How can you compare these two? Retroid Pocket 3 has much lower specs of CPU, low resolution, RAM and Memory, and has a much smaller screen than this device. I played Elden Ring on this device, and the text is already small so I don't think Elden Ring is playable in Retroid Pocket 3.
@@yifeipei5484 I can compare them because they do the same stuff lol. The 800p screen on the retroid helps the device run more since no 1080p is necessary. I have played Elden ring just fine. 🤷🏼♂️
Hi ETA! 4 months later, and I picked up the G Cloud recently for $300. I really love it. I know I could have had better performance for about the same price from Odin but I sure do love the screen, controls, and warranty/ availability. For me, it is totally the better buy, but I really, really hope they stay in the business and make a sequel. If they do release a more powerful one as a v2 (like sd865 performance with video out and exFAT sd-card) I'd probably upgrade, but otherwise, I'm good for the emulation/streaming I do 🙂
I only ever see negative things about it by PC gamers and people who own steam decks. To each their own I use it for streaming and it's pretty good doing that
I’d love some gamepad reviews. Most of these devices seem to quality for “the world’s worst d pad” award and no one seems to care or cover this. In a world where even 8BitDo pads need to be user modded to function right, it’s kind of a big detail to gloss over on a portable console.
Another RU-vidr did mention this, saying that doing diagonals on the d-pad is almost impossible, which is super bad if you're into 2D fighting games. Also, it seems the analog sticks also have deadzone issues, which might not affect every game but for those requiring lots of precision, it might be a no-go as well. So, basically, horrible D-pad + potential dead zone issues on the analog sticks kind of drives the nail in the coffin for this one, if the price alone didn't do it already. I'm surprised that not many reviewers on RU-vid mentioned this. I mean, at this price, this thing would need to be damn perfect in my book, and it would need to be tested the hell out of... and I'm a bit disappointed that some mentioned this issue and other big reviewers didn't. Seems to me like a pretty important thing to mention.
@@sebastiennoiseux5359 I'm a LITTLE picky. I play fighting games, puzzle games, retro games, and platformers all somewhat mid level casual. What bad D Pads do for Tetris or Puyo is random accidental instant drops... This is RAGE. Again, the controller on a portable is grafted onto the console. Isnt like I can replace it, ya know?
I love my G Cloud. Not gamed this much for a long time. Cloud is superb even attached to my mobile phones 4G and emulation is absolutely superb. Sure it’s overpriced but it’s still a fantastic product.
This would have made a ton of sense if Microsoft made it, or if Nvidia made it and they subsidized it by requiring a certain period of membership into cloud services. They could offer it for "free" with a three year commitment like phone companies do. People who are already on those services probably would have just grabbed one to have it at that point. But for logitech to make it just seems really weird and out of left field.
Maybe if they dropped the price a bit and bundled 6mo-1yr subs as an incentive, but nobody's bothering w/commitment contracts for a gaming handheld. And MSFT certainly wouldn't put Android on it. It'd likely run XBOX OS w/a new launcher and custom AMD APU to bring it near Series S performance.
@@atiim6751 I'd be willing to bet you're wrong. And last I heard microsoft already made that bet this generation. Didn't they do a subsidized version of one of the series' consoles? I'm pretty sure they did. They basically did it the other way though. You agreed to a contract for however long you bought your console in monthly installments and got game pass for "free" with it. Either way it's the same thing. You are selling a low cost service and giving people discounted or free hardware as an incentive to lure them in.
@@atiim6751 Id highly doubt that, it would be insane to add a whole new Xbox Sku that is weakert then the series S partway through the gen, an xboxified android launcher for streaming is most likely if any but probably not as market is quicky becoming overflowing with streaming handhelds/phone controllers that do the same thing
I got one of these so I had something turnkey for Xbox remote play. I was having a blast with it. Tonight it had an update. One of the new features is an “experimental screen button mapping”
Great video. This is half of what the world needs to see. Combine your video with a video of you playing honestly any ps4/5/Xbox/moonlight game and the crazy long battery life and that’s all the regular person needs. Only pc gamers care about the horsepower of the unit. Switch is underpowered as well and look at how that turned out
It’s a year later and I just picked up a gently used g cloud for $200, and I’m pretty happy with it. Fun retro emulator, great for Moonlight streaming and super good ergonomics. I do wish the chip was a little higher power, but for what I paid I’m happy
I found someone selling one on Swappa with the screen peel literally still attached. 🙂 But I've seen Ebay listings in the low $200's as well. If you're willing to take a small risk on used, options exist.
