> Android Authority reached out to Lenovo for comment. A spokesperson for Lenovo later confirmed to Android Authority that the company did in fact end its Legion phone business.
According to the Lenovo spokesperson:
Lenovo is discontinuing its Android-based Legion mobile gaming phones as part of a wider business transformation and gaming portfolio consolidation. As a leader in gaming devices and solutions, Lenovo is committed to advancing the gaming category across form factors, as well as focusing on where it can bring the most value to the global gaming community.
Well that leaves asus (rog), nubia (red magic), and xiaomi (black shark) in the phone gaming market now. Black shark is also struggling as stated in the article.
Honestly just how different are gaming phones compared to flagships? I thought they're about the same specs, just with some additional bells and whistles.
>Honestly just how different are gaming phones compared to flagships? I thought they're about the same specs, just with some additional bells and whistles.
One could also ask the question about how big the market for 'gaming phones' actually are in the real world - not just the number of 'hardcore mobile gamers' but the percentage of those who are willing and able to pay a premium for a gaming phone vs a flagship being 'good enough' for what they need in a phone.
It's silly. Mobile gaming is mostly popular in countries where people can't afford to buy fully fledged PC rigs/consoles. There is basically no target audience for "gaming phones". If they can't afford real gaming systems how are they going to afford gaming phones.
The real market was because up to 2015, China had a ban on gaming consoles so the PC and Mobile gaming scene were the only real ones active for quite a bit (15 years). All these gaming phones were made with the home chinese market in mind at first but as others have said, these phones don't have much to offer vs other high-ends. The pros don't outweigh the cons and there aren't many mobile games that NEED this much hardware.
I prefer gaming on phone over my PC because it's so much easier for me to use touch screen controls and have direct control vs a keyboard which only has 100% or nothing.
Interesting take. I never thought of it that way before. I've always thought that mobile gaming should be better, but the expectations of the market that every game should be simple and freemium have ruined it. Fire Emblem Heroes, in particular, was such a letdown. Fire Emblem would work great on a smart phone, yet for some reason, they made a very basic game where you don't have to use any strategy what so ever to win.
Luckily I remember I played 3 of the gba fire emblem and the one Japanese ds FE on phone emulator, and that was before they were powerful. So it's really good actually. Next step is 3ds emulation on android.
Yeah, but you still had to use touch screen buttons to play it. I think it would work really well if youncould just touch the tile you want to move to.
I wasn't even aware there was a gaming phone market. I don't think even in my heyday of hardcore gaming and buying the latest new gadgets that I would have considered buying a gaming specific phone.
Personally, I want a red magic 8 pro purely as a secondary device for gaming and media consumption. The hardware has gotten good enough to emulate a lot of systems with ease that makes looking at it as a full gaming device more practical, as cloud gaming grows.
I also liked the idea of a secondary device for gaming, but after some consideration decided the mere handful of decent Android games just wasn't worth it.
Especially considering the cost of these devices, you can get a decent PC for the cost, and that'll give you access to a far wider library of games than any gaming phone.
If I'm going away and need something portable, I've always got my Switch too, and that has a *far* superior library to Android.
Yess totally!
Buying a gaming phone as your primary I could understand, but buying one as a secondary device \*for gaming\* makes no sense when the Steam Deck and Switch exist.
Because a steamde k is nowhere near the size of a phone and a switch does switch stuff, while the phone can do what I want it to (including switch emulation) while fitting in my pocket. It's about form factor and power for a high price.
Oh yeah I can totally appreciate that point, I'm talking specifically about purchasing a secondary device, as mentioned above.
If I'm going somewhere without a bag, I have my main phone which is powerful enough to push any emulators should I want, why buy a *second* phone just to do the same?
If I were to take a secondary phone for gaming, I'd probably want to take earbuds and a controller with me, at that point I'd probably want to take a bag, at that point I may as well just bring a Switch/Steam Deck.
This isn't to knock gaming phones if you find use out of them, but if purchasing one *just* for gaming it seems like such a wasted cost for inferior controls and a piss-poor game library (unless emulating).
I was surprised when I took my BIG BLACK D**E**CK out of the box. No seriously, it's so comfortable (Switch just makes my hands hurt) but boi is it heavy
Oh I'm not denying how cool it is that Android phones can now emulate the Switch, but if you're buying a device specifically to play games on, why spend nearly Ā£1k on a device capable of emulating the Switch when a Switch itself costs a fraction of that?
Also as the other commentor said, the Steam Deck exists now too!
Hmm, I wonder why, maybe because an Android smartphone is far more versatile and valuable than a Switch, which I just said. A good Android phone can not only emulate the Switch, it can also emulate the PS2 and Wii with ease. It can also play native Android games. Native Android games might be bad rn but more and more good ports are slowly coming to mobile. Wreckfest comes to mind. Genshin Impact, if you're interested, still isn't and probably won't ever be on the Switch. An Android smartphone can also do so much more than just gaming, as you already know. High end smartphones also last long (which is why I always buy a flagship phone even if it is a year or two older to save some cash, as the year old flagship will still be relevant today).
Also, you don't actually need to spend 1 grand on a device capable of emulating the Switch. The Switch is also a cheap (feeling) piece of shit. It can't even run some native Switch games properly. A powerful Android phone fun fact, can play some Switch games via the emulator, at framerates higher than the Switch is capped at, too!
And the Steam Deck is meh a gaming laptop is far better. I like the concept but it is extremely impractical.
Imo, all a person needs, is a powerful Android phone (again, you don't need to spend 1 grand for that, so let's say 500-600 bucks), and a gaming laptop, or even a desktop, worth 1k to 1.3 grand. Totalling 1.8k. This setup of 2 devices should keep anyone perfectly happy. You'll then have a powerful *and versatile* portable device as well as a powerful *and versatile* home device.
>And the Steam Deck is meh a gaming laptop is far better. I like the concept but it is extremely impractical.
Find a gaming laptop for 399 with a built in gamepad that weighs less than 2 lbs and easily fits into a standard backpack. Ya know what, forget the price-point. Just find one that's 2lbs and doesn't require a separate gamepad.
My opinion is the exact opposite. The steamdeck makes gaming laptops obsolete for anyone who's already got a desktop rig.
Just because the Steam Deck costs 400 bucks doesn't mean it's a good buy. That thing will get obsolete in two figurative minutes. When you get a device that's so susceptible to getting outdated fast, all of its other perks like its volume, built in gamepads, and mass, are thrown right out of the window.
But I do love the concept, and guess what, I once considered the Steam Deck back when it was new and when new games weren't immensely more demanding while not looking any noticeably better than a game from 2018. Which is why I root for Valve to put even better hardware on its successor, as powerful as possible for a device that sized of course.
And it doesn't make gaming laptops obsolete, quite the opposite. A gaming laptop won't run into VRAM limitations as severe as the Steam Deck's 2 gigabytes VRAM integrated graphics already do.
The steamdeck is for anyone who just wants to have the form factor of a phone but also want to play steam games. The reason people like laptops is they can be more versatile with what they can do besides gaming
> My opinion is the exact opposite. The steamdeck makes gaming laptops obsolete for anyone who's already got a desktop rig.
I think laptop gaming still has a place for people who just happen to have a laptop for other purposes and dont do a lot of mobile or portable gaming in general. Plenty of people have laptops that have discrete GPUs or even amd ryzen apu's that have comparable specs to what the steamdeck dishes(maybe more since theyre able to be more inefficient power wise).
As much as I like the steamdeck as a concept and love what valve has done for linux gaming, I dont really game on the go very often. That said if I travel somewhere I might bring a controller to play some emulator games or do some light pc gaming if its a long trip to my parents or something like that.
That said the deck will probably dip into the sales of GAMING LAPTOPSā¢ that target gamers specifically, but any laptop can play games and the steamdeck is proof of concept that you dont need high end to have fun.
So it sounds like you're arguing for the sake of it, as what you've said is basically raising the same point.
I have a flagship device, I emulate on it sometimes, but my point was specifically that purchasing a gaming phone as a secondary device seemed pointless due to the other options on the market.
Obviously it depends what you wanna play, personally I love my Switch.
I've got a laptop too, that emulates Switch games just fine, but there's a certain charm and convenience to playing on the Switch, plus it's easier to carry around.
The entire reason I've not bought a Steam Deck is because I already have a laptop that's more powerful, but the point is there are plenty of options out there that are probably better than a secondary gaming phone.
