Ayaneo Flip KB review - handheld console with great functionality powered by the less efficient AMD Ryzen 7 8840U
Bogdan Solca 👁 Published 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 ...
Verdict: elegant clamshell form-factor with midrange performance
The Flip series is Ayaneo’s first foray into handheld clamshells inspired by the classic Nintendo DS design. Unlike the Flip DS version that comes with dual touchscreens, the KB model replaces the lower screen with an RGB mini keyboard. Design-wise, the console fits neatly in the palms of your hands and all the game controllers are responsive and ergonomically placed on each side. On the display side, the IPS screen impresses with its brightness and excellent touch capabilities. Port selection offers future-proof connectors like USB4 and OCuLink plus a fast microSD card reader. AMD’s Ryzen 7 8840U CPU side might not scale too well with the 30 TDP W limit, but at least the Radeon 780M iGPU delivers decent performance. Additionally, the AYASpace 2.0 control software allows for great configurability.
As always, there are some downsides too. The first one was previously hinted at with the CPU scaling that leads to lower than average system performance, despite the relatively fast 32 DDR5X-6400 RAM and 2 TB NVMe SSD. As such, the console power efficiency is also lacking as power draw almost matches that of faster competitors. The keyboard is not really usable only with the thumbs and its left side becomes quite warm during prolonged gaming sessions that require close to full load. Even though the cooling system comes with a vapor chamber, the fan is considerably noisier than the competition in full load, but at least the fan curve can be adjusted. Last but not least, the 45 Wh battery proves to be incapable of providing a prolonged gaming experience.
Pros
Cons
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Price and availability
This unit was provided by Ayaneo as an early production sample and might not reflect the exact performance of the mass-produced models. The reviewed configuration is not currently available for order from the official Ayaneo store. Suggested price for this configuration is 1020 EUR or 1080 USD.
Potential Competitors in Comparison
Image | Model / Review | Price | Display | Weight | Dimensions |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ayaneo Flip KB AMD Ryzen 7 8840U ⎘ AMD Radeon 780M ⎘ 32 GB Memory, 2048 GB SSD | Amazon: 1. $12.99 Vaxson 4-Pack Screen Protect... 2. $16.89 PowerHOOD AC USB-C Power Ada... 3. $14.99 [2 Pack] Synvy Anti Blue Lig... List Price: 1020€ | 7.00" 1920x1080 368 PPI IPS | 650 g | 108 x 180 x 37.5 mm | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" AMD Ryzen 7 8840U ⎘ AMD Radeon 780M ⎘ 32 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | Amazon: $1,299.99 List Price: 1000 USD | 7.00" 1920x1080 315 PPI IPS | 526 g | 109 x 168 x 26 mm | |
Ayaneo Kun AMD Ryzen 7 7840U ⎘ AMD Radeon 780M ⎘ 64 GB Memory, SSD | Amazon: 1. $659.99 Zestioe AYANEO Air Plus (AMD... 2. $19.95 BoxWave Screen Protector Com... 3. $19.95 BoxWave Screen Protector Com... List Price: 999€ | 8.40" 2560x1600 359 PPI IPS | 942 g | 140 x 325 x 22 mm | |
Asus ROG Ally X AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme ⎘ AMD Radeon 780M ⎘ 24 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | Amazon: $529.99 List Price: 899€ | 7.00" 1920x1080 315 PPI IPS | 685 g | 111 x 280 x 36.9 mm | |
MSI Claw Intel Core Ultra 7 155H ⎘ Intel Arc 8-Core iGPU ⎘ 16 GB Memory, 1024 GB SSD | Amazon: $580.98 List Price: 849€ | 7.00" 1920x1080 315 PPI IPS | 672 g | 117 x 294 x 33 mm |
Ayaneo has already launched quite a few models before the Flip, mostly resembling the Steam Deck design. With Flip KB / DS, Ayaneo is exploring the popular DS clamshell design introduced two decades ago by Nintendo. The DS variant comes with dual touchscreen displays, while the KB model replaces the lower screen with a mini keyboard. Both come with the usual suite of game controllers and an ergonomic shape that fits comfortably into the palm of your hands.
