The main improvement seems to be the larger 1024x768 4.3" screens (compared to the 640x480 4" screens on the RG DS) and the inclusion of a built-in stylus (still one of those rubber nib ones though), as well as some minor changes to the hinge and other bits. However, it uses the same chip, has less RAM (from 3GB to 1GB), and ships with a Linux-based OS instead of a barely-runnable Android version. It also has a single stick instead of dual, but the RG DS was never powerful enough to run most dual stick games anyways (PS2, GC, etc.), so that probably isn’t an issue. The internal eMMC storage has also been removed in favour of another microSD slot (one for the OS, another for ROMs)
It’s a little weird they called it the Plus, since the only improvement is the screens and maybe the stylus, while having downgrades to the memory.
It comes in pink, black, and blue (navy-ish), while the RG DS had the red/black, turquoise, and white colourways.
What do you all think of this RG DS “Plus”?
edit: announced, not released!!
I am moving to Piefed at scallisto@retrofed.com (https://retrofed.com/u/scallisto)
I heard that they are stuck with the chip because they were limited with choices for dual screen support. More powerful chips (that support dual screen) are much more expensive and would’ve put the device far outside the price bracket Anbernic wanted
But yeah, that doesn’t make it a good deal. If you like DS, it seems like a neat option that is relatively affordable, albeit flawed, particularly without CFW