The era of portable gaming has reached its peak, and everyone wants to be the go-to manufacturer for their portable device. The Steam Deck and ROG Ally were among the first options we ever had, but over the past couple of years, competition has created pressure to improve. As a result, we’re seeing more capable portable gaming devices emerge, including some that look and function almost identically to the Game Boy Advance. Ayaneo’s Pocket S, a new gaming device joining the portable ranks, has been making waves when it was announced as the most powerful Android portable gaming device yet. Its spec sheet isn’t small, but neither is its price tag.
Ayanyo Pocket S
The Ayaneo Pocket S combines a stunning portable form factor with unparalleled mobile gaming power. It’s the first Android mobile device to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 chipset, which supports smooth simulation and amazing streaming-based gaming. Plus, the 7-hour battery life for a gaming mobile of this caliber is impressive.
- Hall effect triggers
- Great battery life for a portable device.
- a great offer
- Handles 60fps smoothly.
- No 3.5mm jack
- It gets very hot with more intense games.
- Rough software
Price, availability and specifications
The Ayaneo Pocket S is available for pre-order on Indiegogo, and comes in black and white, with a 1080p or 1440p display, and storage options of 128GB, 512GB, and 1TB. There are two LPDDR5X RAM options: 16GB or 12GB.
The Pocket S ranges in price from $559 to $799, including all of these versions plus a non-special limited edition version. However, there are early bird deals during pre-orders. For this review, I was testing the 1440p, 16GB, and 512GB versions.
What’s good about Ayaneo Pocket S?
Most of the Pocket S’ value lies in the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 chip.
The Ayaneo Pocket S is beautifully designed. Even if this portable device lacks in every other aspect, it sets the standard for build quality for future Ayaneo portables and competing devices. It’s similar in shape to the Switch Lite (but slightly taller), with a 6-inch bezel-less display dominating the front.
The size is a nice step up from my Steam Deck when I want portability or a lighter weight. However, the controls on both sides are all in one line and generally arranged tightly, so those with larger hands or longer fingers may find the layout challenging.
Despite its small size, the Pocket S is heavy, featuring a metal frame and a full glass panel on the front. Battery life is excellent compared to other portable devices. With a larger internal battery capacity than the Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and Asus ROG Ally, the Pocket S lasts for between 5 and 7 hours, depending on settings.
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The Pocket S is currently the most powerful Android mobile device you can buy. Slowness, stuttering, and lag were never an issue. I particularly liked the toggle that puts the Pocket S into high-performance mode. Sticking to 60 frames per second with mostly high graphics settings, the Pocket S’s display and power are truly commendable.
However, you can play in the console’s Balanced mode, which tweaks settings to maintain a smoother frame rate and longer battery life.
The Ayaneo Pocket S got quite warm during almost every testing session, whether during emulation, streaming, or running a native app like Genshin Impact. While it handled the internal temperature well — thanks to active cooling and a vapor chamber under the hood — the heat coming out of the back and sides was noticeable.
The fan noise isn’t unbearable, but you’ll notice it on a quiet subway or in the library when the Pocket S starts to sweat. The device’s maximum volume isn’t loud enough to drown out the fan noise, so it’s still really noticeable as it speeds up if you’re playing without a headset.
Customizable inputs allow you to play almost any game using the touch controls or physical buttons of your choice. For example, you can map different areas of the touch screen and register them to the physical controls. Then when you press a physical control, a corresponding input occurs in the touch area of that control. It’s a crude translation and has its limitations, but it still helps make some games more playable.
The same goes in reverse: you can layer AXBY keys, D-pads, and analog sticks on the touchscreen, and touching the layers registers input for the corresponding control. Again, this isn’t completely foolproof, especially with joysticks, but it’s a great option if you find one type of control particularly buggy in a particular game, or you just need a different form of input for comfort, hand size, or accessibility.
What’s bad about Ayaneo Pocket S?
Learning curve that may scare casual users
Players who are only used to closed-system consoles, like Valve’s Steam Deck or the Nintendo Switch, should expect a steep learning curve. Emulators can already be difficult to master, and the Pocket S doesn’t make the process much easier.
To make matters worse, the Ayaneo Pocket S wasn’t Google Play Protect certified at the time of testing, so Play Store apps weren’t usable. I know there are ways around this, but I sincerely hope this certification issue is fixed in time for widespread use. Even the Ayaneo Pocket Air, a cheaper Android phone that we enjoyed a lot, didn’t suffer from this issue.
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The experience isn’t without its bugs, either. One major issue was that controls would stop when exiting certain apps, with Steam Link and Dolphin Emulator being the main culprits. Ayaneo confirmed that this was an issue with certain apps that exclusively control the mobile controller. While the brand said that closing the app entirely or putting the screen to sleep and then restarting it would fix the issue, the only fix that worked for me was a full reboot.
The device’s settings are split into Android menus and Ayaneo’s AYA menus. The latter are mostly used for quick access to frequently used settings, though the selection is odd: account information and software updates make sense, but there are odd inclusions like changing the system language (how often do you do that?) and switching between international and Chinese servers. The device lacks key settings like the Internet menu, while others are partially accessible through the AYA settings menu (for example, you can calibrate the joysticks here but not change the sensitivity).
Should you buy it?
The Pocket S has impressed me in many ways but disappointed me in others. The hardware is fast, and the Play Protect restriction seems unacceptable, even if it’s just an early setback. The Pocket S is a good emulator, but it’s expensive. It does an excellent job of expanding old GameCube, PlayStation 2, and similar games, and the built-in Pegasus and Emulation Station software might be useful to you. But there are other emulators that work just as well, as well as several that lower the learning threshold quite steeply, and I’m not sure you need all the power of the Pocket S just to emulate.
I’m a big fan of retro gaming, so I’ve invested the time and energy into the Pocket S and overcome its current shortcomings. There are plenty of other gamers who want to do the same and might consider this device an opportunity to experiment and test solutions.
However, for casual gamers who want a device capable of streaming games or running Android mobile titles efficiently, it may be better to upgrade to a more powerful phone (if you don’t already have one), like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and buy a portable gaming console and an external cooling component. At least that way, you’ll have a good portable gaming device, and a reliable Play Protect certification, And Phone for the daily driver.
There’s no way to sugarcoat it: the Ayaneo Pocket S is overpriced. The excellent build quality is the fuel that drives the good momentum, but we’re missing the spark that comes from a smooth, easy-to-digest user interface. I think this brand makes great controllers, but sometimes the cart comes before the horse. I just want Ayaneo to stop giving us a new device until it’s polished inside and out.
Ayanyo Pocket S
The Ayaneo Pocket S is a powerful Android gaming handheld. Specs vary depending on the model, but with a 16GB RAM option and a 1440p display, along with a leading Snapdragon chip, this is one of the most powerful Android gaming handsets on the market.
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