Having a (relatively) tiny instrumentality that tin play fundamentally immoderate large crippled connected it is simply a chill idea, and that’s what I emotion astir Valve’s Steam Deck. But the Deck tin beryllium a spot bulky, and its artillery conscionable doesn’t past sometimes. Plus it doesn’t enactment easy with Xbox Game Pass. So the thought of a new, smaller handheld dedicated to streaming Game Pass and Xbox titles sounds great! However, astatine $300, it seems excessively costly successful a satellite wherever the Steam Deck and Switch OLED beryllium astatine astir the aforesaid terms point.

Announced contiguous by Microsoft and Logitech, the caller G Cloud handheld gaming console is simply a tiny Android-powered instrumentality built astir streaming video games. 10 years agone this would person seemed similar a weird idea. But today, you tin watercourse practically each crippled crossed astir platforms with capable tinkering. The thought down this caller G Cloud instrumentality is to chopped retired the tinkering and modding and supply players with a simple, fast, and lightweight mode to watercourse each the large games connected Game Pass.

First, the positives. The caller Android instrumentality claims to person an extended artillery life, astir apt acknowledgment to the information it is lone streaming games and not moving them natively. It boasts a coagulated 1080p 7-inch touchscreen, built-in controls, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a fastener and instrumentality layout akin to an Xbox controller. I besides truly similar the look of the device. It’s a spot smaller than Steam Deck, which should beryllium bully for folks who person smaller hands.

But here’s the problem: The price. Currently, you tin pre-order the G Cloud astatine $300 which is beauteous precocious considering this is fundamentally a fancy Android telephone with built-in controls, a bigger battery, and nary quality to marque telephone calls. It does person enactment for the Google Play Store, truthful presumably, mobile games and apps volition enactment connected it. And being based connected Android, it volition fundamentally beryllium moddable from time one. But still, $300 for that seems high.

And that’s conscionable for now. Once it’s retired connected October 17, the terms shoots up to $350, aka the aforesaid terms arsenic a caller Switch OLED and lone $50 little than a 64GB Steam Deck. Now, it’s existent that the Switch can’t watercourse the full Game Pass library, but with immoderate tinkering the Steam Deck really can, portion besides playing (most) of your Steam games.

When I archetypal saw the G Cloud connected Twitter I was interested. A tiny instrumentality dedicated to Android apps and Xbox Game Pass unreality streaming could beryllium bully to have. But lone for like…$200. At the existent price, I’d urge folks bargain a caller phone, an outer controller for their existent phone, oregon a Steam Deck instead.