Maybe I'm Just Too Weak
Anbernic RG477M Review
Another review unit was sent to me graciously by my dear friend and supporter Lomion, and for that I am very grateful. I wish I had better things to say about the Anbernic RG 477M, but unfortunately I did not vibe with the device. It came with GammaOS pre-installed, and the “Better Shoulders” mod as well.
I considered buying the 477M for myself, and long story short, I am glad I didn’t. I chose the Pocket S Mini instead, and while we await that review, let’s dive in to why the 477M just didn’t hit for me.
Are There Any Positives?
Yes, actually. The device feels premium, worthy of the minimum $250 price tag that it commands. The metal has a nice finish, and I do enjoy the bronze color. The d-pad and sticks feel excellent, and as this is a device that I would intend to play Gamecube, Playstation 2, and maybe some PC games on, that is far more important than the budget devices I have tested prior.
The other major positive is the screen, which I believe is the same as the screen on the RG 476H. 4.7 inches is very large, and at 4:3 retro games look stunning.
Power wise it is very capable of Playstation 2, handling demanding games such as Champions of Norrath and Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition Remix. PS2 games play very smoothly at a 2.5x internal resolution, on OpenGL, without many hacks or tweaks. GameCube was a breeze even at a 3x internal resolution, and anything older than that runs as well as you could expect for any device over $100.
And Now, Everything Else
To put it simply, it is far too heavy for me to use. I found my hands cramping after 4 or 5 minutes of playing a game, and after 15 minutes it became unbearable. The metal feels premium, but the weight and somewhat sharp edges really make it painful to use.
I have two complaints about the face buttons. First, aesthetically, I do not like that they put colors on the letters. This is something I could overcome, however there is a significantly more damning issue. They do not feel good to press, they have a surprisingly long travel, and are weirdly heavy to press. I found myself missing jumps in Super Mario World, just because I didn’t press down on the button hard or fast enough. Holding down Y to run also did not go well for me. The buttons were fatiguing for me to use, which is not an experience I’ve had on a handheld before.
The screen, while beautiful, is also just a bit too large for my purposes. The device is pocketable, barely, but I don’t find myself enjoying the screen as I can’t find a proper distance from my face to hold it. It is also fairly dim, I needed to play games at 80% brightness in a regularly lit room, which leads to the battery draining fairly quickly.
Speaking of battery drain, it has an awful time with it. It doesn’t get many hours of actual gaming in, and on sleep mode it loses roughly 15% every 24 hours. Most other Android devices I’ve tested do not lose more than 5% in 24 hours, and 5 % usually only happens while a game is paused while the device sleeps. The 477M manages 15% simply locked on ES-DE, no games running whatsoever.
The RG 477M also gets fairly hot fairly quickly, about 25 minutes of Playstation 2 (Devil May Cry 3) and it became uncomfortably warm. I don’t think I’m particularly sensitive to heat in these devices, but it was noticeable to me. It also gets hot to the touch while fast charging, even hotter than playing games.
Lastly, the GameNative/PC Emulation potential is low, simply due to the lack of driver support for the Dimensity 8300 chipset. Mali GPUs don’t handle things well, and the RG 477M is the rule, not an exception. I managed to get some games to run, like Slots & Daggers (which it did run surprisingly well, and at 4:3 to boot) but other games, like Cassette Beasts, simply would not boot at all, even with a few settings changes/tweaks.
Outro
Most of my complaints about this device are subjective, and I can recognize that. For people with hands and fingers a bit stronger and/or larger than mine, I am sure this is an excellent device (so long as you do not want to play PC games on it.).
I really wanted to like the RG 477M, but at the very least my choice not to purchase it has been vindicated.
If you’re the type who would like to chat with me directly about games and these sorts of devices, please feel free to join my Discord!