Besides the 30 W AMD Ryzen 7 8840U APU complimented by 32 GB of LPDDR5X-6400 RAM and 2 TB WD NVMe SSD, some of the highlights for the Flip KB model from Ayaneo include a very bright 7-inch IPS touchscreen with 120 Hz refresh and almost full sRGB color gamut, adjustable angles for the display, responsive game controllers with Hall sensors, and RGB mini keyboard, vapor chamber cooling system and port selection with USB4 and OCuLink connectors.
Specifications
Case and Connectivity: ergonomic design and fast ports
The case is entirely made of solid plastic, yet the weight is relatively lower than all the Steam Deck inspired models we have tested thus far due to the elegant clamshell design that allows the screen to open up at various adjustable angles. One notable feature is the replaceable ergonomic grips. Ayaneo offers anti-slip “Star Diamond” grips by default, but included in the package we also found anti-fingerprint “Galaxy” grips.
Port selection includes a full-feature USB4 connector that is also used for charging and so the console does not allow for charging and displaying to an external monitor at the same time on its own (Ayaneo has a separate dock for this). There is also a USB-C 3.2 gen 2 for data only transfers, as well as an OCuLink connector for specialized eGPUs and a fast microSD card reader plus an audio jack.
Connectivity
SD Card Reader | |
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (20.9 - 184, n=9, last 2 years) | |
Asus ROG Ally X (Angelbird AV Pro v60) | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) | |
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
Asus ROG Ally X (Angelbird AV Pro v60) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (84.6 - 260, n=8, last 2 years) | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" (AV Pro SD microSD 128 GB V60) |
Networking | |
iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" |
Input Devices
This model comes with the usual game controllers and also includes an optical finger mouse, a mini keyboard with F keys on top but without numpad and touchscreen functionality. While the d-pad, joysticks, trigger and shoulder buttons and the AYASpace interface shortcut buttons are ergonomic and can be accessed easily with average-sized hands, the small keyboard is rather hard to interact with while holding the console. A proper typing experience or more complex shortcut key combos actually require the user to lay the console down on a flat surface. Additionally, the optical finger mouse may prove glitchy especially for persons with larger thumbs. For the usual Windows tasks, the mouse functionality can be easily replaced with the responsive touchscreen.
Display: extra bright 1080p IPS touchscreen
Since this is a pre-production unit, the resolution on the display was locked at 1080p so all tests were run at his resolution. However, this is the only issue with the display we found and Ayaneo promised to fix the problem with an update. Otherwise, this touchscreen comes with one of the brightest IPS panels we have tested on a handheld console, averaging 720 nits.
The black level is slightly raised compared to the competition, but the higher contrast helps offset this inconvenience. Backlight uniformity shows some bleeding along the left and right sides and lower corners. sRGb color reproduction is close to the maximum advertised and we managed to bring down the deltaE error under 2 with a proper calibration.
For indoor use, the glossy finish is great, yet it is not recommended for outdoor use because of pronounced glare. Viewing angles are good as well. We did not detect any PWM or flickering, and the BtW response of online 2 ms is quite impressive for this type of screen. Still, the GtG response is not that great for fast-paced shooting games.
