- Ayaneo is making its first Android phone
- Dubbed Pocket Play, this is a gaming phone with physical swipe controls like the Xperia Play.
- Details are scarce, but it will launch on Kickstarter soon.
If you miss the days when you could buy a portable console that was also a phone, like the Xperia Play and N-Gage, then there’s a new phone you’ll probably be interested in.
Ayaneo, known for making retro handheld consoles, is all set to make its first Android phone, called Pocket Play, and the company has now shown off the design of this device.
As with the Xperia Play, you can slide the screen up to reveal physical controls, including a D-pad, a pair of circular touchpads, ABXY buttons, and two shoulder buttons on either side, hidden on the back.
So unlike today’s best gaming phones, which are still primarily touchscreen, this one has a full set of physical buttons, plus a touchscreen.
This design will probably mean that the Ayaneo Pocket Play will be a bit chunky, but it will certainly take up less space than carrying a smartphone and a handheld console, so if you’re the type to do that, this could be an attractive alternative.
There is no information on specifications.
Unfortunately, we don’t know much more about it yet: there are no specs, no pricing, not even a release date, other than the “launching soon” claim on Kickstarter. But presumably that’s when you’ll be able to back it up, so it’ll probably be a while longer before it actually ships.
Still, at least that should mean we’ll learn a lot more about the Ayaneo Pocket Play soon, and in the meantime, there’s an option on the Kickstarter page to notify you when the project launches.
And while this will surely be niche, it’s nice to see some variety among smartphones, rather than them all being almost identical blocks.
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