- 4 months ago
Welcome back to Handheld Showdown, a bracket-style competition series in which our hosts, Paul and Tony, battle it out with the best handheld gaming consoles out now. The votes are in and the winner is ready to be announced! Who will be crowned Handheld Showdown 2025 champion?
In this video, we reveal the results of the final and give our takes on which gaming handheld deserves to win it all. Whether your favorite wins or not, let us know in the comments who you want next year!
In this video, we reveal the results of the final and give our takes on which gaming handheld deserves to win it all. Whether your favorite wins or not, let us know in the comments who you want next year!
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TechTranscript
00:00The votes have been counted and verified and I can now reveal that the winner of Tom's Guy's handheld showdown 2025 is welcome back to handheld showdown our bracket style competition putting the best gaming consoles available right now in 2025 against each other and we have finally made it that's right today we are going to announce this year's winner and I could not be more excited in the last episode we revealed that the Asus RG Ally X will take
00:29on the Steam Deck OLED in the final and ask you to vote on who will be crowned champion and once again another massive thank you to those who participated thousands more votes were cast across both TomSky.com and our YouTube channel Tony I'm still really salty that the MSI Claw did not make it to the final but how's it been coping with the GO-S getting knocked out well Paul I'm very upset about that I'm still thinking about it but you know the cream of the crop has risen and we finally have our final two handhelds and I couldn't be more excited to see the results
00:59I'm also a little scared too but we'll see what happens so before we reveal the winner let's take a look back across the bracket to remind ourselves how we got here we began with eight consoles welcome to the very first episode of Tom's Guide's handheld showdown our bracket style competition to see which one is crowned the ultimate handheld gaming console Tony and I clashed from the very start
01:22one let's go yeah the field was thin to four come on oh my god whoa our favorites were mercilessly cut down
01:32watch the VCMS
01:34arguments got heated I'm not happy shots got personal well you finally got a win pull
01:41standing tall at the end I have a inkling feeling that the RGLI is gonna win I think it's gonna be the OLED
01:48we have the best YouTube viewers out there yes
01:53so there it is it's all come down to this moment so if you've liked what you've seen so far don't forget to
02:09subscribe to the channel we cover everything you need to know when it comes to tech but most importantly
02:14we will be checking out the brand new RG Xbox Ally X and Legion go to when they drop stick around at the
02:21end of the video for more of our thoughts on those devices now back to the main event in this envelope
02:27we have the results will it be the one-seeded Asus ROG Ally X
02:34or the two-seeded Steam Deck OLED the votes have been counted and verified and I can now reveal
02:44that the winner of Tom's Guy's handheld showdown 2025 is
02:50the Asus ROG Ally X
02:53they got confetti
02:55look at that we're in a war zone
02:56oh wow
02:58that's a lot
02:59that's that I'm I'm actually surprised by that result wow like I thought the the Steam Deck was
03:07gonna win but you know what I guess power is what people look for and look at I'm still surprised by
03:14this holy crap I'm not saying I'm upset you know like this is a great system but Tony look what we
03:20got hey oh we got a crown too look at that very nice the thing is like both systems are great you
03:27Yeah we're you're gonna be fine you were you arre not really gonna be losing with either
03:30so like I disagree you disagree I disagree I disagree I am seeing I'm being diplomatic about it
03:36so you honestly think there if you take one for diplomacy here yeah we got a king you got a king
03:41all right fair enough both hand held our hand helds one was great one is currently was was
03:49this one is very good yeah I'm just upset by how this whole bracket turned out I'll be honest
03:55honest. Yeah, but you lo
03:58I love the original R. O.
04:00I think it's just for me
04:02again, I think it's just
04:04lot of money for a barely
04:08handheld. Yeah, you can st
04:10one for half the price an
04:12basically the same perfom
04:14I stand. That's that was
04:18one and here we are on th
04:21I'm still, I'm still sidin
04:23ally there. Fair enough.
04:25I'm, you know, if we're
04:27I am still a little upset
04:29didn't win. I still think
04:32expensive. It's the best o
04:34as you know, the form factor
04:37know, that's, it wasn't up
04:39to the fans and I'm glad t
04:42believe was the best hand
04:44you from my experience, l
04:46in the wild and this is w
04:48the steam deck had a chance
04:50the steam deck. Oh, out in
04:52right? Yeah, like as far as
04:55I've traveled like internat
04:56subway, like I've seen the
04:58like maybe five times, never
05:00the ally, never seen any of
05:03the switch, but not the switch
05:05Yeah, you know, you're right
05:07I've seen, I'm not gonna say
05:08of steam decks, but I've seen
05:10and the only time I saw an
05:12in the wild was at a press
05:14that I was in count because
05:16of tech nerds anyway. But
05:18talking about now, right? Not
05:20the ally X is just on everybody's
05:22lips, especially with the new
05:24Xbox version coming out. Um,
05:26and people still love it. Even
05:27the original one that you love
05:28so much, we will still talk
05:29highly about it. So I can't
05:31say I'm so I'm surprised that
05:33people chose the better version
05:35of that system. That makes sense.
