After teasing and leaking last month, Logitech today officially announced its G-branded cloud gaming handheld. The Android-powered $349.99 handheld, which will be available in October, will provide access to both the Google Play Store, Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA’s GeForce Now service. While Android mobile games can be played, the focus is on cloud gaming, and the handheld has been designed in such a way as to reduce local computing and thus be more energy efficient to provide 12 hours or more of battery life.
The Cloud Gaming handheld has a 7-inch 1080p IPS touchscreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio and 60Hz refresh rate. the white handheld includes two offsetable analog thumbsticks, a D-pad, and Y, B, A, and X buttons. There are four more buttons on the front. Logitech G, Home, Menu, and a contextual menu button.
The Logitech G button works much like the Xbox button on the Xbox controller, and it brings up a sub-menu in the console, PC, for pausing or exiting a game. The body also has two front buttons and two trigger buttons, very similar to most modern controllers. Logitech’s handheld also includes haptics, gyroscopes and customizable buttons.
Inside, Logitech has equipped it with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor, an octa-core CPU running at up to 2.3GHz, paired with 4GB of LPDDR4X memory and 64GB of UFS storage. A single USB-C 3.1 port will charge the device, which can be fully charged with a 6,000mAh battery in about 2.5 hours. Logitech also provides a microSD card for expansion, but there’s no 5G or SIM support, so users will need Wi-Fi signal coverage for cloud gaming.
Logitech has partnered with Microsoft and NVIDIA to integrate Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA’s GeForce Now service into the handheld device. A Switch-like user interface will allow users to launch each of these services, but the Xbox Cloud Gaming app is just a basic Progressive Web Application (PWA), so there’s no real deep integration into the device. This also means you can’t fix specific cloud games to the home screen either.
The real appeal of this device is its promise of 12+ hours of battery life and lightweight frame. The Logitech G Cloud gaming handheld is smaller in width than both the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch and weighs just 463 grams (1 pound). That’s a little heavier than the Switch (322 grams/0.71 pounds) but much lighter than the Steam Deck (669 grams/1.47 pounds).
Logitech also partnered with Tencent for the handheld and relied on the Chinese company’s expertise in software to help design the Android launcher. Logitech’s game launcher has a handheld mode, and a classic Android tablet launcher mode if you want to use this outside of gaming. apps like YouTube and Chrome will be pre-installed along with Xbox cloud gaming, NVIDIA’s GeForce Now and Valve’s Steam Link.
Support for Android means the handheld can run some Android games, but Logitech is marketing it for cloud gaming. This is a new market for handheld consoles because typically, mobile gamers want to access their games while traveling in cars, trains and planes, where Internet connections are not solid. The need to have as strong a Wi-Fi signal as possible when using Logitech G handhelds may make them less attractive.
For this product, Logitech appears to be testing the waters by limiting its sales to a narrower region, restricting it to the U.S. and Canada for the month of October. To entice early adopters, there is a limited pre-order offer of $299.99 before the retail price of $349.99 kicks in. This pricing is between the Nintendo Switch ($299.99) and the Steam Deck ($399), so it’s not realistic for a primary cloud gaming device to be a big seller.
Logitech’s G Cloud gaming handheld will go on sale sometime in October on Amazon, Best Buy and the official Logitech website.
