AYANEO’s Pocket Play Aims to Bring the Spark of Fun Phones (Sony Xperia Play) Back

Smartphones deliver more power and polish than ever, yet most follow the same safe template. AYANEO decided to break the mold with its first smartphone. The Pocket Play takes the sliding concept from Sony’s long-gone Xperia Play and updates it for today’s games and apps. Slide the 6.8-inch display upward in landscape mode and the magic happens. A full set of physical controls appears underneath. You get a proper D-pad on the left, ABXY face buttons on the right, two round capacitive touchpads that stand in for analog sticks, plus shoulder bumpers and triggers, while dedicated shortcut buttons sit within easy reach.

The layout is similar to the 2011 Xperia Play, but with a more modern flair. Those spherical touchpads replace traditional analog sticks, yet they still provide a remarkably natural input experience, especially with the limited time you have to check them out. Keeping your thumbs off the screen allows you to have a continuous view even during the most intense gaming sessions. The entire control deck is pushed to the bottom, leaving the huge display completely unobstructed for whatever you’re doing, whether gaming or watching media.

The 6.8-inch display boasts a 2400 by 1080 resolution and a refresh rate of 165Hz. An OLED panel delivers stunning colors and silky smooth action, whether you’re playing high-frame-rate Android games or streaming from the cloud. When the device is closed, it acts like a phone for calls, messages, and app use; however, when you open it, it morphs into a dedicated gaming setup.

The MediaTek Dimensity 9300, along with its Immortalis-G720 graphics engine, provides excellent performance. AYANEO backs it up with lots of high-speed LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 4.0 storage. You also get a microSD card slot, which is a nice touch given how useful they are for adding new games or emulator roms to your library. The active cooling mechanism keeps everything operating smoothly, even during extended gaming sessions, which is unfortunately uncommon on most smartphones.

A 5,000 mAh battery keeps the lights on, and a quick recharge means you won’t have to wait long before your next gaming session. You also get stereo speakers and a strong vibration motor, which work together to create a really immersive gaming experience with excellent audio and haptic feedback. A USB-C port with speeds of up to 3.1 Gen 2 and a DisplayPort 1.4 output enable you to connect the device to a TV or monitor and enjoy games on the big screen. You also have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to suit your wireless requirements.

The device’s cameras are mounted on the back and include a 50-megapixel primary sensor and a 16-megapixel ultrawide lens. There is a 5-megapixel selfie camera on the front. To be fair, these cameras exist merely to handle the basics and are unlikely to impress anyone; early reports show they do the job, but don’t expect high-end photography from them. It’s clear that AYANEO emphasized gaming gear over taking beautiful photos.

You get Android 15 out of the box, and a fingerprint scanner is buried inside the power button for quick unlock. The software offers a full smartphone experience in addition to the typical gaming capabilities. There are also some useful shortcut buttons and a slide mechanism that allow you to quickly access game controls without having to deal with on-screen overlays.Pricing is unknown until the Kickstarter campaign opens. Rumors suggest that early backers will pay around $500, with future tiers perhaps providing extra RAM, storage, or higher-end finishes. AYANEO also intends to offer additional grips and cases to improve comfort for both gaming and non-gaming applications.