Ayaneo Konkr Pocket Advance review: a near-perfect modern Game Boy Advance
Ayaneo's Konkr Pocket Advance is a GBA-inspired handheld priced from $109, with a 3.5-inch screen and extra buttons.
The review says the Pocket Advance is not an exact copy of the GBA, but its dimensions are close enough to fit cases made for the original handheld. The body is all plastic, yet has a satisfying heft because of internal hardware including a cooling fan for a MediaTek Helio G90T processor and a 4,000mAh battery. Ayaneo sells a $109 model with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, expandable via microSD card, and a $129 model with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.
Compared with the original GBA, the Pocket Advance adds eight buttons, including X and Y action buttons and four extra shoulder buttons on the top edge. The review praises the larger D-pad but says some retro gaming purists may not like how soft and squishy the buttons feel. The reviewer had to press the action buttons a little harder to ensure presses registered, but does not consider the feel a downside because the buttons are also quiet.
The 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen has a glass cover and a 3:2 aspect ratio with 960x640 resolution. The review says this lets GBA games, originally 240x160, scale perfectly at 4x. Emulating games from other systems will result in letterboxing or pillarboxing on the sides and potentially visual artifacts from scaling when the math is not perfect, according to the review.
Most similarly sized and priced handhelds run some variation of Linux, but the Pocket Advance comes with Android 12. The review says that version feels dated, though setup will feel more familiar to anyone with smartphone experience. Ayaneo's custom AYASpace launcher makes it easier to install various emulators, and the device can access the Google Play Store or install Android apps and add-ons downloaded from a website. The reviewer installed an alternative Android launcher called Cannoli, which brings a clean and simple interface with several emulators preinstalled and preconfigured, and set it to load by default while keeping the option to switch back to AYASpace.
On emulation, the review says expectations should be limited to retro gaming. The seven-year-old processor is powerful enough to handle many PS2 and GameCube titles, but the handheld is better equipped to emulate the PS1 and Sega Dreamcast, and offers the best experience with older consoles such as the Super Nintendo and Genesis. An easy-access quick settings menu slides in from the right and allows users to customize and reconfigure the handheld, including boosting its performance.
The reviewer says the Pocket Advance is their first Ayaneo handheld and that the hardware feels on par with Nintendo's. It has replaced their earlier GBA SP, aftermarket upgrades and Anbernic RG34XX. The Konkr Pocket Advance is available from Ayaneo starting at $109.