🕹️ Hello and welcome to the mid-week edition of The Memory Core newsletter.

Today, I'm reviewing the KONKR Pocket FIT, which I think is one of the most exciting handhelds coming out in the next few months.

More specifically, I'm testing the G3 Gen 3 version, since the 8 Elite edition is shipping later in the year. So far, this chipset has only been used on the AYANEO Pocket S2, and trust me when I say it's a beast.

The normal news roundup is still coming on Friday morning, so stay tuned.

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The KONKR Pocket FIT sets a new bar for value

The KONKR Pocket FIT is technically the first device from AYANEO's new value-focused sub-brand, but it still has the company's premium DNA.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

Here's a quick breakdown of everything you need to know, as well as the results of my past few days of testing. TL;DR: It offers unbeatable power for the price.

KONKR Pocket FIT quick specs: Screen: 6-inch 144Hz LCD display Aspect ratio: 16:9 Chipset: Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 RAM: 8-16GB Storage: 128GB-1TB Battery: 8,400mAh Weight: 386g Price: From $239 early bird, $299 retail Official website

Who is this device for?

The KONKR Pocket FIT (G3 Gen 3) is a flagship killer, so it's a great choice for anyone who wants incredible power on a budget. Nothing provides this level of performance at this price, and it's the pinnacle of performance in the pre-8 Elite world of handhelds.

If you want to emulate Switch games, it might even outperform 8 Elite handhelds until drivers improve.

It's a solid upgrade over Retroid's flagships (if you can give up the OLED), but if you already have something like the Odin 2 Portal or another AYANEO flagship, it's probably not worth the upgrade.

Why should I care about it?

Even without context, the $239 early bird price is a big deal. That's incredibly cheap for this chipset, which was previously only found on the AYANEO Pocket S2, which started at $439 for the same 8-128GB configuration.

That's only $10 more than the Retroid Pocket 5 and cheaper than something like the ANBERNIC RG 477M, both devices that the KONKR Pocket FIT runs circles around in terms of performance.

This device represents a significant shift in strategy for AYANEO as it starts to compete directly with AYN. That's good for all of us, because it drives down prices as they try to take market share.

What’s in the box?

Inside the box you'll find:

• The KONKR Pocket FIT console
• USB-C to USB-C charging cable
• Instruction manual QR code (that currently doesn't work)

How is the build quality?

The KONKR Pocket FIT has the same premium build quality you'd expect from any other AYANEO handheld. I honestly can't see any cut corners here.

The all-glass front feels just as premium as the company's other flagships, and the plastic feels great in hand. There aren't any grippy textures on the back or triggers, but it's large enough that the ergonomic grips alone are more than enough to keep it secure.

Overall, the unit feels incredibly solid, but lightweight. I have to say the Dragon Yellow colorway looks absolutely stunning, although it's locked behind the higher 12+256GB tier at $299.

How is the screen?

The 1080p 144Hz LCD panel is one of the nicest I've ever tested. The colors pop, and it gets surprisingly dark. So dark, in fact, that the edges of the screen blend into the device seamlessly with a black background. That's very uncommon outside of OLED displays.

At higher brightness settings, the edge is visible, but there isn't any light bleed whatsoever.

The fast refresh rate unlocks black frame insertion (BFI) on retro titles, which can help eliminate the motion blur added by modern display tech. However, this isn't the brightest panel, so turning off BFI makes things a little dim in bright environments.

I understand that most people would prefer an OLED panel (justified or not), but this LCD really is as good as it gets.

Does it have external display support?

Yes. The Pocket FIT supports video out via the USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port. I reached out to AYANEO about the maximum supported output, but the representative didn't get back to me in time for publication.

I also tested this with the Retroid Dual Screen Add-on, which works well enough. The Retroid version is a little snug, but the "other devices" version is too big. The display is also sideways, so make sure you use one of SapphireRhodonite's forks with the fix patched in.

How are the inputs (sticks, D-pad, buttons, triggers, etc.)?

The sticks are probably the weakest point of this handheld, and they're just "fine." AYANEO says they're "mid-sized" Hall-effect sticks, but the simple fact is they're small.

Aside from being on the small side, I also found the caps a little too hard for my liking. They're easy to pop off and use the same connectors as most modern sticks, but make sure you grab something taller or it will rub up against the glass front, limiting motion.

Aside from that, the D-pad, buttons, and triggers are all excellent. They're nice and quiet, too, so you can easily play this next to someone without getting on their nerves.

The microswitch shoulder buttons are also quiet, and the triggers have a toggle to switch between analog and microswitch-style inputs. I like the idea, but in practice, the microswitch mode has a lot of dead space before the input registers. I loved the 8BitDo Pro 3 implementation of this feature, and even the OG Switch triggers felt like they register inputs better than the Pocket FIT.

Still, that's a small complaint because they work perfectly fine in analog mode. In fact, some games require analog mode for certain features.

Finally, there are two back buttons that seem like a nice addition, but don't actually do anything. As far as I can tell, you can't map them to shortcuts in emulation apps like Retroarch. You can only map them to other button presses (A, B, Start, etc.), which makes them pretty useless.

