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Modern Vintage Gamer: The AYA NEO AIR is a Handheld OLED emulation beast

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


The AYA NEO Air is a brand new handheld that's lightweight, small and has an OLED display. With a Ryzen 5560U, 16gb RAM and a 512Gb SSD it packs a punch - but does it compare to the Valve Steam Deck ? In this episode we take a closer look at how well it performs and why I think its the best handheld system for emulation you can buy today.
 
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Ozzie666

Member
Just makes me wonder what Microsoft or Sony could pull off with AMD, since they guys wouldn't have the same resources or access to advanced tech. One can dream.
 

Tarin02543

Member
These powerful Chinese handhelds are getting too much attention lately to not have Sony or Microsoft to have any handhelds on their drawing boards.
 

Hayabusa83

Banned
I can't help but think these Youtubers are running coordinated advertisements for these handhelds. Some of them are okay, but I wouldn't put any trust in an obscure Chinese company. Seems like every time one of these comes out they are 'emulation beasts'.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
I can't help but think these Youtubers are running coordinated advertisements for these handhelds. Some of them are okay, but I wouldn't put any trust in an obscure Chinese company. Seems like every time one of these comes out they are 'emulation beasts'.

We’ve had multiple Aya handhelds already. They’re not really ‘no-name’
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
What happens if you get a defective unit? You gotta ship it to China? What’s the customer service like?
 

Little Mac

Member
There is one device I'm really interested in called the Miyoo Mini. It replicates the gameboy design and looks fantastic. Only issue for me is that its 10-20% smaller than my big hands could probably use so I haven't splurged yet. Regardless it has a massive following (OS alternatives, modding, etc) and is around $60-70 bucks.


 
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Sentenza

Member
There is one device I'm really interested in called the Miyoo Mini. It replicates the gameboy design and looks fantastic.
But I fucking hate the Gameboy design, though?

Also, what the hell is that? A handheld for ants?
 
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Von Hugh

Member
No thanks, I'll wait for the Vita 2.

skeleton starbucks GIF
 
5825U+16G+1TB version for 1000$...
5825U is 8c/16t with Vega 8CUs.

Design and screen are superb. I will wait for AIR2 with all bells and whistles APU.
 
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Retro handheld reviewers want to keep receiving free models so they’re always less than critical. Not sure which are the best since they all have rave reviews it seems.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Is this the anti-Steam Deck? The Ayaneo Air is a handheld PC, just like the Valve machine - but it runs on Windows, not SteamOS. It has the Switch Lite-like portable form factor that the Deck does not while display-wise, its 1080p OLED display knocks the spots off Steam Deck's mediocre LCD. But what about power and performance... and battery life? Rich tests both Ryzen 5 5560U and Ryzen 7 5825U processors, benches them against each other and Steam Deck and has much to say.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


The Ayaneo Air is easily the most portable handheld PC available today. It loses some processing power, but the tradeoff is worth the sacrifice. See how it compares to the larger Steam Deck and Ayaneo Next in our review.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


00:00 - Introduction
03:08 - Build Quality Review
09:00 - DPAD Review
12:20 - Analog Stick Review
14:43 - AYASpace App Review
20:27 - Let's Talk About Battery Life
23:26 - Summarizing Battery Life Quickly
23:58 - Let's Talk Thermals
27:44 - AYANEO 2 Vs. Steam Deck Benchmarks
32:00 - Pros and Cons Conclusion
35:52 - Prototype ... things.



Pros

Screen is fantatsic
Analogs sticks are quite possible my favorite analog sticks
Size of device compared to Steam Deck is favorable
50wh battery is welcome, just wish it was larger
AYASpace is really nice software that makes up for not having a keyboard in a big way.
Thermals are excellent both in terms of IHS and heat radiation to outside plastics
6800U is a great chipset

Cons

Portrait based display
- veritical tearing
- older games require wrapping
- some games need scalers


Not working yet, not really pros or cons, just things to make note of:

set UMA size in bios would be nice.
eGPU still needs to be worked on.
SoundTap waiting on software
MicroSD card doesn't fit (on my unit)
 
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Pagusas

Elden Member
This is what I wanted out of the steamdeck, hopefully steamdeck 2 is more like this, as SteamOS has proven to be amazing.
 
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