I bought my gcloud for $150 on ebay a few months ago and I've been blown away by it. Streaming games from my high end gaming PC to this device has been flawless (no different than running games natively). I'm just now starting to dig into installing and setting up retroarch so I can dig into some older games I have wanted to try for years now.
I got a gcloud from a retro game store near me for $150 and its totallg worth it at a lower price, screen and battery life is amazing, very comfortable to play Android games. I have decent internet at home so i use Gamepass and Geforce Now. The machine is nice and quiet, and it doesnt get hot. And streaming is pretty seemless. I hop on Call of duty via cloud to play with friends online without having to install 100+ gb
For emulation it's a pass ... nothing new. With so many handhelds on the marked my opinion Logitech G I wish it came with a more powerful chip for same money. Then ... it would be super interesting. What do you think ETA Prime ?
@ETAPrime : Hello there! It is three months later, and I've got a 6800u device and all, but it is BIG/heavy, and kind of awkward for emulation in Windows. And I am seriously thinking of picking this up for $300 + about $30 for a four-year BestBuy warranty. That screen looks great, I can get one delivered this week, plus the idea that if it breaks I can get it fixed/replaced is really appealing. I am considering the Razer Edge for the warranty/ availability.... and it is like they Min-Maxed their handhelds in different ways. This with GREAT screen, GREAT usability, but a weak chip. The Edge with a candy-bar screen, telescope controls (that seem like they will keep you from charging it at full speed), and a GREAT chip. Then there is the AliExpress crowd with a range of good controls and good performance... and if it dies, I just need to throw it away. Even if that next Ayaneo Pocket android is an 865, if it dies from getting overcharged or something silly, I probably can't get it fixed.
I've got a week and a half left in my return period, so I'm still deciding whether to keep or not. I LOVE the ergonomics, screen size/resolution and all the PS2 games I want to play are playable and often can be run at higher res to match the screen's. Biggest downside is the D-Pad. The up and left require WAY too much force to activate on my unit, to the point where it's really unacceptable. Hoping it's just this unit and maybe a replacement would fix. The other problems I have are more software/UI related, which it seems changing to a new launcher would be the solution. As far as price being a downside... well honestly I don't see the point in factoring that in much. It's a one-time issue. Once you've paid for it, it's a non-factor. Will agree it is expensive. But what other system with this ergonomics, screen-size, resolution and battery life can you get for this price or cheaper? Steam Deck has worse screen, lower resolution, worse battery life, much heavier/chunkier. Odin Pro/Lite has far worse ergonomics (IMO), smaller screen, worse battery life. There are trade-offs to all options.
I’m kinda surprised you don’t like the Odin’s ergonomics. It’s above average compared to every other handheld. I’ll say I guess it is a bit smaller than the Cloud, and I love the full size sticks more as well if I’m being honest here. I also kinda trust Logitech more in a way. Personally I wouldn’t ever wanna sacrifice all the other extra features the Odin has just over those few things alone though. At the same also be willing to pay more for an underpowered chip. Plus I value the video out feature on the Odin way too much. It’s a lot of fun popping out a wireless controller and streaming to a nice 4K screen. I’ve been able to enjoy a quick Mortal Kombat session with others for example. I’m even able to stream my gaming PC to the Odin and display it to the big screen TV. Maybe I’m in the minority but video out is a super valuable feature to me. Also the free built in screen mapping software is superb and has proved very useful for Android games. Not to mention there’s 4G LTE support on the Lite and you could use a mobile hotspot for the Pro.
I bit the bullet and got a deal and purchased one. For the life of me I cannot get the Dolphin Emulator and a few others to recognize the joystick or dpad controls. When I try to remap in the GC input options it never shows up. Any suggestions??
I would say that there's two reasons for that. 1) Economies of scale, AKA the buying in bulk discount. These don't sell in enough volume to get sweetheart deals from suppliers. 2) Subsidizing the hardware through selling games doesn't exist. I've read that Valve doesn't make much in the way of profits on a Steam Deck purchase. They don't need to because they'll make it back selling you games to run on it. It's a similar thing to those prepaid phones ETA used to test on this channel. The carriers often sell those phones at a financial loss because they want to lock you into their service. Whatever hit they might've taken selling you a $250 Moto for $100 they expect to make back, and then some, through selling you airtime. My understanding is that Sony does, or has done in the past, this with PlayStation hardware. I'm sure everyone does. The problem for Logitech is that they have no other ways to make profit off of this device except through the initial purchase of the hardware.
