WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.879 Remember when handheld gaming devices basically stopped existing? You know, 00:00:04.319 --> 00:00:12.160 after the 3DS and VA sort of went away and smartphones started taking over. 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:17.279 Thank god that time is over and we have handheld gaming devices galore. We have 00:00:15.040 --> 00:00:23.039 way more than we can handle and today we are unboxing the Amberick RG DS. As the 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:27.840 name implies, it's basically like a little DS. That's 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:35.200 pretty cool. ShortCircuit done. We did it. In the box, you get your device. You 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:37.840 get a stylus. This is a really 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:44.879 ginormous stylus. It's a really big stylus. I don't see a place for this to 00:00:41.680 --> 00:00:46.559 fit. This goes back here. In the box, we 00:00:44.879 --> 00:00:50.559 have our wrist strap. That's pretty nice. I had that back in the day. Uh 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:55.120 maybe I'll try to put on later. We have screen protectors. Did that come default 00:00:53.680 --> 00:00:59.520 in this box? >> Yes. >> That's kind of nice. Uh, thank goodness 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:03.520 I'm not taking this anywhere cuz I don't like putting screen protectors on. So, 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:07.280 bye. But that's actually really cool and it feels like tempered glass. That's 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:14.320 pretty high quality. We have the version that comes with a 256 gig micro SD from 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:17.759 very well-known brand Leaders Logic. Guess it's nice to have the convenience 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:21.119 of it coming with your device knowing that it'll be compatible. It does not 00:01:19.360 --> 00:01:26.159 come with any games by default just so they can sidestep any copyright issues. 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:33.840 We also have a little quick start guide and then 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:36.560 type A to C 3FT cable. That is about as 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:43.680 cheap as they make them. That makes sense. This whole package uh minus this 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:52.640 uh starts at $95. You heard that right. less than $100 00:01:47.119 --> 00:01:55.119 gets you a pretty nice looking DS like 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:58.880 device with fairly modern hardware as well as some nice quality of life stuff 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:03.520 that just makes this a better than DS experience. I can't believe these things 00:02:00.960 --> 00:02:09.360 are this cheap, especially with this pretty okay plastic finish. It looks a 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.319 little bit cheap. It also is already scratched and I think people have been 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:15.760 fairly careful with this. So, I expect this not to be the most durable 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:19.920 material. I like the more matte finish on the bottom. It actually feels more uh 00:02:18.160 --> 00:02:24.480 Nintendo console to me, like almost like the Game Boy Advance SB plastic. Uh 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:29.280 neither is super bad. However, um seeing as clam shell designs for handheld 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:32.720 consoles is the peak design because it has a built-in little case and screen 00:02:31.040 --> 00:02:36.959 protector. Uh it would be nice to have this be a little bit more not 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:40.239 stickeresque. On the top of the device, we have our micro SD slot. We actually 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:46.160 already have a micro SD card, so we're going to keep that one in the box. We have two USB ports, one presumably for 00:02:44.480 --> 00:02:51.440 charging and one for kind of more of the fullfeatured USB accessories, you know, 00:02:48.959 --> 00:02:55.680 display out or controllers. We also have four shoulder buttons, uh, which is two 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:00.160 more than the original DS had, and that's because even though this is 00:02:57.040 --> 00:03:03.280 clearly DS inspired, it's not locked to 00:03:00.160 --> 00:03:04.800 just DS games. You can play uh all kinds 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:08.480 of stuff up to a certain point because of the technical limitations which we 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:11.840 will get to, but that would include PS1, which did have four shoulder buttons. On 00:03:10.480 --> 00:03:15.840 the bottom, we just have our screw holes. Looks like hex screws, which 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:20.400 means that it's not impossible to fix, but uh makes me wonder how hard the 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:25.920 whole thing will be. We have our 3.5 mm jack on the front, which is pretty nice. 00:03:22.959 --> 00:03:30.799 Although, I could see having it on the side getting in the way of the way you 00:03:28.239 --> 00:03:33.840 want to grip the device. Not the end of the world. It's far enough that it 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:36.640 should be fine for most people, but I could see some people kind of wanting a 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:41.120 more vertical stance and then being forced out of it. Sides got nothing. