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AOKZOE are the latest to attempt a Steam Deck rival with the AOKZOE A1

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AOKZOE will be jumping in the handheld ring with their upcoming AOKZOE A1 AMD Ryzen 7 6800U portable that will offer either Windows 11 or SteamOS to perhaps rival the Steam Deck. They're a rather new company, so everything they're talking about and showing off should be taken with a rather large pinch of salt.

To go against the Steam Deck though they're not only going to have to be able to ship a lot of units, but actually have a price-point that isn't ridiculous like some other vendors. Considering Valve are ramping up shipments now, how is a brand new vendor going to cope?

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The specifications they list:

  • A combo of AMD Ryzen 7 6800U | Radeon 680M | LPDDR5X (Freq. 6400)
  • 8-inch IPS Screen, sRGB 100%, 1920 x 1200
  • Windows 11 or Steam OS
  • RGB Breathing Lighting
  • PD Charge
  • Gyroscope
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They said it will go up for pre-order in July and it's scheduled to start shipping in September.

I'm pretty skeptical of this, since they just popped up out of nowhere but perhaps worth keeping an eye on. Price is going to be the biggest question and currently they're not telling. Even so, if it was reasonably priced, trust is perhaps the second biggest question with such a new vendor.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Pengling Jun 29, 2022
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Quoting: CatKillerbecause it's got the janky asymmetric sticks.
It's a little hard for me to see so I could well be mistaken (and hope I am), but they also look an awful lot like Nintendo Switch sticks, which are misdesigned such that they break super-easily if you breathe in their general direction. If they're using aftermarket Switch sticks (and some of these handhelds do - it's the only flaw of some of the ARM-Linux Anbernic handhelds, for example), then you'd have to open this thing up to replace the sticks every handful of months.
randyl Jun 29, 2022
Quoting: Pengling
Quoting: CatKillerbecause it's got the janky asymmetric sticks.
It's a little hard for me to see so I could well be mistaken (and hope I am), but they also look an awful lot like Nintendo Switch sticks, which are misdesigned such that they break super-easily if you breathe in their general direction. If they're using aftermarket Switch sticks (and some of these handhelds do - it's the only flaw of some of the ARM-Linux Anbernic handhelds, for example), then you'd have to open this thing up to replace the sticks every handful of months.
It's an Xbox controller layout style. The joysticks are asymmetric with the A, X, Y, B to the upper right and an actual D-Pad to the lower right. Sorry the images are so big. I couldn't figure out how to resize them with this forum code.


Pengling Jun 29, 2022
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Quoting: randylIt's an Xbox controller layout style. The joysticks are asymmetric with the A, X, Y, B to the upper right and an actual D-Pad to the lower right. Sorry the images are so big. I couldn't figure out how to resize them with this forum code.
That ok. I do know what type of layout it is (and I favour it personally) - I was just referring to the physical stick parts themselves.
Tuxee Jun 29, 2022
Quoting: GuestI agree it seems super rushed... If Valve expects a lot of 3rd party hardware vendors jumping in they need to start a verified process, so junk companies don't make SteamOS look bad. Just to clarify I don't mean they should block other vendors, but have a list of tested hardware from vendors they trust for us customers.

How? SteamOS is open source and can potentially be slapped onto any hardware out there.
slaapliedje Jun 29, 2022
Quoting: setzer22I always get a sentiment of "us vs them" when the Steam Deck is covered in these articles. Rightfully so, perhaps, since Valve is the first company to really put the effort to support Linux handheld PC gaming. But I wouldn't call the competition's prices "ridiculous". The price point of many of these devices is not so bad once you factor in some hidden costs in the steam deck. If I had to choose I would say I still prefer the deck overall, but not by much. It's not like competition is 2x more expensive as some make it out to be.

When compared to the Steam Deck, GPD and Aya Neo ship similar hardware, but their machines often come with 1TB storage and a screen protector. If you factor in the cost of a 500GB SD card plus the d-brand screen protector that's easily an additional 100 bucks on top of the $650 of the high-tier deck. And there's also the dock hasn't been released yet, but I bet that's going to be another $80 on top at the very least. All things considered, that's slightly over $800.

If we're talking about the cheapest Steam Deck model, now that's an entirely different thing. But I've seen too many people complain about the price of the competition while getting the highest tier of the steam deck because "64 GB is not enough" to be a bit skeptical once I hear those comparisons.

GPD Win 3 shipped for $900 during the indiegogo campaign with screen protector, 1TB SSD and **dock included**, so if you're going for the "full premium package", you can really see how the Deck is not that much cheaper, all things considered.
It is more accurate to say that the Steam Deck's price is ridiculously low. Any of the ~1k handhelds that are coming out have only a fraction of the Deck's input options. A motherboard with a display and an xbox controller attached isn't a 1:1 match for what the Deck has.
elmapul Jun 29, 2022
un professional presentation, the company appear from nowhere... and the name is quite bad.
not inspiring confidence, but i hope its a real project not an scam, for the sake of anyone puting money into that thing.
Whitewolfe80 Jun 29, 2022
yeah not a surprise mobile real games machines have been popular again since the switch still doesnt appeal to me but my uni days are behind me so when get time to game am always at home with my desktop but for younger gamers can totally see the appeal
Lanz Jun 30, 2022
They appear to be lacking a lot of the buttons/controls the Steam Deck offers. Ie, no digital aiming input is a big one. They will have to undercut the Steam Deck considerably to make up for this.
mr-victory Jun 30, 2022
They didn't showcase anything Linux. IMO if they ship with Linux which I see unlikely it will be a sub par experience with serious problems.
I hope they aren't thinking that they can just slap SteamOS and sell it like how they do with Win11.


Last edited by mr-victory on 30 June 2022 at 7:07 am UTC
elmapul Jun 30, 2022
Quoting: mr-victory
Quoting: Avehicle7887Also Full HD on a 8" display seems like a potential battery drain and performance killer.
How is it going to kill performance if you just set a game to 720/800p? Battery is a good question though.

in 2 ways:
1)layman customers using the native resolution without knowing they can have an better performance by limiting the resolution (or maybe thinking more = better aways)

2)the screen may draw more power than an lowres screen, but that is just my speculation.
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