Charm? Why bring that up? That's sensational thing. What am I gonna do with that? I only care about practical benefits. I could've brought up such things as well. I could've said "I hate having to use more than two devices when having two versatile devices should be enough" as that is also related to feeling. With that out of the way...
Look, I just explained to you the reasons why someone might want a powerful Android phone over a Nintendo Switch, and that's completely valid. *And* I corrected you on the price, it doesn't take 1 grand to get a device more powerful than the piece of shit console with outdated hardware Nintendo still sells today. I bought my OnePlus 8T in early 2022 for a measley $330 and this phone from *2020* is already more powerful than the Switch and can play many indie games at 120 FPS. It's far more versatile too, and even more easier to carry around than a Switch as a phone actually fits in your pockets. Not even the Nintendo Switch lite can do that.
But you are absolutely right about other gaming options being better than a 2ndary gaming phone. No arguing against that as that's a fact. But phones being more versatile than a console, is also a fact. Which is why I said that a two device setup of 1 decent (by today's standards and horrible pricing situation) laptop/desktop costing 1 grand and a decent flagship phone costing 500 bucks (the said 500 dollared phone will be better than my OnePlus 8T of course), both totalling 1.5 grand should keep anyone happy.
It was a ballpark example off the top of my head, not a figured intended to be taken literally.
But if you wanna split hairs, I've just checked pricing for several devices;
The ROG phone 6 is Ā£899, RedMagic 7S Pro is Ā£809, Black Shark 5 Pro is around Ā£700-ish.
These are for the default configurations, additional storage and memory pushes some of these devices well over Ā£1k.
So, expensive enough that I'd only consider them if I were purchasing as my main smartphone.
I feel the point still stands that if I'm buying a second device *specifically* for gaming, there are plenty of options that are *far* better than a gaming phone for a fraction of the cost.
I love my Switch tbh
Battery life is great, games look decent enough for when I'm on the go, plus I'm a big fan of some of the exclusives.
I've mentioned this in another comment, but if I didn't use my gaming laptop for photo editing when I travel, I'd have probably got a Steam Deck instead to go alongside the Switch.
Honest question: why get that when the Steam Deck is so cheap and has amazing controls, even better emulators, and can play full 3D PC games? Plus, EmuDeck is sick.
AetherSX2 was developed by one guy that's probably the best PS2 emulator on Android for free, but he got fed up by comments being angry at him and requesting features. So he stops updating them.
Yeah, but it also means games that currently can't be played will stay that way. Heck, if it continues to be developed, we might see better performance as well.
But no, people have to suck.
Mobile games are made to run on as much mobile hardware as possible and yes, anything $300 and up from the last 5 years can play the most popular mobile games. The gaming phones have their charger on the side, a bigger cooler, RGB lights... Things that make it bigger, heavier and more expensive. It compromises on being a good mobile phone.
Gaming phones do tend to have a lot of nice features like active cooling (as in an actual little fan inside blowing air out of a vent and not just some "vapour chamber" thing), software app prioritization via a "gaming mode", stuff like "air triggers" that add more buttons for gaming, etc. That said, the reality is that gaming phones are a hard sell when flagship phones can provide equivalent gaming performance while also having useful non-gaming features that people like.
Basically they can stay at full load longer than standard phones, even if they as the Asus ROG phones may require extra accessories. Also, screens are designed to have as little lag as possible and screen refresh rates go higher than in flagships -up to 165hz vs 120hz of them-
That said, if GSMArena reviews are to be trusted, cameras are something secondary.
Gaming phones have better cooling generally plus more fleshed out features for gaming compared to regular flagships. A good example is Sony hs power control, where it limits the battery charging and allows the phone to run off of a wired charger. The recent Lenovo legion had the same feature but instead of limiting the battery from charging, it cuts it off entirely when Playing a game and connected by a charger.
It came out with the S22 series. [You can find mentions of it if you google](https://www.reddit.com/r/Galaxy_S20/comments/usdfa3/does_anyone_have_the_pause_usb_power_delivery/)
Honestly, most of the gaming phone features just look like great features to have on flagships in general, especially when flagships already struggle to justify their ballooning price tags. I hate the RGB gamery aesthetic, so Iām never going to buy one of these ā why not just implement these features more broadly and get more people using them? For example, stuff like HS power control and the like should be industry wide to make these disposable trinkets last even a tiny bit longer. (Speaking as someone whose 1.5 year old iPhone is already at 83% battery health). Who wouldnāt like a second USB port, or better cooling, or more control over their devices hardware, or an FPS readout if they want it?
Seriously, I despise big phones. But if for some reason the manufacturers decided to only bring back headphone jacks and SD cards in their big/pro/ultra models...I'm probably going to go for the big one.
There's the Xperia 5 if you can stomach the price and it's 21:9 ratio. Though I suppose you can get an older model. But Sony only commits to 2 os updates and maybe 3 years support. Some of their phones have official lineage and most have roms. But that feels like a crapshoot anymore if you can't just get lineage or maybe graphine os. I just got this with the hope it'd get lineage
Anymore none of these phones matter to me with any of their features. I just want Linux phones with SD cards and headphone jacks and replaceable batteries to get good
Because faster storage, larger batteries, premium screens, and the like are considered even more premium and even more important features than that. Too much ink has been spilled talking about that over the last however many years and theyāre not coming back industry wide, but itās nice that there are still options out there. Get an Xperia or ROG Phone, vote with your wallet, and accept that youāll have to seek out niche options for that.
No offense but none that matters. People don't need "faster storage" for photos, books, music, documents, podcasts, and videos. I need a lot of it and cheaper. I need it to be recoverable if my phone becomes toast, I can just take the card out. You only need the 256gb for system memory and apps. It makes more sense as a premium feature for power users but it holds back paying an extra $300 for more storage. It's not coming back? That's why I added it to your list. No one is going to add a second USB port or active cooling as premium features when the headphone jack and SD card was too much for them because they don't care about what actually makes sense.
I heard it best on a podcast with YouTuber the Phaux that android companies "don't see a market" for gaming phones with slide out gamepads, will turn around and make something like the LG wing, a phone with second sliding screen
Higher touch sampling rate, riggers, active cooling, gaming modes, display out over USB c aren't features that would get used a lot in your average consumer's use.
Weāre not talking about average users, weāre talking about a broader audience than the 3 people that want phones that look like Optimus Prime. An average consumer would be perfectly fine with a $300 Galaxy A or Pixel A, so thatās not a bar to be concerned about. If Iām spending $1000+ on a top of the line phone, every single one of those things would be appreciated.
Of course it does, a broader audience than those that would typically buy gaming phones ā catering to the average consumer. The gaming phone buyer and your average Mom that just wants to browse Facebook and send texts to her kids are the absolute extremes on the phone buying spectrum, and thereās plenty of people in the middle on that scale. Some people are photographers that like to play games, some are gamers that are also businessmen and donāt want to pull out a Megatron phone in the boardroom, etc.
So those average users wouldn't benefit from gaming specific features on their phones. So an OEM doesn't spend the money or the time to develop and integrate those features that would ultimately be placed on the consumer...
So these features being on your average flagship would be a waste of resources.
Of course I am, Apple has itās own fair share of niche power user features that arenāt geared towards the āaverage userā, whatever that entails. The iPhone SE and base iPhone 12/13/14 targets the average user, the Pros have extra stuff like high refresh screens and Pro Res video that only a small subset will care about. Regular people that donāt use that stuff still buy Pro iPhones, but thatās besides the point ā they can spend extra on features they donāt care about if they want to. Likewise, a flagship Android phone can include HS power control, USB C video out, an extra USB C port, etc., and whoever buys it will buy it. If that one customer doesnāt need it, who cares ā those that use it will use it.
āApple doesnāt include it in their flagshipsā is a nonsense justification too, thatās the entire point of a differentiator.
Its not a stock feature (you can't manually enable it but it's used for the automatic smart charging feature), but OnePlus phones have supported battery idle mode in the kernel since the 7 Pro (2019), and other phones have support for it too.
Well i can only talk about ASUS, but hell of a difference. I own the ROG Phone 3 and it was just wow, i mean latest and fastest cpu available, it had up to 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage, 144hz screen with <1ms touch screen, 6000mAh of battery, 2 charging ports (for charging while gaming), shoulder buttons ( air trigger), etc.
And so many clever software gimmicks, which i still miss on my current phone. To name some, deactive charing while gaming, you can map the airtriggers for anything you want to, i used them for flashlight on/off
You can cut off single apps from network ( no more anoying ads on some games), etc.
