5+ great smartphones to get for emulation

Scores of people use their smartphones for emulation, allowing them to play the classics of yore (you’ll want to own them, of course).

But if you’re in the market for an upgrade and emulation is your thing, which phone should you get? We pick a few…

Nokia 8

We’re putting the finishing touches on your Nokia 8 review, but we can already say that the HMD flagship is the cheapest Snapdragon 835-toting phone on the market, at just under R10 000. For your cash, you’re getting the chip, 4GB of RAM and a 2560×1440 LCD screen.

The Snapdragon 835 is the best smartphone silicon you can get for emulation right now, besting Samsung’s Exynos 8895 chip by virtue of better driver support. At least according to the Dolphin team.

Toss in 64GB of expandable storage and you’ve got plenty of space for huge ROMs/ISOs. Again, make sure you own these titles. The Nokia 8’s biggest disadvantage though? Well, the camera experience is a definite step down from Samsung, Apple and Sony’s best.

Get this if: You want the most powerful specs on the market at an unbeatable price. If an emulator doesn’t run well on here (even with a few tweaks), chances are good that it won’t run great on any other smartphone.

Sony Xperia XZ Premium

Sony’s high-end phone (review) packs plenty of tech into its frame, in the form of a 5.5-inch 4K HDR screen, beefy Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB of RAM.

In a cool touch, the XZ Premium also packs support for PlayStation controllers. And if you’d rather play current-gen titles, the device supports Remote Play streaming from your PS4.

The only real downside to the handset is that it had a ludicrous price at launch. But as of writing, it can be bought on Takealot for roughly R12 000.

Get this if: You want top-flight specs and the ability to stream PS4 games to your phone. The XZ Premium, along with the Nokia 8, will run the Dolphin emulator better than other phones out there. Expect slowdown in this emulator anyway, but not as much as on other phones.

Huawei Mate 9

Yes, the Mate 10 is set for a global reveal later this month, but the older Huawei phablet still stands out as a capable emulation station.

The Kirin 960 processor is pretty competitive with the Snapdragon 835, although Qualcomm’s chip has the support advantage on paper. Otherwise, we’ve got 4GB of RAM, a spacious 5.9-inch full HD screen, 64GB of expandable storage (enough for loads of games) and a large battery.

Get this if: You want a phone that delivers better battery life than the previous two options. Expect to trade a little performance for endurance though.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3/4

Can’t afford a high-end smartphone for emulation but still want some grunt? Then you should consider the Redmi Note 3 or Note 4.

It’s worth saying that the Note 3 is generally considered to be the more powerful phone, owing to the addition of two powerful cores (in addition to four low-power cores). Meanwhile, the Note 4 packs a Snapdragon 625 chip (eight low-power cores), trading some oomph for sustained performance and longer endurance.

Either way, you’re getting a phone with a 5.5-inch full HD screen, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage for around R3300. And best of all, you’re also getting a 4000/4100mAh battery.

Get this if: You don’t have much cash but want good (not great) performance and long battery life. Don’t expect the Dolphin emulator to run smoothly, but PSP fare should run at a decent clip, depending on the title.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A/Nokia 3

Is the Redmi Note range still too expensive for you? Then there aren’t many other options out there, but the Redmi 4A will certainly fill the gap.

It’s not powerful at all, featuring a quad-core Snapdragon 425 processor, 2GB of RAM, 3120mAh battery and a 5-inch 720p display. Toss in 16GB of expandable storage and you should be able to squeeze plenty of older games onto the device. Get a microSD card for PS1 titles though.

The Nokia 3 also makes a great impact at the R2000 mark, swapping out the quad-core Snapdragon chip for a similar MediaTek processor (MT6737). Other notable differences include a smaller battery (2630mAh), lower resolution main camera, higher resolution selfie shooter and pure Android (Nougat).

Get this if: You only have R2000 to spare. Expect games from the PS1 and N64 era to run smoothly, but anything beyond that isn’t guaranteed.

Featured image: Ray Dehler via Flickr