RG Nano Build Quality & Design

The RG NANO is small, coming in at just 7cm tall, 4cm wide and 1.7cm thick, close to the size of a matchbox.

I know what you’re thinking “Brandon, that’s too small to play on”… i thought the same when I took it out the box, but it’s actually surprised me.

The face features the square 1.54″ IPS display with a glass screen and bezels small enough to not take attention away from the game itself, but big enough to give the console a nostalgic look.

The IPS display on this is stunning, surpassingly so, and I am happy that ANBERNIC chose a bright, crispy, saturated display, which I think is the same as the Funkey S.

The viewing angles and pixel density is great also, there’s really no complaining here… apart from the size but hey, this is a mini handheld what do you expect!

Below that is the iddy biddy buttons, and somehow like most of ANBERNIC’s handhelds, they have nailed the DPAD, it’s lifted high enough out the shell to make an easy directional push in anyway.

I did find myself using my nail most of the time though, and when I press the UP button some of my thumb does obtrude the screen, so perhaps lowering the DPAD slightly could have helped, or it’s just my fat fingers… likely the latter.

The ABXY buttons are coloured with white text on them. Again, i found myself using my nail, or the very tip of my thumb because they sit so close together, but after 20 minutes or so you’re use to it.

Below that is your tiny start and select buttons, sat at a vertical angle just like the original Gameboy DMG, and next to that, another not to the original Gameboy is the fake speaker grill.

Around the sides you will find your micro-SD card slot, a sleep/wake/on/off button, and two small shoulder buttons that are located on the top corners of the device, between them a USB-C port for charging.

The shoulder are placed perfectly, have a decent ammount of travel to them with a loud clicking noise. Because these are located on the top, i find my RG Nano resting no my pinkies, and my index fingers pushing on the shoulder buttons, giving me a good grip of such a small device.

Flarer shoulder buttons, or buttons directly on the back of the device would have been a poor choice, so I am happy that ANBERNIC copied the Funkey S… again on this part.

However, I think they missed out on another nod to the Gameboy, instead of having the USB-C port on the side, I would have liked to see it directly on the top, so that it replicated inserting in a cartridge.

But that’s just me being picky.

Audio Quality

The real speaker grill sits on the bottom of the device, and is a 1″ slit with a metal mesh.

The likely placd it here because the users thumbs typically sit directly on top of the fake speaker grill, so this would detract from the overall audio quality from this device.