Logitech's G Cloud gaming handheld arrives today with an obscene price tag 

At the tail end of August, leaks started popping up for a gaming handheld from Logitech. Not much was known at the time beyond what was surmised by a few screenshots shared by Evan Blass. We gathered that the Logitech G Cloud gaming handheld runs Android, and today it's been officially confirmed. That's right, it's the official launch day, and we have a boatload of info to share, including the price, and it's up there. So let's dig in and see precisely what Logitech's G Cloud gaming handheld has to offer now that it's officially on sale in the US and Canada, though orders won't ship until October.

As you can see from the image above, the Logitech G Cloud gaming handheld certainly looks like a typical portable gaming device. And really, that's the beauty of this machine; it can play Android games locally, thanks to the Snapdragon 720G, a chip made for gaming (hence the G). So just like your phone, you can play some of the best Android games out there with the G Cloud gaming handheld. But that's not all. Logitech is eyeballing those interested in game streaming and has even worked in cooperation with Microsoft and Nvidia to ensure the streaming component of the device works well. While apps like Stadia should also work fine, Logitech has chosen a limited group of streaming partners for its launch in the US and Canada, explaining why Stadia doesn't really get a mention in today's PR. More launch regions may come at some point, though I'd imagine this hinges on how well the streaming handheld sells in its initial markets.

Now for the nitty-gritty, the price and specs. The Logitech G Cloud gaming handheld retails for a whopping USD350 (currently discoutned to USD300), USD50 shy of the Steam Deck, and the exact same price as a new Nintendo Switch with an IPS screen. However, you do get a 7-inch 1920x1080 FHD 16:9 60Hz IPS screen, perfect for streaming 1080p content, and the screen can reach 450 nits so that it's viewable outdoors. You also get stereo speakers, stereo mics with built-in echo canceling, a legit 3.5mm headphone jack, bluetooth 5.1 support, and USB-C headphone support. Cap that off with the Snapdragon 720G, and you'll get a performant device that's fine for playing local Android games as well as streaming console/PC titles from a number of services.

The button layout mimics that of a typical Xbox layout, and yes, the rear triggers are analog, ideal for console-quality gaming, especially racers like Forza Horizon 5. More or less, the controls sound and look good, so here's hoping they feel good too.

All in all, it's very interesting to see Logitech entering into handheld gaming with a device designed to stream games. While game streaming is often seen as the red-headed stepchild of the gaming world, thanks to a history of iffy performance over the years, things have been improving by leaps and bounds recently, where Nvidia now offers 4K streams with high framerate support. Heck, even Microsoft has been making improvements, and despite the streaming service still existing in beta, Xbox Cloud Gaming streams have been working better and better lately.

So it would appear that a dedicated handheld for streaming games may actually be a viable purchase, but you'll first have to plunk down a large chuck of change, which is where some may feel trepidatious, though the current sale for USD300 is a little more palatable. Sure, a dedicated device to stream games that isn't a phone may be handy for those that require purpose-built devices, but at USD350, this becomes much less palatable. After all, game streaming is marketed across the board towards those who don't want to spend money on dedicated consoles, so you have to wonder who Logitech thinks will purchase the G Cloud gaming handheld, and perhaps the answer is in the fact it's only launching in the US and Canada. Clearly, we are the test, but it's anyone's guess if Logitech will come up roses. Seeing that the handheld doesn't ship until October 18th, hopefully Logitech will be out there over the next month showing everyone what its handheld can do.

( Details and picture courtesy from Source, the content is auto-generated from RSS feed.)

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