|
Brightness Distribution: 86 %
Center on Battery: 732 cd/m²
Contrast: 1512:1 (Black: 0.49 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.46 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.9, calibrated: 1.94
ΔE Greyscale 4 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
69.57% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
96.63% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
69.47% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.533
Ayaneo Flip KB 1920x1080, 7" | GPD Win Mini 2024 7" TL070FVSX01-0, , 1920x1080, 7" | Ayaneo Kun Ayaneo 2K, , 2560x1600, 8.4" | Asus ROG Ally X TL070FVXS01-0, , 1920x1080, 7" | MSI Claw TL070FVXS02-0, , 1920x1080, 7" | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | -5% | 23% | -3% | -2% | |
Display P3 Coverage | 69.47 | 64.8 -7% | 93.52 35% | 66.2 -5% | 67 -4% |
sRGB Coverage | 96.63 | 93.3 -3% | 99.4 3% | 93.4 -3% | 94.4 -2% |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 69.57 | 67 -4% | 91.2 31% | 68.5 -2% | 69.4 0% |
Response Times | -82% | -371% | -69% | -90% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 18.4 ? | 8.9 ? 52% | 24.2 ? -32% | 9.7 ? 47% | 9.2 ? 50% |
Response Time Black / White * | 2 ? | 6.3 ? -215% | 16.2 ? -710% | 5.7 ? -185% | 6.6 ? -230% |
PWM Frequency | 20000 | ||||
Screen | -1% | -12% | 0% | 6% | |
Brightness middle | 741 | 493 -33% | 680 -8% | 484 -35% | 477 -36% |
Brightness | 720 | 470 -35% | 678 -6% | 456 -37% | 461 -36% |
Brightness Distribution | 86 | 86 0% | 91 6% | 88 2% | 88 2% |
Black Level * | 0.49 | 0.47 4% | 0.5 -2% | 0.35 29% | 0.32 35% |
Contrast | 1512 | 1049 -31% | 1360 -10% | 1383 -9% | 1491 -1% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 4.46 | 2.36 47% | 4 10% | 2.9 35% | 2.6 42% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 7.23 | 6.36 12% | 9 -24% | 7.1 2% | 5.8 20% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 1.94 | 1.3 33% | 1 48% | 1.4 28% | 1.5 23% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 4 | 4.4 -10% | 9 -125% | 4.5 -13% | 3.9 2% |
Gamma | 2.533 87% | 2.28 96% | 2 110% | 2.24 98% | 2.17 101% |
CCT | 6330 103% | 7142 91% | 7188 90% | 7534 86% | 7250 90% |
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -29% /
-14% | -120% /
-56% | -24% /
-10% | -29% /
-10% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 1 ms rise | |
↘ 1 ms fall | ||
The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 7 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
18.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 5 ms rise | |
↘ 13.4 ms fall | ||
The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 29 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (32.8 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM not detected | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8684 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. |
Performance: slower than average CPU, but decent iGPU
Testing Conditions
All the performance results were recorded with the Extreme profile enabled (unless otherwise stated), which sets FPS to unlimited, fans to auto and APU TDP to 30 W. The power plans are easily configurable through the AYASpace 2.0 pop-up UI accessible through a special button under the right side joystick. Many other settings can be configured on the fly, like the fan curves, game controllers, game launcher, app launcher etc.
Processor
The Flip KB is powered by the Ryzen 7 8840U APU, which can be configured to run between 3 W and 30 W TDP. It comes with 8 Ryzen 4 Cores and 16 threads that can boost to a maximum of 5.1 GHz. The APU is complemented by 32 GB of LPDDR5-6400 RAM. In our synthetic CPU tests, the Flip KB does not appear to be tuned for non-gaming tasks, as it generally places last or second to last. The R7 8840U implementations we have tested so far seem to be slower than the older 7840U, which is not limited to 30 W. On a positive note, the Cinebench R15 Multi Loop shows that the performance actually increases half-way.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R15: CPU Single 64Bit | CPU Multi 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 -mmt1 | 7z b 4
Geekbench 5.5: Single-Core | Multi-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core) | |
MSI Claw | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (427 - 680, n=4) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (357 - 684, n=9, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB |
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
MSI Claw | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (3987 - 5336, n=4) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (1521 - 5917, n=9, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" |
Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
MSI Claw | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (176.6 - 268, n=8, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (176.6 - 275, n=4) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB |
Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (1539 - 2453, n=4) | |
MSI Claw | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (689 - 2439, n=9, last 2 years) | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" |
Blender / v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (239 - 315, n=4) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (208 - 315, n=7, last 2 years) | |
MSI Claw | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Ayaneo Kun |
7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 -mmt1 | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (4168 - 6469, n=4) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
MSI Claw | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (3653 - 6077, n=8, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB |
7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (47579 - 59549, n=4) | |
MSI Claw | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (19684 - 64454, n=9, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" |
Geekbench 5.5 / Single-Core | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
MSI Claw | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (1278 - 1937, n=4) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (1278 - 1917, n=10, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Flip KB |
Geekbench 5.5 / Multi-Core | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
MSI Claw | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (8205 - 11296, n=4) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (4457 - 10713, n=10, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" |
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (12.5 - 18.7, n=8, last 2 years) | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (12.5 - 16.5, n=4) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
MSI Claw | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" |
LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (49 - 63.8, n=4) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (46.2 - 63.8, n=8, last 2 years) | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
MSI Claw |
R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U (0.4514 - 0.678, n=4) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (0.4601 - 0.678, n=9, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
MSI Claw | |
Asus ROG Ally X |
* ... smaller is better
System Performance
Similar to the APU synthetic tests, the system tests performed with PCMark 10 show that the Flip KB is not particularly tuned for general tasks.
