ANBERNIC RG505, a respectable portable console with Android 12

The anbernic RG505 is a portable console from a Chinese manufacturer specialized in this class of devices, and that earns its place in the market with a good design, an OLED screen and a reasonable emulation capacity, allowing us to enjoy even PSP games with total fluidity. . As if that were not enough, it runs android 12 and is totally reasonably priced for what it brings to the table. If you are interested in knowing it in detail, this is as good an opportunity as any other.

Characteristics of the ANBERNIC RG505

Design and screen

The ANBERNIC RG505 is a console whose construction and shape is very similar to that of a Nintendo Switch Liteit’s very similar in size and also an identical button layout, with the exception of the triggers, which instead of being stacked next to each other, which can be very awkward until we get used to it, that’s for not mention that they are very small.

That being said, the buttons fit well on this device, the action buttons don’t stick like on some cheap consoles and analog joysticks have magnetic sensors They have above-average durability, although yes, those present in this console are not very precise when moving diagonally.

Around the sides we will find more buttons and ports, where we can highlight the presence of a USB-C charging port and a headphone jack. On the left edge we have volume buttons, while on the right is the power button and one that activates the RetroArch interface.

Changing the subject, up front we have one of the main selling points of this console: a OLED touch screen of almost 5 inches and with a resolution of 960 x 544 pixels. This is the same screen that was used in the original PS Vita and is excellent for playing games across all generations with excellent brightness and vivid colours.

Lastly, it consists of stereo speakers They provide quite good sound quality.

How about emulation?

Gaming performance is, of course, the most important part of any console, and here it is necessary to explain that the ANBERNIC RG505 can handle a large number of titles and platforms with ease, but it certainly has significant limitations.

Going into details, it is a delight to be able to replay those 8 and 16-bit classics on the ANBERNIC RG505, in the same way, it has what it takes to move even the most complex games on consoles like the PlayStation One, Nintendo 64, Sega DreamCast and Saturn; all this at full speed and at least 2 times the native resolution, so no complaints.

History almost repeats itself with the PSP titles, which for the most part run smoothly, but Demanding games like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta exhibit occasional FPS drops and noticeable slowdowns, although it’s still very playable, especially if you’re willing to forego 2X resolution and tinker with emulation settings until you get an ideal balance between graphics and performance (enable Leaps Per Second frame rate recommended).

It is with the sixth generation of consoles where the ANBERNIC RG505 is put to a halt, which simply it doesn’t have enough power to emulate the PlayStation 2 perfectlybut with a little ingenuity, visual sacrifices and adjustments we can enjoy some titles, not to mention that we can get away with it if we bet on Dolphin and GameCube games.

To put them in context, God of War 2 barely averages 30FPS on the ANBERNIC RG505, which is about halfway what the game normally runs on PS2, so we wouldn’t call it playable, but GameCube’s Luigi’s Mansion is more than playable at those FPS.

Android 12 and RetroArch on board

As we mentioned before, the ANBERNIC RG505 works with Android 12, so a fairly familiar user experience awaits us. The OS comes with several pre-installed applications, but far from being Bloatware, they are emulators for the different consoles, so we can’t complain. Similarly, it includes Moonlight app to play our PC games via Streaming. Being an Android device it is more than obvious that we can enjoy native games for the platform without any problem, such as Genshin Impact, Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty Mobile with good FPS.

An element that we cannot ignore is the presence of RetroArch, a frontend for emulation that seeks to simplify the user experience. Interestingly, we can invoke this interface with the simple touch of a dedicated button. However, it doesn’t work entirely well, as many users report that it doesn’t show the complete list of emulators and games present on the device, not to mention that the options are brief, so we have to go back to Android.

Connectivity and battery

In terms of wireless connectivity, we can say that it has dual band Wi-Fi to connect them to the network and also Bluetooth 5.0 for pairing peripherals. When it comes to physical interfaces, it only has a USB-C port, Micro-SD card slot and a 3.5mm audio jack.

In terms of battery, the ANBERNIC RG505 has a 5,000mAh unit that promises up to 6 hours of play, but in reality it is closer to 4 or 5 hours. The recharge time is 2.5 hours, which is not bad.

Availability and price of the ANBERNIC RG505

Those interested in the ANBERNIC RG505 may purchase it via Banggoodbut it can also be found available on geekbuying for a competitive price. As a last alternative we can suggest looking for it on AliExpress, although shipping could take longer from this store. Before making a decision, we invite you to consult all the offers.

In the same way, if you were looking for a somewhat simpler and smaller console, let us recommend you to the ANBERNIC RG353Mwhich outlines a charming metallic design and can even emulate DreamCast games.