AYANEO Pocket AIR review: Why should I spend more than 2,000 to buy a Dimensity 1200 Android handheld machine?

To be honest, I haven’t played a handheld console for a long time, especially an Android handheld console. Therefore, I went out of my way to understand the current market conditions. Prices range from a few dozen yuan to tens of thousands of yuan, and the prices of mainstream products range from a few hundred to a thousand yuan. Brother Zhou, Odin, AYANEO, Onexplayer, etc. are all well-known brands in the circle

Perhaps in the eyes of many people, if you can add a controller to your phone to achieve an experience, why should you spend money separately to buy an Android handheld console? In fact, playing handheld games is now a kind of circle culture. Although it is a niche, it still has fans. What many people like is the feeling of using a handheld machine, which cannot be achieved by adding a mobile phone and a controller.

In cliché terms, handheld consoles are also a kind of emotion. Seeing this, AYANEO, which has launched many Windows handheld consoles before, this time brings its first Android handheld console, Pocket AIR, which focuses on "thin and light" "OLED retro gaming artifact" has a clear positioning. Compared with many Android handheld consoles on the market, it is really different.

Tribute to the classic NES

The biggest difference between AYANEO Pocket AIR and other game handheld consoles is its good looks. While other game handheld consoles are almost all black and tough in appearance, AYANEO Pocket AIR uses a delicate and compact off-white body with red buttons and a yellowish rocker cap design. The rocker even has RGB switching. Lighting effects, sense of technology and retro atmosphere are blended together. For me, seeing this creamy color scheme strikes a chord.

As a horizontal Android handheld machine, AYANEO Pocket AIR uses ARM architecture compared to Windows handheld machines, making the body thinner and lighter. The body weight is 380 grams and the thickness is 17 mm, so it will not feel oppressive even during gaming. The layout of the joysticks and buttons is arranged vertically, so your thumb can easily cover it without worrying about accidentally touching it. In addition, a small-sized grip is designed on the back, which not only maintains a good grip but also provides excellent portability

AYANEO Pocket AIR is equipped with a 5.5-inch 1080P resolution OLED touch screen on the front. Due to the 16:9 screen ratio, its actual display area is larger than other phones with the same diagonal size

In terms of screen display effect, it has 99% P3 color gamut coverage, 10000:1 contrast ratio, and bright colors. However, the global peak brightness of 350nits is still incomparable with mobile phones. If it is in a bright outdoor environment, it will not Ready for use. Strobe flickering is unavoidable at low brightness, which is also a common problem with current OLED handheld consoles.

AYANEO Pocket AIR’s peripheral interfaces are also very comprehensive. The power button on the top of the fuselage is also equipped with a fingerprint module. There is a multi-functional USB-C interface at the bottom of the fuselage, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack. Inside the cover next to it is a double-sided SIM card slot, one of which can also accommodate a two-in-one card slot for SIM cards and TF cards

That is to say, it supports TF card expansion, and you can also insert a phone card to access the Internet or dual-SIM dual standby, but it does not support phone calls and the supported network is 4G. It’s no problem to take it out to play some online games.

Software system improves user experience

In addition to its outstanding appearance, AYANEO Pocket AIR also has a significant feature that it has a cooling system similar to that of a Windows handheld game console

On the back and top of the fuselage, you can see huge cooling air inlets and air outlets respectively. In the settings, you can turn on the highest "Hurry" mode, at which time you can hear the sound of the fan spinning crazily

Although AYANEO Pocket AIR is equipped with a large fan with a Dimensity 1200 processor and is equipped with LPDDR5 memory and UFS3.1 flash charging, sometimes it feels a bit wasteful. In most cases, just turning on the fan's "balanced" mode is enough

It can also be seen from the retro games positioned by AYANEO Pocket AIR that performance is not its main focus. After all, most retro simulation games are only a few tens of MB and do not have high performance requirements. At the same time, it is also equipped with a somatosensory gyroscope and an X-axis vibration motor. It has a built-in battery capacity of 7350mAh. It will feel extremely durable during the tossing process and there will be no battery life anxiety

If you want to play Android games, most of them can handle it with the performance level of Dimensity 1200. I also tried Genshin Impact. I set the image quality to extremely high and turned on 60 frames. There was a clear sense of frustration. The screen also became blurry when the viewing angle was quickly turned. Lowering the image quality a little would increase the playability.

In addition, since the key mapping function needs to be updated OTA, Android games that do not natively support controllers can still only be operated by touch.

AYANEO Pocket AIR is an Android handheld machine, its advantages are mainly reflected in the software system. Unlike most Android handheld devices that use rudimentary native Android, AYANEO Pocket AIR is equipped with a self-developed software system, including AYAHome, AYAHome UI and AYASpace. In terms of design, interaction and game import, it is more convenient to use

For example, compared with the various hassles involved in importing games from Android handheld consoles, AYASpace software supports the direct import of Tianma platform data, Batocera platform data, Launcher BOX platform and ES format ROM. After importing, it can be started directly in AYASpace For games, you can skip some installation processes of front-end and simulators.

On AYAHome, you can see various pre-installed software. Just press the AYA button, and a convenient small window will pop up on the right side of the screen. You can easily view the current monitoring information, adjust the performance mode, control the fan, etc. All of these have greatly improved the experience of using Android handheld devices

Is it worth spending the extra money

As mentioned before, the current Android handheld market situation is different. Unlike mobile phones, there is a unified set of configuration standards. Everything depends on the integrity of the manufacturer. In addition, these devices are originally designed for niche markets. Many times, Android handheld consoles focus more on functionality rather than user experience

After experiencing it, it can be seen that AYANEO Pocket AIR deliberately wants to make a difference. Whether it is appearance, software configuration, or its handle adjustment, it is better than many Android handheld devices.

Of course, in terms of price, compared with the current mainstream price of 1,000 yuan, it is not that outstanding. The 8GB 256GB version costs almost more than 2,000 yuan, so whether it is worth it depends on you. Do you care about the handheld experience? If you only play retro games occasionally, then an Android handheld console worth a few hundred yuan may be able to satisfy you.

If you are a handheld game enthusiast who likes the control experience of a game controller and pays attention to the mature software ecosystem, AYANEO Pocket AIR is indeed one of the few choices that is well-balanced in all aspects and can bring a complete experience.

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