Trimui Brick Review: Portability Meets Modern Design

The TRIMUI Brick is an upgraded version of the TRIMUI Smart Pro. Although the initial launch of the TRIMUI Smart Pro encountered some setbacks, through continuous updates and firmware improvements, the TRIMUI Smart has gradually become a very competitive product.

Now, Trimui Brick is designed to be smaller and more vertical, meeting the needs of more users who love retro handheld game consoles.

1. About the design and function of Trimui Brick

The Trimui Brick has captured attention with its compact design and modern elements. While it shares many similarities with the Miyoo Mini Plus, it also incorporates innovative features. For example, the back of the Brick features RGB ambient lighting, allowing users to enjoy a vibrant visual experience while gaming.

Additionally, the translucent start/select button on the device showcases a unique LED color, enhancing the overall design.

The Trimui Brick feels great in the hand, not only in its small size, but also in its texture. The metal plate on the back also enhances the overall texture of the machine. The gaming screen has a resolution of 400 PPI, and the game screen is very clear.

2. Trimui Brick’s hardware configuration is also eye-catching

• Display: 3.2-inch IPS display, 1024 x 768 resolution.
• Processor: 1.8GHz Allwinner A133P (A133 Plus) CPU.
• GPU: Imagination PowerVR GE8300, 660MHz.
• Memory: 1GB LPDDR4x RAM.
• Wireless: WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1.
• Battery: 3000mAh, USB-C charging.
• Design: Removable back panel, shoulder buttons.
• Headphone port: 3.5mm headphone jack.
• Weight: 5.3 oz.

Seeing the quad-core A53, you should know that the upper limit of this machine is actually not high. At most, it can only play some PSP games. I personally chose it mainly because of its vertical format + lightweight + reportedly good system, + high-resolution IPS LCD screen.

It is not easy to run benchmark tests under Linux, and many users have tested the gaming performance, so I will not dwell on the performance here. I will briefly talk about the experience of the machine itself later.

3. Unboxing and Appearance

The outer packaging box looks of good quality. The appearance of the machine is a typical vertical small machine. The top front provides a cross key + dual function keys (F1/F2) + ABXY, and the bottom is the menu key and double S keys. The dual function keys have an LED light function.

I think darker colors look better with the lighting.

The machine is exquisitely crafted and looks great. The top, back key, and front all have light strips, especially with full RGB lighting. Of course, the brightness of the lights is adjustable, so you can turn them off if you don’t like light pollution.

There are the letters and LOGO of TRIMUI BRICK in the lower left corner of the screen, and the TRIMUI LOGO is also in the center of the cross key. Speaker openings are placed in the lower left and lower right, respectively.

The cross key and ABXY buttons are generally hard, and pressing them too often makes your hands tired, making them unsuitable for long-term play. However, it’s not a big deal if you play occasionally.

On the left side of the machine are the volume up and down buttons

On the right side of the machine is the power button and the push-type Fn function key.

The top of the device also has an LED light, and the back houses the L1/L2/USB OTG/R2/R1 buttons. The back of the screen is a metal casing for heat dissipation, with the TRIMUI BRICK logo and the TRIMUI logo in the center.

The LR keys on this vertical machine are difficult to use well. The reason is very simple: there are too many restrictions on position and size. For example, in the picture below, you can see that half of your fingers are outside when pressing the keys. You definitely don’t want to use the LR keys frequently with this kind of pressing feel.

At the bottom are the TF card slot, RESET button, USB Type-C charging port, microphone and 3.5mm headphone jack.

The actual measured weight of the whole machine is 5.7 oz. It is indeed a very light machine and there is no problem holding it in one hand.

The machine also comes with two sets of interchangeable LR keycaps, which adds to its playability. Combined with the built-in LED lights, I imagine people will be interested in DIY 3D-printed or transparent keycaps in the future.

To be honest, the Trimui Brick has quite a bit of detail. While it might seem a bit pricey, the details are still quite exquisite.

4. Screen test has surprises

In terms of the screen, TRIMUI BRICK uses a 3.2-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1024×768. The screen fineness is not much different from the current mainstream 1080P/1200P/1440P mobile phones. The viewing angle is also very good, and there is no obvious color cast in the up, down, left, and right viewing angles.

The color gamut is measured to cover 100% of the sRGB color gamut, 86% of the P3 color gamut, and 84% of the AdobeRGB color gamut, which puts it halfway into the ranks of wide color gamut screens.

The system offers 10 levels of brightness adjustment. At maximum brightness, the screen achieved 461.7 nits of brightness and a 1550:1 contrast ratio, making it a truly high-brightness and high-contrast IPS display.

At minimum brightness, the screen reached 66.6 nits. Lowering this setting would make it more suitable for evening gaming.

5. The game system is relatively smooth

TRIMUI BRICK’s system has always been a proud advantage of TRIMUI. Whether it is ease of use or stability, it is the leader among the current nostalgic handheld game consoles. This time, TRIMUI BRICK has added a category navigation based on the original. You can switch by pressing B in the system interface.

The highly acclaimed custom FN button has been enhanced. In addition to its original functions, you can now assign functions such as “swap cross key and joystick,” “CPU frequency change,” “screen brightness switch,” and “LED ambient light on/off” to the two newly added shortcut keys, which is very convenient.

However, the system currently seems to have some bugs, and clicking the left button causes unusual behavior. We’re waiting for a fix.

The system also integrates WiliWili, an e-book reader, streaming tools, and a card reader mode. Videos are quite clear on this small screen, and I even played Gundam ORIGIN I smoothly without any lag.

However, the sound quality is far inferior to that of a phone. There’s a noticeable difference in the timbre of videos played. I’m not sure if this is a problem with the device or the WiliWili software.

6. Built-in moonlight streaming tool

The F1/F2/FN keys are customizable, and their functionality is fairly comprehensive. However, the interface is a bit unintuitive. For example, the CPU frequency can only be determined by the color of the indicator light. There’s no official tutorial or manual, leaving players to figure out how to use the system.

After downloading the 256GB mod pack, most games worked fine. However, the old Smart Pro issue persisted: the built-in ports version is too low, limiting the games it supports.

The third-party Crossmix system’s built-in ports are, however, a newer version of Portsmaster that can be updated normally. Hopefully, the official system will update the ports to the latest version soon.