It occurs to me that it has been nearly a week since I wrote anything, and this shall not stand. Unfortunately, I also have a splitting headache, so my creativity is simmering on low at the moment. Fortunately, I have plenty of old material to exploit refresh and revive.
Below is featured my original review of the Trimui Brick Hammer, as posted on Dreamwidth on 1/31/2026. It is a sad thing, full of regret and longing. I have since changed my tack on using the lovely little machine, and have attached an addendum. My original feelings still stand, but my new perspective means I can justify keeping the Brick Hammer, even if its value is somewhat… limited.
01/31/2026
Fellow game dweebs, I have a startling confession to make...
I think I regret buying my Trimui Brick Hammer.
Since 2024, I've been hip deep in a new obsession with retro emulation handhelds. I don't remember how or why (probably the fickle but all-knowing YubTub algo), but I ended up on the channel "Retro Game Corps". Featuring a charmingly affable man named Russ, it goes way too deep into the topic of these little gaming doodads, and friends, I am hooked. I was already into emulation via Raspberry Pi single-board computers, so it was an easy trip to the handheld side, especially with how sophisticated they have gotten just over the past couple years.
Since 2024, I have bought (in chronological order):
An Anbernic RG35XX H,
An AYN Odin 2,
An Anbernic RG35XX SP,
An Anbernic RG40XX V,
A Steam Deck,
An Anbernic RG40XX H (theoretically for my friend for Xmas, but I still haven't had a chance to give it to him yet, lol)
And most recently, a Trimui Brick Hammer. It is an exquisite little device, with the same feeling of sleekness and quality as an Apple product. It has a high resolution screen, lovely controls, a sleek machined metal shell, and most importantly, the solid build quality of, well, a brick. As an object of my affection, it is virtually in a class of its own.
But I've been playing on it off and on for the last couple weeks since it arrived, and well... it's too small.
The first thing I noticed when I unpacked it was that the high resolution screen is only 3.2 inches on the diagonal. I thought, when ordering, that this wouldn't be an issue, since the 3.5in screens on two of my Anbernic devices are fine. How much difference could 3/10ths of an inch make? Apparently quite a lot. It is a lovely screen, but my eyes ain't what they used to be, and it's a bit "squinty", as Russ would say. I think I could get used to this, however, and the small size and durability make it great for stashing in a pocket at the DMV or whatever to get a few rounds of Tetris in while waiting in line or getting an oil change.
No the biggest problem is my fists of ham. My meat hooks. My big old... mitts. Whatever. My hands, I'm talking about my hands.
I don't even think they're that big, tbh, but they're the only ones I've ever had, so what would I know? But playing on this thing is kinda... not fun. There isn't room on the beautifully machined aluminum shell for my clumsy stupid paws. I can only play for about 20-30 mins before my hands start to hurt.
Folks, I am devastated. I want to love this thing... in fact, I do love it. But I can't really use it. Not like this. Alas.
Maybe I'm overthinking this... I probably would only have maybe 20 mins to play it in line at Disneyland under most circumstances. Maybe that's fine. Or maybe I could make it a dedicated turn-based RPG doodad, where precision controls aren't necessary and maybe I could play it one-handed.
Or maybe I can just love it as an aesthetic object. The money's already spent, so it's a sunk cost regardless. And it really is a lovely little thing.
I dunno, I guess I'm just shouting at the void, as usual. Does this count as a review? I guess it kinda does.
Aesthetics: 10/10 stunningly beautiful and classy device for playing Pokemon
Build Quality: 12/10 I do believe you could probably kill someone with this thing, or at least grievously injure them. And it would still turn on.
Firmware: 7/10 I installed Pak UI, and it has some really fun, creative features that you don't normally see. The scraper is pretty "meh" though. And I did experience what some users are calling the "Brick Coma", where it seems to shut down or go to sleep, but actually doesn't, and just keeps draining the battery at breakneck speed while you are mostly powerless to stop it, even if you notice it happening.
Portability: 10/10 again! It fits right in the pocket of my skinny jeans (okay, I don't really wear skinny jeans), and the build quality means I'm not afraid to carry it anywhere. Except in a swimming pool, I suppose.
Fun factor: 3/10 this one hurts. Literally. I mean it is literally painful to use for extended periods. I advise anyone considering one to actually map out the size or mock up a little faux doodad to see how it would actually fit in your hands. I wish I had done that.
Anybody wanna buy a Brick? Cause I might be selling one. It'll break my heart to do it, though. Although Trimui does have that Brick Pro coming out sometime this year. Maybe I could sell this to help finance that one? Something to think about.
