Review: Retro Game Handheld

I bought a Retro Game handheld a while back and it felt pretty good, but something was always missing. Even after updating to the foreign custom firmware, plenty of rough edges remained — short standby time, an ugly look, that sort of thing.

The guy behind that firmware has released a new build, possibly the true final version this time. Flashed it and it’s actually decent. Also took the chance to dress the thing up a bit, and I’m liking it more and more.

First, the flashing. How to flash this latest firmware:

Figure out your Retro Game’s hardware revision first. Most are the old 2.1, the one with a built-in 4G TF card. I hear Taobao later sold a new version with a bigger built-in card, which should be the 2.1 new revision. As for hardware like 3.0, I haven’t touched it, but this new firmware seems to support it too.

Details are here, check the intro in the directory:

Mine is the 2.1 hardware revision with the built-in 4G TF card, so the firmware I need is this one.

That’s version 1.6, the newest, with the fewest problems.

In theory you can write this downloaded image to a TF card, plug it in and boot. But before that, you need to update the boot file on the built-in TF card. Even if you flashed that patch following my earlier guide, you have to flash it again — seems it was updated, otherwise the new 1.6 won’t boot.

The patch is here. Same deal: download it, put it on the TF card, boot into the stock system, open the file manager, update the firmware.

Reboot after that and it’ll boot the new system from the external TF card you wrote. If that’s unclear, the manual in that directory spells it out pretty clearly.

The new system has a lot going for it.

1. Chinese support
2. Good-looking interface
3. Everything actually works
4. Battery management, including sleep and standby

All in all, strongly recommended.

I also bought a sticker on Taobao. Spray painting would be the best approach, but I’m too lazy for that, so a sticker it is. It wasn’t expensive, and once applied it fits reasonably well — corners don’t stick perfectly, but a bit of hot air from a hair dryer fixes that.

Then I bought the latest screen protector on Taobao, also cheap, much better than the earlier version. Went on in one go and the whole thing instantly looks a class above.

All in all this little thing is in good shape now. Liking it more and more.