@@ksavage681 I was subscribed to Stadia Gold from sometime in 2021 to June of this year. I loved it; but I was concerned that I'd lose all my saves and, more importantly, my purchases when Google inevitably killed it, so I mostly stuck to the free games and stuff that was deeply discounted. Had I known Google was going to back it up like they ended up doing, I'd have invested heavily in expensive paid games. Because the tech was world class. It was a great experience.
I like the Logitech G Cloud's design, but they should have equipped it with a better processor. The Odin Pro is slightly better value. It is around the same price but comes with the more powerful Snapdragon SD845 processor, plus has active cooling and boost clock options, which makes it particularly good for emulation.
That is true. I really wanted an Odin, but you'd have to wait months and pay extra taxes for it which really killed the deal for me. The final price for the odin pro ended up being around €370 for me. I'm gonna wait for Aya to release the Air Plus, because Aya tend to have a better shipping policy.
I have an odin and I find the sticks to be horrible and the screen to be top small for steaming. The G Cloud has almost the same performance if you're not wanting PS2 emulation. I'm thinking about selling my odin pro and getting a G Cloud instead
To be honest it doesn't really need a better processor. I have a phone with snapdragon 865 and it overpowered. Lol 😅 I bout the g cloud and it can handle all the same games I play on my phone without any trouble. The 700 series is still very strong compared to the level of demand of the games on Android. And I mean dude I'm playing call of duty and Diablo immortal on both my phone and G cloud smooth. But my tablet gets a warning that it may not be able to run a full specs without some issues. And the graphics seemed to drop on the tablet. So really what's the point stressing over higher processor when the 700 is good enough, and the device is more so focused on being a remote play and cloud gaming device where it's not doing the work.
I think this is a good buy for someone who doesn't have a decent phone or tablet or even a pc and for someone doesn't care much about gaming and are casual gamers
Check out the Razer Edge, it is $399 starting price and supposedly has a chipset similar to that of the SD8 Gen 1, oh and a MicroSD card slot that you can upgrade upwards of 2TB
@@Wilqu5677 Exactly, the Steam Deck is much more capable for the same money. Which also has a MicroSD card slot with up to 2TB capability. And you could upgrade the internal memory to a 1TB NVMe SSD at a later point. And it can do all the emulation and more. IT CAN RUN CYBERPUNK 2077 FFS!
@@TheOne-dq3lq I think for a lot of people the form factor plays a huge role. The steam deck is really big and chunky (i've held one). Personally, I don't see myself bringing the steam deck to a beach or on vacation because it's just so big. The pre order price of €299 is on the expensive side, but it's not THAT bad.
My Odin Lite for hmm 230 (?) $ plays Soul Calibur II ps2 full 60 fps (2x native openGL), has wi-fi 6 for streaming, has out of the box app to map non-controller support android games (genshin impact). I have a feeling that it's better in literally anything than this 350 $ handheld.
But.. the Odin has the buttons in the wrong place. And that bothers me more tan it should. So sure for anything Nintendo emulation cool, but literally anything else? Nah not cool with that
I havent used this Logitech yet, but just from watching vids I think I would like it better than the Odin Pro I already own. Yeah the Odin can probably emulate a bit more, but the controls don't feel that great to me between the cheap feeling l2/r2 triggers, and the analog sticks that are even smaller than the Switch joycon sticks which are already pretty lacking in their own right. Odin imo mainly gets attention because of being a dedicated gaming device that can actually do most ps2/gc and for a good price. Actually using the thing is a mixed bag.
i prefer the right button not being too low, so to me it's more interesting than the stream deck, and perfectly designed to play n64/gamecube per example.
I’m really thinking about getting one of these, tbh I want something I can emulate ps2 & GameCube games and for some cloud gaming, I have credit thru Best Buy so that’s why I’m thinking about this other than the steam deck
Got this device and so far, I have no complaints whatsoever. As usual, it's a matter of managing expectations. I don't play as much as I used to and my gaming rig and PS4 pro were sitting idling most of the time. Before biting the bullet, I tested the remote play (local and distant) with my phone and a razer kishi... excellent performance overall but a lot of drawbacks : screen size and ratio, batterie life, overall comfort... decided to get this over a deck or ally because I didn't want another standalone pc, manage storage, settings etc. Here, my PC does the heavy lifting and having a good internet connection, it's a bliss to play games at 1080P High almost constant 60FPS with no hiccups. And when I don't have access to an internet connection, I simply play my old favs on GBA or Genesis. Couldn't be happier ! But I reckon it's not for everyone.
