TL;DR
- The AYANEO Pocket ACE has been fully revealed, with an Indiegogo campaign underway.
- It features a 4.5-inch 3:2 display, a Snapdragon G3x Gen 2, and a large 6,000mAh battery.
- Early bird pricing starts at $339, with shipping starting at the end of May.
When it comes to premium retro gaming handhelds, AYANEO once again proves it’s the brand to beat with the new Pocket ACE. This new, smaller handheld slots between the Pocket Micro and Pocket S, but still packs the same punch as handhelds twice its size.
First teased last month, the AYANEO Pocket ACE features a 4.5-inch LCD display with a 3:2 aspect ratio. This is the golden ratio for GBA games, but it’s also a nice middle ground, providing minimal bezels on older 4:3 systems and newer 16:9 systems.
In terms of power, it has the same Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 as the Pocket EVO and Pocket DMG. This isn’t one of the latest handheld-focused chipsets announced earlier this year, but it’s performed very well in our testing. It should be able to run any emulator you can throw at it, with the only slight drawback being a lack of community driver support. However, that might change as more handhelds adopt the new chips.
The Pocket ACE also comes with a 6,000mAh battery, which is very large for its physical footprint. Battery life was one of our main complaints on the Pocket Micro Classic, so it’s good to see the larger cell in the Pocket ACE.
The Pocket ACE competes with the Retroid Pocket Mini and Odin 2 Mini.
That said, this is a premium handheld that commands a premium price. Early Bird pricing on the ongoing Indiegogo campaign starts at $339 for the 8+128GB version in Light Blade White and Shadow Dance Black, jumping up to $459 retail. The top-specced Retro Power edition with 16GB+1TB will cost $599 for early adopters, jumping to $699 retail. Models will begin shipping at the end of May.
AYANEO’s latest handheld competes with other small but powerful Android handhelds, such as the Retroid Pocket Mini and AYN Odin 2 Mini. However, due to controversial screen issues, the Retroid Pocket Mini is no longer available for purchase.