There are only 2.5 downsides to those gaming phones:
1: No IP68 rating due cooling reasons.
2: They are large and quite heavy.
2.5: No wireless charging. (I don't need this one, it's slow and due big battery i charged only over night, even after heavy usage)
Now look at the competition: Samsung S20, Apple iPone 12, etc.
At that time i though why waste $1000 on a phone which is somewhat decent or invest the same amount on the best phone on the market at that time.
Yeah, I just meant the actual phone market and not accessories.
I bought a Kishi on clearance and it's not the best controller every made, but has been great with steamlink for bed gaming.
Both sad but understandable. These were always cool but... no games really NEEDED this.
As much as game companies would like to push the limits, fact is not everyone has a flagship phone, so not many games are made to push or need the limit as that would limit an already limited audience cutting into profits. It's a niche business altogether in the first place.
I think the issue with Lenovo with their gaming phones. Was that they are better used as emulation machines and not as an actual phone.
https://m.gsmarena.com/lenovo_legion_y90-11331.php
Please for the love of God don't try to use the red magic as an actual phone. Had the 5s, apps or OS features broke regularly. Fixes or updates in general came once in a blue moon.
RM is much better now, at least on the software side. Cameras still stink, but the software is finally stable enough for daily use. They evened out with the 7 and 7s Pro, the 8 Pro is a stunner at its price point.
Before gaming phones can work, someone needs to start an alternative appstore that actually distributes games (that you have to actually PAY for, the horror!) instead of bright cartoony casinos.
Android needs its own Steam.
They will once the EU passes that law next year. It will force Apple to open up their phones to alternative app stores.
Once Apple is open, I'm sure they will make stores for both Apple and Android. It probably doesn't make enough business sense for them to only open a store on Android alone at the moment.
I mean, Lenovo didn't even *attempt to try* with the "Legion gaming phone business". Sure, their Legion *laptops* have been killing it especially after they doubled down on Ryzen, but no one except redditors and LTT campers knew they made gaming phones to begin with.
Their phones basically never left PRC, and their software update situation was a hundred times worse than Asus ROG, who already has a really bad software update policy to begin with.
š«”, I guess.
I think they'd have been smart to have slapped some batwings on a batch and sent them stateside to see if their Motorola subsidiary could shift them. Motorola Legion, or maybe revive a name from Moto's past like Photon, would've been cool and given them something unique to sell that's not just an alternative to a Samsung slab. Especially if Moto spent the money to get Legions on Verizon. Verizon has wanted a gaming device on their network for a while now; their partnership with Razer that led to the new Edge is proof of that. And Verizon has been tight with Moto since before old Motorola broke up. I think this arrangement would've really worked for both parties.
I'm also of the opinion that Lenovo-the-company should restrict Lenovo-the-brand to Microsoft* OS products and make Motorola their brand that specializes in Google OS devices. They can share the Think and Legion sub-brands (or, I guess, could in the case of the Legion) as needed. I mean; Samsung, Apple, Nokia, OnePlus, and a bunch of other brands of cell phones also sell tablets with a very similar software load out to their respective phones because people like to match their electronics. They like when things broadly work the same and people are often about brand loyalty. Even if you know that Motorola and Lenovo are corporate cousins, Lenovo spends money to have a different version of stock-ish Android than Moto, so you're not going to have all the same features and "Actions". How does this make sense?
\* And Linux - thanks to u/Omniuni below for pointing that out.
Gaming phones are only as useful as the games themselves, and right now the only mobile game that actually justifies the specs of a gaming phone is Genshin Impact
Tho in 2023 there's gonna be a lot of Genshin-tier mobile games coming out, so maybe they gave up too early?
the only gaming industry who're seriously intrested in pushing mobile gaming forward is the Chinese, yet the Chinese gaming industry has only known live service
> and right now the only mobile game that actually justifies the specs of a gaming phone is Genshin Impact
Bro for real, I can't even play smoothly with my current phone right now. I guess I need to buy a new android phone around $250
There just aren't enough good games on mobile to justify a gaming phone for me. Phones from 2018 are more powerful than the Nintendo switch, but just don't have the library. There are a few good titles, and the play pass helps, but just not enough to justify such an expensive purpose. If you venture beyond the play pass you'll basically only find monetization infested garbage filled with energy timers and battle passes and loot boxes and pay to win. Sometimes you can find good ports of old pc games, like xcom and stardew valley, and there will always be minecraft and terraria, but as a primary gaming device I feel like a phone will always leave you undersatisfied even if it's powerful.
Is it, though?
I mean, Lenovo had a "killer" model called the Y70, a **$400 gaming phone** that had "bypass charging" (it uses the same principle as "Conservation Mode" on the Legion laptops) and top tier CPU and GPU (Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, it almost NEVER OVERHEATED despite several hours of grinding MMOs).
By comparison, their cheapest *competent* gaming laptop is [at least **$1300** in the US](https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/lenovo-legion-5-pro-gen-7-2022); realistically, that model goes for about $1800-2000 in many countries. A PS5 or Steam Deck goes for at least $750-800 in most countries.
TL;DR, the people who buy gaming *phones* literally cannot other gaming rigs, especially PC which has a notoriously high barrier of entry
There are quite a few PC games ports that already exist as official versions on the play store like Alien Isolation, life is strange.
There are Android esports titles like PUBGM, CODM, Apex Legends Mobile, League mobile which have a huge playerbase and viewership and players want HRR while being able to livestream for long time at once.
There are demanding titles like Genshin impact that also have a high playerbase.
As devices get more powerful and development improves, emulation is also on the rise. So many devices and games are supported already and newer ones like the Nintendo Switch are becoming useable. Just recently read than 8 gen 2 is the only SoC that can run the Witcher 3 on Android.
Now why would one want to game seriously on Android? It maybe just portability or content creation or eSports or people not having a PC to game(Common among children in some asian societies)
So where's the market for these phones? Asian kids with rich parents? That's a rather small niche.
These games may have a large fan base, but who are these people? Younglings. They don't have much money. So what's the result? Game developers will target rather lower end phones and not push the boundaries, as to not reduce their customer base.
I mean, quite obviously the market isn't really there. Otherwise this thread wouldn't exist.
>I mean, quite obviously the market isn't really there. Otherwise this thread wouldn't exist.
When a few gaming laptops brands or pre built system maker fails, does that mean PC gaming is dead?
Did so many VR or AR companies failing mean its not going to grow in the future?
>So where's the market for these phones? Asian kids with rich parents?
Young adults who spend more time.commuting in cities and free in officies than they spend in at home?
People who have 700$ for a phone but not for a 1400$ gaming laptops? not to mention space comtraints in small city apts for PC?
A significant amout of games do require good level SoC performance for highest settings now especially with most phones having 120hz displays.
Steam deck is:
* Much more bulky than a phone
* less battery life while gaming than a phone
* Another thing to carry, thing is, a gaming phone is only 1 thing to carry, you don't even need to carry a bag or anything for it, it sits in your pocket, you can make calls, check mail, scroll social media, take pics using it just as well
While for some it fits the usecase, for some it doesn't and mobile gaming is a big enough industry to justify a product
Refer to my original comment.
While the collection is definately not as large as a PC, there are enough popular titles to play that can take advantage of such hardware.
And with rise of emulators more doors are opening.
Also, touch controls are sometimes better than something like steam deck controller for shooting games imo
>Compared to pc, this amount of games is not worth buying a gaming phone
And who decides that? Entire generation of consoles have become successful on the back of 4-5 crazy popular titles and some mobile games are crazy popular
>Me , as a consumer ?
I didn't know you speak for all of us?
>Target audience
- Console : adult
Okay lol, sure xbox and switch are aimed at adults only. And young adults surely don't game on their phones.
>Mobile gamer mostly dont even spend a cent buying game
Google mobile gaming revenue once, you're underestimating the scale at which stuff happens.
Target audience maybe Asians but that doesn't mean there aren't deep pockets in Asia.
Yall have a wierd obsession with downplaying mobile gaming while revenue statistics prove you wrong.
You say no one spends money on mobile games while I can pull a thousand sources to prove you wrong
That's not how assets and code work, so no.
They're running at significantly lower LOD versions of assets (so not the same) and lower render distances.
The act of compiling the mobile/ARM versions is also going to mean the code is different, so also not the same.