The Logitech G Cloud has definitely grown on me the last 6 months. I agree it's priced too high at $350, but I feel it's been on sale for $300 most of the time I've seen it. I also had $50 in gift cards to Best Buy which helped. At $250 I think it's a great option. I can stream most of the games I can't play on my Steam Deck via GeForce Now or Xbox Game Pass and setting up emulators on Android is a breeze now
Just as expected, it can play some Gamecube, some PS2 games, with some tweaks here and there. Its performance is just short of making most of those games playable. Had they used something like 778G in the device, it would have been much better for that price. But then again, it was never marketed as an emulation device. It's designed for cloud gaming. In that regard, it performs quite well.
I will wait for a review of the Razer Edge gaming tablet, with much beefier processor and the same price tag, I hope a better performance. At least we will have better battery life than Steam Deck. It will be on sale the next year, so I hope that Logitech will have a PRO version of this, and the current model to be cheaper.
I was just thinking about buying one for emulation cause I can grab one for 200 bucks that was used a couple times by a friend and he waited way to long to try and return it so it has just been sitting around
I feel like people are often quick to dismiss the emulation performance ofany older or non flagship chip in ps2 and gamecube, even though they often do fairly well with a lot of games.
@@brunan-gi147 hey this is really late i didnt know you had asked about dpad. The dpad is definitely its worst issue. I prolly wouldnt buy it if you mostly play fighting games or platformers.
That is a slick handheld but one thing that is setting me back is the price and if only the cpu used was a dimenesity 9000 or Snapdragon 8 gen 1 then that would be a sell for me.. I hope you do a review on the razer edge too..
That was something I wasn't expecting from this system... competence! I guess it's not a total loss, but for its current price, I can't go for that, no can do.
Just purchased easter sale $249 on the website glad I saw the review. Can I play the emulation without a internet connection? Be great for traveling if I had no wifi. Thanks in advance
GREAT REVIEW ETA PRIME!! I bought a Steam Deck and sold it for this. Best decision for my needs and I absolutely LOVE THIS THING!!!! Steam deck was great but so heavy. (Tiny hands syndrome) Screen is so crisp and clear! Cloud gaming is 10/10 on GeForce. XBOX cloud is not very good for anything with heavy graphics 7/10. BEST APPLICATION IS REMOTING YOUR PS5!!! Didnt even know it would do that when I bought it but it is so gee dang smoooooth!!! 10/10 ergonomic. Best thing I've held in my hands since I met my wife!!!!
For the money they are charging for this you could probably get a midrange phone like a pixel 6a and play all these games with higher fps and more, plus get easy more value out of it.
Razer Edge internals + logictech G Cloud chassis = best Android device on market. edit: is the android bottom menu (back, menu, three lines) always displayed?
I do like the form factor, plus screen size and resolution. I will be picking it up at the $150-$160 Price. I'm Pretty sure at some point I'll score one. Just like the RG552, I was really looking to get my hands on that unit, but for $250 it wasn't happening. Till i cam across one for $150 lightly used, I jumped on it quick. So morale of the story, it's best to wait.
The way I see it: I’ve managed to play AAA games on the Gcloud for over 12 hrs . No heating up. No loud fan , no medium fan. On a comfortable “game plastic” shell that can drop and bounce on the floor and keep playing. No compatibility issues. No total abort bcuz of Anticheat. And I can get one on an impulse and have it in my hands in about 30 minutes. Just really think about that. What are we ACTUALLY looking for here? I can’t even justify my WIN3 anymore and my Steam Deck has been off for almost a month. Really think about it - you could spend time and effort on almost 6 out of 10 games messing with settings, proton, space requirements, Anticheats AND internet - or you can just invest in toughening up your internet, and be able to play all your games on pretty much any system including Steam , all day. This means you’d just pick which system you want to play the game on and buy it once. Life could be so easy.