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:46.959 Which brings us to the inside. We have our stereo speakers. We have two 00:03:43.519 --> 00:03:48.879 matching 480p IPS displays, which is 00:03:46.959 --> 00:03:55.440 exactly 2 and 1/2 times the resolution of the original DS's screen. That's 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:58.799 okay. Presumably, we can run the games 00:03:55.440 --> 00:04:01.200 at 2.5x resolution, but it does worry me 00:03:58.799 --> 00:04:05.519 that it's not an even multiplier because the really wellthoughtout retro 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:10.640 handhelds usually have a screen resolution that is a multiple of four or 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:15.439 five exactly of the original display. So then you can do just like 4x, have it be 00:04:13.760 --> 00:04:21.440 super clean upscaling, either pixel perfect or you can do scaling that looks 00:04:17.919 --> 00:04:23.360 even better. Uh, then we have our D-pad. 00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:29.680 Oh no. That's so freaking mid, man. Oh, the 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:33.199 face buttons feel similarly clicky to the point where I almost wonder if it's 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:38.400 like exactly the same kind of switches underneath. The joysticks are very 00:04:36.400 --> 00:04:43.919 small, PS Vita sized, and they're recessed so that the whole device can 00:04:40.960 --> 00:04:48.400 actually close neatly. However, that means that these are not going to be the 00:04:45.919 --> 00:04:51.280 greatest feeling joysticks in the world. This is not too bad, though. The recess 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:56.960 is big enough that I think I could make it work. It's not the most comfortable gaming experience, but should be fine. 00:04:55.280 --> 00:05:00.240 We have four buttons that'll matter more once we're in software, which we're 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:04.800 going to do after I tell you about our sponsor. Let's be real here. The iPhone 00:05:02.479 --> 00:05:08.479 keyboard kind of sucks, and speech to text can be limiting as well. But now, 00:05:06.479 --> 00:05:12.880 you can just slap on the Notus, speak on to the back of your iPhone via MagSafe, 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:16.560 click a button, and start talking. As your words appear on the screen, you'll 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:20.720 notice it fixes your grammar and gets rid of filler words on its own. Notice 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:24.560 Speak On can even detect when you're making a list and will format it as 00:05:22.880 --> 00:05:28.639 such, which is going to make grocery shopping a breeze. 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And it gives you an idea of the variety that you can tackle. 00:06:00.880 --> 00:06:06.319 You got your PC, you have your Neo Geo, 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:11.039 you have your MSX. Cool. That's cool. That's pre-installed. N64. Uh, and then 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:15.440 probably most importantly, you're going to have your Game Boy Advance. Then 00:06:12.960 --> 00:06:20.000 there's drastic, which is your DS1, which is probably why you're buying this 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:24.160 thing. It's important to note no Melon support, which means no DSI support. But 00:06:22.880 --> 00:06:28.240 how many of you out there are really like that DSI experience? I want that. I 00:06:26.960 --> 00:06:32.720 guess before we get into an actual game, I should figure out how to do like dual screen stuff. The screens actually 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:36.720 function independently. It's not like it needs the software to assign what the 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:40.400 second screen is doing. You can have your Android stuff down here, watch 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:44.080 videos, open up guides, play your game on the top, or if it is a dual screen 00:06:41.840 --> 00:06:46.240 game. Take control of both. Just like an Android device, if you pull from the 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:54.800 top, you get access to your quick settings, then your deeper settings there. If you turn RG Launcher on, you 00:06:50.880 --> 00:06:57.680 actually do get a much more uh retro 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:03.039 style display. I like the cleanness of this, but I do think uh it would be nice 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:07.840 to have a little bit more styling, not just kind of color and shadow. I want to 00:07:05.440 --> 00:07:11.360 see how good the dual screen experience really is. Both screens are actually 00:07:09.840 --> 00:07:16.080 touchscreen as opposed to the original DS where it was just the bottom. Yeah, 00:07:13.039 --> 00:07:18.160 the screen is not ideal for video 00:07:16.080 --> 00:07:23.599 watching. It doesn't look very sharp. Uh the motion blur is uh not very good and 00:07:20.960 --> 00:07:27.120 the colors are pretty underwhelming. However, if I click to the bottom 00:07:25.520 --> 00:07:29.919 screen, I'm immediately in control of what I want to do. Okay, we've 00:07:28.960 --> 00:07:37.280 discovered a little bit of a configuration problem that we had where you can get emulators working on the 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:40.000 main operating system with ROMs, but they won't show up in this RG launcher. 00:07:38.880 --> 00:07:43.840 So, make sure when you set it up that you configure it right. Apparently, it 00:07:41.919 --> 00:07:49.280 is possible to swap what the screens are doing. But what I'm finding is that the 00:07:45.840 --> 00:07:52.639 interface on this device is really not 00:07:49.280 --> 00:07:53.919 well optimized between different apps. