AYANEO’s recent revelation of the AYANEO KUN gaming handheld marks a significant milestone in the realm of portable gaming.
This new entrant, boasting tactile sensors, sets itself apart from competitors like Razer Edge, Logitech G Cloud, and ASUS ROG Ally, who have also joined the handheld gaming fray.
What truly sets the AYANEO KUN apart is its incorporation of touchpads, making it the first-ever Windows 11 gaming handheld to feature this unique control mechanism.
The AYANEO KUN stands tall with a larger 8.4-inch 2.5K IPS touchscreen, surpassing the Steam Deck’s inferior 7-inch 1280 x 800p IPS LCD screen. Let’s take a closer look at its notable specifications:
- Price: Yet to be announced
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 7840U
- Display: 8.4-inch 2.5K IPS touchscreen
- Size: 12.3 x 5.2 x 0.86 inches (312.4 x 132.5 x 21.9mm)
- Colors: Silver Wing, Black Feather, White Silk
- Notable features: Hall sensing joysticks, Trackpads, Back buttons, Windows Hello, Fingerprint recognition
AYANEO is a relatively new player in the tech industry, having been founded in 2020. Despite its youth, the company has already made strides in producing gaming handhelds powered by Windows operating systems and AMD Ryzen processors.
With the AYANEO KUN, they continue to expand their offerings by introducing novel features never seen before in their previous gaming handhelds.
The AYANEO KUN sports back buttons for enhanced controls, touchpads for mouse-like navigation, an advanced heat dissipation system for improved performance, and a brand new 75Wh battery for extended battery life.
Moreover, the handheld supports Windows Hello face recognition, providing convenient device unlocking in addition to fingerprint recognition available on earlier AYANEO models.
One key advantage of the AYANEO KUN is its implementation of Hall effect joysticks and triggers, eliminating drift issues often found in other handhelds and controllers. The large 8.4-inch 2.8K display promises impressive visuals and a superior resolution, setting new standards for handheld gaming screens.
As for the price, it remains undisclosed at this point, but considering the plethora of features and high-quality components, it wouldn’t be surprising if it retails at around $1,000 or higher.
The AYANEO KUN is expected to hit the market in late August, and its creators plan to launch a campaign on Indiegogo, similar to how they made their previous devices available for crowdfunding support.
The handheld gaming market has witnessed an overwhelming influx of new devices in the past year. Despite this, no particular Windows 11 handheld has managed to establish itself as the clear leader.
Each release has showcased its unique strengths and weaknesses, leaving no definitive winner among the contenders.
Initially, ASUS ROG Ally seemed like a strong contender with its impressive performance and customization options.
However, reports of malfunctioning microSD card readers due to overheating posed a significant setback for potential buyers looking to store game data on such cards. On the other hand, while the Steam Deck gained popularity, its proprietary SteamOS limited its appeal unless users opted to jailbreak the device.
Logitech Cloud G stood apart from the competition as it focused on cloud gaming, but this approach made it less comparable to devices like ROG Ally and AYANEO.
And while Razer Edge boasted powerful performance, its high cost, and comparatively inferior battery life paled in comparison to the Kishi V2 Pro mobile phone controller.
AYANEO’s offerings, while potent, aren’t without their imperfections. During a recent review of the AYANEO 2S, it became evident that it couldn’t match the performance of ROG Ally in various aspects.
Considering that the AYANEO KUN employs the same AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor, it’s reasonable to expect only incremental improvements over its predecessor.
Nonetheless, AYANEO devices have proven to be reliable, with no reported issues of microSD card malfunctions. However, their higher price tags make them less budget-friendly than some of the alternatives mentioned earlier.
Across the board, the primary challenges faced by handheld gaming devices are their cost and battery life.
Any gaming company aspiring to lead the handheld gaming market must tackle these aspects to make a significant breakthrough. However, given the current state of technology, achieving such advancements may still be some distance away.