Ayaneo Pocket AIR Is the Firm's First Android Handheld

In a live stream today, Chinese handheld gaming PC specialist Ayaneo unveiled its first device aimed at Android gaming. The new Ayaneo Pocket AIR looks a lot like the company's previous Windows-powered handhelds, but it manages to be thinner and lighter. Also, thanks to the Arm architecture, and retaining the "Windows handheld grade" battery, it is suggested that users can enjoy games "without worrying about battery life."

Android and Windows handheld markets may not really have a lot of overlap. On Tom's Hardware, we look most closely at PCs and PC gaming. PC AAA games titles are quite different from the library available on Android, except some common casual titles (and streaming services). 

Thus we think many readers won't be interested in this type of device for Android gaming, or games streaming, especially when they have powerful smartphones already. Nevertheless this device is worth a closer look to see Ayaneo's efforts in trying to jump into the Android market and compare the device with its Windows-powered lineage.

Starting with the basics, the Ayaneo Pocket AIR has a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED screen. The processor used is a 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 1200, which has 1x Ultra Core (Arm Cortex-A78 up to 3.0 GHz), 3x Super Cores (Arm Cortex-A78 up to 2.6 GHz), and 4x Efficiency Cores (Arm Cortex-A55 up to 2.0 GHz). Inside MediaTek's SoC there is also an Arm Mali-G77 MC9 GPU, support for various codecs, 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and more. Despite the flagship smartphone guts, Ayaneo says that the Pocket AIR has an "x86-level powerful active cooling system." 

Similarly, it says this compact new device uses a "Windows handheld grade" battery, at 7,350mAh. Sadly, it hasn't been forthcoming with screen-on-time gaming endurance figures, so we will have to wait and see about extended battery life claims.

We have some physical details of the Ayaneo Pocket AIR to share, too. With its 5.5-inch screen you shouldn't expect a very hefty device, but at 380 g (13.4-ounces) it is about twice as heavy as a common-or-garden smartphone. The device's 'waist' is 17 mm thick. Ayaneo asserts that the Pocket AIR "fits easily in your pocket."

As the Ayaneo Pocket AIR is a pre-release, pre-crowdfunding stage device at the time of writing, we don't seem to have a great depth of specs, so details about memory and storage options seem to be absent right now.

Some other interesting details we have access to though, concern the controls. In brief, buyers of the Ayaneo Pocket AIR should expect a very similar extensive control set. So, here we have lots of buttons and pads including hall sensing joysticks and triggers, and there is the SoundTapMagic audio vibration system, an X-axis linear motor, and six-axis gyroscope included for your gaming delights.

On top of the Android installation, Ayaneo has ported its Windows gaming UI app, AYAHome, as well as the AYASpace management app. Another software nicety is the Ayaneo Cloud Game Database for retro gaming fans.

Running emulators looks like a focus of fun on the Ayaneo Pocket AIR, as there are many slides on the Ayaneo blog and Pocket AIR product pages highlighting this aspect of the device. Even its color scheme with "classic red and white," harks back to the 8- and 16-bit eras.

We don't have pricing or availability for the upcoming Ayaneo Pocket AIR. At the time of writing the firm is asking for sign-ups for news of its Indiegogo campaign launch. Let's hope it is priced competitively, to give this device some impulse purchase appeal. We've seen a lot of pricey handhelds from this firm recently, but it has made some sub-$300 devices in the past.