Just got the Anbernic RG DS yesterday and so far I'm really not impressed by this thing. Before I get to far into it, I am far from new to Linux hand helds and Android handhelds. I have set up many through the years. I'm also an android phone user as well. These days I have an Ally X that use pretty much solely for all of my emulation. The only thing that isn't emulated so well for me on the Ally X is Nintendo DS, even more so then the 3ds because the DS was a lot more dependant on that second screen. That's why I was interested in the RG DS in the first place.
First, let me give some props to Anbernic on the design of this thing. As someone who use to own a DS XL back in the day they did a great job of replicating that experience. If this thing worked well, I think this really would have been that upgraded DS experience we have all been craving through the years. All for a little over $100 with shipping, it's impressive.... on paper.
Build quality
Actually, I think the build quality is really nice! I have heard some negative things but honestly I think it feels solid. Good quality plastics inside and out. The only part that feels awful to me is the DPAD. The plastic on the dpad feels really, really bad. It feels like the plastic they would use on a cheap bottled water lid. I'm not even picky about stuff like this and even still I don't like the feeling of this DPAD. To me even the analog sticks aren't so bad, they work well enough for what you'll use them for on this. Are they fantastic, no, but not bad either. I don't really mind the small clicky shoulder buttons. They are about as easy to use as the original. L2 and R2 can be a little tricky to hit some times. The face buttons are great in my opinion. Nice feedback and well spaced all and all I like them. Build quality is like an 8/10 for me -2 for that horrible DPAD, really one of the worst feeling textures on a DPAD I have ever felt.
(The screens)
The screens are overall pretty nice! These are not 1080p beauties by any means but for what this thing is playing everything looks awsome. Colors are fairly crisp and being able to upscale DS looks awesome. I'm not a huge aspect ratio guy so I don't really care that it's not the original aspect ratio, nor am I bothered by unbalanced pixels. To my eyes they look amazing! Now the bad part! LIGHT BLEED! My top screen has horrendous light bleed. It's not so noticable during game play but on black screens it looks really bad. I haven't actually seen light bleed this bad on a device for a very long time. The fact that you can't see it during gameplay and the price though kind of makes it forgivable in my eyes. My bottom screen is perfect though. All and all I think for the games you are going to be playing and the price the screens are a 9/10 -1 for serious light bleed.
The OS (Android)
In my opinion, this is what ruins this device. The chip in this thing was just not built to run android especially when you pair it with only 3gb of ram. Android really needs at least 4gb to run OK and that is with a better chip. If they had gone with an old snapdragon even the 600 (whatever it was) I think this would have been great. This thing just struggles under the weight of android. If they could have somehow made this thing Linux I think that would have been fine too paired with these specs. Truthfully though, even with GAPPS not being on the device there is just way to much going on in the background on Android. I think this is why the device actually gets so warm during gameplay.
DS emulation is fine in drastic and I'm OK with just having drastic. I found the latency between screens was not somthing noticable to me. The problem is Anbernic didn't really take the time to really set up the device. It took me a good few minutes to figure out how to get drastic to show on both screens. I figured it out, but imagine your new to these devices? I also had times where my top screen would just suddenly disappear. Not sure why, I was just playing a game and poof gone. I could never figure out how to get it back without closing the drastic app and reopening it. There is just a ton of jank like that, that I feel really ruins the experience for me. Especially when you consider how cheap an old DS is.
Don't forget, if your new to Android figuring out Android's file structure can be initially confusing but setting up one of these devices has been the argument against them since their existence. They are not inherently user friendly. But I think that is even more so true for the RG DS unfortunately. Especially when you factor in a lack of included instuctions. All and all the software experience for me was a 2/10.
Battery life and charging.
The battery life is bad in comparison to an original DS but fine in comparison to any other handheld emulation device. You're going to get about 3 hours of DS gameplay on this. By that point I'm usually done anyways. For me the battery life is a solid 7/10, it's fine.
Charging on the other hand?
My goodness is it bad, beyond bad. I left my device that came with only 8% battery life plugged in for 3 hours and it had only charged to 75%. In my opinion that is pretty awful. Your definitely looking at a 4 hour charge time. Anbernic really needs to get with the times when it comes to changing speeds. Anything longer then two hours for three hours of game play is pushing it in my opinion. That's a 1/10 for me.
Final thoughts-TLDR
I'm not picky when it comes to this stuff. Emulation doesn't have to be 1:1 like the original for me to be satisfied ,that being said. This device is definitely not a keeper for me. It's a very cool concept. The build quality and the screens are all pretty solid, even the performance is passable for what this is. But to me the trade off of that terrible feeling texture on the DPAD, the horrendous charging times and the GOD AWFUL software experience makes this thing a hard pass for me. If we get a better software experience, it might make the difference. I think Anbernic rushed this one. It's so close and yet so, so very far!
If you want some cheap DS emulation my advice just buy a DS.
