Ayaneo’s slider gaming telephone lastly will get detailed specs, however pricing stays a thriller

In a world crammed with boring smartphone after boring smartphone, it’s important to give Ayaneo’s upcoming Pocket Play some credit score: we haven’t seen a tool like this in additional than a decade. The firm’s long-awaited (and barely delayed) slider gaming telephone is nearing a full launch, and whereas we’re nonetheless ready for information on availability, we do lastly have an in depth specs sheet that paints a fairly image — with a couple of potential pitfalls, sadly.

In a video trailer that teases the Pocket Play as “exclusively for true gamers,” Ayaneo delivers loads of glamor pictures of the telephone mixed with its long-awaited spec reveals. The firm’s first smartphone includes a 6.8-inch FHD+ 165Hz OLED show that ought to really feel proper at house alongside different fashionable flagships. Under the hood, Ayaeno is utilizing MediaTek’s Dimensity 9300, a flagship chipset initially launched in late 2023 that competed instantly with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Combined with LPDDR5 reminiscence and UFS 4.0 storage speeds, it seems like a fairly highly effective gadget — although we’ll should preserve ready for particular RAM and storage allotments, apparently.

All of that is powered by a 5,000mAh battery with (unspecified) fast-charging help, which ought to carry out pretty comparably to, say, dropping a Galaxy S25 Ultra in a Backbone controller. It’s operating Android 15 out of the field, and whereas that’s definitely outdated, it’s not the one smartphone to take action currently. Ayaneo does look like delivering a real smartphone expertise right here, although, as much as and together with a fingerprint sensor constructed into the facility button for biometric authentication and a digital camera system made up of a 50MP principal sensor with a 16MP ultra-wide. I don’t count on both of those lenses — nor the 5MP front-facing lens — to be significantly spectacular, however at the very least they’re right here.

Obviously, the sliding controls are the Pocket Play’s principal draw, and it sounds fairly spectacular. You’ll should make do with “virtual” contact joysticks, simply as with the Xperia Play this gadget is pulling inspiration from, however these touchpads ought to nonetheless really feel higher than using a touchscreen — and that’s earlier than you account on your thumbs masking a portion of the show. You nonetheless get bodily keys for the remainder of your controls, together with a full D-pad and ABXY buttons. All that, plus devoted shortcut buttons and full bumpers and triggers alongside the best facet of the telephone.

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All of this appears to mix into a superb new package deal from Ayaneo, however I see a few methods this gadget may nonetheless disappoint. First, we nonetheless don’t have pricing or availability, and mixed with the unspecified RAM, I’m just a little nervous what this telephone is likely to be priced at. Second, I nonetheless don’t know if an ultra-tall 6.8-inch show is your best option for the majority of titles potential patrons may look to seize this gadget to play. Today’s demo showcases Infinity Nikki (at the very least, I’m fairly positive), and as a contemporary cellular recreation, it’s able to filling the whole display. But any retro title is doing to look a lot smaller on this show, and contemplating the market that normally picks up Ayaneo units, I’m undecided how happy they’ll be with this limitation.

Even extra regarding, nevertheless, is the chipset alternative. There’s nothing essentially unsuitable with using this explicit MediaTek chip, however the retro gaming interest scene is constructed on the backs of lovers, and Qualcomm merely has higher driver help, each from emulation apps and from third-party drivers that always enhance the general expertise. Scrolling by way of the feedback on this announcement video backs this up, with a lot of followers seeking to watch for an eventual Snapdragon-powered follow-up.

Still, nothing right here suggests an outright catastrophe — fairly, a couple of issues main as much as the launch of this telephone. We nonetheless don’t have any particulars on pricing or availability, and Ayaneo’s store page simply hyperlinks to a yet-to-launch Kickstarter page. In a boring yr for smartphone launches, although, it’s important to give the Pocket Play this: it’s not like the rest we’ve seen in current reminiscence. Oh, additionally, there’s a pink one, and it seems to be slick.