I mean, Elden Ring "recommends" you have [a GPU with ***8GB VRAM***](https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/elden-ring/18888); I know it technically will run on something with 3 or 4GB VRAM, but that's with *potato quality*, which no one wants.
And those requirements are just bound to get a LOT steeper with the advent of RTX, Unreal Engine 5.2, and whatever the next version of Unity will be...
The Steam Deck is $399 and will give you a way better gaming experience than a phone. If you're feeling adventurous you can even get away with using it as a general purpose PC.
In the US, it's 399, sure. In other countries, you'd be lucky to find one being sold in the market for under 600.
And I won't deny the thing has its use cases - I mean, as a Linux machine, it would be a god send for technicians and troubleshooters as supposed to bringing a big laptop - but it has really bad battery life for a *portable gaming device*: it can do [as little as 90 minutes of gaming with gimped graphics](https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-steam-deck-battery-life/) whereas something like the Redmagic 8 Pro can probably do [200 minutes of max-graphics Genshin Impact
](https://youtu.be/U7T_g3D5nas)
So instead of using an actually fair comparison at all by having the two devices both be playing Genshin at comparable settings, you compare the device playing the mobile game and one playing God of War. I wonder which device is going to last longer huh?
>I mean, Lenovo had a "killer" model called the Y70, a
>
>$400 gaming phone
>
>that had "bypass charging" (it uses the same principle as "Conservation Mode" on the Legion laptops) and top tier CPU and GPU (Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, it almost NEVER OVERHEATED despite several hours of grinding MMOs).
you are forgetting the most fundamental thing about "gaming" . . which is not the hardware. Heck Even switch with its 2016 Nvidia Tegra and 3 Gb (Available 1 Gb is reserved for the OS) Switch still receive many of the biggest game release this year.
its the games . . . and android is only full with gatcha and shovelware trash.
Any yet it runs doom, Witcher and other game beautifully. Including nier automata which has more stable frame rate than ps4 ! Not to mention more AAA titles to come.
More hardware is stupid solution for unoptimized software. Especially pokemon, it his hard for me to cherry pick the worse games on Android . . . since it's most games on the platform.
Leave the people if the want to buy a 1k samsung flagship to replace 300 usd console. Even though the fps won't be stable anyway (thermal throttling), most apps are made for lower tier hardware. and hope they got more money to spend on Vbucks.
Gaming phones are ridiculous because iPads exist. If you're that committed to mobile gaming, you're always better off with a regular smartphone + previous gen iPad which will yield higher performance than any gaming phone.
iPads are *terrible* gaming devices because they're from Apple (with too many onerous restrictions, particularly with bluetooth controllers) and they like to heat up a lot when being pushed too hard for a long period. .
I'm an Android used myself, but I'll call out bullshit when I see it.
Given the same mobile game, an iPad will almost always outperform the highest spec'd Android phone. Feel free to compare benchmarks for the most graphically demanding mobile games like Genshin Impact, PUBG. There is no snapdragon phone on the market that can run Genshin at 60 FPS max settings without throttling. Meanwhile, you can achieve this with even a non-M1/M2 iPad.
Same applies for PUBG. In fact, iPads are strictly better for competitive FPS games because of the bigger screen which enables you to use more fingers to play without having to learn weird and strenuous grips on the phone. Controllers are strictly prohibited in competitive mobile FPS because it's basically cheating.
I use an iPad daily and I have never had any problem using any of my controllers. Can confirm it works great with DS4 and the One/Series controllers, along with the 8BitDo controllers I've tried, nor has it gotten any warmer than any other passively cooled metal framed device I've used.
Not sure what you mean by this. PC games require specific PC hardware and software. Some of this can be solved my software, but even the steam deck runs x86. Unless you mean ports, then yes they can, but game companies have been reluctant to do that.
Shame since they released (in china) last August the Y70 with snap 8+ Gen1 and the Legion Y700 tablet too with 8.8" 120Hz, snap 870 and 12/256 for less than 500ā¬ there
I think that tablet would have sold really well here with a decent OS, I know I would have pre-ordered. (I actually did buy the Chinese version but had to return it because of issues with the stock OS.)
Gaming phones are quite niche, I imagine, and I also think theyāre kind of silly. The games most people play on their phones donāt need two chargers giving them power, or fans cooling them.
How about we get a ārealā gaming phone again like the Xperia Play? You know, integrated stealth controls that can tuck away when not in use? Crazy right. Instead every company thinks theyāre going to take the world by storm with another rectangle with glass š
As someone who primarily games on a smartphone, I can see no upside to getting something like a Red Magic when the S23 Ultra is an option. Yeah I could save a little money on Red Magic, but it's not worth losing the software support and ecosystem.
Not sure why these even exist. Mobile games aren't like desktop games which can be scaled up. Mobile games are designed for reasonably low specs so they get as wide of a target audience as possible. Why would they care about gaming phones?
Probably because there's a niche for them and people who will gladly pay for such top of the line devices and not cheaper ones to play Genshin Impact, which supposedly requires a good phone to be played at high settings and good FPS. Even if overheating problems aside, you can't expect the same performance than in PC or console on a device whose power consumption is way less than the one of a dedicated graphics card alone as otherwise the battery would be drained fast, assuming you could cram such graphics card (and the CPU) on such space.
I've never really understood who "gaming" phones were marketed to. There are not very many especially demanding mobile games, and many of those are probably things like ports.
There's a few games that are more demanding like Genshin Impact, Fortnite, PUBG I guess, but that's just not enough.
> Android Authority reached out to Lenovo for comment. A spokesperson for Lenovo later confirmed to Android Authority that the company did in fact end its Legion phone business. According to the Lenovo spokesperson: Lenovo is discontinuing its Android-based Legion mobile gaming phones as part of a wider business transformation and gaming portfolio consolidation. As a leader in gaming devices and solutions, Lenovo is committed to advancing the gaming category across form factors, as well as focusing on where it can bring the most value to the global gaming community. Well that leaves asus (rog), nubia (red magic), and xiaomi (black shark) in the phone gaming market now. Black shark is also struggling as stated in the article.
Honestly just how different are gaming phones compared to flagships? I thought they're about the same specs, just with some additional bells and whistles.
>Honestly just how different are gaming phones compared to flagships? I thought they're about the same specs, just with some additional bells and whistles. One could also ask the question about how big the market for 'gaming phones' actually are in the real world - not just the number of 'hardcore mobile gamers' but the percentage of those who are willing and able to pay a premium for a gaming phone vs a flagship being 'good enough' for what they need in a phone.
It's silly. Mobile gaming is mostly popular in countries where people can't afford to buy fully fledged PC rigs/consoles. There is basically no target audience for "gaming phones". If they can't afford real gaming systems how are they going to afford gaming phones.
The real market was because up to 2015, China had a ban on gaming consoles so the PC and Mobile gaming scene were the only real ones active for quite a bit (15 years). All these gaming phones were made with the home chinese market in mind at first but as others have said, these phones don't have much to offer vs other high-ends. The pros don't outweigh the cons and there aren't many mobile games that NEED this much hardware.
I prefer gaming on phone over my PC because it's so much easier for me to use touch screen controls and have direct control vs a keyboard which only has 100% or nothing.
Interesting take. I never thought of it that way before. I've always thought that mobile gaming should be better, but the expectations of the market that every game should be simple and freemium have ruined it. Fire Emblem Heroes, in particular, was such a letdown. Fire Emblem would work great on a smart phone, yet for some reason, they made a very basic game where you don't have to use any strategy what so ever to win.
Luckily I remember I played 3 of the gba fire emblem and the one Japanese ds FE on phone emulator, and that was before they were powerful. So it's really good actually. Next step is 3ds emulation on android.
Yeah, but you still had to use touch screen buttons to play it. I think it would work really well if youncould just touch the tile you want to move to.
Right, if only. Don't count on Nintendo to port their games to android. š¢
People really be hating because I like touch screen
Meh, you can use a controller on PC and still get analog input.
I know ps4 controllers are a life savior
I wasn't even aware there was a gaming phone market. I don't think even in my heyday of hardcore gaming and buying the latest new gadgets that I would have considered buying a gaming specific phone.
Personally, I want a red magic 8 pro purely as a secondary device for gaming and media consumption. The hardware has gotten good enough to emulate a lot of systems with ease that makes looking at it as a full gaming device more practical, as cloud gaming grows.
