E-paper displays had long been part of phone screens from Chinese vendors such as HiSense before Onyx Boox, Bigme and others started putting them on phone-sized devices here. The latest Palma from Onyx Boox includes stylus support, enabling it to make a run at the pocket notepad that stylus-based phones never really cracked. The DuRoBu Kronos, on the other hand, includes a side-mounted button/dial used for scrolling and other shortcuts and transcription capabilities designed to offer a quick taking of notes without having to juggle a stylus. The device also supports Google Play so you can read Kindle books or stream music although it does not show apps’ standard icons for some reason.
Handhelds
The Lenovo G02 is a retro handheld with questionable lineage
Lenovo, ever a company to push form factor boundaries, has made the biggest push in the Steam Deck-like handhelds with the Legion Go series. Those powerful products, designed to run the latest games, command premium prices. Not so for the Linx-based G02, which is more in the tradition of a Game Boy than a Nintendo Switch, or at least modern portable game devices from companies such as Ambernic (such as the recent RG Rotate) and Miyoo that come with thousands of games playable via emulation. Despite some lapses in the device’s polish that would be uncharacteristic for a Lenovo device, AliExpress has anointed the G02 with an official brand badge, which has led to speculation that it is from a company licensing the Lenovo brand for a Chinese market product.
Hands-On: Atari Gamestation Go
Pros
✔️Large screen, HDMI out, and range of context-sensitive control.
✔️Can optimize games for 4:3 or 16:9 optimization.
✔️Can load ROMs for many classic systems via microSD card
Cons
✖️Small selection of Atari 5200 and 7800 games.
✖️No button-mapping for user-added ROMs
Score: 9️⃣ (out of 10)
Once, the Flashback consoles provided just about the only way to relive the early days of Atari videogaming. Lately, however, in addition to a range of mini remakes like the Atari 7800+ (now available in a Pac Man edition) the market has been saturated with a range of products that provide retro experiences on the go. Most of these, though, have had smaller displays and have been sold with unlicensed game files. Previous sanctioned Atari handhelds have included AtGames’ nearly decade-old Flashback Portable (with a 2.8″ display and bundled with up to 80 games) and My Arcade’s Pocket Player Pro (with a 2.75″ display and bundled with 100 games).