Anbernic RG35XX Plus Review – Best new alternative to the Miyoo Mini Plus?

The popular alternative to the Miyoo Mini Plus, the RG35XX has received an update with the Anbernic RG35XX Plus. In our Anbernic RG35XX Plus review we unbox, compare the three models and test a bunch of emulators to find out if it’s worth buying or upgrading to.

Anbernic RG35XX Plus review video

Unboxing the Anbernic RG35XX Plus

Kicking off our Anbernic RG35XX Plus review we have a brief unboxing. First we have the Anbernic RG35XX Plus itself which we will take a closer look at shortly.

Next we have a user guide which is in English and Chinese languages. There is a screen protector and wipes for when applying it. And in the box is a USB Type-C charge cable.

Anbernic RG35XX Plus overview

Next in our Anbernic RG35XX Plus review we take a closer look at the vintage gaming handheld. The Anbernic RG35XX Plus measures around 4.61 x 3.19 x 0.87 inches and weighs 186 grams. The retro gaming handhelds are available in three colours White, Grey and Transparent Black.

The 3.5 “ IPS display has a 640×480 resolution which is ideal for retro gaming. It has the same control layout as the original model, with D-Pad and the usual gaming buttons and a menu button.

On the left side is a volume rocker.And on the right side of the retro gaming handheld from top to bottom are the power button, reset button and two micro SD card slots. In the first you will find either a 64GB or 128GB card for the OS and storage. The second slot is empty and can be used with another micro SD card for additional storage.

The bottom has a USB Type-C port which is used for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone port.

The top has a mini HDMI port which you can connect to your TV or monitor for big screen gaming.

The back has four buttons which can be used like triggers and shoulders in games. You will also notice there is now a battery compartment if you wish to change the rechargeable battery.

Anbernic RG35XX Plus Technical Specifications

As part of our Anbernic RG35XX Plus review we are comparing the technical specifications with the Anbernic RG35XX v2 vs RG35XX Plus vs Miyoo Mini Plus.

	ANBERNIC RG35XX v2	ANBERNIC RG35XX PLUS	MIYOO MINI PLUS
CPU	Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9	H700 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53, 1.5GHz frequency	ARM Cortex-A7 dual core, 1.2GHz
GPU	Quad-core PowerVR SGX544MP GPU	Dual- core G31 MP2
RAM	256MB LPDDR3	1GB LPDDR4	128MB
STORAGE	64GB (dual boot – official and Garlic OS)	64GB or 128GB card	64GB Card
DISPLAY	3.5-inch IPS full viewing angle, OCA full lamination/ 640*480	3.5-inch IPS full viewing angle, OCA full lamination/ 640*480	3.5″ IPS, 640*480
COMMS	NO	2.4/5G WIFI 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 4.2	2.4/5G WIFI 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
BATTERY	Li-polymer battery 2600 mAh, lasting up to 6 hours.	Li-polymer battery 3300mAh, lasting up to 8 hours.	Li-polymer battery 3000mAh, lasting up to 8 hours.
HDMI Output	YES	YES	NO
BUY	BUY HERE	BUY HERE	BUY HERE

Anbernic RG35XX vs RG35XX Plus vs Miyoo Mini Plus

And now as part of the Anbernic RG35XX Plus review, lets compare the original RG35XX vs RG35XX Plus vs Miyoo Mini Plus+ models to see any differences.

Anbernic RG35XX vs Anbernic RG35XX Plus

Physically the Anbernic RG35XX Plus model is ever so slightly thicker at 2.0 vs 2.2 cm. The buttons on the back have a different design which are more ergonomic for your fingers to rest on.

The main changes are the internals. We have the H700 processor on the plus and ARM Cortex-A9 on the original. You can read our Anbernic RG35XX review here. There’s now 1GB of LPDDR4, instead of 256MB DDR3 RAM. There is now WiFi 2.4 and 5G supported. 

The Anbernic RG35XX Plus also has a larger capacity 3300mAh battery compared to the 2600mAh on the original, it should get you up to two hours more battery depending on the software you are running.

Anbernic RG35XX Plus vs Miyoo Mini Plus

And now with the Anbernic RG35XX Plus vs Miyoo Mini Plus, read our full Miyoo Mini Plus review here. We see the RG35XX Plus is a little larger overall, with that you get a bit more space for your hands. The H700 processor with GPU runs faster than the Miyoo processor. 

