KONKR Pocket Advance Review: The Game Boy Advance Reborn for $89

Premium build quality, excellent controls and plenty of nostalgia.

When AYANEO first revealed the KONKR Pocket Advance, it was pretty clear what they were going for. This is an unapologetic love letter to Nintendo’s original Game Boy Advance, recreating the familiar horizontal form factor with a modern screen, much more capable hardware and extra controls.

We briefly covered the Pocket Advance when pre-orders opened, and after spending some time with the 4GB + 64GB Navy Blue version, it’s easy to see why this is one of AYANEO’s most successful launches yet.

What’s in the Box

The KONKR packaging is a bit more streamlined when compared to AYANEO’s premium offerings, but still nicely designed.

Inside the box you’ll find the handheld itself, plus a USB-C charging cable and a small card with a QR code that gives you access to the user manual.

There are also some accessories that can be purchased separately, including a KONKR-branded carry case for $13.90 and a screen protector for $8.90.

Specs & Pricing

The KONKR Pocket Advance uses the same chipset found inside the Pocket AIR Mini, just wrapped in a more affordable and much more nostalgic shell. Here’s an overview of the specs:

Display	3.5″ LCD, 960 x 640, 3:2 aspect ratio, up to 60Hz
Chipset	MediaTek Helio G90T (octa-core)
RAM	3GB or 4GB
Storage	32GB or 64GB (expandable via microSD)
Battery	4,000mAh
OS	Android 12 with AYANEO’s AyaSpace
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0
Ports	USB-C, microSD slot, 3.5mm headphone jack
Extras	Active cooling fan, dual downward-firing speakers, rotor vibration motor
Dimensions	151.3 x 82.4 x 22mm (5.96 x 3.24 x 0.87in)
Weight	Approx. 224g (7.9oz)
Price	Early bird prices from $89 for the 3GB/32GB model and $109 for the 4GB/64GB variant

Design & Build Quality

My navy blue review unit looks fantastic and is immediately nostalgic, but the Pocket Advance doesn’t feel like a cheap copy of an old handheld. The shell has a subtle textured finish, the build is solid, and everything fits together with that same level of polish we’ve come to expect from AYANEO. That’s even more impressive here, considering that KONKR is positioned as their more affordable brand.

At the time of writing, the Pocket Advance is available in five colorways: Navy (blue), Coral (orange), Grey, Peach (pink) and Onyx Ice (translucent black).

AYANEO’s reinterpretation is only slightly larger than the original Game Boy Advance, but with a much nicer, larger 3.5″ screen. They have nailed the aesthetic here, recreating the proportions and overall silhouette of the GBA incredibly well, right down to the side bumpers, rounded edges and unique shape.

Beyond the display, the controls are also an improvement over the original. The larger D-pad is one of my favorite upgrades over Nintendo’s design. It’s very quiet, has a soft feel and works really well across platformers, fighting games and anything else you throw at it. The ABXY buttons have a similar feel and are also quiet and satisfying to use.

On the left side of the device below the D-pad, you’ll find the stacked start and select buttons, while on the right there’s a KONKR button, with a menu button directly below it.

The KONKR button brings up AYANEO’s familiar sidebar, allowing you to switch performance modes, control fan speeds, and adjust settings on the fly.

At the top, there are two large shoulder buttons, which are also nice and quiet, plus four smaller shoulder buttons that AYANEO managed to squeeze in there: L2 and R2, and LC/RC. These extra buttons have a clickier feel and aren’t as quiet as the others. They’re all mappable, which comes in handy for shortcuts, but also positioned well enough that they stay out of the way if you’d rather ignore them entirely. The power button is also at the top, along with one more circular mappable button.

Along the bottom there’s a Micro SD card slot on the left, the downward-firing speakers in the middle, and a headphone jack on the right, right next to a physical volume wheel, which is a nice tactile throwback.

I like having a physical dial, but the way it’s positioned here caused me to brush against it with my fingers and accidentally change the volume more than once. It’s a small nitpick, but worth mentioning.