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:57.039 The buttons do different things in different places. uh which can be fine, 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:02.240 but I think there's going to be quite a learning curve if you want to uh get the 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:05.280 full use of this device. That probably means that there is a ton of control 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:12.240 that you can get out of this. And if you're someone that likes sort of uncovering the mysteries of weirdly uh 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:17.120 designed UIs, you're going to love this thing. Let's try just doing a DS game, 00:08:14.960 --> 00:08:21.039 which is sort of its core functionality. We need to figure that out. Okay, that's 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:25.120 a little troublesome. Uh, I assumed that opening the default emulator and opening 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:30.879 the game, it would all be preconfigured. But no, we are on an adventure to 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:33.760 figuring out how this friaking work. Oh 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:37.599 no. Okay, so the trick is open the app on the bottom device and then it'll work 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:42.800 on both. That's one of my problems with my experience with retro Android devices 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:47.680 is unless they're preconfigured or you can install sort of a uh fan-made OS on 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:53.120 it like you can with like the Mi or whatever, I've always had a little bit 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.480 of struggle bus feeling with them where 00:08:53.120 --> 00:09:01.040 you got to work a little bit too hard to make it work. This input latency is pretty bad. I can feel it already. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:03.360 Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh, if you're not big into 00:09:01.040 --> 00:09:07.279 emulation, input latency is a pretty common issue across all software 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:09.839 emulation. uh across all devices. Doesn't matter how powerful it is. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:14.480 There's just going to be some level of input latency. The fact that I can feel 00:09:11.680 --> 00:09:18.480 it in the menu is a little troublesome. Uh but let's play a game and see. Maybe 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:21.839 it's not so bad. I haven't played Mario Kart DS in a billion years. So, let's 00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:26.000 see how this goes. Forgot this. Both shoulder buttons don't do the same thing 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:30.480 cuz it was uh there's much many fewer buttons on the original DS. This looks 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:35.600 pretty okay. The colors are popping a little bit more here than on our crappy 00:09:32.160 --> 00:09:38.560 YouTube videos. It's very soft looking 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:42.480 and doesn't look scaled in an ideal manner. One advantage of software 00:09:41.040 --> 00:09:48.399 emulation is that if you have enough power, you can crank the resolution to 00:09:44.800 --> 00:09:52.480 theoretically whatever you want. Um, and 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:54.959 this feels very DS resolution both in 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:57.760 the foreground and the distance, but it plays pretty good and the input latency 00:09:56.399 --> 00:10:03.839 doesn't actually feel as bad out here. Maybe there's something wrong with that menu. That being said, totally playable 00:10:01.839 --> 00:10:08.240 and I could definitely beat all of the Mario Kart races on this. The touchcreen 00:10:05.920 --> 00:10:12.160 on this device is not very good. Both my finger and the pen suck. This pen makes 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:15.440 it worse. This is clearly designed for finger use. I'm going to leave that for 00:10:13.839 --> 00:10:20.800 now. I don't want to be too hard on this device because it is a very good value. 00:10:18.880 --> 00:10:24.800 And a lot of these problems, in fact, probably all of them are solvable with 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:31.200 enough tinkering and problem solving ability. But when I buy a standalone 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:36.880 device to do very limited amount of things, I wanted to do it out of the box 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:38.560 and well um and although you're seeing 00:10:36.880 --> 00:10:42.560 me struggle a little bit here, this isn't the first time someone has struggled with this. We had Reese uh 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:46.000 figuring out how to make the two screens freaking work. Uh and I don't think he 00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:53.040 particularly likes this device. >> I hate it. >> At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is is it playing games 00:10:49.920 --> 00:10:54.240 pretty well. And so far, it's playing 00:10:53.040 --> 00:10:58.320 them well enough that I could have a pretty good time playing them. That 00:10:56.160 --> 00:11:02.800 makes sense. It has a a pretty decently powered quad core Cortex processor. Has 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:06.560 3 gigs of RAM, which obviously isn't enough if you're trying to run modern 00:11:04.160 --> 00:11:11.760 stuff, but for emulation, we're totally fine. Comes builtin with 32 gigs of 00:11:09.040 --> 00:11:16.800 storage. It has Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 5, um, which again are fine for this 00:11:14.560 --> 00:11:21.120 device. However, that extra lag from the Bluetooth 4.0 means that I probably 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:26.399 would not This feels horrible. Oh no. It just feels a little slow. And this is a 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:28.000 game that I've played a hund,000 times. