00:00Pretty sure some of you want to buy the best gaming handheld,
00:03but which one is the best?
00:05So in this video, we'll be taking you through the three best gaming handhelds,
00:08as well as two of the best streaming options if you want to go that route as well.
00:19Let's actually dive into what each of these has to offer right now.
00:23And which one is right for you.
00:24For me, the system I really set things off was the Steam Deck.
00:31It's almost as powerful as the PS4.
00:33I know for you specifically, like anytime you've since reviewed another gaming handheld,
00:38this has been the benchmark to beat.
00:40I still think it's good for what it is.
00:41And I will say on a screen that's that small,
00:45you don't really need to have like high resolution graphics.
00:47It looks really, really good.
00:49So I'm an even bigger fan of the OLED variant.
00:52At first, it looks pretty much the same as the old one.
00:56But just picking it up, there's a difference.
00:58It's a little bit lighter, which is nice.
01:00It has an OLED screen with Wi-Fi 6E, faster downloads, a faster SSD as well.
01:07So it's a lot of little improvements I make for like quality of life.
01:11If you're brand new to it, this is the way to go.
01:14Next up, we've got probably one of the first legitimate competitors to the Steam Deck.
01:20This is the ASUS ROG Ally.
01:24I was really excited for this because it runs Windows 11 natively.
01:29And the value, just for me, it made sense.
01:31I love the form factor.
01:33This is even lighter than the Steam Deck, right?
01:35It just looks cool, nice and white.
01:38This thing's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness.
01:41You know what that is?
01:42Windows 11.
01:43That's the problem.
01:44Games haven't been optimized for the Windows UI.
01:46So, you know, even when you boot this up, you got to log in like you would
01:49with a laptop and a computer.
01:51You have to go through a lot of more steps to get to the actual games,
01:53which is kind of frustrating.
01:55In order to get a decent performance out of this,
01:58you got to drop the resolution to 720, right?
02:00But I will say, since the screen is the same size as the Steam Deck 7 inches,
02:04you don't really notice it too much.
02:06I think a lot of the shortcomings with this have been fixed with the Legion Go.
02:11Yeah.
02:15With the Legion Go, one, we have a bigger screen,
02:18so I can actually use this in more of like a docked form factor,
02:21you know, on a table, but also really cool.
02:24You can take the controllers out.
02:26Yeah, it's a little bit tricky.
02:28I'll show you guys here, because with the Nintendo Switch,
02:31you push on a button that's up here and you pull up.
02:33This is a button that's on the bottom.
02:35You push down, which is a little bit tricky, but you can get it out,
02:39which is cool.
02:40This goes up to 1440p, which is really, really cool.
02:44Lenovo, just like Asus, they make great gaming hardwares.
02:49The cool thing about the Steam Deck is it actually feels like a gaming console
02:52when you turn it on, you're booted right into a home screen,
02:56which shows you all your games.
02:57Whereas with both of the options, the ROG Ally as well as the Legion Go,
03:02you're starting with the Windows desktop.
03:05So there's a lot of extra steps just to get to playing.
03:07But again, when you don't want to play,
03:10these are obviously going to be the better choices for the most part.
03:12If Steam Deck didn't exist, I would also get the Legion Go,
03:16just because you get it's the same price as the Ally,
03:19just with more features.
03:21The tangible controllers.
03:23I know the Switch does it too, but it's cool.
03:26It's a cool thing.
03:27More recently, we have seen a push for cloud streaming
03:32and not just like on your phones, but like consoles
03:34that are dedicated to streaming content.
03:37Like, what are your thoughts on that?
03:38I'm going to be honest, I'm not a fan of that.
03:39I like my games to be local.
03:41But at the same time, I understand
03:43that not everybody could spend $700 on a system.
03:45We got to talk about the PS Portal, right?
03:48This is like the hot ticket item right now.
03:50You can't even find these at the moment of recording.
03:54It feels really good as a DualSense is.
03:57But of course, the big sticking point with this system is
03:59it is something a lot of people don't know.
04:02You need a PS5.
04:03You can't just play this.
04:04You need a PS5.
04:05So in essence, this costs $700, right?
04:09You just need a $500 PS5, and this is $200 itself.
04:13If you have really good Wi-Fi connection, this works as intended.
04:16If you have bad Wi-Fi connection, you're going to have problems.
04:20For our next device, the Backbone One.
04:24And I know you haven't had a lot of experience with this one, but I have.
04:27And I actually really like this thing because I've been trying solutions like this.
04:30And basically all this is, is a little smart controller
04:33that you can easily attach to your phone.
04:34Now with our recent iPhone 15s, we can connect via USB-C.
04:40It automatically detects the controller on my phone.
04:43And look at that.
04:45I'm already in my game library here.
04:46So there's this really cool orange button here.
04:49It's the Backbone button.
04:50And when you launch it, what does this look like?
04:53Wow, this, I need to show you guys this.
04:56What does that look like?
04:56That looks like the PlayStation's UI right there.
05:00And what I find remarkable, this is my first time seeing this in action.
05:04How fast it was. It was just right there.
05:06It's one hub for all your games.
05:08That's something that we're not really getting on these other consoles.
05:12Here's the other really cool thing on here.
05:13I also have a USB-C connection at the bottom.
05:15What does that allow me to do?
05:17It allows me to charge the phone simultaneously,
05:19as well as connect to external display.
05:22That's smart.
05:23This is actually pretty cool.
05:24It's my favorite choice for mobile gaming.
05:28So right now it does go for $100.
05:31But when we looked at this around Black Friday,
05:33it was down to about $60.
05:35Oh, wow.
05:37Yeah, and holidays are coming, right?
05:39So the price will go down.
05:40But even at $100, that's still cheaper than this.
05:42Half the price. Yeah, half the price of this.
05:44So that's where we're at in 2023 with the state of gaming handhelds
05:49and some streaming alternatives if you want to go that route, too.
05:53I think that the future is looking really, really special.
05:56And I'm also eager to see what other manufacturers
05:59that we may not know about or expect, what they come out with.
06:02These systems hit that perfect sweet spot of portability and power,
06:06and we're going to see more of them.
06:07And I think it's awesome.
06:08Who knows? In about a year, we might be able to get like serious 1080p
06:12performance at 60 frames per second on these.
06:14Who knows?
06:15I'm already looking forward to doing the same video next year.
06:17All right, guys. So that's our video.
06:19Hope you guys enjoyed watching.
06:21I geek out about consoles all the time.
06:23And so it's just fun to do these videos.
06:24But, you know, obviously, that's what we think of these systems.
06:27We want to know what you think.
06:28I'm really looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say.
06:31And for everything else regarding gaming consoles, laptops, computers
06:35and anything tech related, make sure you hit Tom's Guide up over on our website.
06:39And we're also on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
06:43But once again, I was Tony Polanco.
06:45That was Paul. And we'll see you next time. Later.
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