A new gaming handheld device called abxylute has just hit South African shores. Launched as a Kickstarter campaign, this handheld gaming device was designed to stream games from your PC, Console, or directly from the cloud – with services like Nvidia’s GeForce Now by rain. It’s also compatible with Steam Link and other popular remote play technologies.
This dedicated streaming handheld does not have much computing power built-in, but it does allow you to stream games from your PC, PlayStation, or Xbox. Think of handhelds like the PS Portal and Logitech G Cloud; these are all game-streaming devices where connectivity and screen quality are more important than raw power under the hood.
The abxylute weighs around 430g, which is slightly lighter than the PS Portal. It runs a MediaTek MT8365 CPU with 4GB of DDR4 RAM, 64GB ROM and a nice looking 7-inch touch LCD with a resolution of 1920×1080 at 60Hz. The device also uses Android 12 as its operating system, and it has a nice handheld user interface to navigate between games or apps. With Android as the operating system, you’ll be able to run some apps too – yes, YouTube is supported.
Looking at interface options, the abxylute features a USB Type-C port for charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack for audio, and a Micro SD card slot to store apps. If you’d prefer to go wireless, you can also use Bluetooth headphones.
The battery is rated at 5,200mAh and will delivery around 8 hours of play time. There’s also a dual mic and set of speakers on the device.
Of course, none of this will matter if this device cannot connect to the internet; the abxylute uses 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wireless connectivity with support for 2T2R MU-MIMO WiFi. Performance will largely depend on the quality of your WiFi signal and the the speed at which your console or PC is connected to your network – these should ideally be hardwired to your router.
The abxylute feels good in the hand, the hardware features Hall Sensor trigger and joysticks to avoid drifts, and there’s a gyro for FPS and racing games. While I just had a few minutes to play with it today at the Rectron Summit, be sure to keep an eye on NAG for a full review soon. The abxylute is expected to retail for R6,000 in South Africa and will be available online with most popular gaming and hardware retailers.