@@brunan-gi147 it’s been great SO FAR. Logitech is a mouse and input company , so I expected decent quality in the dpad department. I’m guessing the First firsion of the software had some issues but mines had an update about a day after I bought it so I haven’t noticed any real issues. I play Marvel Vs Capcom 3/ultimate Dragonball FighterZ and more recently Xenoverse 2 . It’s been great
@@brunan-gi147 not much risk. Good thing about a gcloud is you can pick one up at a bestbuy , try it, and return it if you don’t want it. Remember they don’t advertise PlayStation play bcuz the real app sucks and only wants PlayStation controllers. Use PSPlay instead and Xbox beta app for Xbox remote
Excited to hear you say you love racing games. I'm looking for a dedicated handheld emulator for racing games up to PS2. Odin, Retroid, and this Logitech are the ones that seem to keep cropping up as best options, but most reviews don't reference racing games. What would you pick in the $200ish price range?
Other reviewers says the D-Pad doesn't register certain positions unless you push very hard. Why did you not say that? Thats huge for fighter games. You didn't bring it up.
What people need to understand is that it’s not a bad device, it works great for what it does and the build looks great…but the price, the price is what kills this thing. There are so many other android and Linux handhelds out there that are more powerful and way cheaper.
Apparently, the D-pad makes it very hard to do diagonals, especially in 2D fighting games. And at least another reviewer mentioned dead zones in the analog sticks (why so few reviewers mention this???) - couple that with the insanely high price (for what it is), and it's clear this thing is a huge "miss". Sure, screen could be nice, could be super comfortable to hold, but a no-good d-pad, analog dead zones + super high price should drive away people from this thing. I mean, for such a price, this should be perfect. Not full of issues.
ETA, I truly love watching your in depth reviews and how to videos... can you do one that shows how to get the emulators running using lunchbox.. I am having a hard time getting launchbox to run.
Thanks for the tv launcher info I have it running on my gcloud and play PC games with steam with shadow power pc . So with this launcher , ps play ,gamepass ,emulators and shadow pc it's a steam deck, android tablet and handheld PS5 /Xbox .
It is really comfortable to hold. Got mine last week but will be returning it. Price is wayy to high for what your getting. Feels great and looks great though.
This device is so disappointing. Even if they had bumped the chip up slightly, say to where all Gamecube and PS2 games could run fine - I could see picking this up for emulation at the prelaunch price of $299 but as it is now, it is just way too expensive for what you get.
One thing that I will give credit to is this channel is making me get into Cloud gaming for the first time. I've been having a blast for it with the retroid pocket 3 on steam and PS and I'm seriously picking up the entry level Xbox series whatever so I can actually stream my stuff on the go. For what it offers, this is okay! But the price just kills it. Plus yeah, my retroid pocket 3 does all of this and is only 110-120 bucks. EDIT: I'll eat crow and admit that yes, I bought one mostly for streaming and I can see why people like it. The only reason I got it was it was on sale. But I see the appeal why people like it. The battery life, ergonomics, and speakers are pretty snazzy.
@@Sym727 the 8 Gen 1 is quite new. I have a Tab S8 with that SoC and it's great. Runs everything very very smoothly. But that device is double the cost again of this thing so probably too expensive a chip (for now).
@n n it was his opinion and he has a point. If you like the steam deck that's fine but you could have left it at the deadzone issue. No need to shove the deck in the comments.
@n n I only say pre owned bc a lower price, it doesn’t compare to a steam deck bc it’s not pc based so with shadow pc at least you can play steam games if you don’t have a pc good enough
Fun Fact: Even today, there is not a single quality 7" Android Gaming Handheld on the market (excluding x86 devices). No Anbernic, no Powkiddy (just the X70, which is trash), no Retroid. And everybody whining that $299 is too expensive? Really? This thing is awesome. And yes, it draws the thin red line between Linux/Android devices and power hungry, fan-driven Monsters of the x86 Range. It's a total different use case. If you do Emulation on an x86 Handheld, no one can help you. 😅
Great video I’m considering buying one for the cloud and remote play but I’m interested in emulation but not sure but is Dynasty’s Warriors 3 on ps2 on any emulation services?
the problem with most of these devices: they have to compete with the usually decent phone in your pocket already + a good controller of your choice. the switch-style side controller market has really exploded, and if you want external... who doesnt have an xbox or playstation controller lying around to grab? with the steam deck at $400, theres almost no market left in the middle
Hey ETA, Could you make a video on how to add emulators to retroarch as I download it and can't find ps2 for emulation. Please.. Also start looking at head units for cars as I just bought a ownice k7 and man is it a good unit.. it's android based and can download apps (mostly uninhibited) and can download most apps except the RU-vid app for some reason is blocked by an internal "security measure" but every other video app works. RU-vid does work via a browser but the app would be nice. Just need to get a few PS games from PS1 and PS2.
