Unlike most of the folks here at RH, I don’t need Ban to convince me to jump at potential e-waste budget handhelds. I possess that instinct (curse) all on my own. So when I found out that Kinhank was making their own clone of my beloved R36S, I was on board immediately. The K36 comes to us boasting a familiar chipset and physical layout upfront.

But, once you see the device from the sides of the back, you will notice it is sporting a very nice curved caboose. Does it perform as well as some of its budget-priced counterparts? Are those backside curves more comfy controller or an awkward hindrance?

Note: As it stands, this is a review of the K36 as it arrived with the stock OS experience. At the time of writing, there is no outside firmware running on the device.

The Company

Kinhank has been a name in the emulation scene for a number of years now. I first became acquainted with them around 2020 when they released the Super Console X. This was right around the time all these handheld shenanigans were really taking off. It only makes sense that they would throw their name and hat in the handheld ring with an official entry.

They’ve also become known more recently for selling preloaded hard drives with massive ROM collections. These range from 500GB all the way up to 12TB. The images are always clean and nicely presented, so I was curious to see what they were going to offer in a handheld.

Whether this device was manufactured by Kinhank, under instruction from them, or just using their name recognition under agreement, is almost impossible to know at this point. The hope would be that the product delivers the reasonable expectation for quality that most of their products have shown in the past. My Super Console X Pro still gets regular use from my son. And it has proven a great option for cheap living room entertainment over the years.

Kinhank K36 Specs

• Processor: The tried and true, RK3326 (physically verified on the unit board)
• RAM: 1GB
• Display: 3.5″ 640×480 LCD
• Battery: 3500mAh 3.7V
• Connectivity: USB-C for charging (5v/2a), 3.5mm headphone jack
• Weight: 188g

A Whole Handful

There’s no getting around the fact that everyone who sees the K36 is immediately drawn to make some sort of “badonk” butt comment. Personally, I think they missed an opportunity for a solid red color. Especially, with the constant marketing of Deadpool’s rear end to go with the new movie, but I digress.

I mean, we can’t NOT talk about it……

The curves are going to make or break the device for you. If you don’t like them, that’s fine! This device probably won’t be for you, and there are plenty of other fish in the vast RK3266 seas.

A sensible grip for the ergonomics

Stubbs’ psycho grip for nutcases

RH Boss-man Stubbs said in his first impressions that he found the bumps to be more awkward than ergonomic. But I must say that I’ve had the opposite experience in my time so far with the K36. I am a larger-handed guy and after several play sessions with the K36, I actually found it quite comfortable to hold for extended periods.

Other Hardware Feels

Nothing wrong in the looks department

Let’s break down all the other hardware features of the console outside its signature posterior.

• D-Pad: Surprisingly decent. There is some travel, but it passes the Contra test for the most part. If I’m really forcing it, I can get something to happen. But for the most part, I don’t think you’re going to experience false inputs on this thing. Sitting next to the R36S and the D-R35+ and feeling each D-Pad, I’d have to go with the Kinhank.
• Sticks: Kinhank has gone with Hall sensor sticks here. They are to be commended for doing so in such a cheap package. The analog sticks have a good amount of travel. And, I was able to easily vary and control my speeds in 3D platforming games. Big thumbs up.
• Speaker: Single down-firing speaker. It sounds fine. I wouldn’t really expect or demand much more than what’s given here. It serves its purpose. A headphone jack is on offer as well.
• Screen: As it sits the screen looks fine to good, but I bet with some minor software optimization it could look even better.
• Storage: A single microSD slot is available. Note, I said available. There are actually two on the board, but only one is accessible via the shell. It’s that kind of party.
• Face Buttons: Very solid entries. Physical buttons that feel much nicer than the membrane style found on the R36S. I can’t really fault them.
• Shoulder Buttons: The same loud, “clicky” shoulders that we see on most of these clone devices. It’s nice that they’re rounded off and feel good in your hand. But I wish someone could get these right and release something that could be played without annoying everyone else in the room.

Software and Play Experience (For Now)

*This is the part of the review that is going to need to have a big fat asterisk next to it for now. The Kinhank K36 ships with a skinned version of EmuElec themed to resemble the ArkOS experience on the R36S that has become standard with those devices. I know that console entries from Kinhank like the Super Console X have always run on EmuElec. So maybe that’s just what the designers are used to working with.

The fact remains that until a more optimized experience comes out of the community. I cannot fairly say that this is all this machine is capable of. Anyone who has been around this scene for more than a minute knows that hardware can live or die based on the strength of CFW. Here’s hoping we can see a port for this device in the near future.

Kinhank, or whomever they partnered with on this device, made a real error in letting it go out the door running on EmuElec. I’m not sure of the reasoning behind this decision, and I’m not technically knowledgeable enough to speculate. The fact is that we know what this processor is capable of via a slew of other available devices. They made a conscious decision to push this device out the door as “good enough” and it just isn’t up to snuff.

D35+ K36, and the R36S (left to right)

The experience of playing your 8 and 16-bit entries is quite good, but that’s a base standard expectation at this point. It passes the Yoshi’s Island test just fine, but in systems down the road from there, it begins to stutter. Nintendo 64 proved to be better than expected. Barring a weird 2 player ROM of Mario 64 being included, the game performed quite well and was a good testing base for the analog stick sensitivity. That’s where the good gaming unfortunately ends, as the experience sits now.

I found enough minor judders and audio hiccups in the PSX experience to make me just go elsewhere, and anything beyond that is going to be a massive compromise. Dreamcast, PSP, Saturn, etc are not in playable states at this time. They even included some Atomiswave games on the built-in image, an arcade board that I only became aware of because of Kinhank and Wicked Gamer on the Super Console X. Sadly here, it’s more or less unplayable.

Conclusion

At this point in the game, we are very familiar with exactly what the RK3266 processor is capable of running in emulation. Delivering the device as it is reeks of an attempt to cash in like everyone else on the current handheld gold rush. I think there may be a genuinely decent device to rival the budget king R36S here, but until it gets to a point where it’s running an optimized software experience, we won’t know.

If you’re an enthusiast in the hobby, there is no reason to run out and grab this device unless you’re really into curvaceous vertical handhelds. If you’re just dipping your toes into the scene, there are certainly better options at this time. I hope to revisit this article in the coming weeks/months with an updated experience, but for now, the only thing I can recommend is to save your money until we can see this thing running some decent firmware. Wait and see.

Kinhank K36 at AliExpress

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