The BLACK Edition Powkiddy X55 // An In-Depth Look + Shoulder Button FIX!

[@retrotechdad]

Is the PK X55 a decent budget option and why? Share your thoughts here! ❤❤

[@Pridetoons]

Personally I'd still buy it. Until Anbernic comes out with another 3:2 or 5:3 Touchscreen Handheld, or releases a 5:3 or 16:9 Handheld with an Ergonomic Shell. This is the best I got right now. I love my RG503 but with that OLED screen it's a Vampire Handheld. 😔

[@typer98]

I have at least 17 retro handhelds and this is by far one of my favorites. I have found that the firmware from 20230804 runs the Port of SM64 better than all the versions after it...(audio crackling). It runs most PSP games I have used on it including Gran Turismo very well and can run Playstation using the stand alone Duckstation with widescreen hacks beautifully. Even when running 4:3 content, the larger screen makes it much more enjoyable to play than a 3.5 inch screen.

[@MimiMiNat]

​@@Pridetoonsnjrrnrjtjtitirriuq😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😊

[@ChitosVids]

you mention that for a bit more you could get something that works and runs better. any recommendation?

[@garystinten9339]

Found a Samsung battery that might be an awesome battery swap for around $20us and is 8000mah.

[@TheWobart]

Got mine yesterday. Replaced the sd card for a trusted one, installed the latest jelos and made a couple of minor changes to the settings for Dreamcast, n64 and PSP and this works absolutely great. It’s no powerhouse (I have other handhelds for that!) but it’s so comfy to hold, light and the screen is really nice. It’s absolutely the best in the price range by FAR!

[@retrotechdad]

Yea, once those changes are done the performance is so much better. It's a bummer that it's like that out of the box, mostly for someone that isn't as comfortable tinkering. I REALLY like the screen for GBA, the pixels look so good.

[@therunawaykid6523]

⁠@@retrotechdadhow do I flash like you did in the video? I mean improving the performance - is is just a case of updating the firmware from jelos?

[@EKalikh]

Guys, do you have battery replacement experience? Really wanna do so, but a bit confused around the topic. Would appreciate the video regarding handheld updating and upgrading ❤

[@KristaJEtco]

May I ask what is your powerhouse handheld?

[@therunawaykid6523]

@@KristaJEtco mine is my aya Neo 2021 great portable pc imo

[@iMutt-yy6vf]

ngl, I love my Blue X55 and I find I use it more often than my Odin Lite. The user experience of JELOS is just awesome! btw, my X55 shipped with the latest version of JELOS (the 10222023 version), so hopefully the out-of-box experience is better for people now. Yeah, the Odin may be more powerful, but the Powkiddy is just so darn fun.

[@retrotechdad]

That's good to hear that they are shipping with the newer builds!

[@catsandstuff1765]

Did you get your unit directly from powkiddy?

[@Pridetoons]

NGL I want the X28, X55, RGB30, and RGB10 Max 3. All these Handhelds fullfil a certain niche for me. Also a White X55 would be sexy. 😊

[@retrotechdad]

An all-white would be AWESOME! I have an all-white Max 2 and it's gorgeous. 🤍🤍

[@Pridetoons]

​@@retrotechdadAgreed 💯

[@wingsfromheaven8788]

That was the best review of the x55 available. But the comparisons to your prerelease unit in blue became confusing since nobody could relate based on the released version. And we're left wondering if buying the x55 in blue would lead to a worse experience nowadays?

[@ΗΗΗΗΗΗ0000]

Sound like a great device Actually ordered one because of this video Should I worry about stick drift and order hall effect stick to replace?

[@PokuPokuYeah]

Awesome video ! Thank you very much for your shoutout it's greatly appreciated ! 😘

[@retrotechdad]

Absolutely! Thank you so much for sharing your fix with the community, it works great! 💗🤗🙏

[@CarlosDeSedas]

thanks for the review! can you please explain a bit more how you got those PSP games to run relatively smooth?

[@retrotechdad]

Definitely! In settings (you bring it up by clicking in on the left stick) and then change rendering resolution from AUTO 1:1 to 1x Native and then go up from there. Some other options worth trying would be to enable speed hacks which can be found under the speed hacks section under graphics. Start with skip buffer effects or skip gpu readbacks or a combination of the two. You could also try to enable frameskipping but I try to avoid that as much as possible.

[@CarlosDeSedas]

Thanks!!! Will do@@retrotechdad

[@typer98]

The triggers on the Black Model:X55 are much quieter than the original blue Mode:X55 right out of the box. They are actually about the same sound as a Switch. I also find it strange that it now also runs Android as if it were a phone on the Black version. Its like a RG353p but much larger screen and slightly more comfortable.

[@retrotechdad]

Some good news about the Android side is that we might have a useable solution for it which will open doors for some extra functionality! 👀 The black one is pretty much silent now for me after I did the hot glue fix.

[@davedavenport8673]

oooh, android will then allow bluetooth headphones, yes?

[@Pridetoons]

Do you think Magnetic Hall Sensor sticks will work on this Handheld?

