The Miyoo Mini Plus took everything that made the original Mini beloved and fixed the two biggest complaints: screen size and battery life. The result is the most polished sub-$70 handheld on the market.
✓ Pros
- • Gorgeous 3.5" IPS display — a massive upgrade over the original
- • Excellent battery life (8-10 hours with Onion OS)
- • Onion OS is the best custom firmware available
- • Pocket-sized form factor with premium feel
- • Huge online community and accessory ecosystem
✗ Cons
- • Shoulder buttons (L2/R2) are mushy and hard to press
- • No analog sticks limits PSP and N64 compatibility
- • Gets warm during extended PS1 sessions
- • MicroSD reliability varies — use quality cards only
Design and Build Quality
Miyoo nailed the form factor. The Mini Plus is modelled after the original Game Boy and it shows — the proportions are perfect, the face buttons sit in exactly the right place, and the shell has a subtle matte coating that resists fingerprints.
At 105g it's genuinely pocketable. Slip it in a jeans pocket and forget it's there. The D-pad is tight and accurate, the ABXY buttons have a clean tactile click, and the overall build quality feels far more expensive than the $65 price tag suggests.
The only real hardware weakness is the L2/R2 triggers, which require more force than they should. For most retro titles this is a non-issue, but it matters for PS1 games like Crash Bandicoot that lean on the shoulder buttons.
Display
The 3.5" IPS panel running at 640×480 is the star of the show. It's bright, punchy, and renders 4:3 pixel art with crisp precision. GBA games look stunning — pixel-perfect without any visible scaling artifacts.
The screen brightness tops out high enough for outdoor use in moderate sunlight. Color accuracy is excellent for the price. This is the display that the original Mini should have shipped with.
Technical Specifications
| Screen | 3.5" IPS, 640×480 resolution |
| Processor | Allwinner A133P (quad-core, 1.8GHz) |
| RAM | 128MB DDR3 |
| Storage | MicroSD (user-supplied) |
| Battery | 3,000mAh — ~8-10 hours (Onion OS) |
| OS | Stock Linux / Onion OS (recommended) |
| Connectivity | USB-C, 3.5mm audio, Wi-Fi |
| Dimensions | 113 × 72 × 19mm |
| Weight | 105g |
Software: Install Onion OS First
Out of the box, the stock Miyoo firmware is functional but bare. Do yourself a favour and install Onion OS before you do anything else. It transforms the device:
- A polished, game-library-style interface
- RetroArch pre-configured with optimal settings per system
- Sleep mode that actually works
- Wi-Fi game syncing and scraping
- Dozens of quality-of-life improvements
Onion OS turns a good device into an exceptional one. Installation takes about 10 minutes and there's no soldering or technical knowledge required.
Emulation Performance
- NES / Game Boy / GBC / GBA — Perfect. Every title, every speed.
- SNES — Flawless, including demanding titles like Super Mario RPG and Yoshi's Island.
- PS1 — Excellent. The A133P handles PS1 with ease. Tekken 3, Castlevania: SOTN, Final Fantasy VII all run flawlessly.
- N64 — Limited. Lacks analog sticks, so it's mostly unsuitable for N64 beyond a few titles.
- PSP / Dreamcast — Not recommended on this hardware.
Final Verdict
The Miyoo Mini Plus is the definitive pocket retro handheld. It does everything up to PS1 perfectly, fits in any pocket, and with Onion OS installed it's a genuinely polished piece of hardware. The L2/R2 triggers are the only real hardware flaw on an otherwise excellent device.