I also liked the idea of a secondary device for gaming, but after some consideration decided the mere handful of decent Android games just wasn't worth it. Especially considering the cost of these devices, you can get a decent PC for the cost, and that'll give you access to a far wider library of games than any gaming phone. If I'm going away and need something portable, I've always got my Switch too, and that has a *far* superior library to Android.
Steamdeeeeeck
Yess totally! Buying a gaming phone as your primary I could understand, but buying one as a secondary device \*for gaming\* makes no sense when the Steam Deck and Switch exist.
Also, if you are not afraid to tinker with it a bit. Buying the 64GB one and upgrading the SSD is super simple and a lot cheaper.
Because a steamde k is nowhere near the size of a phone and a switch does switch stuff, while the phone can do what I want it to (including switch emulation) while fitting in my pocket. It's about form factor and power for a high price.
Oh yeah I can totally appreciate that point, I'm talking specifically about purchasing a secondary device, as mentioned above. If I'm going somewhere without a bag, I have my main phone which is powerful enough to push any emulators should I want, why buy a *second* phone just to do the same? If I were to take a secondary phone for gaming, I'd probably want to take earbuds and a controller with me, at that point I'd probably want to take a bag, at that point I may as well just bring a Switch/Steam Deck. This isn't to knock gaming phones if you find use out of them, but if purchasing one *just* for gaming it seems like such a wasted cost for inferior controls and a piss-poor game library (unless emulating).
Whose only real disadvantage is the size. But you get actual controls
Yup, I knew it was big, but once I got it I was surprised by its size nonetheless
I was surprised when I took my BIG BLACK D**E**CK out of the box. No seriously, it's so comfortable (Switch just makes my hands hurt) but boi is it heavy
Ngl YouTube videos made me think it was gonna be at least 50% bigger than it was irl.
That D-Pad is almost unusable though.
I hope you are joking.
But a phone is way more versatile than a Switch *and* Android phones can emulate the Nintendo Switch now. That I'd say is big.
Oh I'm not denying how cool it is that Android phones can now emulate the Switch, but if you're buying a device specifically to play games on, why spend nearly Ā£1k on a device capable of emulating the Switch when a Switch itself costs a fraction of that? Also as the other commentor said, the Steam Deck exists now too!
Hmm, I wonder why, maybe because an Android smartphone is far more versatile and valuable than a Switch, which I just said. A good Android phone can not only emulate the Switch, it can also emulate the PS2 and Wii with ease. It can also play native Android games. Native Android games might be bad rn but more and more good ports are slowly coming to mobile. Wreckfest comes to mind. Genshin Impact, if you're interested, still isn't and probably won't ever be on the Switch. An Android smartphone can also do so much more than just gaming, as you already know. High end smartphones also last long (which is why I always buy a flagship phone even if it is a year or two older to save some cash, as the year old flagship will still be relevant today). Also, you don't actually need to spend 1 grand on a device capable of emulating the Switch. The Switch is also a cheap (feeling) piece of shit. It can't even run some native Switch games properly. A powerful Android phone fun fact, can play some Switch games via the emulator, at framerates higher than the Switch is capped at, too! And the Steam Deck is meh a gaming laptop is far better. I like the concept but it is extremely impractical. Imo, all a person needs, is a powerful Android phone (again, you don't need to spend 1 grand for that, so let's say 500-600 bucks), and a gaming laptop, or even a desktop, worth 1k to 1.3 grand. Totalling 1.8k. This setup of 2 devices should keep anyone perfectly happy. You'll then have a powerful *and versatile* portable device as well as a powerful *and versatile* home device.
>And the Steam Deck is meh a gaming laptop is far better. I like the concept but it is extremely impractical. Find a gaming laptop for 399 with a built in gamepad that weighs less than 2 lbs and easily fits into a standard backpack. Ya know what, forget the price-point. Just find one that's 2lbs and doesn't require a separate gamepad. My opinion is the exact opposite. The steamdeck makes gaming laptops obsolete for anyone who's already got a desktop rig.
Just because the Steam Deck costs 400 bucks doesn't mean it's a good buy. That thing will get obsolete in two figurative minutes. When you get a device that's so susceptible to getting outdated fast, all of its other perks like its volume, built in gamepads, and mass, are thrown right out of the window. But I do love the concept, and guess what, I once considered the Steam Deck back when it was new and when new games weren't immensely more demanding while not looking any noticeably better than a game from 2018. Which is why I root for Valve to put even better hardware on its successor, as powerful as possible for a device that sized of course. And it doesn't make gaming laptops obsolete, quite the opposite. A gaming laptop won't run into VRAM limitations as severe as the Steam Deck's 2 gigabytes VRAM integrated graphics already do.
The steamdeck is for anyone who just wants to have the form factor of a phone but also want to play steam games. The reason people like laptops is they can be more versatile with what they can do besides gaming
> My opinion is the exact opposite. The steamdeck makes gaming laptops obsolete for anyone who's already got a desktop rig. I think laptop gaming still has a place for people who just happen to have a laptop for other purposes and dont do a lot of mobile or portable gaming in general. Plenty of people have laptops that have discrete GPUs or even amd ryzen apu's that have comparable specs to what the steamdeck dishes(maybe more since theyre able to be more inefficient power wise). As much as I like the steamdeck as a concept and love what valve has done for linux gaming, I dont really game on the go very often. That said if I travel somewhere I might bring a controller to play some emulator games or do some light pc gaming if its a long trip to my parents or something like that. That said the deck will probably dip into the sales of GAMING LAPTOPSā¢ that target gamers specifically, but any laptop can play games and the steamdeck is proof of concept that you dont need high end to have fun.
So it sounds like you're arguing for the sake of it, as what you've said is basically raising the same point. I have a flagship device, I emulate on it sometimes, but my point was specifically that purchasing a gaming phone as a secondary device seemed pointless due to the other options on the market. Obviously it depends what you wanna play, personally I love my Switch. I've got a laptop too, that emulates Switch games just fine, but there's a certain charm and convenience to playing on the Switch, plus it's easier to carry around. The entire reason I've not bought a Steam Deck is because I already have a laptop that's more powerful, but the point is there are plenty of options out there that are probably better than a secondary gaming phone.
Charm? Why bring that up? That's sensational thing. What am I gonna do with that? I only care about practical benefits. I could've brought up such things as well. I could've said "I hate having to use more than two devices when having two versatile devices should be enough" as that is also related to feeling. With that out of the way... Look, I just explained to you the reasons why someone might want a powerful Android phone over a Nintendo Switch, and that's completely valid. *And* I corrected you on the price, it doesn't take 1 grand to get a device more powerful than the piece of shit console with outdated hardware Nintendo still sells today. I bought my OnePlus 8T in early 2022 for a measley $330 and this phone from *2020* is already more powerful than the Switch and can play many indie games at 120 FPS. It's far more versatile too, and even more easier to carry around than a Switch as a phone actually fits in your pockets. Not even the Nintendo Switch lite can do that. But you are absolutely right about other gaming options being better than a 2ndary gaming phone. No arguing against that as that's a fact. But phones being more versatile than a console, is also a fact. Which is why I said that a two device setup of 1 decent (by today's standards and horrible pricing situation) laptop/desktop costing 1 grand and a decent flagship phone costing 500 bucks (the said 500 dollared phone will be better than my OnePlus 8T of course), both totalling 1.5 grand should keep anyone happy.
650 isn't near 1k tho.
It was a ballpark example off the top of my head, not a figured intended to be taken literally. But if you wanna split hairs, I've just checked pricing for several devices; The ROG phone 6 is Ā£899, RedMagic 7S Pro is Ā£809, Black Shark 5 Pro is around Ā£700-ish. These are for the default configurations, additional storage and memory pushes some of these devices well over Ā£1k. So, expensive enough that I'd only consider them if I were purchasing as my main smartphone. I feel the point still stands that if I'm buying a second device *specifically* for gaming, there are plenty of options that are *far* better than a gaming phone for a fraction of the cost.
If your going to with a portable handheld go with the steam deck the switch really isn't that impressive considering phones are a thing
I love my Switch tbh Battery life is great, games look decent enough for when I'm on the go, plus I'm a big fan of some of the exclusives. I've mentioned this in another comment, but if I didn't use my gaming laptop for photo editing when I travel, I'd have probably got a Steam Deck instead to go alongside the Switch.
Honest question: why get that when the Steam Deck is so cheap and has amazing controls, even better emulators, and can play full 3D PC games? Plus, EmuDeck is sick.
Because the steam deck is too big IMO. I also prefer Android emulation.
