This cheap Android gaming handheld is my new favorite PSP replacement

When I finished my studies and left my childhood home 15 years ago, the only piece of gaming hardware I brought with me was my PSP. Sony’s first portable console wasn’t just jam-packed with great games, it also served as my portable media player.

In the age of smartphones and streaming services, it’s long been retired, but when I recently dug it out to revisit the memories, I was sad to see that the battery pack had swelled to a dangerous degree. Sure, I could buy a new battery pack, but instead, I moved on to a new handheld that perfectly captures and builds on what made the PSP great.

I’m talking about the MANGMI AIR X, a new Android gaming handheld (and brand) that’s set to dominate the entry-level price bracket. In fact, it costs even less than a used PSP, two decades after its release.

Like the PSP (and most gaming handhelds), the AIR X has a familiar “candybar” design, although the 5.5-inch FHD IPS screen is much larger. Unlike other retro-focused 4:3 handhelds we’ve seen recently, like the ANBERNIC RG 477M, it maintains the 16:9 aspect ratio for excellent upscaling of PSP games, and the screen looks miles better than the original hardware.

It also keeps the D-pad-focused symmetrical control layout, with an added second joystick for compatibility with even more consoles. No sliders here, either. These are Hall effect sticks with a great range of motion and RGB lights, if you’re into that.

Overall, everything just feels great. The buttons are relatively quiet, with microswitch-style shoulder buttons and analog triggers. The grips around the back and generously rounded edges make it easy and comfortable to hold. It’s a little too big to be pocketable, but it’s super light, so with a case, it’s easy to slip into a backpack.

Perhaps more importantly, it feels sturdy. Typically, cheap gaming handhelds feel somewhat fragile. This one feels rock solid, and it doesn’t have the telltale rattling sound found on cheap handhelds.

As for the software, it’s lightweight but functional. There are several emulators pre-installed and pre-configured, which is perfect for anyone new to emulation handhelds. It’s easy to get sucked down a rabbit hole of setup videos before you sit down to game, but the MANGMI AIR X thankfully sidesteps that.

I should mention that the device comes with an optional frontend called Game Launcher installed, and it does technically work. However, it’s incredibly barebones. There’s no artwork for any system, and you can’t download scraped art for games. Instead, it’s just a basic list of systems and games, with no themes or customization options.

After trying a few launchers, I eventually settled on Beacon for this device. It’s not a perfect replacement for the iconic XrossMediaBar on the PSP, but the large game art looks great on this machine.

While premium gaming handhelds are now capable of running Switch games at resolutions and framerates beyond the original console, the lower end of the market has also evolved in recent months. Cheaper chipsets are now more capable than ever, and the cheapest Android handhelds (like the MANGMI AIR X) now compete directly with Linux handhelds in price.

When it comes to the Snapdragon 662 found on this device, it’s at the absolute lowest end of any Android handheld I’ve tested. It’s well below the Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 on the Retroid Pocket Classic, and lower than the Helio G90T on the AYANEO Pocket AIR Mini. All three handhelds are roughly in the $100 range, with the Pocket Classic costing the most at $130-150.

Interestingly, the G1 Gen 2 smashes the competition when it comes to CPU performance, and the G90T comes out well ahead when it comes to GPU performance. The Snapdragon 662 fares the worst out of the three budget chipsets.

But the benchmarks don’t really tell the full story here. Not only are the Pocket Classic and Pocket AIR Mini more expensive than the MANGMI X AIR, but they’re also not really in another tier of power. In other words, they can’t perfectly emulate more systems.

All three can emulate everything below the GameCube and PS2 very well, but above that, things fall apart. Retroid and AYANEO’s offerings can play some games from that generation, sure, but they often require workarounds and performance isn’t exactly what I would call smooth.

As for which games play best on which handheld, for me it largely comes down to the aspect ratio. The MANGMI AIR X is the only one with a 16:9 display, so PSP games end up looking much better. On the square-ish Pocket Classic and the 4:3 Pocket AIR Mini, games look squished and text is difficult to read. The tradeoff, of course, is that the AIR X features pillarboxing (black bars on the sides) for all retro systems.

The 16:9 screen also means that the AIR X is great for game streaming. The 5.5-inch screen is on the smaller side for this, but it still got the job done in a pinch. It doesn’t support the latest Wi-Fi standards, but it certainly performs better than other handhelds in this price range.

It might not win the head-to-head competition, but the AIR X still packs enough power to play most PSP games at 3x upscaling, which brings them to 1080p to match the display. For me, that’s exactly the right amount of power for an emulation handheld at this price.

Of course, this can also play lightweight Android games, which includes plenty of retro and indie titles. Demanding titles like Genshin Impact are off limits, but the list of controller-compatible Android games grows longer every year.

In terms of battery life, I got around six hours of gameplay on a single charge with PSP emulation. Less demanding systems offered more screen time, often upwards of eight hours. The 15W charger topped off the 5,000mAh battery in about two hours in my testing, and the standby time was excellent, as expected from an Android-based handheld.

While the MANGMI AIR X is now my dedicated PSP emulation handheld, whether or not it’s right for you will depend on where you are in your gaming handheld journey. If you already have a gaming handheld, Linux or not, it’s probably not going to be a meaningful upgrade.

If you’re shopping for your first handheld, looking to give a gift, or want a killer PSP replacement, it’s a different story. At $90, it’s an incredible value, and the new entry-level handheld to beat. That’s less than a mobile controller like the Backbone One, and barely more than a single Switch 2 game. As I mentioned in the introduction, it’s also less than a used PSP 3000, which can sell for well over $100 more than 17 years after it was released.

Still, the MANGMI AIR X is the entry-level handheld that I’d recommend most. It isn’t often that a brand-new company emerges in the Android gaming handheld space, and it’s even less common that its first product fills such an underserved niche in the market. But that’s exactly what MANGMI has achieved with the AIR X.