00:00 Pretty sure some of you want to buy the best gaming handheld,
00:03 but which one is the best?
00:05 So in this video, we'll be taking you through the three best gaming handhelds,
00:08 as well as two of the best streaming options if you want to go that route as well.
00:12 Let's actually dive into what each of these has to offer right now.
00:22 And which one is right for you.
00:24 For me, the system I really set things off was the Steam Deck.
00:28 It's almost as powerful as the PS4.
00:33 I know for you specifically, like any time you've since reviewed another gaming handheld,
00:38 this has been the benchmark to beat.
00:40 I still think it's good for what it is.
00:41 And I will say on a screen that's that small,
00:45 you don't really need to have like high resolution graphics.
00:48 It looks really, really good.
00:49 So I'm an even bigger fan of the OLED variant.
00:51 At first, it looks pretty much the same as the old one, but just picking it up,
00:57 there's a difference a little bit lighter, which is nice.
01:00 It has an OLED screen with Wi-Fi 6E, faster downloads, a faster SSD as well.
01:07 So it's a lot of little improvements I make for like quality of life.
01:11 If you're brand new to it, this is the way to go.
01:13 Next up, we've got probably one of the first legitimate competitors to the Steam Deck.
01:20 This is the ASUS ROG Ally.
01:25 I was really excited for this because it runs Windows 11 natively
01:29 and the value just for me, it made sense.
01:31 I love the form factor.
01:33 This is even lighter than the Steam Deck, right?
01:35 It just looks cool, nice and white.
01:38 This thing's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness.
01:40 You know what that is?
01:42 Windows 11.
01:43 That's the problem.
01:44 Games haven't been optimized for the Windows UI.
01:46 So, you know, even when you boot this up, you got to log in like you would
01:49 with a laptop and a computer.
01:51 You have to go through a lot more steps to get to the actual games,
01:53 which is kind of frustrating.
01:55 In order to get a decent performance out of this,
01:58 you got to drop the resolution to 720, right?
02:00 But I will say, since the screen is the same size as the Steam Deck 7 inches,
02:04 you don't really notice it too much.
02:06 I think a lot of the shortcomings with this have been fixed with the Legion Go.
02:10 Yeah.
02:11 With the Legion Go, one, we have a bigger screen,
02:17 so I can actually use this in more of like a docked form factor,
02:21 you know, on a table.
02:22 But also really cool, you can take the controllers out.
02:26 Yeah, it's a little bit tricky.
02:28 I'll show you guys here, because with the Nintendo Switch,
02:30 you push on a button that's up here and you pull up.
02:33 This is a button that's on the bottom.
02:35 You push down, which is a little bit tricky, but you get it out, which is cool.
02:40 This goes up to 1440p, which is really, really cool.
02:44 Lenovo, just like Asus, they make great gaming hardware.
02:49 The cool thing about the Steam Deck is it actually feels like a gaming console,
02:52 when you turn it on, you're booted right into a home screen,
02:55 which shows you all your games.
02:57 Whereas with both of the options, the ROG Ally as well as the Legion Go,
03:01 you're starting with the Windows desktop.
03:05 So there's a lot of extra steps just to get to playing.
03:07 But again, when you don't want to play,
03:10 these are obviously going to be the better choices for the most part.
03:12 If Steam Deck didn't exist, I would also get the Legion Go,
03:16 just because you get it's the same price as the Ally,
03:19 just with more features.
03:22 The touchable controllers, I know the Switch does it too, but it's cool.
03:25 It's a cool thing.
03:27 More recently, we have seen a push for cloud streaming
03:32 and not just like on your phones, but like consoles
03:34 that are dedicated to streaming content.
03:37 Like, what are your thoughts on that?
03:38 I'm going to be honest, I'm not a fan of that.
03:39 I like my games to be local, but at the same time, I understand
03:43 that not everybody could spend $700 on a system.
03:45 We got to talk about the PS Portal, right?
03:48 This is like the hot ticket item right now.
03:50 You can't even find these at the moment of recording.
03:52 It feels really good as a DualSense is,
03:57 but of course, the big sticking point with this system is
03:59 it is something a lot of people don't know.
04:02 You need a PS5.
04:03 You can't just play this. You need a PS5.
04:05 So in essence, this costs $700, right?
04:09 You need a $500 PS5 and this is $200 itself.
04:13 If you have really good Wi-Fi connection, this works as intended.
04:16 If you have bad Wi-Fi connection, you're going to have problems.
04:20 For our next device, the Backbone One.
04:22 And I know you haven't had a lot of experience with this one, but I haven't.
04:27 I actually really like this thing because I've been trying solutions like this.
04:30 And basically all this is, is a little smart controller
04:33 that you can easily attach to your phone.
04:34 Now, with our recent iPhone 15s, we can connect via USB-C.
04:39 It automatically detects the controller on my phone.
04:42 And look at that.
04:45 I'm already in my game library here.
04:46 So there's this really cool orange button here.
04:49 It's the backbone button.
04:50 And when you launch it, what does this look like?
04:53 Wow, this, I need to show you guys this.
04:55 What does that look like?
04:56 That looks like the PlayStation's UI.
04:59 Yeah, right there.
05:00 And what I found remarkable, this is my first time seeing this in action.
05:03 How fast it was. It was just right there.
05:06 It's one hub for all your games.
05:08 That's something that we're not really getting on these other consoles.
05:12 Here's the other really cool thing on here.
05:13 I also have a USB-C connection at the bottom.
05:15 What does that allow me to do?
05:17 It allows me to charge the phone simultaneously,
05:19 as well as connect to external display.
05:22 That's smart. This is actually pretty cool.
05:24 It's my favorite choice for mobile gaming.
05:28 So right now it does go for $100.
05:31 But when we looked at this around Black Friday, it was down to about $60.
05:35 Oh, wow.
05:36 Yeah. And holidays are coming, right?
05:38 So the price will go down.
05:40 But even at $100, that's still cheaper than this.
05:42 Half the price. Yeah, half the price of this.
05:44 So that's where we're at in 2023 with the state of gaming handheld
05:49 and some streaming alternatives if you want to go that route, too.
05:52 I think that the future is looking really, really special.
05:56 And I'm also eager to see what other manufacturers that we may not know
06:00 about or expect, what they come out with.
06:02 These systems hit that perfect sweet spot of portability and power.
06:06 And we're going to see more of them. And I think it's awesome.
06:08 Who knows? In about a year, we might be able to get like serious 1080p
06:12 performance at 60 frames per second on these. Who knows?
06:15 I'm already looking forward to doing the same video next year.
06:17 All right, guys. So that's our video.
06:19 Hope you guys enjoyed watching.
06:21 I geek out about consoles all the time, man.
06:23 So it's just fun to do these videos.
06:24 But, you know, obviously, that's what we think of these systems.
06:27 We want to know what you think.
06:28 I'm really looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say.
06:31 And for everything else regarding gaming consoles, laptops, computers
06:35 and anything tech related, make sure you hit Tom's Guide up over on our website.
06:39 And we're also on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
06:43 But once again, I was Tony Blanco.
06:45 That was Paul. And we'll see you next time. Later.
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