Evan Blass
There are many Nintendo Switch style, Android powered gaming handhelds out there, mostly available for import on eBay or AliExpress. Some, like the AYN Odin, are fairly well regarded. Others, like the Retroid Pocket 2+, are less good, but they’re so cheap that they’re still worth buying for people who want a portable console for old-school game console emulators. But it’s rare that any of them are backed by a big company, reliable hardware and warranty support, or a clear software update policy (except for occasional Android version updates or support for alternative Android distributions).
That’s why the rumors of a Switch-like, Android-based portable from Logitech caught our attention. Original teased by prolific leaker Evan Blass (and kept by The Verge after a DMCA takedown), the handheld is definitely reminiscent of a Switch Lite. It has four face buttons (Xbox-style arranged with the “A” on the bottom and “B” on the right, rather than Nintendo-style with these buttons reversed), left and right shoulder buttons and triggers, asymmetrical dual joysticks, a D-pad and four other face buttons for various system functions. But the device appears to be running a modified version of Android with full Google Play access, and it appears to have built-in access to Microsoft, Nvidia, and Valve’s game streaming services for portable PC gaming.
Blass points out that the handheld is likely the result of a recently announced partnership between Logitech and Chinese tech company Tencent. In early August, the companies said they would “combine Logitech G’s expertise in hardware with Tencent Games’ expertise in software services” to create a streaming-focused portable game console at an undisclosed future date.
While we know what it looks like, we don’t know the specs of the device, including the SoC, screen size or resolution, RAM or storage space (it seems to have a microSD slot on top, though), or battery life. . A faster chip would make the console more expensive, but it would also allow it to emulate newer consoles such as the Dreamcast, GameCube, PS2, and Wii, while many inexpensive portable devices outperform the original PlayStation or the Nintendo 64.
And the price will be the key. The console can probably afford to be more expensive than some of the $100-ish no-name Android consoles out there, but it would ideally be a lot cheaper than x86-based handhelds like the Steam Deck. These consoles are bigger and heavier than most Android consoles, but they’re also much more versatile because they’re powerful enough to run PC games directly rather than streaming. They can also emulate newer consoles with higher quality settings.