(Shout oot to my fellow dweebs on the TechDweeb Discord server. If you're here reading this, I appreciate you!)
Update, 05/02/2026
Alright, so that was a bit dire, wasn’t it?
You will probably not be all that surprised to learn that I did not sell my Brick Hammer. Given that the money to buy it was already long spent, I didn’t feel an urgent need to get rid of it. Plus, it doesn’t exactly take up a lot of space, haha.
After hemming and hawing for a while, I decided to go with one of the strategies outlined above, namely, the “One-Handed Turn-Based RPG Machine” strategy, or the “OHTBRM” technique. (The name needs a little work.) I deleted everything off of it except turn-based JRPGs and resolved to use it as a pocket adventure doodad. An upcoming trip to Disneyland with the missus was a perfect opportunity to test it out. This is the story of how that went.
First of all, what game would I play while on the plane/standing in line? My first instinct was something from the SNES era, and after soliciting suggestions from my fellow dweebs, I ignored all of them and went with Breath of Fire.
This pic is a good demonstration of my technique… support the (not inconsiderable) weight of the Hammer with my pinky finger, ring and middle fingers across the back, leaving index finger free for shoulder buttons (which I did not end up needing), and thumb to manipulate face buttons and d-pad.
The improvement patch I added to my ROM had a dash feature (this game would be nigh intolerable without it), but it required pressing the B button at the same time as using the d-pad. My left thumb served the d-pad purpose without much trouble when necessary, so that’s my grip solved. Not needing to cram both of my meat hooks onto the small surface area of the Hammer was a huge improvement.
My experience with the firmware and the game, however… that was less so.
There are a lot of things to like about PakUI. It’s simple, uncluttered, and essential. Built upon a fork of MinUI, it has a number of little tools called Paks that you can install on top of the basic interface to improve your experience.
My favorite Pak is a little Tamagotchi-ish motherfucker named BitPal. Your little pal will offer you missions in order to earn experience and level him up. These include tasks like “Play a Turbografx-16 game for 12 minutes” or “Replay Super Mario World”. I like this, it takes pressure off of me to narrow down my preposterous gamelist to the game I want to play, and even gamifies gaming, for those who need games in their games.
Here’s what PakUI does not let you do: Pick specific shaders/overlays, stack save states, use cheats, or sometimes, play your doodad. I mentioned “Brick coma” in my previous review. What I didn’t mention was how incredibly frustrating it is to try to turn the goddamn thing off while in said coma. The very first time I tried to use the sleep function, bam coma. I had to hold the power button for a full minute to cycle the Hammer so it wouldn’t die on me in 30 minutes. Not having the sleep function work properly is almost a nonstarter for pocket gaming at Disneyland. I was so pissed I nearly flung the Hammer against the nearest wall. I refrained, because I didn’t want Disney to sue me for destruction of (their) property. The Hammer is sturdy.
I think I’m going to reflash a new OS to it. Knulli, maybe. I have some experience with that one, and I like it well enough. But it does not have BitPal. Which makes me a little sad.
At least I could then use cheats, which, honestly, Breath of Fire pretty much needs. It is a true old-school grind, with an absurdly high random encounter rate, and pretty bad pathfinding. The game does not really help you figure out what the hell you’re supposed to do, and solving puzzles is pretty unintuitive. There’s a lot of “1990s Lucasfilm adventure game” style puzzle solutions, is what I’m saying. If you know, you know.
I’m not going to do a full review here, stay tuned for that in six months or a year or whatever. But I don’t think my four days stumbling around in the dark (sometimes literally) is worth progressing with this playthrough. I’m gonna flash Knulli, start Breath of Fire over with some Quality of Life cheats and a walkthrough, and call it good. Or maybe I won’t. It doesn’t matter. Nobody’s gonna hold my feet to the fire for that one.
I came here to say that after my trip, I was kinda falling out of love with the Brick Hammer, but I actually don’t think that’s true. My ergonomic situation has been resolved to my satisfaction, and I think trying a new OS will solve my coma problem. All of this to say that I have figured out a way to use this pretty little thing without too much pain, and I’ll be keeping it after all.
Or maybe I’ll just buy a display stand and put it on a shelf somewhere, where I can admire its beauty without having to actually use it.
Jury’s still out.
Afterword
I started this repost as a way of generating content without too much effort, due to my head trying to explode. It ended being more work than I anticipated, but also seems to have taken my mind off my headache long enough for the drugs to kick in, so mission accomplished! Thanks for reading, see y’all next week.