Introduction
Today I am reviewing the Miyoo Flip V2. LITNXT.com was kind enough to send over a review unit. On behalf of the Handheld Gaming Community I would like to thank LITNXT.com for the review unit they sent over.
The Miyoo Flip V2 was released in March of this year, and was a revision of the Miyoo Flip that was released in January. The original Miyoo Flip had some issues with the hinge. The Miyoo Flip V2 resolved these issues by replacing the plastic hinge with a fully metal hinge. You can purchase a Miyoo Flip V2 with the Surwish Crossmix OS on LITNXT.com for 129.99. There are usually a number of discount codes that you can use to save some money at checkout.
Design and Features
The Miyoo Flip V2 is built to look like and be almost the same size as a Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP handheld. As the name suggests it is clamshell device. This allows you the ability to flip it closed and stick it in your pocket without worrying about the screen. At the time of this review, there are four colors to choose from. Those are black, white, 16 bit gray, and yellow.
Unlike the Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP, the Miyoo Flip has 4 face buttons, and 4 shoulder buttons. It also has two analog sticks. It does have a rechargeable battery and that should last several hours.
The Miyoo Flip V2 features a 3.5″ IPS display, wifi, bluetooth, and a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor. It has two micro SD card slots. The primary micro SD card slot is on the right side of the device. (I learned this the hard way) If you buy the Surwish Crossmix OS micro SD card with your Miyoo Flip, it must be inserted into the primary micro SD card slot.
Screen Quality
This device comes with a 3.5″ IPS display with a resolution of 640 x 480. The screen has been bright and crisp. However it is not so bright to be comfortably viewable outside in the sun. I really like the 4:3 aspect ratio screen. I have a Anbernic RG34XXSP that looks very similar to the Miyoo Flip, but it only has a 3:2 aspect ratio. Not a huge difference, but if I had to choose between the two screens, I would choose the Miyoo Flip. The review unit that I have has a very clicky hinge, but it seems to be normal. So I think the hinge issues are no more.
Performance
The Miyoo Flip V2 is a very capable system. I have been able to run ports of Stardew Valley, and Celeste with no issue. Also the system comes with emulators for consoles as old as the Atari 2600 all the way to Nintendo DS. Most of these systems run at full speed. Some systems like Sega Saturn, Playstation Portable, and Nintendo 64 will be the exceptions, but even then should run well in most cases.
Battery Life
The battery life on the Miyoo Flip V2 has been very good so far. I have been playing some of the ports, plus some free Amiga games primarily and the battery is still well charged after an extended play session. If you do need to charge the device, it charges very quickly. I did find that I had to leave the device on while charging.
Software and UI
The micro SD card that came with my review unit contained the Surwish Crossmix OS. This is something you can opt to purchase as a add-on when you go to LITNXT.com to purchase your Miyoo Flip. This is a slightly modified stock OS with a lot of roms preinstalled.
The User Interface is very user friendly. The device runs Linux, but honestly you will never have to mess with that unless you want to. You will have horizontal menu with recent games played, favorites, games, collections, applications, and settings. I have utilized the favorites section a lot. That way you have easy access to games you have physical copies of and want to play. This is especially useful if you purchase the Surwish Crossmix micro SD card. That micro SD card has literally thousands of games on it, and makes it very easy to be overwhelmed by all of the choices you have.
Miyoo really thought of everything with the utilities they included. When I first booted up my Miyoo Flip V2 I found that the left analog stick wouldn’t register any moves to the left. After some consultation I was advised to open the calibration app on the device and re-calibrate the sticks. That fixed the issue!
Game Compatibility
The Miyoo flip v2 is compatible with a wide range of retro systems. Generally speaking you can play home consoles and computers from the Atari 2600 all the way up to the Dreamcast, and portable games consoles all the way up to the Playstation Portable/Nintendo DS. Once you start getting up to the Playstation Portable and Dreamcast games, you will find some that run more poorly than others.
The Miyoo Flip V2 includes the Portmaster app. This will allow you to install Linux games and have them work well on this device. None of the games are configured by default, which is good considering most of the ports are indie games you can still purchase. If you go to https://Portmaster.games you will see detailed instructions on how to take games you own from Steam/Gog/Itch.io and get them working on your Miyoo Flip V2.
I installed the PICO-8 standalone app on my Miyoo Flip V2 unit. PICO-8 is a fantasy computer/console that has a library of simple but fun games made to work under a lot of restrictions. I bought the system on Humblebundle.com and really enjoy playing it. Thousands of simple but very fun games at your finger tips! You can grab the app on this GitHub page. You will need your license files from the Pico 8 installation.
The Verdict
I think what makes me like the Miyoo Flip V2 so much is the screen. I like that the device has a 4:3 aspect ratio, a clamshell design, and analog sticks. I feel confident that Miyoo has resolved the quality control issues, and that no matter what color you buy, you will have a great device that you can take with you everywhere.
If you like the Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP form factor and are wanting to buy a device that will let you take your retro game collection with you wherever you go, the Miyoo Flip is a great option to buy. If you get the Surwish add-on you will be ready to start playing games as soon as the device arrives. It makes things very easy. You can go to LITNXT.com and purchase the Miyoo Flip V2 for 89.99 with no card, or up to 129.99 with the fully loaded Surwish Crossmix OS card. On behalf of the Handheld Gaming Community I would like to thank LITNXT.com for the review unit!