05:37So as the confetti settles
05:39around us and the ally X is
05:40taking a victory lap, we wanted
05:42to take a look forward to the
05:44coming months and talk about
05:45what's coming next. Let's start
05:46by looking at the Xbox ally
05:48X and the Xbox ally X. Our pal
05:50Jason, a Jason, actually just
05:52got their first hands on with
05:54it. And I think he sent us a
05:56little video. Well, well, well,
05:58if it isn't Jason England
05:59showing up like a special
06:01character at the end of a
06:02Marvel film credits, I've been
06:03going hands on with the ROG
06:05Xbox ally and the ROG
06:06Xbox ally X. But with all the
06:08dust settled and with the ally X
06:10now winning the showdown, should
06:13you get it or should you wait
06:15for this one? There's three key
06:17differences going on here.
06:19Number one, it's much more
06:20comfortable in the hand with a
06:21design that's inspired by the
06:23Xbox controller. Number two,
06:25there's a pretty decent
06:27uplifting performance with the
06:28Ryzen Z2 AI Xtreme chipset
06:30inside. On raw specs, you're
06:32looking at about a 15-20% bump
06:35in performance, giving the chipset
06:36and the RAM inside these systems
06:38so much more headroom to run
06:40games super smoothly. Like we're
06:42talking Doom the Dark Ages at over
06:4480 frames per second here on a
06:46handheld. Number three is where it
06:49gets more interesting because
06:51Microsoft has finally fixed
06:52Windows 11 on gaming
06:54handhelds. No more dealing with
06:55the mess that is a Windows 11
06:58desktop on a seven inch
06:59touchscreen. What you're getting
07:01instead is your boot straight
07:03into the Xbox UI. So you're not
07:05actually loading any of the
07:06background processors of Windows
07:0811. So the ultimate question is
07:11should you wait until October
07:1216th? Well, there's a big
07:14question mark over the price,
07:16which I'll be honest, does make
07:18me slightly nervous. I'm setting up
07:20a prayer circle that the price is
07:22reasonable on these two things, but
07:24we'll see. Back to you guys.
07:26Pricing is obviously going to be one
07:28of the bigger questions right now.
07:30Leaks right now have it at 549 for
07:33the Xbox Ally and the X at 899.
07:36Yeah, remember that's not official
07:37yet. That's not official. So still
07:38expensive, but I think compared to
07:40what we're anticipating for other
07:42upcoming handhelds, still a little
07:44bit cheaper. And I'm wondering if
07:46they really are claiming this is
07:47an Xbox. Are they doing the same
07:48thing that they've been doing with
07:49Xbox for the past few years,
07:51subsidizing the consoles,
07:52anticipating that they're going to
07:54be making up for the cost with
07:56game sales? Do you think that's
07:57what's happening?
07:58It's possible. I know Xbox said
08:00that they've partnered with a bunch
08:02of their like, you know, studios and
08:03all that to, you know, optimize
08:05games for the system. So it's
08:07possible they could like be working
08:10with Asus to subsidize things.
08:12Very interesting.
08:13But regarding this console, when I
08:15was originally announced, I kind of
08:16dismissed it. I'm like, OK, so it's
08:18just an it's just an RG Ally with
08:20like Xbox handles.
08:22But, you know, everything I've seen
08:23from, you know, Jason's preview to
08:25other things I've read, I'm like,
08:26there's actually a kind of intriguing
08:28console. It seems like the launcher
08:30will be more streamlined for this
08:32system. And I like the fact that
08:35you're not going to have Xbox
08:38RG Ally verified games, kind of like
08:40what Steam Deck does. So that's not
08:42going to say that every game that's
08:43verified works 100 percent, but at
08:45least they're going to ensure the
08:46basics that, you know, you get
08:47controls, you know, the controls
08:49going to be right. It's going to be
08:50legible. You know, sometimes you
08:51can't see stuff on the screen.
08:52I think that alone is a good thing.
08:55And they're also going to have like
08:57updated like FSR type of, you
09:00know, features that's up upscaling.
