Some things, like bad luck, are meant to come in threes; however, I’ve never heard the same thing being said about retro handhelds with a 3:2 screen.
The AYANEO Pocket Ace
Yesterday, AYANEO announced its latest handheld, the Pocket Ace. After AYANEO’s own Pocket Classic and Powkiddy’s recently announced RGB50, this will be the third 3:2 handheld that we’ve ended up writing about in this calendar month. However, unlike those other devices, AYANEO is pitching this device much more toward the high end of the market since this device uses the same Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 CPU as its other high-end handhelds like the Pocket S and the Pocket DMG.
The Pocket Ace in Back and While
While the innards are likely a known quantity, the Pocket Ace shows off a new form factor for AYANEO, that of a “medium-sized” candy bar design. While we don’t yet know the exact measurements, this device could be seen to sit quite neatly directly between the size of the Pocket S and the Pocket Micro. The design language of the Ace seems to be more similar to an Anbernic device than the manufacturer’s previous products.
The biggest surprise, at least from this author’s point of view, is that the Pocket Ace has the D-pad up top. This, I think, will be AYANEO’s first horizontal device with this configuration.
The Ace Seems to Be a Medium-Sized Horizontal Handheld
The device’s screen is also a first for AYANEO, with this being a 4.5-inch 1080p 3:2 screen. While we won’t know for sure until review units are in the hands of our writers, it seems like it would be a safe bet to assume this is the same screen used by both the KT-R1 and the upcoming Powkiddy RGB50.
The Pocket Ace features the same 6000 mAh battery as the Pocket DMG, hall effect joysticks, and new rumble motors for improved haptics. The change I welcome the most is the repositioning of Start and Select to the top of the device (above the D-pad and Face buttons). Anyone who has used the Pocket Micro or Pocket Micro Classic will know the frustrations associated with accidentally pressing Back or Home when aiming for Start and Select, usually to try and trigger a Save State, due to the button placement on that device.
The Pocket Ace looks to come in 3 colorways: Black, White, and Retro Power. Like all previous AYANEO devices, we would expect the Retro Power colorway to only be available in the more expensive configurations.
The Retro Power Colorway: Is this For Higher Configurations Only?
We don’t have any information relating to the price or release date at this time. As such, this article will be updated when this information is shared with us.
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