Now I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but the Funkey S was a tiny clamshell handheld that, for $70 in 2020, you’d get “up to” PS1 in the palm of your hand! For 2020 that was pretty impressive, and I don’t know if it was the size or the sleeping upon closing feature, but I absolutely adored it. I backed the Funkey S on Kickstarter, and when I got it, I took mine everywhere.
But aside from size and power for the time, I had my complaints. 50hz screen, tiny clicky buttons that I should have expected, and a battery life that remained unimpressive. Oh and Micro USB. I don’t want that anymore. However to fix that, it would need to be a larger device, so here in 2024, I managed to find just that! This is a device I had imported thanks to a friend from the RH Discord, that I’m dubbing “The Funkey SP”. It’s bigger alright, but I think it’s got some bigger issues to talk about too.
Specs
Let’s get the specs out right away. It’s a Funkey S. Mostly.
Same Allwinner V3s, same 64mb of ram. However, where it differs are the size-related things. It ups the battery from 410mAh to 850mAh, and the screen gets a size increase to what I believe to be about 3”, while it doesn’t retain the 1:1 aspect ratio of the Funkey S, it’s still an overall decent display. Though I’d happily take something larger.
Size, and Buttons
This is a Gameboy Advance SP shell. These are Gameboy Advance SP shoulder buttons. Yep, the D-pad feels similar, so do select and start. And the 2 A and 2 B buttons? They feel; similar. I thought a double-A button RGB30 was bad, but now I’m really seeing double. Before we keep going I just want to say the second A and B buttons had their holes essentially drilled into the shell and frankly. It’s terrible. Half of the second B button is flush with the shell, and that just makes it annoying to press. I hate these buttons, and as much as I can, I’m going to avoid using them.
Everything else feels like an SP though, and as an SP lover. I can dig it. Shoulders are a little clicker, but that might actually be an improvement from mush central on the real deal. Size-wise they’re identical, and compared to the Funkey S, this thing is massive. Overall, outside of the tiny shoulder buttons, and actually terrible second A and B, I like it.
Weight Comparison:
- Funkey S – 31 grams
- “Funkey SP” – 144 grams
- RP2S – 197 grams
- Metal GBA SP – 231 grams
The OS
One of my favorite things about the Funkey S was its OS. It was a nice clean and straightforward system. And with DrUm78’s OS update bringing the screen to 60Hz, I’d say they had a nice thing going for them. On the other hand, the Funkey SP has a customized version of the Funkey OS.
The worst part for me though is the lack of English as a language option. Sure, I could probably hack it in, but going through to GMenu2x (thanks to having my Funkey S nearby), there were other language options! I could put my SP into French, but not English. While this is likely a dealbreaker for most, I’m at least familiar enough with the OS to get around the Chinese language in the menus.
Also, I tried installing DrUm78’s OS Update. Black screen. I tried installing the OG Funkey OS. Colored bars on the side. To access the SD card to do all this, I had to remove the cartridge from the cartridge slot, unscrew and open the cartridge, and then install it. Yeah, not my favorite game. Luckily though, you can plug the Funkey SP into your computer directly and add roms that way, just like the Funkey S.
Overall, if the second A and B buttons didn’t stop you, maybe the lack of an English language would. No? It didn’t stop me either.
Gameplay
Well… it plays like a Funkey S because well, it is.
After figuring out the settings and loading my own legally obtained games into the system, I had that familiar feeling of the Funkey S.
Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Gear all ran perfectly fine. They don’t fill the screen but with a 10:9 aspect ratio (usually) what would you expect? Though at least with Game Gear I can use it in 4:3. Genesis and Game Boy Advance also ran fine, though occasionally I noticed strange audio stuttering in some games. But hey! I had zero issues with Apotris, and I feel like this might be the system I keep that one on, with the ability to put it to sleep quickly.
SNES and PS1 I noticed more audio stuttering in, which I found a bit odd as some of the games didn’t have this issue on the Funkey S. Whether that’s the custom software, or the SP-styled speaker I’ve yet to figure out. This issue seemed to be particularly bad in Tekken 3, however over time the stuttering would start to go away.
Oh and in case you’re wondering, I had no issues playing Sonic The Hedgehog Pocket Edition with the Neo Geo Pocket emulator on Hare. So the 4 of you that love this system, I think you’ll do just fine as well.
By the way, battery life. Almost twice as big as the Funkey S, so it’s an improvement! Though in my opinion, it’s still not the best out there. It would get me a good few hours of gameplay, which is better than the 1 to 2 of the original.
Final Thoughts
In the end, do I think you should buy it? No. At least, not at the price I paid. Up until now, I haven’t mentioned it, but I spent around $120 on it after import shipping and shipping to me. If you got it for like $90 shipped, maybe? A Funkey S is already around $75 so if you want the additional size maybe that’s the way to go.
However, with the issues around the face buttons and the operating system, I don’t think you should try hunting one of these down. There are better, non-clamshell devices you could get instead. RG35XX+, Miyoo Mini Plus, and even the RP2S would be a better buy than this. This is a complete novelty purchase. At a good price? Sure. $100 or more? Pass. Honestly, I think I’ll just stick to a normal Gameboy Advance SP if I want a clamshell like this. Unless someone releases a new clamshell. Wink Wink Nudge Nudge Miyoo Mini Flip.
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