Peripheral giant Logitech has stepped into the sea of rich handheld streaming consoles. gcloud (opens in new tab)Steam Deck (opens in new tab)/Nintendo Switch looks unimpressive, but it resembles a variety of apps from Xbox, Stadia, GeForce Now, Steam Link, and possibly other streaming services with Android apps.
machine inside (opens in new tab)with the Switch form factor (opens in new tab) it’s so hot (opens in new tab) just now (opens in new tab), we have the Snapdragon 720G from 2020, as seen in the Samsung Galaxy A52 and Realme 8 Pro smartphones. It can’t be called a chip, with up to 4GB of RAM and an Adreno 618 GPU wired in. There is also 64GB of internal flash storage, augmented by a Micro SD slot.
| CPU | Snapdragon 720G |
| Arm 2 x A76 (2.3 GHz), 6 x A55 (1.8 GHz) | |
| GPUs | Adreno 618 750MHz |
| sheep | 4GB LPDDR4X |
| depository | 64GB UFS Flash |
| microSD with SDXC support | |
| screen | 7 inch 1920×1080 FHD (1080P) IPS 16:9 |
| 450 nits brightness | |
| wireless | Wi-Fi 2X2 MIMO, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4GHz/5GHz |
| Supports Bluetooth 5.1, aptX | |
| Power | QC3.0; PD3.0; 18W |
| battery | 3.85V 6000mAh |
| ~12 hours cloud game play time (normal play state, volume 50%, brightness 50%) | |
| size | 256.84mm×117.21mm×32.95mm |
| weight | 463g |
Given that the G Cloud isn’t made for playing games locally, internal storage isn’t that important, but it should be able to play many games available on the Play Store.Logitech’s G Cloud is for Android Run 11 and bring the action to your 1080p IPS screen with the streaming app and its Wi-Fi 5 connection.
There’s a single USB Type-C port on the back, but no video output specified, making it look like a pure handheld device without the ability to dock with a larger display. Controls come in the form of two analog sticks, a D-pad, face buttons, gyroscope-measured motion controls, and haptic feedback from two motors.
Measuring 10.11 x 4.61 x 1.30 inches (257 x 117 mm x 33 mm), it’s smaller than a Steam deck, larger than a Switch, and weighs 16.33 ounces (463g). Being an Android device, we would be surprised if we couldn’t manage media streaming apps along with gaming apps. The “tablet mode” alluded to in Logitech’s FAQ also suggests that the game launcher can be removed and the traditional Android home page displayed underneath. Battery life is up to 12 hours, depending on usage.
It looks good, but Chinese company Tencent Games was involved in the design, as leaks revealed last month. This device does nothing that Android phones/tablets, Bluetooth controllers, and even Raspberry can’t do. A Pi could be attracted to streaming most of these services. And for $349.99 (opens in new tab) (Pre-order discount valid, this drops to $299.99) You might be better off with one of the best tablets and controllers, or one of Steam Deck’s competitors.
