Logitech G Cloud Is a Steam Deck-Style Handheld With a Streaming Focus
Logitech joins the portable gaming system fray today with its own surprise device. The company just announced the Logitech G Cloud, a gaming handheld similar to the Valve Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch Lite, but with its own specific focus.
Like its name implies, the G Cloud is aimed at cloud gaming, emphasizing game-streaming services like Nvidia GeForce Now, Steam Link, and Xbox Cloud Gaming over running games natively. It's an Android-based device with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chip, a 7-inch, 1080p IPS LCD touch screen, and dual-band 2x2 MIMO 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
It also features a full set of physical gamepad controls including dual analog sticks, a direction pad, four face buttons, four shoulder buttons, motion sensors, and force feedback.
The Snapdragon 720G processor seems weak for a portable gaming system. It's a midrange, eight-core chip with an Adreno 618 GPU. So it can run some mobile games reliably, but it doesn't come close to the performance offered by flagship smartphone processors like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or even the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865-based XR2 processor on the Meta Quest 2 VR headset. This is understandable, considering the G Cloud's emphasis on cloud-based gaming, which relies on fast and reliable network performance much more than in-system processing.
The modest hardware should offer a benefit other gaming handhelds lack: a long battery life. According to Logitech, the G Cloud can last over 12 hours between charges under normal playing conditions, likely thanks to the Snapdragon 720G not drawing much power. We'll have to find out when we get it in for testing.
Despite its relatively low processing power, the G Cloud should still prove to be a strong system for playing retro games. It will have
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