If you pre-ordered the Retroid Pocket Flip 2, you should hopefully be seeing it arrive in your mailbox any day now. I happened to be just so lucky this morning and have spent the better part of the day setting the device up and getting a feel for what it can do.

I should preface these impressions by saying that I have not owned a Retroid product since the Pocket 3 in the fall of 2022. As one of the unfortunate souls who ordered and received that handheld on the eve of the Pocket 3+ announcement, I’d always felt a little bit burned by that interaction and have been hesitant to jump back into its ecosystem.

But time heals all wounds, and despite my whining, I’ve always thought the Pocket 3 was a fantastic device. So when the hype surrounding the Pocket Flip 2 was sweeping the handheld community, I decided it was time to throw down my own bucks and see what they’ve been up to for the past few years.

Needless to say, we’ve come a long way in the short amount of time since the release of the Pocket 3, and I’m excited to keep exploring this device that manages to feel familiar and brand new all at once.

Retroid Pocket Flip 2: Specs

Retroid Pocket Flip 2 Specs

The Pocket Flip 2 is available in two different processor options. The SD865 is the unit I ordered, but there is also the slightly slower D1100 for those users who were satisfied with the performance levels of the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro but would like something with a clamshell design. You can see the comparisons between the two outlined above.

If you’ve already owned the Retroid Pocket 5, there shouldn’t be any surprises here. The Flip 2 is almost an identical device to the Pocket 5 when it comes to the internal hardware. Any experiences that you may have had or seen with the Pocket 5 should be able to be easily replicated here on the Flip 2.

Retroid Pocket Flip 2

Retroid Pocket Flip 2: Ergonomics and Controls

Design

Classic design meets modern power

The Flip 2 comes in four color options: Black, SNES Grey, an Ice Blue that I swear is green, and the Indigo that is clearly paying homage to the Nintendo GameCube, right down to the yellow C-stick. It’s one of those playful design nods to nostalgia that I’m a total sucker for every time.

The Retroid Pocket 5 was going for sleek and slick design, and from everything that I’ve seen, it looks like they nailed it. The moment you hold the Pocket Flip 2, you know they were trying something else entirely here, and that’s not a knock on the design at all. The handheld is clearly meant to evoke more of a sense of classic Nintendo designs, like the DSi or the 3DS XL.

It’s not kiddie – It’s charming

The matte plastic indigo that I ordered has a decent, durable feel to it. After a day of use, there isn’t any real fingerprinting (other than on the screen), but I have noticed that oils from my thumbs and hands do streak a bit on the flat finish, and I do have to wonder if that might lead to staining over time.

I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to call it kiddie, but the Flip 2 has a more youthful, exuberant design than the Pocket 5, even with the two sharing the same GameCube color scheme. The Pocket 5 feels a little more grown-up. Giving a nod to something like the PS Vita. On the other hand, Flip 2 can scratch my itch for classic design and still offer all that power under the hood. It’s a win-win (except for possibly in the wallet) for fans to have the choice.

The Flip 2 comes in a wee bit chunkier than its inspirations

Pocketability is something that you hear talked about often in the handheld space, and while it’s not really my thing, I can understand why people would want that feature. When closed, the Flip 2 is reasonably compact, but I don’t think you’re going to get away with it in a pair of jeans any time soon. I can say it fit very nicely in one of my hoodie pockets as I meandered around the house today. This device has some chunk to it, and I think it’d be best suited for a small messenger bag, purse, or backpack for use on the go.

The Hinge

The new borrowed hinge design should help the device stay sturdier

One thing that most people have been wondering about in the buildup to the Flip 2 was whether Retroid would be able to solve the hinge woes of the original Flip. For those who might not be familiar, the original Pocket Flip had a design flaw that caused a not-insignificant percentage of users to have their hinges crack and break when opening or closing the device. Of course, on a clamshell device, this was a massive problem to have, and probably rendered the device useless in the eyes of some users.

