Technology

Portable console mania: official Anbernic Win600, AOKZOE A1, Creoqode Lyra +

The announcements of portable consoles are multiplying, with the arrival on the field, in favor of gamers, of the new handhelds from Anbernic, AOKZOE, and Creoqode.
Portable console mania: official Anbernic Win600, AOKZOE A1, Creoqode Lyra +

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There is no doubt that the arrival of the Steam Deck handheld console has ushered in a technological trend, as it was among the earphones for the arrival of Apple’s AirPods. In the past few days, the announcements already made (eg AyaNeo NEXT II) on this subject have been joined by the officialization of new handeld consoles, including the Anbernic Win600, the Creoqode Lyra +, and the AOKZOE A1.

Usually, the Chinese brand Anbernic focuses on portable consoles with Android / Linux (eg, the RG353P) animated by ARM processors: all this has changed with the Anbernic Win600 console (236 x 103 x 22 mm, for 490 grams), animated from Windows 10 Home or Linux-based SteamOS: the console in question, with the classic buttons on the sides, to which the Home button and the Windows button (the Start) are added, mounts an IPS HD LCD display (1280 x 720 pixels) from 5.94 in. Audio side, there is the 3.5 mm mini-jack for headphones or earphones, and stereo speakers.

As a processor, it offers the choice between the Athlon Silver 3020e dual core dual threads (2.6 GHz max) and the Athlon Silver 3050e dual core with four threads (2.8 GHz): in both cases the AMD Radeon Vega 3 iGPU (max. 1 GHz). The RAM (single-channel, DDR4-2400) and storage (SSD M.2 PCIe 3.0 SATA 3.0) are user-upgradeable and combine in 8 + 128 and 8 + 256 GB assets. The 39 Wh battery charges at 45W. The ports are substantiated in a USB 3.0 Type-A and in a USB Type-C: wireless connections include Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 5: to take care of the thermal dissipation of the hardware in question, an active system operates, with a fan and a vent on the back. The price, depending on the processor chosen, ranges from 300 to 375 dollars, while the purchase (with shipments at the end of July) will be possible from July 5th.

The London Creoqode Lyra + console can be used as a mobile computer to browse or consume multimedia (using keyboard and mouse via USB or Bluetooth), as an emulator for Sega Dreamcast, PSP Portable, PS1 and Nintendo 64 platforms, even to try your hand at cloud streaming (supported Xbox Cloud Gaming and Stadia), and as a wireless controller and display for PC or console (PlayStation, Xbox). Basically, among the integrated game controllers, there is a 7 ”QLED IPS display (in case you don’t connect a larger screen via HDMI), flanked by a double vibrational motor and stereo speakers.

Equipped with a 6,000 mAh battery, the Creoqode Lyra + + console is powered by a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, a processing board on which the 1.5 GHz “Broadcom BCM2711” Cortex A-72 core processor, the VideoCore graphics card is mounted. , the 4 GB LPDDR4-3200 RAM, and the connectivity module, Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0. The storage, from 32 GB, is expandable, simply by replacing the microSD on which the storage relies.

Available in pre-assembled version or in a quick (15 min) assembly kit, the Creoqode Lyra + console, animated on the software side by Raspberry Pi OS, will be in pre-order on the Kickstarter crowfouding for the promotional figure (35%) of 299. pounds, compared to the retail price which will then rise to 459 pounds.

Typical gaming console, the Chinese AOKZOE A1, arriving in September, does not miss, on its chassis (285 mm x 125 mm x 21 mm for 668-729 grams), customizable RGB light effects (according to 20 effects and 3 modes) but also different choices, including ergonomic arches and ad hoc arrangement of the controllers, designed to prevent the onset of cramps from endless games.

The screen is an 8-inch IPS LCD, chosen with a FullHD resolution (1920 x 1200 pixels) and 283 PPI: to animate it on the software side is SteamOS or Windows 11 while, in terms of hardware, it is present, for the first time in a console portable, the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U APU which, thanks to the Radeon 680M graphics card and the LPDDR5X RAM (6400 MHz), in some demos manages to run Forza at more than 100 fps and Elden Ring at 60 fps. The technical equipment also includes a vibrational motor for feedback, two linear triggers, the gyroscope to detect the inclination of the console during games, an elaborate thermal dissipation system (copper heatpipe, “pure aluminum cooling fins”, sensors smart temperature). The battery, fast charging, in the standard version is 48 Wh, which rise to 65 Wh in the definitive one.

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