Tuesday, 29 September 2026

KONKR Pocket Advance

KONKR POCKET ADVANCE

KONKR Pocket Advance, I had forgotten I'd bought this, about two months ago, so it was quite a nice surprise when it arrived today. So what, exactly, can it do? Is it powerful enough to play PlayStation 3 games or use GameHub to play PC games, well the quick answer is no, you will not be doing either of those things on the KONKR Pocket Advance as the processor is just not up to it. For me the obvious choice is to emulate the Game Boy Advance.
It really isn't rocket science, you look at the KONKR Pocket Advance and see a Game Boy Advance so that is my intention, I will use this as my main Game Boy Advance machine, possibly with a few other consoles thrown in. It has been suggested on a few websites that Dreamcast and PSP look pretty good on the KONKR Pocket Advance due to the aspect ratio and resolution of the screen.

There is one other console that has the aesthetic of the Game Boy Advance and that is the Anbernic RG 34XX which, on first appearance, is a closer facsimile to the Game Boy Advance, however the Anbernic RG 34XX is a much lower power device to the KONKR Pocket Advance, but to play Game Boy Advance games you don't need something that is overly powerful.

 Ninrendo  Anbernic  Konkr 
 Model  Game Boy Advance  RG 34XX Pocket Advance 
 Release 22 June 2001 2024 2026
 OS N/A Linux Android 12
 CPU  ARM7TDMI H700 Helio G90T
 GPU ? Mali-G31 MP2  ?
 RAM 288KB 1GB LPDDR4  4GB
 Storage Cartridge N/A 64GB
 Display 2.9" 3:2 3.4" 3:2 3.5" 3:2
 Resolution  240 x 160 720 x 480
 960 x 640
 SD Slot N/A 2 x microSD 1 x microSD
 Wi-Fi N/A 2.4/5G Wi-Fi 5
 Bluetooth N/A 4.2 5
 Battery 2 AA Batteries 3500 mAh 4000 mAh

Now to the good bit, unboxing, set up, preparing a microSD card and all the other good stuff. Of course once you set it up there is the inevitable system software update which took about 15 minutes. I now format a microSD card and put some ROMs on it. On re-inserting the microSD card into the KONKR Pocket Advance the console wants to do another update. I'm finding it a bit fiddly. I have Dreamcast, PlayStation Portable and of course Game Boy Advance ROMs on the microSD card and restarted the console.

I have installed Redream (Dreamcast), PPSSPP (PlayStation Portable) and Nostalgia.GBA (Game Boy Advance) and of the three emulators the only one I am happy with on the handheld is the Dreamcast emulator which works out of the box, cover art, controls all work. PPSSPP displays cover art but the D-pad doesn't work like a thumbstick would and requires some tinkering. Nostalgia.GBA the controls work but it doesn't display cover art which is a big downside.

I also tried RetroArch and ES-DE and after 15 minutes I was so wound up that I gave up altogether. This handheld will be filed away, possibly to never see the light of day again.                                 

Would I recommend?
Unfortunately this has not been a very enjoyable experience. The system setup, the emulator setup and actually playing have all been rather disappointing and therefore I would not recommend this.

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Michael