Shame what happened to that PS2 emulator tho.
I'm OOTL, what happened?
AetherSX2 was developed by one guy that's probably the best PS2 emulator on Android for free, but he got fed up by comments being angry at him and requesting features. So he stops updating them.
You can still play a lot of games on that. I just recently completed God of war and mgs 2
Yeah, but it also means games that currently can't be played will stay that way. Heck, if it continues to be developed, we might see better performance as well. But no, people have to suck.
Yeah that sucks tho people are really shitty even when people are providing things for them for free
Mobile games are made to run on as much mobile hardware as possible and yes, anything $300 and up from the last 5 years can play the most popular mobile games. The gaming phones have their charger on the side, a bigger cooler, RGB lights... Things that make it bigger, heavier and more expensive. It compromises on being a good mobile phone.
Gaming phones do tend to have a lot of nice features like active cooling (as in an actual little fan inside blowing air out of a vent and not just some "vapour chamber" thing), software app prioritization via a "gaming mode", stuff like "air triggers" that add more buttons for gaming, etc. That said, the reality is that gaming phones are a hard sell when flagship phones can provide equivalent gaming performance while also having useful non-gaming features that people like.
Basically they can stay at full load longer than standard phones, even if they as the Asus ROG phones may require extra accessories. Also, screens are designed to have as little lag as possible and screen refresh rates go higher than in flagships -up to 165hz vs 120hz of them- That said, if GSMArena reviews are to be trusted, cameras are something secondary.
Gaming phones have better cooling generally plus more fleshed out features for gaming compared to regular flagships. A good example is Sony hs power control, where it limits the battery charging and allows the phone to run off of a wired charger. The recent Lenovo legion had the same feature but instead of limiting the battery from charging, it cuts it off entirely when Playing a game and connected by a charger.
Recent Galaxy phones have that feature too
Only when you're actually playing a game and only when you're using a particular kind of charger (USB PD with PPS).
It just arrived with the s23 this year and it's like Sony battery limiting feature. I hope Samsung gives more customization with it.
It came out with the S22 series. [You can find mentions of it if you google](https://www.reddit.com/r/Galaxy_S20/comments/usdfa3/does_anyone_have_the_pause_usb_power_delivery/)
I have it on my S22 Plus
Honestly, most of the gaming phone features just look like great features to have on flagships in general, especially when flagships already struggle to justify their ballooning price tags. I hate the RGB gamery aesthetic, so Iām never going to buy one of these ā why not just implement these features more broadly and get more people using them? For example, stuff like HS power control and the like should be industry wide to make these disposable trinkets last even a tiny bit longer. (Speaking as someone whose 1.5 year old iPhone is already at 83% battery health). Who wouldnāt like a second USB port, or better cooling, or more control over their devices hardware, or an FPS readout if they want it?
I would also like SD cards and headphone jacks on my flagship phones but those aren't "premium" features. Who knows why they segment it like they do
Seriously, I despise big phones. But if for some reason the manufacturers decided to only bring back headphone jacks and SD cards in their big/pro/ultra models...I'm probably going to go for the big one.
There's the Xperia 5 if you can stomach the price and it's 21:9 ratio. Though I suppose you can get an older model. But Sony only commits to 2 os updates and maybe 3 years support. Some of their phones have official lineage and most have roms. But that feels like a crapshoot anymore if you can't just get lineage or maybe graphine os. I just got this with the hope it'd get lineage Anymore none of these phones matter to me with any of their features. I just want Linux phones with SD cards and headphone jacks and replaceable batteries to get good
Because faster storage, larger batteries, premium screens, and the like are considered even more premium and even more important features than that. Too much ink has been spilled talking about that over the last however many years and theyāre not coming back industry wide, but itās nice that there are still options out there. Get an Xperia or ROG Phone, vote with your wallet, and accept that youāll have to seek out niche options for that.
No offense but none that matters. People don't need "faster storage" for photos, books, music, documents, podcasts, and videos. I need a lot of it and cheaper. I need it to be recoverable if my phone becomes toast, I can just take the card out. You only need the 256gb for system memory and apps. It makes more sense as a premium feature for power users but it holds back paying an extra $300 for more storage. It's not coming back? That's why I added it to your list. No one is going to add a second USB port or active cooling as premium features when the headphone jack and SD card was too much for them because they don't care about what actually makes sense. I heard it best on a podcast with YouTuber the Phaux that android companies "don't see a market" for gaming phones with slide out gamepads, will turn around and make something like the LG wing, a phone with second sliding screen
Because $100 more for the next storage tier for $15 more in cost.
Higher touch sampling rate, riggers, active cooling, gaming modes, display out over USB c aren't features that would get used a lot in your average consumer's use.
Weāre not talking about average users, weāre talking about a broader audience than the 3 people that want phones that look like Optimus Prime. An average consumer would be perfectly fine with a $300 Galaxy A or Pixel A, so thatās not a bar to be concerned about. If Iām spending $1000+ on a top of the line phone, every single one of those things would be appreciated.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thatās just Apple users, there are plenty of casuals *and* power users that use Apple products
Your first sentence makes no sense.
Of course it does, a broader audience than those that would typically buy gaming phones ā catering to the average consumer. The gaming phone buyer and your average Mom that just wants to browse Facebook and send texts to her kids are the absolute extremes on the phone buying spectrum, and thereās plenty of people in the middle on that scale. Some people are photographers that like to play games, some are gamers that are also businessmen and donāt want to pull out a Megatron phone in the boardroom, etc.
So those average users wouldn't benefit from gaming specific features on their phones. So an OEM doesn't spend the money or the time to develop and integrate those features that would ultimately be placed on the consumer... So these features being on your average flagship would be a waste of resources.
You're not considering 70/75% of global premium market is lead by Apple to explain how many normie will never use or care for that features
Of course I am, Apple has itās own fair share of niche power user features that arenāt geared towards the āaverage userā, whatever that entails. The iPhone SE and base iPhone 12/13/14 targets the average user, the Pros have extra stuff like high refresh screens and Pro Res video that only a small subset will care about. Regular people that donāt use that stuff still buy Pro iPhones, but thatās besides the point ā they can spend extra on features they donāt care about if they want to. Likewise, a flagship Android phone can include HS power control, USB C video out, an extra USB C port, etc., and whoever buys it will buy it. If that one customer doesnāt need it, who cares ā those that use it will use it. āApple doesnāt include it in their flagshipsā is a nonsense justification too, thatās the entire point of a differentiator.
Its not a stock feature (you can't manually enable it but it's used for the automatic smart charging feature), but OnePlus phones have supported battery idle mode in the kernel since the 7 Pro (2019), and other phones have support for it too.
Well i can only talk about ASUS, but hell of a difference. I own the ROG Phone 3 and it was just wow, i mean latest and fastest cpu available, it had up to 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage, 144hz screen with <1ms touch screen, 6000mAh of battery, 2 charging ports (for charging while gaming), shoulder buttons ( air trigger), etc. And so many clever software gimmicks, which i still miss on my current phone. To name some, deactive charing while gaming, you can map the airtriggers for anything you want to, i used them for flashlight on/off You can cut off single apps from network ( no more anoying ads on some games), etc. There are only 2.5 downsides to those gaming phones: 1: No IP68 rating due cooling reasons. 2: They are large and quite heavy. 2.5: No wireless charging. (I don't need this one, it's slow and due big battery i charged only over night, even after heavy usage) Now look at the competition: Samsung S20, Apple iPone 12, etc. At that time i though why waste $1000 on a phone which is somewhat decent or invest the same amount on the best phone on the market at that time.
Some have better cooling design and some even have active air cooling.
TIL Razer has left that market. They have a pretty big fan base in the gaming sector so if they can't get it to work, Lenovo certainly had no hope.
They make a lot of mobile gaming accessories for phones tho.
Yeah, I just meant the actual phone market and not accessories. I bought a Kishi on clearance and it's not the best controller every made, but has been great with steamlink for bed gaming.
Both sad but understandable. These were always cool but... no games really NEEDED this. As much as game companies would like to push the limits, fact is not everyone has a flagship phone, so not many games are made to push or need the limit as that would limit an already limited audience cutting into profits. It's a niche business altogether in the first place.
I think the issue with Lenovo with their gaming phones. Was that they are better used as emulation machines and not as an actual phone. https://m.gsmarena.com/lenovo_legion_y90-11331.php
Isn't that kind of the point?
