Ok everybody, Powkiddy has a new device on the horizon. I will get this out of the way straight out of the gate: it has a square screen. And as we all know, a square is a rectangle, but all rectangles are not squares…at least I think that’s the case, though I did fail geometry once. The surprises do not end there either. This dang thing is a horizontal handheld! As if those two things were not enough of a WTF, they also threw some analog sticks on the front. So where does that leave us? Well to be frank, I am not entirely sure. For one thing, it is not out yet, so some of the details are a mystery. For another, a horizontal device with a 1:1 square screen is just not something that we in the retro-handheld community have a ton of experience with. Regardless, we are excited to see how the RGB30 shapes up and attempts to find its niche among the big boys in the market.
So besides the initial shock of the physical layout, Powkiddy’s new gaming machine seems pretty straightforward. It’s been saddled with a RK3566 chip and that is an incredibly familiar sight, so no secrets there. The extra power will be nice for the higher end systems (PSP, N64 on this chip), but the screen will certainly not compliment something like PSP games well. It will have Wi-Fi on board; a very welcome sight indeed. Retroachievements, anyone? Scraping box art, anyone? OTA updates, an…you get it. Pair that with the Linux OS it will be running and one can hope that this will be an easy device to start up and play right out of the box.
Now back to my favorite part: the hardware. The four inch IPS (probably) screen is indeed a square, which will make it perfect for Gameboy/Gameboy Color games…and not much else. Around the screen, the shell looks to house some front firing speaker holes, the typical face button/dpad layout, start/select up high, and analog sticks down low. The top edge holds four in-line shoulder buttons; the bottom edge two SD card slots, USB-C charging and OTG ports, and of course a standard and beautiful 3.5mm headphone jack. While we do not know the quality of the buttons, the loudness of the speaker, or the brightness of the screen, what we DO know is: Powkiddy be wildin’.
We do not know the exact price or release date for this particular plaything as of yet, but our best estimate would be about $80-$110 with a release date that will be sooner rather than later.
Alright everyone, that’s all the info I have for now. The PK RGB30 is on the horizon, and of course we will let you know more when we know more. Hang around our Discord or pop onto YouTube to catch wind of any news we might come up with in regards to the newest Powkiddy product!
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