KinHank K56 vs Mangmi Air X

Two Android handhelds, one 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 panel each, and $70 between them. On our grade sheet the KinHank K56 and the Mangmi Air X are the same machine for every library up to the Sega Saturn, and they stop at the same place: eleven playable systems each, counted the same way.

That is not the shape most comparisons take. Usually the expensive handheld buys a tier - GameCube and PlayStation 2 become possible, or the screen grows, or the battery doubles. Here it buys one letter band on one system, adds a grade that is still below the playable line, and gives one back on the Wii.

The same ten columns, twice

Our capability index grades 442 handhelds on up to eighteen systems and carries a tracked street price for 375 of them. Both of these devices take a straight A on the same ten: Game Boy, NES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy Advance, SNES, PlayStation, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and PSP.

165 of the 442 hold that straight-A ten-system column and 161 of them are priced. The Air X, at $80, is the third cheapest of those 161 - behind the Pocket Air Mini at $70 and the KONKR Pocket Block at $79. The K56, at $150, is the twentieth cheapest: nineteen devices in the same group cost less.

Ten identical A columns is the reason this page exists. If you play 8- and 16-bit systems and the first PlayStation, there is no grade in the catalogue that separates these two devices.

Where the letters actually separate

Four columns differ, and one of them is blank on the Air X.

Playable in this index means B or better, the line we use everywhere else. By that line the K56 gains exactly one thing for $70: the Saturn moves from playable to a straight A. Everything else it wins is inside the C band, which is the band where a system is graded but not recommended.

That distinction is not pedantry. 141 priced handhelds in the index are playable on the Nintendo 3DS and 128 are playable on the PlayStation 2. A C on either of those means the emulator boots, some games run, and you will not build a library around it. The K56's 3DS grade is a letter the Air X does not have - 17 devices carry a 3DS grade in the C band, 16 of them priced - but it does not change what the device can play.

The Wii runs the other way. The Air X is graded C+ and the K56 C, so on the one system where both sit in the same band, the cheaper device is the higher-graded one. Neither is playable there.

That is the entire grade difference: one band up on the Saturn, one band up on the PlayStation 2, a band on the 3DS that the Air X does not carry, one band down on the Wii. Eleven playable systems each.

$70 in a market that has already priced this tier

The K56 is not expensive by the standards of the eleven-system tier, but it is not the cheap seat either. 165 priced devices are playable on eleven systems or more, and the K56 is the twenty-third cheapest of them. Twenty-two cost less, and six of those also hold the Saturn at A: the Pocket Air Mini at $70, the KONKR Pocket Advance at $89, the Retroid Pocket Classic at $114, the ZPG A1 Unicorn at $131, the GAMEMT EX8 at $140 and the Retroid Pocket 4 at $149.

The Air X is the fifth cheapest of the same 165, level with the GAMEMT E6 Max at $80. It buys the tier at the bottom of the market rather than the middle.

So if the Saturn at A is the reason you are reading this, the K56 is the seventh cheapest way to get it and the six ahead of it all cost less. That does not make it a bad device; it makes it a device whose price is not explained by its grades.

What the $70 does buy: storage, memory and somebody else's setup

None of the above says the two devices are identical to hold, and the spec sheets are where the K56 earns part of the money back.

The panels are the same size and the same resolution, which removes the decision that usually settles this class of comparison: there is no aspect-ratio argument here and no letterboxing complaint waiting at the end of it. Both are 16:9 at 1080p, and both arrange the sticks and buttons the way this whole generation of Android handhelds does.

What separates them is the inside. 6 GB against 4 GB of RAM is the difference between an Android launcher and a heavy emulator fitting comfortably and the same pair competing for headroom. 128 GB against 64 GB is the difference between a memory card being optional and a memory card being the first thing you buy. The K56 also ships with a pre-loaded card - KinHank sells the 16,000-game build at $149 and the 27,000-game build at $165 - and a Pegasus launcher that a Retro Handhelds review found ready to go out of the box, where the bundled ES-DE build shipped without working themes.

For a gift, a first handheld, or someone who does not want to configure anything, that is a real advantage, and it is the honest reason to pay the premium. It is not a capability advantage, and it should not be sold as one.

The K56 gives something back in the hand as well. It is the heavier of the two at 310 g against 288, and Retro Handhelds singles out its triggers as the weak point of an otherwise good control set - no analog travel, on a device that runs Dreamcast and PSP racers.

Which should you buy

Buy the Mangmi Air X at $80. It holds the same ten A columns, it is playable on the same eleven systems, it is the fifth cheapest device in that tier, it weighs less, and it costs $70 below the K56. The grades it loses are inside a band that does not change what it can play.

Buy the KinHank K56 if the pre-loaded card and the launcher are the point - 16,000 or 27,000 games and a setup a child or a non-tinkerer can use on day one - or if you specifically want 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage in a 1080p 16:9 shell and do not want to add a card. Those are legitimate reasons to spend the money. "It is more powerful" is not one: on our sheet it is one letter band more powerful on the Saturn, one letter less on the Wii, and the same machine on the ten systems most people buy these for.

If the Saturn at A is what you are after, six devices do it for less than $150, and the cheapest of them is $70.

A note on the two prices

Our index tracks a street price of $80 for the Air X, the early-bird figure that made it famous; the Retro Handhelds review records $89.99 now that early bird is over. Recompute the difference at $90 and the argument does not move: the K56 at $149 is still the more expensive device, and the six devices that hold the Saturn at A for less are under the price of either.

Sources

• KinHank - the manufacturer's K56 product page, listing the $149 16,000-game build and the $165 27,000-game build: kinhank-retrogame.com
• Retro Handhelds - K56 review with the full spec list, including the Unisoc T620, the Mali G52 MC2, 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB plus microSD, the 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 IPS panel, the 5000 mAh battery, the 310 g weight, the digital triggers and the bundled launchers: retrohandhelds.gg
• Retro Handhelds - Mangmi Air X review with the spec list, including the Snapdragon 662, 4 GB of LPDDR4X, 64 GB of eMMC, the 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 IPS panel, 5000 mAh, 288 g and the $89.99 post-early-bird price: retrohandhelds.gg
• Mangmi - official Air X product page, the source of the Snapdragon 662, the 1920 x 1080 panel and the hall-effect sticks: mangmi.com
• Qualcomm - Snapdragon 662 platform specifications, the source of the Adreno 610 and the eight-core layout: qualcomm.com
• UNISOC - T620 platform page: unisoc.com
• Lost In Consoles - the per-system grades in this comparison are the frozen values published on the K56 and Mangmi Air X device pages, recomputed over all 442 graded handhelds and 375 tracked prices in the capability index.