Greetings friends and fellow enthusiasts!
This is Mikhailov from Team Retrogue, where we like retro games and the devices that bring them to us. In the last article, we looked at the Ayaneo Flip DS, aka the “Hand Warmer.”
This week, it’s time to take a first look at GameMT’s E6 Plus. It looks like a mini Steam Deck, but how well does it perform?
I am currently working on reviewing this device for my YouTube channel, but while you wait for that, here is a first look at the handheld so we can see if it’s worth your hard-earned dollarbucks.
Spec-Town
The GameMT E6 Plus is powered by an RK3566 CPU containing 8 Cores and 16 threads. The device has 2GB of RAM.
The screen is a 5″ IPS touchscreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The E6 Plus is also capable of video out via Mini HDMI.
The right joystick is a standard Switch-style joy-con joystick, while the left joystick is a hall sensor joystick. When asked why only the left joystick was a hall sensor, GameMT replied “It wasn’t necessary.” I personally have OCD when it comes to symmetry, so having two different joysticks is just odd to me. GameMT reports that you can swap out the joysticks yourselves.
A 5000mAh battery powers the device, and you can dual-boot Linux or Android.
The Good
This kind of reminds me of the Indigo GBA…with more green.
The Linux side of this device, a modified JELOS build, is the best way to experience the E6 Plus in my opinion. You can load up a second SD card with your ROM files thanks to the dual microSD setup.
The 5″ screen is a good size for retro gaming, and the aspect ratio works great for Game Boy Advance and PSP games. In fact, this device excels at Game Boy Advance specifically. The most fun I’ve had with this handheld has been as a GBA machine.
Dreamcast runs pretty well, but this D-Pad makes fighting games hard.
You will need to boot into the Android side of this handheld and do some sideloading in order to get decent performance for Dreamcast and PSP, but if you are willing to do that, the PSP and Dreamcast games I have tested did well. PSP had a few dips while Dreamcast ran at a steady 60. Unfortunately, I could not get Dreamcast or PSP to work well at all on the Linux side. I continue to conduct further testing.
This is a comfortable device to hold. The curves on the back contribute to the ergonomics and make this a good handheld for long play sessions. Because this is a first look, I haven’t tested the battery just yet, but I imagine on a low-powered device like this, you can get at least 4 hours of game time depending on what you’re playing.
The Bad
Royal Flush!
The Android 11 side of the device is very clunky and a little deceptive. There is a Play Store app, but the device is not Google Play certified, so you can’t actually use it. There are ways to attempt to certify the device yourself, but that does not work well for the end-user. Once I had certified the handheld, I was able to do more testing using Play Store Apps.
If you are unwilling and unable to do this, the Android side of the device requires side-loading of apps and limits how you can customize this part of the device. There also does not seem to be much benefit to booting into Android unless you are specifically looking to emulate Dreamcast and PSP. Balatro runs well on it, so there’s that.
Further testing and final impressions on the Android side of the E6 Plus will be included in my video review.
The Ugly
This is some serious light bleed.
The LEDs on this device are very bright, and create a lot of light bleed when they’re in use over several aspects of the handheld including the shoulder buttons. Thankfully, you can turn the lights off, but the device would be better if it just didn’t have them.
The D-Pad is one of the worst I’ve ever used. It is way too easy to accidentally trigger right when you’re pushing down. This is especially frustrating when navigating menus in JELOS, as I have accidentally changed several settings just trying to scroll down to get to the menu option I want. I love circle d-pads, but this one is very difficult to use and takes away from the experience.
A poor-performing D-Pad on a retro handheld can destroy a device, as it impacts the ability to play games effectively.
First Impressions
The GameMT’s LinuxOS is functional and does provide the best user experience, but due to the poor D-Pad and the difficult-to-navigate AndroidOS, this handheld is hard to recommend over better performing and more polished handhelds such as the Anbernic RG35XX, the TrimUI Smart Pro, or even the upcoming Anbernic RG40XX H. Hopefully, after some further testing, I will be able to find where this device can shine.
Look forward to my final video review on the E6 Plus, coming soon to the TeamRetrogue YouTube Channel.
Purchase the E6 Plus from AliExpress here.
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