This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/sbcgaming by /u/spider2MW on 2024-07-04 16:48:49+00:00.

Many of us want or already have a second / portable / daily / lunch break / handbag device, call it what you want. These devices are often small and portable, so the screen size and and especially the aspect ratio is more important here.

Lately I have been asking myself - which screen in the range up to 5 inches is the best for me? Which emulated system fits the screen better or worse? How big is my 4:3 content on a 16:9 screen? What real screen size can I use on the new fancy 1:1 devices? Is there even a perfect compromise in screen size to get the most out of a small screen on any emulated system?

In this case, our main machine is a 6" Odin 2, a 7/7.4" Steam Deck or something similar - a powerful Android or x86 machine that can play just about anything - and your are looking for your perfect second device. Pocketability is more important than performance. You want to play retro systems on it, maybe stick to Linux, or get the most out of your OEM device. But of course you have many different options to choose from, with very different levels of performance.

Here is a Google spreadsheet with an overview of the most popular 3.5-inch to 5-inch screens. We look at the height and width of the screen and put each common aspect ratio from our emulated systems on our screen to see the actual screen size we are using. For example:

• 4-inch 4:3 screen displays GBA (3:2 aspect ratio) at 3.8 inches
• 5-inch 16:9 screen displays 4:3 content at only 4.1 inches

Handheld Console Screen Size Comparison

Very helpful for all the data are these websites:

• (to compare handhelds image by image)
• Handhelds - (to compare all handhelds in general with all specifications)

A few notes on this comparison

• Integer scaling is not a thing here. We always use the full screen size and the original aspect ratio of each system
• We are look at screen size and aspect ratio. Screen quality and resolution are not our main focus here
• Not all screen sizes are available on many devices. For some screen sizes we have several devices to choose from, for some screen sizes we have a few or even only one device
• Of course, there is more to choosing our perfect pocketable device than just screen size and aspect ratio, but these niche aspects in between are often overlooked. So here we take a deep dive into screen size first, and then look at all the other specs

Some of my conclusions from this are as follow:

• A 4-inch 4:3 screen is the most compact and bezel-less experience you can get for a decent overall screen size. Most systems use 10:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios, and within those systems no other display is noticeably larger, at most by 0.2 inches for both aspect ratios
• A 3:2 screen is an almost perfect fit for any system, as it provides a perfect balance between all the aspect ratios we want to display (and even the perfect GBA display). Unfortunately, the KT R1’s screen is the only one currently at a usable size (4.5 inches)
• A 16:9 screen under 5 inches is very small for the most systems you can play on it, even smaller at 4:3 content than our 4 inch 4:3 screen. But it is a perfect PSP display and size on the other hand
• The 5:3 aspect ratio is also a good compromise between all systems and at 4.88 inches in the (New) 3DS is our winner here, but also the only device under 5 inches with this screen. So the systems we can play on here are limited
• A 5-inch screen, even at 16:9, shows all our systems big enough, but we are on the edge of pocketability at this point. On the other hand, horizontal DS/3DS gaming and streaming become more useful at this screen size

And two more notes:

• A 1:1 aspect ratio is always wasted space on our screens, but people love them anyway
• We need more 3:2 displays, please give us more 3:2 devices!!!

So all in all that’s it, please let me know what you think. What is your favourite pocketable device up to 5 inches? Hope you enjoyed! :-)