PCMark 10 / Score | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U, AMD Radeon 780M (5940 - 7098, n=4) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (5866 - 7149, n=9, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB |
PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U, AMD Radeon 780M (9541 - 10664, n=4) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (9068 - 10633, n=9, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
Ayaneo Kun |
PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U, AMD Radeon 780M (7522 - 10386, n=4) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (7323 - 9912, n=9, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Flip KB |
PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (7204 - 9408, n=9, last 2 years) | |
Average AMD Ryzen 7 8840U, AMD Radeon 780M (7690 - 8762, n=4) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" |
PCMark 10 Score | 5940 points | |
Help |
DPC Latency
DPC latency is somewhat high and LatencyMon suggests that real time audio is handled with difficulty. However, the latency is in line with that of a ROG Ally X equipped with a Z1 Extreme APU, but seems to be more than double over the Ryzen 7 7840U on the Ayaneo Kun.
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Ayaneo Kun |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
Based on the AS SSD and DiskSpd results, the WD PC SN740 SSD on the Flip KB console places second among the compared models. The throttling test shows oscillating performance on the Flip KB, yet the average speed still comes in second place.
Drive Performance Rating - Percent | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average WD PC SN740 SDDPNQE-2T00 | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
MSI Claw | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance
The Ryzen 7 8840U integrates a Radeon 780M GPU. Synthetic tests place the Flip KB second to last, but the situation is different in actual game scenarios.
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Average AMD Radeon 780M (7868 - 14249, n=57) | |
MSI Claw | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (10150 - 13828, n=8, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
GPD Win Mini 2024 7" |
3DMark 11 Performance | 10973 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 6591 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 2832 points | |
Help |
Gaming Performance
The Flip KB manages to beat the GPD model in most games, and sometimes it even beats the MSI Claw with its Arc 8-core iGPU in more demanding games like Cyberpunk and Baldur's Gate 3. Unfortunately, FSR and frame generation did not work well on the Flip KB because the early production unit had the screen resolution locked to 1080p. Ayaneo will unlock the resolution on mass-produced models. More demanding games do not hit 30 fps on ultra settings, but with FSR and FG enabled, these should see a decent boost with fps in the 30s. Older games like GTA V or Strange Brigade almost hit 60 fps on high settings.
When it comes to the influence of power profiles on the GPU performance, Balanced running at 15 W sees a ~33% decrease in performance compared to Extreme 30 W, while the Power Saver running at only 5 W sees a ~66% drop. There are no differences in performance when entering battery mode compared to powered mode.
Power Plan | Cyberpunk PL FHD Ultra | Furmark 1.32 |
Extreme (30 W) | 21.5 fps | 28 fps |
Balanced (15 W) | 14.24 fps | 21 fps |
Power Saver (5 W) | 7.12 fps | 8 fps |
GTA V | |
1920x1080 Lowest Settings possible | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Average AMD Radeon 780M (60.9 - 130.2, n=34) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (72.9 - 121, n=7, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
1920x1080 Normal/Off AF:4x | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Average AMD Radeon 780M (64.9 - 133.5, n=33) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (77.1 - 120.9, n=6, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
1920x1080 High/On (Advanced Graphics Off) AA:2xMSAA + FX AF:8x | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Ayaneo Kun | |
Asus ROG Ally X | |
Average AMD Radeon 780M (32.5 - 68.6, n=52) | |
Average of class Handheld / UMPC (39.6 - 68.4, n=11, last 2 years) | |
Ayaneo Flip KB | |
MSI Claw | |
1920x1080 Highest Settings possible AA:4xMSAA + FX AF:16x | |
Asus ROG Ally X |