The Miyoo Mini Plus only has 128MB RAM, but in most cases this is all you need. The Anbernic RG35XX compared with Miyoo Mini Plus has a slightly lower battery at 3000mAh, you are going to get around the same life as the 35XX Plus. One thing lacking on the Miyoo is a HDMI port, something both RG35XX models have.

There are some decent hardware improvements compared with the original RG35XX and Miyoo Mini Plus. We will find out later if these translate to performance increases.

OS and software overview

We continue our Anbernic RG35XX Plus review with a look at the OS and software. The Anbernic RG35XX Plus uses the same frontend found in the original model. There is one new native emulator to the supported systems which is a PSP emulator, we will check out the performance later in the review.

You have a good list of systems to choose from including various arcade emulators, 8 and 16 bit systems including Master System and Mega Drive, and handhelds such as the NeoGeo Pocket and WonderSwan. All the usual systems you would expect to find.

The RetroArch section has cores for a multitude of systems and ports including OpenBOR, Dreamcast, Pico8, Atari 2600, PC Engine and more. There’s plenty to choose from, however some emulators work better than the native emulators so you may have to experiment a bit what is best for the game.

There is a favourites and history menu where you can find saved and previously played games. And the settings menu has a bunch of settings you can change such as the screen brightness, date and time, language, RetroArch settings and more.

HDMI output is supported via Mini HDMI and works just fine across all of the emulators we tested.

While the Anbernic RG35XX Plus is a basic looking OS and frontend, but it does the job perfectly, it’s fast and easy to use. 

Emulator Overview

Next in our Anbernic RG35XX Plus review we test the emulators performance. As you would expect all the 8 and 16 bit systems are going to run absolutely fine. So we will cover the newer systems in more detail, and later show some footage from older systems.

PlayStation 1

PlayStation 1 games out of the box are very playable on the Plus model. We tried our usual test games and found no issues with the performance. Amongst the games tested are Crash Bandicoot 3 which works perfectly and Gran Turismo 2 which was smooth as silk.

Dreamcast

We tried a few different games and overall the performance is very good. We saw, or should say heard no lags on Crazy Taxi, and all the usual games were running fine. You will see some frame drops now and again but RetroArch adjusts the frame skipping and in most cases the games play fine. The same applies for the Namoi and Atomiswave emulators.

NDS

We tried a few different games and they were all quite playable. One important factor is the screen is not touchscreen, so for some games they will be very tricky to actually play if it requires touchsceen input. Overall it’s pretty good, don’t expect every game to be perfect.

PSP 

On Tekken 6 with no frame skipping enabled at 1x rendering resolution, we are getting around 70% speed for full frames per second. You can use frame skipping to speed things up. On God of War we got around 20 FPS to give a comparison with other handhelds performance that we have reviewed. Low demanding games generally are playable with some frame skipping.

Final Thoughts

We sum up our Anbernic RG35XX Plus review with our final thoughts. The Anbernic RG35XX Plus is a good upgrade from the original version. The new H700 processor provides a decent performance increase over the original with faster performance on PlayStation 1 and Dreamcast. Games on the original RG35XX that were running just a bit too slow, are now working great. You will also find more playable games with the PSP, though many are still not running at full speed and require frame skipping.

Garlic OS 2 is currently in development for the Plus model. It is not ready for a full release yet so we did not try it. Once it is fully released it should be up to the same standard as the original version, and just as good a Onion OS on the Miyoo Mini handhelds. 

After comparing the RG35XX, RG35XX Plus and Miyoo Mini, if you already have an Anbernic RG35XX then it is perhaps not worth the upgrade unless you want faster PS1 and Dreamcast emulation. The same could be said if you already have a Miyoo Mini or Miyoo Mini Plus handheld. 

If you are looking to buy your first handheld then the Anbernic RG35XX Plus is one to go for. It out performs the RG35XX and Miyoo Mini Plus and apart from the lack of custom firmware right now, it is overall the better handheld. Until then you can still play the same games and more, but without a fancy frontend.

You can learn more about and order the Anbernic RG35XX here. We have a sale running throughout December, so grab yours now at a great price!

Thanks for reading or watching our Anbernic RG35XX Plus review, what do you think of it, let us know in the comments!

And if you do buy an Anbernic RG35XX Plus, check out our getting started guide here for setting up, usage and troubleshooting.