There are vents at the top and around the back of the device, allowing the internal fan to keep things running cool. That said, if you mainly play GBA and other less demanding systems, you can pretty much leave the fan off while playing without any issues.

Display & Sound

The 3.5-inch LCD screen is another major highlight for me. It has a 960 x 640 resolution and 3:2 aspect ratio that’s tailor-made for GBA emulation, with a perfect 4x integer scale for GBA games, so you get no letterboxing and crisp, pixel-perfect graphics. It seems very similar to the display used on the AYANEO Pocket Micro, and it looks fantastic for the price. The brightness controls have a lot of range too, so you can set it to be very dim when you’re playing in bed or super bright if you’re outdoors.

When it comes to audio, the Pocket Advance is decent, but don’t expect anything incredible. The dual speakers are downward-firing, which isn’t ideal, but they still manage to sound clear and reasonably full for a device this size.

Performance & Emulation

The Pocket Advance runs on the well-known MediaTek Helio G90T, and I got the model with 4GB of RAM for this review. Those specs can comfortably handle older systems like the GBA, SNES, Genesis, and other pre-3D-era consoles without breaking a sweat. You can even push into PlayStation 1 territory and it’s still smooth sailing.

Anything beyond that gets a bit trickier. The hardware can run Dreamcast and some PSP games, but the lack of analog sticks becomes increasingly limiting as you move toward systems designed around 3D controls. The Pocket Advance can even take a stab at some lighter PS2 and GameCube titles, but at that point you’re relying on finicky button-mapped workarounds for analog movement.

The missing analog sticks might be a dealbreaker for some, but I actually think AYANEO made the right call leaving them out. Adding sticks would have compromised the GBA aesthetic that makes this thing so appealing in the first place, and there are already stick-equipped alternatives in AYANEO’s own lineup for anyone who wants more flexibility (at a slightly higher price).

The device ships with Android 12 and AYANEO’s AyaSpace software, and you’ll need to install and configure your own emulators and add your ROMs before you can start playing. I always go with RetroArch for all the older systems and ES-DE as my front-end, plus any additional emulators like DuckStation and Flycast, as needed.

Battery Life

Battery life is quite good, particularly if you use it primarily for older systems like I’ve been doing for the majority of my testing. With the 4,000mAh battery, less demanding titles including the entire GBA catalog run very efficiently on “ECO” mode, and I’ve managed an average of 8 hours out of a single charge, while jumping between consoles throughout the day.

Of course, if you push into more demanding emulation that number will naturally drop, but for what I call the core use case, this little machine does really well.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Excellent build quality for the price
• Nostalgic GBA-inspired design
• Great controls, including an excellent, quiet D-pad
• Beautiful 3:2 display with pixel-perfect GBA scaling
• Strong battery life for lighter emulation
• Extra shoulder buttons are useful without getting in the way
• Great emulation performance up to PS1 and Dreamcast
• Excellent price for what you get

Cons

• No analog sticks (a deliberate trade-off, not necessarily a flaw)
• Volume wheel placement makes it easy to bump accidentally

Verdict

AYANEO has pulled off something special with the KONKR Pocket Advance, a device that knows exactly what it’s for and commits fully to that vision. This handheld is not meant to be a jack-of-all-trades emulation machine, it’s a love letter to the Game Boy Advance.

The build quality is excellent, the controls feel fantastic, the 3:2 display is a perfect match for GBA games, and all of that is backed by some decent specs for the price. Sure, analog sticks would make it more versatile, but in my opinion they would make the Pocket Advance a worse product. There are already a ton of Android handhelds designed to cover as many systems as possible. This one has a much clearer identity.

And while it can actually go far beyond GBA emulation, that’s almost beside the point. Load it up with GBA, Game Boy, SNES, Mega Drive and PlayStation games, paired with a good front-end like ES-DE, and the Pocket Advance is about as good as it gets under $100.

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The product featured in this article was provided by the manufacturer for testing purposes. No payment was received for this feature, and the opinions expressed are entirely our own. All images © Inspiration Grid unless otherwise credited.