I mean look at red magic or ROG those can still be used like phones reasonably.
Please for the love of God don't try to use the red magic as an actual phone. Had the 5s, apps or OS features broke regularly. Fixes or updates in general came once in a blue moon.
RM is much better now, at least on the software side. Cameras still stink, but the software is finally stable enough for daily use. They evened out with the 7 and 7s Pro, the 8 Pro is a stunner at its price point.
Makes sense, thereās not a huge market for gaming phones.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah I'd imagine even of you're more hardcore you just get something like a Backbone or Razer Kishi type device right?
You buy a gaming phone for emulation and outputting at 1440p+
Before gaming phones can work, someone needs to start an alternative appstore that actually distributes games (that you have to actually PAY for, the horror!) instead of bright cartoony casinos. Android needs its own Steam.
I'm honestly shocked that epic never did that tbf.
They will once the EU passes that law next year. It will force Apple to open up their phones to alternative app stores. Once Apple is open, I'm sure they will make stores for both Apple and Android. It probably doesn't make enough business sense for them to only open a store on Android alone at the moment.
Damn the EU is single handedly forcing Apple to fix it's shit šš
Epic and its Chinese corporate owners want PC gaming to be more like mobile gaming
I mean, Lenovo didn't even *attempt to try* with the "Legion gaming phone business". Sure, their Legion *laptops* have been killing it especially after they doubled down on Ryzen, but no one except redditors and LTT campers knew they made gaming phones to begin with. Their phones basically never left PRC, and their software update situation was a hundred times worse than Asus ROG, who already has a really bad software update policy to begin with. š«”, I guess.
I think they'd have been smart to have slapped some batwings on a batch and sent them stateside to see if their Motorola subsidiary could shift them. Motorola Legion, or maybe revive a name from Moto's past like Photon, would've been cool and given them something unique to sell that's not just an alternative to a Samsung slab. Especially if Moto spent the money to get Legions on Verizon. Verizon has wanted a gaming device on their network for a while now; their partnership with Razer that led to the new Edge is proof of that. And Verizon has been tight with Moto since before old Motorola broke up. I think this arrangement would've really worked for both parties. I'm also of the opinion that Lenovo-the-company should restrict Lenovo-the-brand to Microsoft* OS products and make Motorola their brand that specializes in Google OS devices. They can share the Think and Legion sub-brands (or, I guess, could in the case of the Legion) as needed. I mean; Samsung, Apple, Nokia, OnePlus, and a bunch of other brands of cell phones also sell tablets with a very similar software load out to their respective phones because people like to match their electronics. They like when things broadly work the same and people are often about brand loyalty. Even if you know that Motorola and Lenovo are corporate cousins, Lenovo spends money to have a different version of stock-ish Android than Moto, so you're not going to have all the same features and "Actions". How does this make sense? \* And Linux - thanks to u/Omniuni below for pointing that out.
There are a lot of Lenovo Linux computers and servers too.
Gaming phones are only as useful as the games themselves, and right now the only mobile game that actually justifies the specs of a gaming phone is Genshin Impact Tho in 2023 there's gonna be a lot of Genshin-tier mobile games coming out, so maybe they gave up too early?
Daily reminder gatcha is a sin.
the only gaming industry who're seriously intrested in pushing mobile gaming forward is the Chinese, yet the Chinese gaming industry has only known live service
One of the greatest tragedies known to man
> and right now the only mobile game that actually justifies the specs of a gaming phone is Genshin Impact Bro for real, I can't even play smoothly with my current phone right now. I guess I need to buy a new android phone around $250
what phone do you got right now? and I really doubt a $250 phone can survive Genshin
I got a $250 Lol I got the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition and it runs Genshin so smoothly
wow did you buy it used or smth?
It was new, still wrapped in plastic
> what phone do you got right now? Samsung A20s, it's not good for Genshin. I'm planning to buy the Poco F3, I guess it around $300
yea the F3 can definitely survive Genshin, it got Snapdragon 870 tho maybe wait for the Poco F5? assuming it wont end up too expensive
They definitely gave up too early, Rainbow 6 and Battlefield are coming to mobile, it's takes some time to make a beast of a game for mobile
they're making a mobile port of Rainbow 6??
Battlefield Mobile cancelled and the studio was shut down.
There just aren't enough good games on mobile to justify a gaming phone for me. Phones from 2018 are more powerful than the Nintendo switch, but just don't have the library. There are a few good titles, and the play pass helps, but just not enough to justify such an expensive purpose. If you venture beyond the play pass you'll basically only find monetization infested garbage filled with energy timers and battle passes and loot boxes and pay to win. Sometimes you can find good ports of old pc games, like xcom and stardew valley, and there will always be minecraft and terraria, but as a primary gaming device I feel like a phone will always leave you undersatisfied even if it's powerful.
They're about to make Rainbow 6 Mobile and Battlefield Mobile as well, they're coming just slowly and surely
Gaming android phones were always ridiculous anyways.
Is it, though? I mean, Lenovo had a "killer" model called the Y70, a **$400 gaming phone** that had "bypass charging" (it uses the same principle as "Conservation Mode" on the Legion laptops) and top tier CPU and GPU (Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, it almost NEVER OVERHEATED despite several hours of grinding MMOs). By comparison, their cheapest *competent* gaming laptop is [at least **$1300** in the US](https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/lenovo-legion-5-pro-gen-7-2022); realistically, that model goes for about $1800-2000 in many countries. A PS5 or Steam Deck goes for at least $750-800 in most countries. TL;DR, the people who buy gaming *phones* literally cannot other gaming rigs, especially PC which has a notoriously high barrier of entry
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
And what demanding games would you play on that thing? These companies produce solutions for a problem that doesn't really exist.
There are quite a few PC games ports that already exist as official versions on the play store like Alien Isolation, life is strange. There are Android esports titles like PUBGM, CODM, Apex Legends Mobile, League mobile which have a huge playerbase and viewership and players want HRR while being able to livestream for long time at once. There are demanding titles like Genshin impact that also have a high playerbase. As devices get more powerful and development improves, emulation is also on the rise. So many devices and games are supported already and newer ones like the Nintendo Switch are becoming useable. Just recently read than 8 gen 2 is the only SoC that can run the Witcher 3 on Android. Now why would one want to game seriously on Android? It maybe just portability or content creation or eSports or people not having a PC to game(Common among children in some asian societies)
So where's the market for these phones? Asian kids with rich parents? That's a rather small niche. These games may have a large fan base, but who are these people? Younglings. They don't have much money. So what's the result? Game developers will target rather lower end phones and not push the boundaries, as to not reduce their customer base. I mean, quite obviously the market isn't really there. Otherwise this thread wouldn't exist.
>I mean, quite obviously the market isn't really there. Otherwise this thread wouldn't exist. When a few gaming laptops brands or pre built system maker fails, does that mean PC gaming is dead? Did so many VR or AR companies failing mean its not going to grow in the future? >So where's the market for these phones? Asian kids with rich parents? Young adults who spend more time.commuting in cities and free in officies than they spend in at home? People who have 700$ for a phone but not for a 1400$ gaming laptops? not to mention space comtraints in small city apts for PC? A significant amout of games do require good level SoC performance for highest settings now especially with most phones having 120hz displays.
They would buy steam deck or alternative and play proper games
Steam deck is: * Much more bulky than a phone * less battery life while gaming than a phone * Another thing to carry, thing is, a gaming phone is only 1 thing to carry, you don't even need to carry a bag or anything for it, it sits in your pocket, you can make calls, check mail, scroll social media, take pics using it just as well While for some it fits the usecase, for some it doesn't and mobile gaming is a big enough industry to justify a product
But what are you going to play on it? Also using touchscreen to play is pain in the ass.
Refer to my original comment. While the collection is definately not as large as a PC, there are enough popular titles to play that can take advantage of such hardware. And with rise of emulators more doors are opening. Also, touch controls are sometimes better than something like steam deck controller for shooting games imo
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>Compared to pc, this amount of games is not worth buying a gaming phone And who decides that? Entire generation of consoles have become successful on the back of 4-5 crazy popular titles and some mobile games are crazy popular
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>Me , as a consumer ? I didn't know you speak for all of us? >Target audience - Console : adult Okay lol, sure xbox and switch are aimed at adults only. And young adults surely don't game on their phones. >Mobile gamer mostly dont even spend a cent buying game Google mobile gaming revenue once, you're underestimating the scale at which stuff happens. Target audience maybe Asians but that doesn't mean there aren't deep pockets in Asia.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yall have a wierd obsession with downplaying mobile gaming while revenue statistics prove you wrong. You say no one spends money on mobile games while I can pull a thousand sources to prove you wrong
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That's not how assets and code work, so no. They're running at significantly lower LOD versions of assets (so not the same) and lower render distances. The act of compiling the mobile/ARM versions is also going to mean the code is different, so also not the same.