09:01That's going to come later next
09:03year, they said. But I like the fact
09:05that they're already thinking about
09:06that. So again, I was very skeptical
09:08about this console, but I'm actually
09:09kind of excited about it.
09:11So you brought up the new game
09:13launchers. Let's say in a perfect
09:14world, that is how it ends up.
09:16Do you think that would make
09:17SteamOS less relevant?
09:19Would you not see the appeal to
09:21SteamOS anymore?
09:22I still think SteamOS, it's been
09:24around so long, people know how to
09:25use it. But if this could be as
09:27easy to use as Steam, if I could
09:28literally, I could start it up out of
09:31the box, five minutes, I'm ready to
09:32play, right? If they could do that,
09:34bro, that'll be a real challenge to
09:36SteamOS for sure.
09:38And if all else was equal, I'll give
09:39you two reasons. You can't play
09:42games with anti-cheat software on
09:45Linux. So the new Battlefield 6
09:46that's coming out, you can't play it
09:48on here, despite even if this could
09:50run it, like if I had the
09:50performance, which it definitely
09:52doesn't, it can't run it.
09:53Yeah. And the other thing, the one
09:54that is huge to me, the thing that
09:57I ran into immediately once I tried
09:59to play my games on here, is that
10:01you can't play your Xbox Game Pass
10:03titles. You can only stream them.
10:05It's only available on Windows
10:06devices, which makes sense.
10:07They want you to have a Windows
10:08device. And I've always said that
10:09it's like with SteamOS, it's just
10:11easier to start up, but you have a
10:13lot of limitations to deal with when
10:14it comes to your game library.
10:15So the Xbox RG Ally could be the
10:18best of like all worlds, bro.
10:20It's really exciting.
10:22Also coming out very soon, Tony,
10:24is the Legion Go 2.
10:26What are we expecting to get with
10:27this one?
10:27So I actually went hands on with
10:29it at CES, and it's basically like
10:31a better version of the Legion
10:33Go that we have now, detachable
10:35controllers. It's going to have
10:36OLED. It's been confirmed that it's
10:38going to have the, you know, the
10:40latest chips from AMD, you know, Z2
10:43and all that. We don't know the
10:44price, obviously.
10:45I think that I think the OLED, you
10:47know, it's a big going to be a big
10:49selling point for that and, you
10:51know, the power it promises.
10:52So what do you think about it?
10:53Like, I mean, you said big, it's
10:54it's big, it's huge.
10:55Yeah, it's very big.
10:56The first thing I noticed when I
10:57got in my hand, this thing is too
10:58big.
10:59Yeah, no, I get it.
11:00It is big.
11:01Like, you have to use the kickstand
11:02if you want to use it on the desk
11:03comfortably.
11:04But a lot of people like our friend
11:07Ryan Epps, he's like, that OLED
11:08is going to sell me, bro.
11:10So, you know, that'll be a big
11:11one for people.
11:12And, you know, based on what I saw
11:14at CES, it looks really cool.
11:15And right now, it's expected to be
11:17unveiled at IFA in a couple of
11:19weeks, which I'm heading out to.
11:19So if you want to see our coverage,
11:21just stay tuned.
11:21We've got a lot of cool videos coming
11:23out then.
11:23You may see something awesome there.
11:25What a journey.
11:26We've gone all the way from eight
11:28devices, and now we have our winner.
11:30Can the ASUS ROG Ally X hold on to
11:33the top spot next year?
11:34You'll have to tune back in to find out.
11:36In the meantime, keep the comments
11:38coming.
11:38Do you think the Steam Deck was robbed?
11:40Who else is coming for the crown?
11:41And what are you most excited to see
11:43in the coming year?
11:44It's been great to interact with you
11:45and see all the discussion happening on here.
11:47Yeah, I mean, it was great seeing, like,
11:49all the support for the handhelds I was
11:50supporting as well as, like, just seeing
11:53how crazy some people could get about their
11:55fandom for some.
11:55Yeah, people get very militant about
11:57this stuff, but I love it, man.
11:58I love the passion.
11:59That's what makes it so fun.
11:59Yup, yup.
12:00So you can find us everywhere at Tom's
12:02Guide, and you can follow Tony and me to
12:03see what other gaming and tech we're
12:05checking out.
12:06This has been an awesome experience,
12:07so thank you all for participating.
12:09Until the next one, we'll catch you later.
12:19Hold on, let's just clean you up a little bit.
12:20Oh, thank you, thank you, appreciate that.
12:22Can't have me looking stupid on camera, you know?
12:24Not stupid.
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