcomm's QCS8550 chip with Adreno 740 graphics, functionally close to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 but without the phone stuff. There'll be 8GB or 12GB of RAM, 128GB of storage with microSD expansion, and a 5,000mAh battery that Retroid pairs with 27-watt charging and active cooling. Controls include Hall-effect sticks and analog triggers, and it ships on Android 13. The device measures roughly 6.7 × 3.3 × 0.6 inches (170 × 84 × 16mm) and weighs about 9 ounces (255g). Pricing starts at $229, rising to $269 for the 12GB model.

One detail enthusiasts have latched onto: Retroid has confirmed the Nova works with the dual-screen attachment from the Pocket 5 and 6, opening the door to Nintendo DS layouts. The specs suggests decent 3DS emulation.

Retroid will be hoping to vanquish the memory of its last 4:3 model, which relied on software stretching to land the aspect ratio and upset gamers misled by the spec sheet. The Nova does it properly. However, there's lots of competition from Anbernic and Ayaneo's small-form handhelds, though with prices soaring for conventional handhelds like the Steam Deck all of them should get plenty of attention.

Here's the "colorways":