I picked up the Mangmi Air X because other members of the RH media team told me to during the device pre-sale. I believe the phrase “treat yo-self” may have been involved. Priced at just $80 during the presale ($90 retail) and promising some serious bang for that buck, it was a pretty perfect storm for an impulse purchase. Just the right amount where I don’t have to feel too bad about what I’ve done.
Dreamcast looks especially good
As I’m often referred to by the editing team around here as “e-waste guy“, it’s certainly not a stretch to say that I’m attracted to any device promising to punch above its price weight class. And dear reader, I swear to you this is true, the first thing I said I opened the Magmi Air X box in my kitchen and held it was “I spent how much on this again?!”. This feels like a handheld that could be asking for twice the retail price without much problem, and that feeling doesn’t stop once you power it on, either.
MANGMI Air X Specs
The hardware specs on the Air X raised some eyebrows when they were first announced back in June. It isn’t that there are any especially remarkable components, but everyone was waiting to see the price tag to go along with these specs. At $90 retail, it’s fair to say they found the sweet spot for such a capable device.
Official Specs from Mangmi
What I’m Loving
Performance on the Mangmi Air X has got to be the best in its class, and I get the impression that things have only improved in recent months with any new drivers that may have come along. I ran DolphinMMJR2 and AetherSX2 (in slow device setup) and received some surprisingly encouraging results.
More than I thought it could do (running DolphinMMJR2)
I went into this thing thinking that PS2 or Gamecube would be totally off the table, but with some minor tweaking, there are games that are playable. It wouldn’t be my first choice by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a nice tinkering cherry on top of an already great sundae.
There are playable titles on PS2
Several PSP titles that I tested ran great at a native 4x 1080p. More demanding titles like the Grand Theft Auto series had to be turned down to 3x resolution, but that’s still a joy to behold on this screen. I had expected something closer to 2x-3x, but the Air X surprised me once again.
Games like Liberty City Stories are a treat
And speaking of PSP, watching it upscaled on this display is a wonderful thing. The screen will never hit AMOLED levels of brightness like the new Retroid Pocket G2, but it’s also less than half the cost.
PSP upscales so well
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor really puts on a show at this price – no doubt backed by some rock-solid driver support. Just because this is a chipset from 2020 doesn’t mean it isn’t damn capable. Sure, it can’t do everything, but good god man, it sure can do a lot. Plus, ya know, Snapdragon…
Ergonomics and Controls
The Air X doesn’t have a premium feel to it, but it certainly doesn’t feel cheap either. Everything feels purpose-built and here for a reason. We have Hall Analog sticks, a great D-pad, and buttons. If you want “something that feels premium in the hands,” then go spend more money. You’re already getting decent champagne on a beer budget here.
Nothing too flashy. Just right.
When I’m holding the Air X in my hands, it feels right. It might benefit from some grips for longer sessions streaming something like an FPS, but for the majority of my gaming needs and the device’s own abilities, it’s great as it comes out of the box.
Game Streaming
AAA PC titles like Hogwarts Legacy feel right at home
The creators of the Mangmi Air X wouldn’t have included Artemis in the stock catalog of apps during the initial device setup if they didn’t want to nudge users a bit. I’ve always had varying degrees of success with local game streaming. Sometimes it’s great, other times it can be a huge pain.
I’d never used Apollo or Artemis in the past. Moonlight and Sunshine had provided some success in various applications, but it always felt like there was some level of disconnect that I couldn’t ever quite explain. Whatever it was, it made me never really use them to stream games very often outside of testing. Steam Link was rock solid some days, and hated my Deco mesh network the next.
Helldivers 2 running in Artemis
I don’t know what Mangmi combined with Apollo/Artemis has done to appease the Wi-Fi gods, but this is by far the best streaming experience I’ve ever had in PC gaming. This handheld and streaming feel made for one another, and the gaming experience feels native. That’s a bold statement, but it’s true. I was playing games well outside the graphical fortitude of the Air X, and it felt like it was native to the device.
Maybe other devices have already achieved this for you, but the Mangmi Air X is the first time where I feel like I could comfortably play something beyond an indie or mid-tier game on a handheld. The input lag is so low that I can’t tell if it’s there. I can quite happily play twitchy shooters and precise fighting games without worry.
If the Air X were only made for streaming, similar to something like the Logitech G-Cloud, it would still be a bargain at $90. The fact that it can do so much more right from the jump only makes it a more compelling device.
TLDR
Feels right at home
The upcoming TrimUI Smart Pro S is promising 2x the performance of the original Smart Pro, at the same $90 price point as the Mangmi Air X. That’s now laughable. There’s no value left in a $90 device that’s only twice as powerful as the original Smart Pro when the Air X exists. It’s a handheld that will force the competition to respond and lower prices on some of their lineups. Anbernic and others should consider the gauntlet thrown down.
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