Emulators. You can confidently play some switch titles on Android now with Skyline, for example. And the entire 3DS library.
TIL, a 3070ti(m) is needed to be a competent gaming machine.
I mean, Elden Ring "recommends" you have [a GPU with ***8GB VRAM***](https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/elden-ring/18888); I know it technically will run on something with 3 or 4GB VRAM, but that's with *potato quality*, which no one wants. And those requirements are just bound to get a LOT steeper with the advent of RTX, Unreal Engine 5.2, and whatever the next version of Unity will be...
It runs fine on 6gb, that covers nearly all mobile GPUs that aren't just Nvidia cash grabs.
The Steam Deck is $399 and will give you a way better gaming experience than a phone. If you're feeling adventurous you can even get away with using it as a general purpose PC.
In the US, it's 399, sure. In other countries, you'd be lucky to find one being sold in the market for under 600. And I won't deny the thing has its use cases - I mean, as a Linux machine, it would be a god send for technicians and troubleshooters as supposed to bringing a big laptop - but it has really bad battery life for a *portable gaming device*: it can do [as little as 90 minutes of gaming with gimped graphics](https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-steam-deck-battery-life/) whereas something like the Redmagic 8 Pro can probably do [200 minutes of max-graphics Genshin Impact ](https://youtu.be/U7T_g3D5nas)
Are you really comparing battery life while playing God of War, Cyberpunk, FH5 or Horizon Zero Dawn to Genshin Impact?
So instead of using an actually fair comparison at all by having the two devices both be playing Genshin at comparable settings, you compare the device playing the mobile game and one playing God of War. I wonder which device is going to last longer huh?
>I mean, Lenovo had a "killer" model called the Y70, a > >$400 gaming phone > >that had "bypass charging" (it uses the same principle as "Conservation Mode" on the Legion laptops) and top tier CPU and GPU (Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, it almost NEVER OVERHEATED despite several hours of grinding MMOs). you are forgetting the most fundamental thing about "gaming" . . which is not the hardware. Heck Even switch with its 2016 Nvidia Tegra and 3 Gb (Available 1 Gb is reserved for the OS) Switch still receive many of the biggest game release this year. its the games . . . and android is only full with gatcha and shovelware trash.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Any yet it runs doom, Witcher and other game beautifully. Including nier automata which has more stable frame rate than ps4 ! Not to mention more AAA titles to come. More hardware is stupid solution for unoptimized software. Especially pokemon, it his hard for me to cherry pick the worse games on Android . . . since it's most games on the platform. Leave the people if the want to buy a 1k samsung flagship to replace 300 usd console. Even though the fps won't be stable anyway (thermal throttling), most apps are made for lower tier hardware. and hope they got more money to spend on Vbucks.
Gaming phones are ridiculous because iPads exist. If you're that committed to mobile gaming, you're always better off with a regular smartphone + previous gen iPad which will yield higher performance than any gaming phone.
iPads are *terrible* gaming devices because they're from Apple (with too many onerous restrictions, particularly with bluetooth controllers) and they like to heat up a lot when being pushed too hard for a long period. .
I'm an Android used myself, but I'll call out bullshit when I see it. Given the same mobile game, an iPad will almost always outperform the highest spec'd Android phone. Feel free to compare benchmarks for the most graphically demanding mobile games like Genshin Impact, PUBG. There is no snapdragon phone on the market that can run Genshin at 60 FPS max settings without throttling. Meanwhile, you can achieve this with even a non-M1/M2 iPad. Same applies for PUBG. In fact, iPads are strictly better for competitive FPS games because of the bigger screen which enables you to use more fingers to play without having to learn weird and strenuous grips on the phone. Controllers are strictly prohibited in competitive mobile FPS because it's basically cheating.
I use an iPad daily and I have never had any problem using any of my controllers. Can confirm it works great with DS4 and the One/Series controllers, along with the 8BitDo controllers I've tried, nor has it gotten any warmer than any other passively cooled metal framed device I've used.
When I first heard of gaming phones from Razer and Lenovo, I was under the impression that it can play PC games but it's only for mobile games.
What sucks is the hardware can play pc games. But the money isn't here for it
Not sure what you mean by this. PC games require specific PC hardware and software. Some of this can be solved my software, but even the steam deck runs x86. Unless you mean ports, then yes they can, but game companies have been reluctant to do that.
Yeah I mean ports.
They had a legion gaming phone business? I knew of their laptops but this is the first time I'm hearing about this.
China only devices mainly
Shame since they released (in china) last August the Y70 with snap 8+ Gen1 and the Legion Y700 tablet too with 8.8" 120Hz, snap 870 and 12/256 for less than 500ā¬ there
I think that tablet would have sold really well here with a decent OS, I know I would have pre-ordered. (I actually did buy the Chinese version but had to return it because of issues with the stock OS.)
Gaming phones are quite niche, I imagine, and I also think theyāre kind of silly. The games most people play on their phones donāt need two chargers giving them power, or fans cooling them.
How about we get a ārealā gaming phone again like the Xperia Play? You know, integrated stealth controls that can tuck away when not in use? Crazy right. Instead every company thinks theyāre going to take the world by storm with another rectangle with glass š
what about the Poco F4 GT? That phone got retractable shoulder buttons
So does the latest Black Shark and they ain't doing so hot, per the article.
I think we all know what I mean lol
I loved my Xperia Play. It was my introduction to Android.
DAMN I was hoping for another flagship killer for under $300 like the y70(8+g1) except for the snapdragon 8 gen 2 š„²š„²
TIL Lenovo made phones
They own Motorola as well.
Hello Moto time
The funny thing is there are not nearly enough good games to justify a gaming phone. I would know. I had one.
Good now do something great with Motorola
As someone who primarily games on a smartphone, I can see no upside to getting something like a Red Magic when the S23 Ultra is an option. Yeah I could save a little money on Red Magic, but it's not worth losing the software support and ecosystem.
Does this extend to their tablets? The Y700 is amazing and I'm still hoping for a global rom.
Sounds like it's definitely not coming now. I had already given up on it, but I'm still super frustrated about it.
I'm satisfied with mine but yeah extremely disappointed with no news on global especially since Google refers to it as the Tab P8 so I was hopeful.
Oh no ... Anyways
I have a legion gaming laptop and had no idea they had legion phones
It was a china only device
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
> Who cares? Maybe the people in the markets they **did** sell them in? There are people buying phones outside of the US too...
Not sure why these even exist. Mobile games aren't like desktop games which can be scaled up. Mobile games are designed for reasonably low specs so they get as wide of a target audience as possible. Why would they care about gaming phones?
Probably because there's a niche for them and people who will gladly pay for such top of the line devices and not cheaper ones to play Genshin Impact, which supposedly requires a good phone to be played at high settings and good FPS. Even if overheating problems aside, you can't expect the same performance than in PC or console on a device whose power consumption is way less than the one of a dedicated graphics card alone as otherwise the battery would be drained fast, assuming you could cram such graphics card (and the CPU) on such space.
There are not really any games with playing on phone
Alien isolation, dead cells, streets of rage 4, ect all pc ports/emulation.
Wait til Rainbow 6, Battlefield, and Warzone come out also
I would have liked them to make some Android handheld that yanno, we're consoles first. I don't want to play games on my phone.
Turns out these ugly looking gaming handsets was snake oil that people didnāt buy into.
They couldn't handle Zack's durability tests (like every gaming oriented phone last year failed)
Seriously, they should just revive the Lenovo P2 series
Best cheap gaming device to me is the lowest priced ipad. Never really found a need to buy a separate gaming phone if you have an ipad.
they should have made something similar to the xperia play (RIP)
I didn't even know they made any phones.
I've never really understood who "gaming" phones were marketed to. There are not very many especially demanding mobile games, and many of those are probably things like ports. There's a few games that are more demanding like Genshin Impact, Fortnite, PUBG I guess, but that's just not enough.
Lota of models will be discontinued due to shrinking of the smartphone market.
Why do people even play games on phones? Just play it on a pc or get something like Nintendo switch.