[@retrotechdad]

Yes, it should be a straight swap.

[@MABM88]

hi i just order the blue one a week ago, its still different from the black one?

[@serpicog.l.s.9161]

Is there a mod for add the rumble motors? Thanks you are great!

[@carlinrackley8547]

I associate the William Tell Overture music piece with the Lone Ranger lol The version you have in this video sounds really nice!

[@chrismayer3919]

I’m definitely considering getting one!

[@3rutu5]

I have a miyoo mini plus and ordered that clone R35S and a X55. Assuming both will be a step up from the MM+ and looking forward to the bigger screen and a few more consoles to play, even some saturn, dreamcast and the occasional gamecube

[@retrotechdad]

The X55 will definitely be a step up from the MM+ just for the larger screen experience alone!

[@forgottenbymortals9656]

'I was pretty excited to test out the brightness' - of course you were.

[@retrotechdad]

🔆🔆🔆🔆

[@WMARUoriginal]

Very cool review and also love the tear down and fixes. If this could have done great PSP, I would have picked it up as a dedicated GBA/PSP device. Might still be worth it just for GBA though.

[@retrotechdad]

Thank you, I love doing the teardown portions. It gave me an opportunity to share some of those awesome fixes as well. It's really nice as a GBA device but I do wish it had just a bit more power for PSP. 😭

[@WMARUoriginal]

@@retrotechdad Until I can find something that is powerful enough with a large 16:9 screen and great battery life, the win600 will still be the go to for me for PSP via Batocera.

[@bigemugamer]

It's weird, on Powkiddy's site the black X-55 with 16GB OS SD card is only available for purchase WITH either a 32gb, 64gb or 128gb additional game card, it is NOT available for purchase with ONLY the 16gb OS card, the site says that option is "out of stock". =/

[@ronch550]

Just curious, folks. Do you charge your X55 turned on or turned off? I've found that charging it when it's turned off fills it up in 2 hours but charging it when it's on is problematic: very slow. Using both the JELOS from Sept. 3, 2023 and the latest.

[@alucardF91]

Is there a physical difference between the rejected one and the retail one. Or is the rejected one all colored blue?

[@JaladhiPujara]

Same question! Looks like nobody knows!

[@PloopChute]

Have you tried swapping in joycon sticks to see if theyre compatable as drop in replacements?

[@KenBurr]

My x55 would freeze while adjusting brightness too unless using hotkeys.. Luckily flashing JelOS is quite easy, even on Mac.

[@Atomic-Purple-Guy]

I never really liked the cheap look of the powkiddu x55. Yes im the atomic purple guy. But it be nice if they had some more premium plastic and maybe some transparent colors.

[@mokenetgumshoe1064]

A question for anyone who has one of these: does anyone know if the x55 can play media files like music or especially video? I live off-grid and would like a low-power media player to use the HDMI out feature on. It would be much more efficient than running a laptop for me, power-wise. Since it runs Linux I assume it's possible, but I don't know if anyone has managed to do it. It may be that this version of Linux is missing a lot of necessary software libraries or something like that. Thanks to all who may reply!

[@aliubidu7770]

JELOS does have a Music Player. Videos I don´t know.

[@danj00100]

Did you have any problems getting the WiFi working? I’ve just got the black one and it doesn’t scan for networks or connect when I manually put in the ssid.

[@kumbackquatsta]

this is my preferred price range

[@retrotechdad]

It's a price range that's getting so much better and competitive. I love to see it!

[@brentrusche2056]

Great review: Is it possible to remove the screen from the front shell? I have a Black edition and wish I had purchased a Blue since it looks so bland...but if I can remove the screen from the front shell, I would like to paint it a different color. Might that be possible and if so, how difficult is it to remove the screen? Thanks, Brent

[@retrotechdad]

The screen looks to be held in with adhesive. You'd have to warm up the adhesive and then carefully remove the glass. I don't see a way to access it from behind the panel. You can see that portion briefly in my teardown section.

[@choum_5018]

Its the balck version now avalaible to purchase and shipping?

[@cho-v4n]

I think I'm out on powkiddy but i do like me some teardowns 🙂

[@retrotechdad]

They're just all over the place, you never know what you're gonna end up with. 🤣

[@jefff4926]

I flashed the main jelos card. Is there somewhere to download a full card with games other than the one that came with the x55?

[@Bonkikavo]

They released the green, test that one too :)

[@retrohandhelds]

TECH DAD STATING FAX

[@retrotechdad]

😎💗🔥

[@TheEldenLord_]

Got mine about 20 days ago and finally got to setting it up and play around with it for like a day then my right speaker stops working….

[@uncaringbear]

Was the HDMI-out not tested for this review?

[@Gyroeg]

Can it maybe play Jet Set radio?? I really wanna play that game on the go, and no i dont wanna get a psvita it costs a ton here

[@dg8676]

I got my black one about a month ago it only takes 40 seconds for mine to boot.

[@kevinspahr6632]

I don't understand why yours takes so long to boot up. I have a black one and a blue one that I recently purchased within the last month and they boot up literally within 15 to 20 seconds out-of-the-box.

