At IFA 2024, I was able to wrap my hands around the Tecno Pocket Go. This controller is slightly larger than a traditional Xbox controller, is actually a Windows 11-powered mini PC. It’s a screen-less Steamdeck, which you can connect to any TV, monitor, and even a pair of AR glasses to play anywhere. It’s the handheld console I’m most excited about right now.
When I go to tech shows, the keywords “AR glasses” and “VR headset” usually scare me away. It was no surprise that I lacked any enthusiasm when I dropped by Tecno’s stand at IFA 2024 in Berlin. Originally, I went there primarily to see if the Phantom Ultimate 2, the smartphone that folds into three, was on display. It wasn’t, so I settled for the Tecno Pocket Go. Sometimes, fate has a funny way of doing things.
A Windows 11 mini PC in a controller
Visually, the Tecno Pocket Go looks like a big, unofficial Xbox controller. It’s quite large and, above all, thick because it incorporates a 50 Wh battery. I didn’t get any info on its battery life, unfortunately.
We’ll talk about the AR glasses that can be connected below. However, the Tecno Pocket Go can also be used on its own. All you have to do is hook it up to a screen.
On the technical side, we find an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS CPU. This type of 8-core processor is usually found in notebook PCs, but there’s also 6GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. The Tecno Pocket Go has no built-in screen. There’s more space inside the chassis, and the manufacturer has maximized it. The controller features a large fan connected to three copper tubes for cooling.
With the AMD Radeon 780M GPU integrated into the chip, most modern games can be played. Of course, we won’t be able to achieve 120 FPS in 4K on Cyberpunk 2077, for instance. During my session, I was able to play a racing game. The entire experience seemed fairly fluid, but I’m not sure I was playing at a constant 60 FPS.
The Tecno Pocket Go runs on Windows 11. Unfortunately, I couldn’t navigate the interface because my unit ran out of battery. There were also fifteen other journalists around me, just waiting for me to give them a turn. Tecno explained they had their own skin to make navigation more intuitive with the joystick. You can also connect a keyboard and a mouse in any case.
Gaming anywhere, everywhere, and in augmented reality
The idea is to use this portable console on the move. As it doesn’t have a built-in screen, you have to connect it to a pair of AR glasses via USB-C, called AR Pocket Vision.
The glasses feature two 0.71-inch micro OLED screens. You can also adjust the diopter from 0 to 600°, and the field of view is supposed to be equivalent to a 215-inch screen placed 6 meters away from you. Personally, I found the distance a little too far but visibility was still very good.
The glasses track your head movements with a six-axis gyroscope and a homemade algorithm. It worked very well during my session. The virtual screen always remained straight in front of me. The glasses can also send you vibrations, but I didn’t notice anything during my hands-on.
What I also found very cool was, in theory, you can connect these Pocket Vision AR glasses to other devices (smartphone, Nintendo Switch, another PC).
I can’t really comment on the audio quality of the glasses. The Tecno stand at IFA was swarming with people, and the show is always very noisy. I had set the volume low enough to hear the Tecno manager’s explanations when he spoke to me.
All that’s missing is European availability
Unfortunately, the Tecno Pocket Go is not yet available in Europe. Apart from a “soon” as promised by one of the brand’s local representatives, I’ve had no additional information.
What is certain is that the Pocket Go controller and Pocket Vision AR glasses can be purchased together or separately. There are also a lot of unanswered questions that I can’t answer yet.
The console’s battery life is a crucial point. Is it worth walking around with a big controller and glasses if the battery lasts for only two hours?
My too-short hands-on session didn’t allow me to properly gauge performance either. I hope to be able to get a review unit to benchmark and test more games on it.
In any case, the Tecno Pocket Go is my favorite device in this year’s edition of IFA. I think it’s a highly original concept that deserves to be explored further.
What do you think of the Tecno Pocket Go after this hands-on? Does the controller + AR glasses combo make sense to you? What do you think of the possibility of using the console without any glasses?
