Powkiddy V10 Review

The Powkiddy V10 is Powkiddy’s newest handheld, priced at just $40 US dollars shipped directly from Powkiddy.

It’s also one of the very few devices to use a 3:2 aspect ratio screen, making it pixel-perfect for Game Boy Advance games.

For $40, there’s a lot to like, so let’s talk about it.

Specs and Performance

The Powkiddy V10 isn’t exactly bringing anything new to the table. In fact, it’s quite old in scope.

Fans of the Anbernic RG351P should feel right at home, as the V10 uses the exact same internals as that device, which came out four years ago. That means the RK3326 processor, capping this device’s performance out at PS1 and below, along with the same 3:2 aspect ratio screen.

But it’s not just the RG351P. The R36S, other Anbernic RG351 devices, some Powkiddy handhelds and a whole bunch of devices sold through AliExpress all share similar performance with the V10.

It’s basically a known quantity at this point, and a pretty dated one.

The major difference here is the price. The V10 retails for $40 US dollars shipped, while most of those other devices don’t.

And that also means it’s cheap enough that, in some ways, this review barely matters. Most people will see the $40 price and make their decision based almost entirely on that.

We have massive communities dedicated to cheap devices that have massive problems, but those problems are often overlooked because of the price. The Datafrog has screen tearing and can’t run all of Game Boy Advance. The R36S has its software and button issues. The M17 has problems with basically everything.

All of these devices live around that under-$40 price range, and one thing I’ve learned from doing reviews is that the review almost doesn’t matter once you get below $40.

I could sit here and tell you there’s a one-in-five chance this thing will blow up your house when you turn it on, and half the comments would still be, “But it’s only $40.”

I can’t even eat at McDonald’s for $40, Joey. You’re being too nitpicky.

So, in the grand scheme of things, this review probably won’t help or hurt anyone.

My absolute favorite kind.

Build Quality

What’s surprising about the V10 is that it might actually be Powkiddy’s best-quality handheld from a parts perspective.

It might also be one of the better budget handhelds you can buy because there are no massive deal breakers.

There’s no screen tearing like the Datafrog, no weird four-panel situation or awful buttons like the R36S, and no other obvious hardware disasters.

The d-pad here is their best d-pad they’ve made, by far. There’s really no competition from their previous devices. It feels good to use, and the buttons are equally enjoyable.

The shoulders and triggers are solid and clicky as well.

It almost makes you forget you’re using a Powkiddy.

Leave it to Powkiddy to make their best handheld quality-wise a throwaway budget device.

The rest of the device is solid, well-built and nicely made.

One thing that is worth mentioning is that there are no volume buttons. Instead, you have to use hotkeys to adjust the volume through the operating system.

I don’t care what price you make your device: volume buttons should be a constant. It’s rough not having them here.

There’s also no Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or HDMI output, so this is about as barebones as a handheld gets.

The speaker is front-facing and better than you’d expect.

The V10 is also a very wide handheld. It’s bigger than you might expect and feels comfortable in your hands. It’s both a vertical and horizontal handheld at the same time, in my opinion, and makes for an interesting mashup of the two form factors.

Software

The V10 ships with an out-of-date version of ArkOS.

Thankfully, you can flash a fresh version of the newer ArkOS using the RGB10 image from the ArkOS website. If you own a USB Wi-Fi adapter, you can also update it that way.

The important thing is that, software-wise, you have some of the best options available for this hardware.

Game Boy Advance

The V10’s performance tops out at PS1 and below, and because this chip has been around for so many years and is used in so many different devices, there isn’t much reason to do a deep performance dive here.

I will say, though, that as someone who owns an RG351P and used it extensively for Game Boy Advance, which is honestly the main reason you’d buy the V10, there are a few things you should know.

First, you’ll want to use the GPSP core for GBA games.

The out-of-the-box core is mGBA, and this processor can’t run every GBA game at full speed using mGBA. Notable examples include Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and other more demanding GBA games.

Once you make that change, however, you can enjoy the entire GBA library.

And that’s really the best part of the V10: the 3:2 aspect ratio.

The 3:2 Screen

The 3:2 aspect ratio makes the V10 particularly well suited to Game Boy Advance.

Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the massive bezels.

This might be the first device review where the bezels actually bothered me, and it’s entirely because of what this device is supposed to be.

The entire reason you’d buy the V10 is for the 3:2 screen. That’s it. That’s the entire value proposition.

But when you see how massive the bezels are, you start to wonder why you wouldn’t just get another device with much smaller bezels and accept having some black bars instead.

I don’t know if everyone will agree with me on this, but the bezels sort of remove the entire point of having a 3:2 display.

Competition

In a vacuum, with no other handhelds available, the V10 would be a great budget pick.

The problem is that we don’t live in that vacuum.

Thanks to AliExpress sales and other discounts, there has been a massive influx of devices in the $40–50 US dollar range, with some even cheaper than that.

That includes devices like the Anbernic RG35XX Plus, RG35XX H, TrimUI Smart Pro and others.

These devices are much more powerful, have better specifications and offer significantly more features. It’s a night-and-day difference.

Obviously, pricing depends on sales, where you live and what deals are available, so it isn’t exactly reliable pricing. But most people watching this probably have access to those deals.

That makes it really difficult to call the V10 the best budget option, or even necessarily a particularly good budget option.

I’d say it’s one of them.

It would probably be the last device I’d pick from the usual list of recommendations, and only if I had exactly $40 US dollars to spend and no other options.

If you’ve bought almost any other handheld in the last four years, chances are it’s better than this spec-wise and can do more.

I mean, if you own an Anbernic RG351P, it’s already better than this and came out four years ago.

Should You Buy the Powkiddy V10?

If you’re looking to collect handhelds, my review doesn’t matter to you. Collect away.

If you’re a newcomer to the hobby and just want to dip your feet in, the V10 is a fine choice at a low price, particularly if you don’t want to wait for a sale on something better.

For $40, you really can’t go too wrong here.

Enjoy it.

Like I said before, nothing I say here matters.

Banana. Potato. Tomato.