[@retrotechdad]

It was loaded with an unofficial build of JELOS and the developer put that into the boot sequence on purpose. It’s very possible that newer units are finally using the official builds of JELOS since they do have permission to use it.

[@alebustamanteq]

So the black version would be a new version?

[@retrotechdad]

Powkiddy does a lot of these "stealth" releases. This black version does seem to have a newer board (v1.2). The display on it seems to be consistent as well. Other than that, I don't think much has changed.

[@alebustamanteq]

@@retrotechdad so you recommend me to buy the black version instead the blue one??

[@therunawaykid6523]

@@alebustamanteqi would say it’s safest to get the black one as he said the blue one seemed different

[@torq21]

I absolutely love this handheld for 2D gaming but I have been fairly disappointed with Playstation 1 performance. It really feels like I should be able to play with widescreen hacks at the very least. Sadly duckstation and Swanstation only seem to run PSX games at a good framerate in software mode... Does anyone have any pointers for better vulkan or opengl performance in these cores? I'd really like to have widescreen working.

[@turnbasedtoddy7664]

I just don’t understand what’s the point of a 720 P screen on this device if it can’t really upscale anything to that resolution. No ps1, N64, Dreamcast or PSP will be able to be upscaled to that.

[@RASHADJAMAR]

I just got mine and theres no games on the main screen. I seem to have the games on the second sd card but cant figure out how to get to them. Can anyone help me out?

[@pedrohenriquebragabezerra103]

I received mine this week with the EMUELEC system, if I'm not mistaken. but when inserting an sd card with JELOS, the system does not turn on, it does not show any signs of life. It only turns on when I return the SD card that came with it. Does anyone know what could be happening? 😢

[@wingsfromheaven8788]

You might try UNZIPPING the image file download before using RUFUS to create the 'bootable' micro SD card using the latest JELOS image file: JELOS-RK3566-X55.aarch64-20231201.img.gz If you're already doing that (unzipping and using Rufus) then maybe try a different micro SD card. Perhaps unrelated, the ArkOS developer does not recommend the use of Balena Etcher for his image files: "DO NOT USE BALENA ETCHER WITH THIS IMAGE! There has been reports of various strange issues and inconsistent performance using Etcher for this image."

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

That Blue one looks like the one I got recently and reviewed, but mine was 100% from their new batch, not old. Had Android and a newer version of JELOS. What a confusing company.

[@retrotechdad]

The blue one is cursed. 🤣😅 Powkiddy - Consistently Inconsistent™

[@dracquiteur.4730]

Wait, is there an Android build available for the X55? I would love to use this for xCloud, but sadly that's Android only AFAIK and I don't find anything on Google about Android on this device.

[@retrotechdad]

It does have Android when you take out the system card in the left micro SD slot. However, it's entirely useless with no way to navigate the interface. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@wingsfromheaven8788]

​@@retrotechdadSo maybe a GammaOS candidate?

[@JaladhiPujara]

So is there a reason anymore to avoid Blue ones if they are shipping units from their new batch?

[@Pridetoons]

How fast is LitNXT's shipping?

[@retrotechdad]

They got the X55 pretty fast to me, I think it was about a week after receiving tracking.

[@Pridetoons]

​@@retrotechdadHow about Go Game Geek?

[@retrotechdad]

Will be working with them shortly, should be getting the TrimUI Smart Pro from them!

[@Pridetoons]

@@retrotechdad I thinking of buying my Trimui Smart Pro from them too. 😊

[@manuelrodriguez9972]

Can you play Genshin Impact on this device?

[@retrotechdad]

Hopefully soon! We might be getting usable Android build which means we can potentially load up some Genshin Impact.

[@Asfanboy1]

I know this will sound stupid and maybe in the wrong place. Anyway I want an x86 handheld like the Asus ROG but one that can make phone calls. I'm tired of taking multiple devices with me. I have earbuds in all the time anyway nobody would know it's not a phone. Does such device exist?

[@retrotechdad]

There hasn't been one like that. There were a couple on the Android side of things.

[@amanpreetsingh4102]

I got mine today and whenever I turn it on it only shows the Powkiddy logo and no buttons work(only the power button works). Anyone else facing something similar?

[@aliubidu7770]

Memory card on slot1 damaged or missing.

[@degenerate8228]

Can you put arkos on this one day?

[@kumbackquatsta]

so if it can handle psp, it can handle ps1?

[@retrotechdad]

Yes sir! 🙏 Check out my Rk2023 review to get an idea of PS1 performance.

[@luismiguel-jc2bd]

X55 jelos or rg503 jelos?

[@retrotechdad]

RG503 seems more stable right now. I know the JELOS team keeps updating for the X55 as well.

[@BrandonEdie]

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

[@GTA_500]

They use PSP as a selling point but we all know a device like that it's not going to run PSP.

[@Flyingboots1]

So are the blue ones still trash or are they better like the black ones as well?

[@retrotechdad]

The blue ones should be good to go, mine was a early unit that should've never been sent to me. You can definitely see why! 🙏