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:30.959 I'm very familiar with the way it's supposed to feel. Certainly not 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:36.800 unplayable and I could definitely get used to it. But I am pretty sensitive to 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:39.120 input latency in 2D platformers. Uh and 00:11:36.800 --> 00:11:42.160 so if you're like me, this is probably not the ideal option. You're probably 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:46.320 going to want something like a analog pocket where it's pretty much zero lag. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:50.240 The last spec we haven't really talked about is battery life. It's a 4,000 00:11:48.160 --> 00:11:53.120 milliamp hour battery, which they claim is good for six hours of gaming. Uh, 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:57.920 obviously, if you're playing less demanding stuff, it should be even less. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:01.920 If you close the device, it's supposed to go to sleep and pop back up. It 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:07.440 obviously paused my game, which is great. Oh, wait. Does each screen get 00:12:04.800 --> 00:12:12.240 different scaling? So, that really blurry text is a scaling issue, which I 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:18.480 can adjust. However, when I did that, it only 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:21.279 adjusted one of the screens uh filtering 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:28.160 so that the bottom screen looks pretty okay, and this one is blurry mess city. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:31.120 It's not immediately apparent how to change the top one, uh even though I've 00:12:30.079 --> 00:12:36.880 been changing the bottom one. So, I'm going to close the app. See, maybe 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:41.440 that's how you do it. Okay. Thankfully, closing and resetting the app got the 00:12:38.560 --> 00:12:46.720 scaling to uh match on both screens. So that this is significantly closer to 00:12:43.760 --> 00:12:54.240 what I expect at a 2.5x resolution scale. Looks totally fine. 00:12:51.680 --> 00:12:57.440 Just enough input latency that it's a bit hard to play a rhythm game on this, 00:12:56.079 --> 00:13:03.360 which is fine. There's not that many rhythm games I want to play on the DS. Most of what I want to play is RPGs and 00:13:01.920 --> 00:13:08.720 Zelda and stuff, and I can live with a little bit of input latency on that. Okay, I'm calling it Rhythm Heaven. Not 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:13.680 a super great experience on this. Let's play a game that might do better for us. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:16.800 Let's play Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Let's see. Maybe some of the 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:20.959 scaling will actually look good here. Ah, First impression, this is 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:25.680 fine. You could totally play it. It looks sharper than it did on the original DS. It's responsive enough. You 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:30.720 could play a game like this. If you're looking for a way to play DS games, this 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:32.480 is going to pass the bar mostly. Uh, I'm 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:35.920 curious if I can fix some of the softness with one of those visual 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:40.320 filters that I hated before, but maybe I'll come around on catchy. What we do 00:13:38.160 --> 00:13:47.360 that high resolution 3D rendering. That's kind of cool. It seems like the 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:51.680 the sharp 3D mode is slightly sharper. 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:52.160 Um, let's see if I can see it this time. 00:13:51.680 --> 00:13:57.440 >> Is it off? >> This is off. >> Okay. 00:13:55.839 --> 00:14:02.240 What do I think of the Amber Nicknick RGDS? 00:13:59.760 --> 00:14:05.199 Pretty unbeatable deal at this price. And if you're someone that needs the 00:14:03.760 --> 00:14:09.440 device to be under 100 bucks for you to buy it, I actually think this is pretty 00:14:06.880 --> 00:14:13.360 cool. Uh the screens are totally decent. The fact that it comes jam-packed with 00:14:11.040 --> 00:14:17.680 ways to play a bunch of games, super cool. I think that the UI needs a 00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:24.639 complete rework, which is really hard on any budget Android device where there isn't an entire team making this a 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:26.480 really good experience. However, I do 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:31.120 think that it's a pretty solid option for 95 bucks. The fact that you can get 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:33.040 this kind of emulation for under $100. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:36.959 It's pretty freaking sweet. And yes, you want the SD cards if you want like 00:14:34.959 --> 00:14:40.720 entire libraries of games, but you can get most of the games you want to play 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:43.519 at once on this thing built in. I think I'm going to hold off a little bit more 00:14:42.160 --> 00:14:48.560 for something that's a little bit more polished and high-end. However, what I'm 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:51.760 not going to hold off on is telling you you should watch more ShortCircuit if 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:56.000 you like retro devices and you want something that's more accurate. We just 00:14:53.519 --> 00:15:05.680 unboxed the SuperStation 1, which is a PlayStation 1 form factor Mr. FPGA style 00:15:00.079 --> 00:15:05.680 retro device, and it is awesome.