How does the MagicX XUminiM stack up to other New Mini Handhelds?!

If you are looking for truly pocketable and portable Retro Handhelds this has been your year. Right now we have some great mini Emulation Handhelds that have released in the last couple months. There is the Miyoo A30, Anbernic RG28XX and now the MagicX XUminiM.

The interesting thing is we now seem to have a mini handheld for everyone. If you are thinking we are missing a new vertical you wouldn’t be wrong but I would argue the Miyoo Mini with OnionOS is still holding its own likely tamping down a competitive offering (and now they seem to often be in stock). If you want no joysticks, one joystick or dual hall sticks there is a handheld for you. All boasting a 2.8” screen and similar playability.

Interestingly none of these mini handhelds are using the same SOC. Something we don’t often see in the Chinese Handhelds market. Somehow through 3rd party custom firmware we are still seeing similar performance from all of these handhelds even if the chipset on the RG28xx is stronger on paper. The MagicX is boasting the new RK3562 SOC we have been waiting to see for a while which should be more efficient than the widely used and dependable RK3266 chipset.

Unfortunately we are seeing the XUminiM being nerfed through its firmware. A shallow dive into the firmware shows us that the device is likely using the software architecture of the RK3266 instead of that of the RK3562 nerfing it at 1.3GHz. Once this barrier is broken through the XUminiM should in theory be a formidable performer.

There have been some interesting design choices made by MagicX along with Miyoo and Anbernic that allow a consumer to pick the right handheld for them. If you don’t mind tiny tiny face buttons or shoulder buttons that sound like a half consumed box of Tic-Tacs in your pocket the Anbernic RG28xx might be for you. If you want bigger buttons, better depad, a joystick and don’t mind a slightly slower processor you might like the Miyoo A30. Then there is what might be one of the best mini handhelds to come out this year with nearly adult sized buttons and DPad, dual hall sticks and an SOC that should rival the H700 found in the RG28xx then the MagicX XUminiM likely for you.

MagicX seems to have listened when designing the XUminiM and built a handheld for most everyone. It oddly feels like an upgrade compared to the others. There is of course some odd decision like all handhelds that leave us scratching our heads. One aforementioned is nerfing the CPU in order to rush to market. There is something great about being first to market especially with something like the RK3562 but as a small new brand it could also be damaging releasing a product that obviously feels incomplete when it comes to performance. That aside the build quality is in-line with the big players in this category.

Taking the risk of building the most complete handheld of the three might just get them the CFW development support needed to dare I say create the next Miyoo Mini in this category. Even with the Miyoo Mini arguably still in the mini handheld category itself. Let’s not forget the Miyoo Mini was in rough shaped for the first half of its life.

Let’s take a look at the spec for the MagicX XUminiM:

• MagicX XU Mini M Specs (sourced from AliExpress Listing)
  System OS: Linux
  Screen: 2.8-Inch IPS OCA Full Fit 640*480
  CPU: RK3562 Quad-Core 64-Bit Cortex-A53, Clocked at 1.8GHz
  GPU: Mali-G52
  DRAM: DDR4 1GB Frequency 2666MHz
  Built-in Storage: 8GB eMMC
  Wireless: WLAN 802.11 b/g/n (via OTG)
  Bluetooth: BT2.1 + EDR/4.2 (via OTG)
  TF Card: Support TF card expansion, up to 512GB
  Vibrating motor: Single-channel vibration
  Joystick: Dual Hall joystick
  Speaker: Built‑in stereo speakers (1w) x 2
  Earphone: 3.5mm headphone jack
  Battery: 2600 mAh Li-polymer battery, 3.7V, 6 hours battery life
  Charging: USB Type-C 5V/1.5A, the USB data transfer limit 500mA

One thing that truly impresses me is the hall joysticks in the XU Mini M. I can’t believe bigger players like Anbernic have been failing at joysticks for so long and a new player comes in that maybe doesn’t nail it but they still stick the landing on their first attempt. The sticks have a similar feel to the Retroid Pocket 2S and yet are recessed below the DPad adding to its pocketability. On top of that they have nearly double the travel of anything Anbernic has released and forgot to include cardinal snapping.

The body is built well. It’s not perfect and in fact could use some work but I wouldn’t call it poor quality. It’s built like something you would pay $50 for from China. It has an interesting softer plastic used than we normally see in this market and it almost all lines up correctly. My only real issue with it is the memory cards not being recessed enough. TF1 is almost flush with the body but you can catch it with a fingernail. TF2 sticks out what I would consider unacceptably far. Not only does it put my OCD on overload but it gives me this likely unwarranted fear that I’m going to bump the side of the device and the card is going to go flying across the room. Normally I only have this feeling when pushing in a card intentionally while the spring attempts to launch the hardest part of a handheld to find in an open room aside from the screws.

We do also now have PlumOS (you can check it out here) for the XU Mini M which I will address in a future review of the custom firmware. As a sneak peak so far it better optimizes emulators, allows the OTG port to be used with a WiFi adapter and brings some additional performance improvements. At the time of writing the PlumOS is on version 4 and appears to be getting steady updates so I’ll go over it more in depth once those updates slow down.

Overall I am really enjoying the MagicX XU Mini M. I’m glad that the wait seems to be paying off. I will continue testing on this handheld with the custom firmware until it is ready to be shared. Now I just hope the wait for the Miyoo Flip turns out to be such a delight.

Have you had a chance to checkout the MagicX XU Mini M yet? Do you think we will actually see a Miyoo Flip?

GameOn

CellPhish

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