Anbernic RG405V Review – Larger than life Android retro gaming handheld

It’s been a few months since we last had an Anbernic retro gaming handheld to review. Their latest model, bucking the trend for small size is the larger than life Anbernic RG405V. Let’s find out if size matters in our Anbernic RG405V review.

Anbernic RG405V Review Video

Anbernic RG405V Unboxing

We start our Anbernic RG405V review with the unboxing. First out of the box is the Anbernic RG405V console gaming handheld itself, which we will check out in more detail shortly.

Under the packaging is a user guide which is in English and Chinese.There is a Micro SD card for storage. Next we have a screen protector and some wipes for when applying the protector. And last but not least we have a USB Type-C charge cable.

Anbernic RG405V Overview

Next in our Anbernic RG405V review we take a closer look at the handheld. The Anbernic RG405V portable retro gaming console is available in three colours; Grey, Transparent Purple and Wood Grain. It measures around 5.7 x 4.13 x 1.3 inches (14.5 x 10.5 x 3.5cm) and weighs 282 grams.

With the larger physical size, we get a nice large 4” IPS touch screen with a 640×480 screen resolution. It’s a good resolution, ideal for upscaling retro games. On the front you have your usual gaming controls, with dual hall effect analogues. In the middle is the Home button.

On the left side there is a Function button and micro SD card slot.

And on the right is the volume rocker and power button.

The back has shoulder buttons which are quite comfortable to rest your fingers on and also easy to reach. There is a fan grill in the middle area.

On the top size there is a USB Type-C port for charging.

And we finish on the bottom with a 3.5mm headphone port.

The RG405V feels very comfortable in your hand, the size for me is nice as your hands are not cramped together like you get with smaller handhelds. The controls are all within easy reach and you do not need to adjust your hands to reach them. The screen size is also great, it’s nice to see the opposite trend of making a handheld as small as possible.

Anbernic RG405V Technical Specifications

CPU	Unisoc Tiger T618 64-bit octa-core 2x A75 @2.0GHz + 6x A55 @2.0GHz
GPU	Mali G52 @850Mhz
RAM	4GB LPDDR4X @1866Mhz
STORAGE	128GB eMMC + Micro SD card storage up to 2GB
COMMUNICATIONS	2.4/5G WIFI 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 5.0
OPERATING SYSTEM	Android 12
BATTERY	Li-polymer battery 5500 mAh, charging 3 hours

There is a 5500 mAh rechargeable battery. In our tests we got just over 6 hours while running Antutu on a loop.

The Anbernic RG405V has a fan inside to keep everything cool. We got a highest fan noise of 60 db but we had to manually set this to get the reading, it was averaging around 42dB during the benchmarks. And for the highest temperature we got 40°C.

Anbernic RG405V Android OS Overview

As this is an Android device we always take a few moments to check out the features on the OS as part of the Anbernic RG405V review.The Anbernic RG405V portable gaming handheld runs on Android 12 so we are fairly up to date with the operating system. On first boot you will get a welcome screen and setup which is good to see. From here you can set up a few things.

Once you have set up, you are nearly ready to go if you don’t want to use the built in frontend. There are a bunch of emulators already installed though you will need to set up the paths to your games on the storage card. It only takes a moment to do, so it’s not a big issue.

There are all the usual emulators you would expect to find on an Android handheld, from Genesis up to more recent console emulators such as Dolphin, Citra and AetherSX2. We will check out their performance shortly.

If you use the frontend, then you are good to go. The frontend will scan your micro SD card and sort the contents into their respective gaming systems. Then you can browse the systems, choose a game etc. Though I do recommend first connecting to the internet and updating all of the RetroArch Cores and associated files before using it.

All in all, if you want a plug and play setup rather than installing and setting up everything yourself, then the Anbernic RG405V is pretty much spot on. You can improve the experience with a few settings changes, but it can be used straight off the bat.

Other features include built in screen mapping  which allows you to map on screen touch controls to the gaming buttons. This is useful for Android games that do not have controller support. The software is straightforward to use, simply drag and drop the icons and pair them up with the controls. There is a user guide app on the menus for further information.

Anbernic RG405V System Benchmarks

We know that the Tiger T618 is a very capable processor so let’s see how the Anbernic RG405V compares with other Android retro handhelds as part of our Anbernic RG405V review.

GeekBench

Starting with GeekBench we can see a slightly lower score on single core performance compared to the other T618 models such as the Retroid Pocket 3+, but slightly higher multi-core performance. It’s swings and roundabouts really, overall you are looking at around the same performance as the others.

3DMark

Onto 3DMark which tests the CPU and GPU performance. We see roughly the same scores for all the Tiger models which is no surprise. The more powerful and expensive AYN Odin Pro is far ahead of the Tiger devices with its Snapdragon CPU.

Antutu

Antutu is more of a real world benchmark test covering 2D and 3D graphics, UI performance, media playback etc. We get a great score for the Anbernic RG405V, with a noticeable difference in performance compared with the other Tiger based models such as the Retroid Pocket Flip. 

Anbernic RG405V Emulator Performance

No Anbernic RG405V review would be without some emulator performance tests. We also know that the Tiger T618 is decent for emulation up to the PS1 and Dreamcast era. It can run all these systems with no issues and in most cases you can increase the graphics settings etc for improved visual quality.

For consoles past this era you will see mixed performance depending on the system and the game itself. It is a mix of either the emulator is not fully compatible or simply not enough processing power.

With Citra we see decent performance on lower demanding games but with many you will get slowdown or short freezes while the shaders are caching. On the second playthrough once shaders are generated you will see improved performance but it’s not perfect.

For PlayStation 2 it is much the same. There are a decent number of games that are playable at normal resolution. For some you may have to lower the rendering resolution for playable speed, but for many games that will still not be enough. 

On the Dolphin emulator we see some very good performance. Many games are running at full or near full speed, nothing that spoils the games too much. There are of course some games that have bad performance, we need a faster CPU to get those running.

Final Thoughts

Time to sum up our Anbernic RG405V review, Overall the Anbernic RG405V mobile gaming handheld is great. While we do not see anything new with the internal hardware, we do see a vertical handheld that isn’t afraid to be larger than most retro handhelds. The extra space means we get a larger display, not so cramped controls and an overall more comfortable gaming experience.

We also liked the initial start up wizard which helps get you started. Having pre-installed emulators on your vintage gaming handheld will be beneficial for many that prefer plug and play, and there’s nothing stopping you from deleting them and creating your own setup.

The frontend is a nice addition and will automatically scan your game paths and add them to the menu. While it doesn’t have a built in image scraper, it is functional and works just fine for the supported consoles. 

I couldn’t really find anything to complain about. At a push I could say the lack of HDMI port is a negative as its competitors such as the Retroid Pocket Flip has one. It is something to consider if you want to play on the big screen.

You can learn more and buy the Anbernic RG405V here. Use the code 405V5OFF for a 5% discount on the Checkout. Please note the code may expire one month after this video, and it can not be used during store sales or promotions.

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