Sunk-cost Fallacy – noun – The phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.
by Joe
Hey everyone, it’s good to see you again (You should probably disable your front-facing cameras). I will cut to the chase: I like the Miyoo Flip V2. I think I even like-like it despite the internet trying to gaslight me into believing it’s terrible and I should feel bad for playing on it. On the contrary, it actually makes me feel good, and now I believe I should counter-gaslight you (Reverse-gaslight? Un-gaslight? Re-gaslight?) and offer a re-evaluation from someone unperturbed by the hype cycle.
Because everything is better in hindsight, I suppose. Let’s check out its firmware options, click/creak its hinge, play games on it, and give a short Retro Handhelds-based sermon on the philosophy of logical fallacies through the lens of someone who shouldn’t be qualified to talk about either, but will do so anyway as a means to entertain you. But first…
What Still Sucks About It
My flipping family
Fun fact: Everyone is mostly right. The hinge is still a standout of being one of the worst in the current market, and, while improved on the V2, it has a lot of the same issues as the V1. It’s notably loud, creaks over a short period of use, and is so tight it’s like the console is politely but firmly asking you not to open it. This has led to the SNES model being doomed to fail by putting too much strain on the newer plastic shell, and breaking.
Oops. Definitely not a strong point.
The reconfigured screen also has its share of negatives. It’s brighter, sure. But it’s ALWAYS brighter with a near non-existent low brightness setting, which also won’t please your wife at night [remove if too much lol]. The out-of-the-box color grading is…also not accurate, but here are some benefits, though, and I will get into those in the “What Doesn’t Suck: The Stock OS” section.
The last bit that is problematic to me is the sheer lack of real CFW for it. Sure, we have MinUI and SurwishOS, but those are really just modified versions of the stock OS, which only provide superficial benefits to the overall experience within the window of the original Miyoo offering. I don’t hate stock, but it is not the configurable experience we are used to.
What Doesn’t Suck: How it Feels
If you are allergic to opinions, maybe exposure therapy is the best way to combat it (it’s not). Anyways, for context, I’m not really sold on the “Premium” aspect of these handhelds. Whether it’s a metal body or RGB around the sticks, I don’t really care.
What tickles me is THAT hand-feel, if the buttons feel nice, and if the picture is above decent. And that’s about it. The slightly rounded edges of this device just do it for me, and the smaller, more compact size isn’t as much of an issue. For a clamshell, there is a certain amount of comfort you have to sacrifice because of the boxy shape, and that’s okay here.
The buttons also have that near GBA SP soft click to them that feels cathartic to use amongst its cankerous clacky cousins. I don’t particularly mind the analog sticks either. Yes, in any other instance they suck, but again…it’s a clamshell. It’s whatever. I don’t really have issues using them, but I also hold them from the side rather than the bottom.
Hinges be cray-cray
The hinge over time develops an annoying creaking sound, which is lame, but after a few months of using this guy almost daily, my black model is still going strong. As a knee replacement recipient at a young age, I know what a bad hinge feels like, and as my leg surgeon would put it, “Hinges don’t make the man, the color balance on your display does.” Which was kind of weird of him to say, but anyways…
What Doesn’t Suck: The Stock OS
The stock experience on most Linux handhelds can be…problematic, with most devices benefiting from CFW out of the box, but I would argue the Miyoo stock offering is good enough for most people. This is good considering it’s literally pre-flashed to the board rather than living on an SD card. That being said, you’ll find your ROMs, themes, and configurations on the included SD card, which is name brand, so I don’t think you’ll have to worry about potential failure.
If you are coming from the XX series, the interface might be familiar with your Recent, Favorites, Game Room, RA Game, Settings, etc. For gaming, I actually use the Game Room option since you can actually just select your favorite pre-installed emulator core with a click of the X button rather than digging for a pre-curated folder for a specific core in the RA Game section. Launching games through Game Room also opens you up to using Miyoo’s pre-baked interface for save states, exiting, etc., with a click of the Menu button.
Additionally, if you don’t like the pre-made configuration of RetroArch, all you need to do is go the the Menu>Native App (to open RA)>Quick Menu>Overrides>Remove Content Directory Overrides to have an infinitely tweakable RA window. Once you complete your configuration, just re-save the Content Directory Override so every game for that console loads the same configuration.
The stock OS also has a few less common settings that have heavily improved the experience for me. Notably: Screen calibration. Yes, the default configuration is too bright, lacks color depth, and favors reds. BUT. You can completely tweak it to get something pretty close to perfect (as far as color accuracy goes) as well as adjust the screen’s PWM (What’s PWM? See my article on it here). This also comes with Bluetooth, WiFi, themes, and audio options that are typical of these nuggets.
Surwish OS
Like I said above, Surwish is a modified version of Stock OS that works similarly, but also uses updated versions of the Retroarch cores and has all the fun hotkeys set up on boot. Yes, it changes the boot logo (like MinUi), but I take this wholeheartedly as an upgrade from the stock experience. All that is required is an SD card formatted to FAT32 and a drag and drop from their GitHub. No flashing required.
What Probably Sucks: My Opinion
This boy has gotten a bad rap, and for some good reasons, but I think it deserves some better attention from the community. However, a lot of that attention should have been from Miyoo themselves, though. The V1 was a mistake, and the high price out of the gate was a bigger mistake. I’m happy now, but only after the entire hype cycle got clobbered by QA issues and bad press.
In its current state, it’s notably cheaper, the console is good enough to drive daily, the age-old RK3566 is good enough for everything up to N64, and well…the SNES model is still doomed to fail. So take that as you will. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed this “second look” at one of the handhelds of all time.
I don’t think handhelds like these will ever go towards a singularity, or that is, “The One”. There will always be new devices at multiple power levels that suit different needs and budgets. But I’ve been through almost every XX device that looked at me funny, and this is the one that has stayed at my bedside the longest, and it’s not even close.
I loved the original SP, and this one, for some reason, just does it for me (Until I get bored and sell it). Don’t be bothered if you feel like you’re on the wrong side of the status quo; what works for you works for you, and with every new device that comes out, making the choice to keep yours over the newest nugget makes it *a little* special.
Good news! If you are interested, you can enjoy 2025’s most infamous device (so far) for a fair $69 on Amazon RIGHT NOW. I wouldn’t pay more than that, though… Just sayin.
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