While I can’t speak to the eventual lifespan of the new and improved hinge design of the Flip 2, I can say that I think this one feels very solid. It has a satisfying amount of resistance when opening, and snaps into either of two open positions once you get beyond 90 degrees with a satisfying bit of thump. I suppose time will tell, but I’d hope Retroid wouldn’t want to repeat the same mistakes that came with their first hinge disaster.

Controls

Great dome switch d-pad

While they might be a teensy bit on the small side for my personal preference, the D-pad and face buttons on the Flip 2 are top-notch. The pad has a great feel under the thumb, and you can distinctly feel each individual directional input.

Thumbsticks are slightly recessed into the lower half of the device to make room for the screen when the clam is closed. I was unsure how I’d fare with the sunken sticks, but I haven’t had any issues. The sticks themselves have a great feel, with textured nubbins that remind me of the Slug Sticks on my Odin 2.

The sunken analog sticks are more comfortable than I might have guessed

Triggers and shoulder buttons are placed comfortably enough. I found myself resting my index fingers across the shoulders when playing anything that wasn’t actively using the triggers. Your experience will likely depend on the length of your fingers, but there should be a position in there for you.

Textured triggers

While it might not be the first device I’d leap for, I think I’d be perfectly comfortable with a long play of an FPS game here. It’s a decent jack of all trades experience in the all-around experience, and should lend itself well to most types of games.

Retroid Pocket Flip 2: Display and Sound

The AMOLED screen remains vibrant and crisp even in sunlight

The top half of the Flip 2 is sporting a 5.5″ AMOLED screen at 1080p resolution and 500 nits of max brightness. Once again, it’s the same screen that can already be found in the Pocket 5, so we already know that it should be great, and I’m happy to report that has been my experience thus far.

The screen gets bright or dim enough to provide a nice experience in various lighting conditions. As Spring appeared to finally be poking its head around the corner today, I took the Flip 2 out on the porch in the late afternoon and still found the display a joy in the sunlight.

The speakers are front-firing and located on the lower control half of the handheld. Sound is decent with some good mid-range capability. I certainly haven’t done any formal testing, but the device does get reasonably loud. Nothing like the blast of the Odin 2, but I think there’s enough here for most folks to be happy.

Retroid Pocket Flip 2: Software

The stock launcher is decent

When you first boot the Flip 2, you’ll be greeted by a procedural setup process to assign things like Wi-Fi and Google accounts. Users are then able to select from a list of compatible apps for the device – standard offerings like RetroArch, PSPPP, etc., along with some fun freeware and community additions. I vastly prefer being given the choice of what I want on the device from the jump, versus something like an Anbernic Android stock experience.

From there, it’s your standard Android 13 experience. If you’ve set up a modern emulation handheld on Android before, you should be in comfortable territory here. The Retroid stock launcher is fine enough, but I’ve already opted to install Daijisho.

Gameplay

Catching up on some more modern classics

Going in, I knew that the Snapdragon 865 with 8GB of RAM wasn’t going to be able to quite hit the highs of my Odin 2 Pro. That being said, I think it’s amazing the level of performance that developers have been able to get out of this chipset.

Having just come off writing an impressions article on the Anbernic RG557 and its lack of driver support for the Dimensity 8300 chip packed inside, I can’t help but feel that the Pocket 5 and Flip 2 make an important argument about optimization in the current tech landscape.

The two devices side by side speak volumes about the importance of drivers and developer support for your hardware, as I was able to achieve things *cough, Switch cough cough* on the Flip 2 that had alluded me just days earlier on the “on-paper” more powerful RG557.

Conclusions

The Retroid Pocket Flip 2 makes me understand what all the fuss is about with folks talking about the Pocket 5. My experiences so far have met my expectations for the handheld, and I’m happy to have taken the pre-order leap to receive one. While these are just my first impressions, and you’ll have to stay tuned for our full reviews, I’m comfortable saying that this will be a go-to device for me for the foreseeable future.

Retroid Pocket Flip 2

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