ANBERNIC’s PS Vita-inspired handheld finally gets Play Store support

“Imitation is the best form of flattery.” While the original proverb by Charles Caleb Colton says “sincerest” instead of “best,” it conveys the same meaning. That’s the same ethos handheld maker ANBERNIC seemed to have relied upon when it recently released a new “Pro” device inspired by the iconic PS Vita. RG Vita Pro, the said imitation of the portable PlayStation, comes with two operating systems: Linux and Android, and the interface based on the latter is now getting an update.

ANBERNIC recently announced a new Android update for the RG Vita Pro through a YouTube video (via Retro Handhelds), detailing changes coming to the device. One of the biggest improvements coming to the handheld is support for the Google Play Store, which we only realized after the announcements was missing at launch.

A reason for the lack of the Google Play Store going unnoticed on the RG Vita Pro is the lack of ample PS Vita emulation tools, as opposed to wider support for PSP emulation. Until recently, Vita3K was probably the only suitable Vita emulator for Android, though a more recently released EmuCoreV could be another lucrative choice.

Neither of these choices is available via the Play Store, so it’s not helpful in that case. However, you can download and use other apps, such as YouTube, for times when you’re not gaming, as shown in the brand’s video.

Along with the addition of the Google Play Store, RG Vita Pro’s version 1.14 brings system improvements and bug fixes, but doesn’t specify which ones.