Hopefully this changes in a future update, because they would be great for hotkeys like save states, fast forward, etc.

How powerful is it?

The G3 Gen 3 is a variation of the 8 Gen 3 that's designed for gaming handhelds. In terms of benchmarks, it performed about 20-40% better than the Odin 2 Portal across CPU and GPU tests. Similarly, the 8 Elite is about 20-40% better than the G3 Gen 3.

Thermal performance is also very good, with temperatures maxing out at 38°C in 3DMark tests. That's higher than the Odin 2 Portal, but lower than the Pocket S2 Pro with the same chipset.

Windows emulation really pushes the G3 Gen 3, with 12-14W power draws in Silksong at FHD 120fps, hitting internal temps up to 85°C. In contrast, the 8 Elite is far more efficient, drawing just 5-7W for even higher framerates on the Redmagic 10 Pro.

Granted, I didn't feel that heat at all on my hands. The grips stayed ice cold, with all of the heat concentrated in the middle, beneath the screen. The fan at full speed is loud, though, so try to stick to Low or High fan speeds as much as you can.

What can it play?

In a word, everything.

At least, everything that's currently playable on Android. That includes all retro consoles, Switch, Windows, etc.

Retro consoles played just fine on Eco mode, although enabling 120Hz, BFI, and CRT shaders required bumping it up to the Gaming profile.

Switch emulation also requires either Gaming or Max power modes, depending on the game. However, they do run at full speed (or as close as possible on Android) on Eden.

There's also a Streaming profile for game streaming, and it's designed to reduce decode times. Both local and cloud streaming felt great on the Pocket FIT, although I wish it had larger sticks.

As stated above, Windows emulation is also possible, although it will come with extreme temperatures and battery drain. Consider lowering the resolution and swapping to 60Hz for better longevity.

Should I get the G3 Gen 3 model or the 8 Elite model?

The answer will come down to what you want to use it for. If you want to emulate consoles and handhelds, the G3 Gen 3 will be more than enough. In fact, the $239 starting price makes it an absolute steal, although you may want to upgrade to 12GB of RAM for the best performance on Switch/PS3.

However, if you're looking to dip into Windows emulation, things are more complicated. The 8 Elite is a significant improvement in performance and efficiency, despite current drivers limiting Switch emulation performance. Just make sure you swing for 12, 16, or 24GB of RAM, because 8GB won't cut it.

The elephant in the room here is the AYN Odin 3, which has the same 8 Elite SoC as the Pocket FIT Elite, plus an OLED screen. The price difference for the 12 and 16GB versions is $60 (until the end of the month), which might be worth it if you really want OLED.

After the early bird deals expire, the Odin 3 is almost certainly the better buy for Windows emulation.

How is the software?

Like all AYANEO handhelds, it ships without any pre-installed emulators or apps. It does have a few unique pieces of software, starting with the AYAWindow, which you can pull up with the KONKR button (although it's still branded as AYAWindow, 🤷). It has all of the quick settings you'd ever need, from performance modes to controller layouts and brightness.

Then there's AYASpace, which works as a sort of frontend for emulation. It's functional, and there are parts that work better right out of the box than ES DE and others, but it isn't particularly pretty. I wish there were more features like box art or themes.

Finally, there's an AYASettings app, which lets you fine tune performance modes, fan speeds, controller profiles, and more. Most of the important stuff is in the AYAWindow overlay, so I didn't have to spend much time here.

How is battery life? Charging speeds?

Battery life is very good on Eco mode, with the massive 8,400mAh battery lasting for a dozen hours or more of retro gaming.

On the other end of the extreme, pushing this chipset by emulating Silksong via GameHub at FHD 120Hz dropped the battery by roughly 8% in 10 minutes. In other words, expect a little over 2 hours for the most demanding emulation.

PS2 emulation at 2x upscaling drained about 15% in 1 hour of gameplay, which translates to roughly 7 hours of game time. Switch emulation fell between 4 and 6 hours, depending on the game.

AYANEO didn't get back to me with the maximum charging speed, but in practice, it charged from 10-90% in just over 70 minutes. I always cap the battery at 90% in settings, and I recommend you do the same if you want to keep your battery healthy.

Any other considerations?

A few more quick points:

• There's a headphone jack at the bottom.
• The front-facing speakers sound great, and you'll never cover them with your palm.
• There's a fingerprint sensor on the power button, although I never use it.
• The device comes Play Store certified.
• It does not come with any ROMs.

The bottom line

The KONKR Pocket FIT is ever so close to perfection. However, the sticks are small, it can’t quite match the 8 Elite for Windows emulation, and the LCD panel might put off OLED fanatics.

But at $239, it delivers performance that used to cost almost twice as much. For most gamers, it’s the best value handheld you can buy right now.

Be quick, though, because early bird pricing will end at the end of the month, increasing prices by $30 across the board.

That's it for today. Let me know if you think these mini reviews are useful, because I may stop doing them in the future. They eat up a lot of time that I could be using to track down more stories.

Until Friday,

-Archivist Rowan