There were a ton of new handheld gaming PCs floating around at Computex this year, whether it’s startups like the Zotac Zone or companies trying to iron out early bugs in their first devices like the ROG Ally X and MSI Claw 8 AI. . But in an almost Shyamalan-esque twist, it was actually Adata who presented the most interesting handset of the show.
I won’t say it’s the best, because we’ve only been shown a few prototypes of the Adata Nia so far, and there’s no finalized silicon. But there’s great morality behind it, some interesting new tech options, and even some potentially performance-boosting eye-tracking tricks.
But what’s also refreshing is the pricing approach. I doubt the Zotac Zone will come cheap with its trackpads and OLED display and the Ally X or MSI Claw 8 AI. However, Adata is at least looking for Steam Deck’s normalized price and is trying to keep its own user price below $500.
But how close it gets to that is another matter and is far from a sure thing at this early stage. Chatting with Adata’s product manager Luca Di Fiore at the fair, he points out that Adata has a slight advantage over some of the other handheld computer manufacturers. Apart from the display and SoC costs, you can save quite a bit on price if you get production pricing for your storage and memory.
Storage and memory are Adata’s bread and butter, so the theory is that it should cost a lot less to install a handset on that front. It also gets a little more technical here, because Adata is prototyping motherboards that support LPCMM2 instead of using the standard soldered LPDDR5x.
It’s an interesting move and definitely the first handset I’ve heard talk about using. The idea is to provide a level of upgradeability not found in most other devices. Adata allows people to use different cases and buttons etc. That’s why he also plans to release CAD documents so he can 3D print them.
This is also a potential component of what Adata calls a planned second life for Nia. There will always be something new and shiny coming out in PC hardware, so these things have a limited shelf life, but instead of throwing them in the trash, Adata wants people to use them for different afterlife projects.
It’s an ambitious goal and one that probably won’t be met if one of the requirements is having a 3D printer, but Adata hopes to attract enough hackers and modders to make Nia useful beyond its initial function.
Another way Adata is trying to cut costs is by not shipping Windows with the device; instead he’s considering shipping a SteamOS clone with the device, or SteamOS if he can sweet-talk Valve into it. So yes, it’s a SteamOS clone, then…
The Nia is set to come with a 1080p, 120Hz panel with a peak brightness rating of 500 nits and is designed to tilt upwards on a sliding mechanism. In addition to giving a different angle to the game, it also provides more space for airflow behind it.
Above the screen is the eye-tracking webcam, where potential performance boost could come from. Nia’s sticker on the booth at the show Definitely I didn’t mention AMD or foveated rendering in the same sentence, so I have no idea what eye tracking could be used for with a Ryzen 8000 series or newer SoC in it.
if it there was However, to use foveated rendering, a technology that comes directly out of the performance-enhancing VR space, then the assumption is that it tracks where your eyes are looking and then significantly reduces rendering levels in your peripheral vision. Honestly, it’s easier to do this with a headset, because with a small 7-inch screen, there’s not much around you when it comes to handheld gaming. If she can improve performance though, it would be a real feather in Nia’s cap.
In terms of ergonomics, the Nia prototypes feel good in the hand, and although they weigh around 720 grams, they are actually slightly lighter. The angle at which you hold the device reduces some of the pressure on your wrists and also makes the adjustment sticks easier to use.
I prefer this Xbox stick layout, but I’ve definitely struggled with some handhelds using it when trying to use the right-side control stick. He has a weird thumb bend that requires a lot of effort; Not so in the short time I spent with Adata Nia. We’re currently looking at Hall effect bars, but Adata is also investigating an Israeli company’s capacitive technology that could sneak into the final design.
It’s likely to find its way into marketing, as the likes of Ayaneo and OneXPlayer have done, through crowdfunding campaigns to more accurately gauge the volume of production that needs to be implemented. Depending on how this testing phase goes, it could happen by the end of this year or early next year.
Ultimately, how successful it is will depend on how close it can get to its $500 price target, what the actual finish of the final product is like (the prototypes look like prototype plastic to me), and whether Adata can actually succeed. eye tracking performance boost and real customer support for customization and modding.
It will definitely be a challenge. Adata doesn’t have the brand recognition of some others, but I’ll be interested to see how it all turns out.