This Windows Gaming Handheld Has A Screen That Folds In Half

Lenovo put a foldable show connected a gaming handheld. The Legion Go Fold Concept is simply a Windows-based handheld pinch a elastic POLED display, detachable Joy-Con-like controllers, and a folio lawsuit to move nan full point into a mini laptop.

You tin usage it arsenic a modular Steam Deck-esque handheld pinch nan show folded down to 7.7 inches and controllers attached astatine its sides, aliases you tin unfold it for a bigger experience. When unfolded, nan controllers tin beryllium repositioned to each 4 sides, allowing you to play pinch nan surface successful vertical aliases horizontal orientations.

In vertical splitscreen mode, you tin put your crippled connected 1 half of nan surface and a 2nd model (like your chat aliases crippled guide) connected nan different half. Horizontal fullscreen mode gives your crippled nan afloat 11.6 inches of existent property successful a 16:10 facet ratio. To spell into laptop mode, you region nan controllers and equine nan handheld into a folio lawsuit pinch a stand, built-in keyboard, and trackpad. The controllers tin beryllium put into a abstracted grip equine to unify them arsenic 1 gamepad.

There are a batch of ways you tin usage this folding handheld, including turning 1 of its controllers into a vertical rodent for illustration connected different Legion Go handhelds, but there’s 1 point it doesn’t do: fold down to adjacent and protect its screen. The Go Fold only folds outwards, truthful don’t expect a Nintendo DS aliases GameBoy Advance-like clamshell that closes for portability. Instead, it’s each astir getting bigger than your mean gaming handheld and offering more. (Though we’ve tried bigger before.)

The Legion Go Fold has immoderate formidable specs: an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Lunar Lake processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 48Whr battery. The plastic-covered OLED has a solution of 2435 x 1712 and 165Hz refresh rate. And there’s moreover a second, information toushscreen connected nan correct controller, nether nan look buttons. It doubles arsenic a touchpad and tin beryllium a support display, allowing you to swipe betwixt extracted UI elements from a crippled (which I wouldn’t expect to beryllium wide supported), a clock, strategy monitoring, aliases an animated GIF (just for fun).

During my little in-person demo I didn’t get to play immoderate graphically-intense games — conscionable Balatro, which tin practically play connected a potato. The surface looked plentifulness sharp, but for illustration immoderate foldable there’s a crease down nan middle; it’s very visible, but you study to look past it and disregard it aft conscionable a bit. The build and consciousness of nan full point felt a small fragile, and detaching and reattaching nan controllers was decidedly janky. Build value will hopefully beryllium improved if this instrumentality ever really makes it to market.

The laptop mode was a pleasant astonishment for maine though. I did not expect a gaming handheld to double arsenic a accepted machine you could get activity done on. The Legion Go Fold’s lawsuit took rather a spot of fumbling earlier I group it up correctly, but it shouldn’t return excessively agelong to get utilized to if you really lived pinch it.

Then again, I don’t cognize if anyone is going to beryllium capable to unrecorded pinch this point — ever. I’d emotion for nan Legion Go Fold to spell from conception to existent merchandise for illustration different out-there Lenovo ideas, but I shudder to deliberation what it mightiness cost. The Legion Go 2 is already priced good complete $1,000. And pinch nan ongoing RAMageddon crisis we’re surviving through, there’s nary telling really overmuch much costly an existent Legion Go Fold would beryllium if it came retired successful a twelvemonth aliases more.

But moreover if it’s not nan benignant of foldable I expected, and moreover though it whitethorn ne'er travel out, it’s surely cool. Now personification please make a folding PC handheld that goes from kinda-big to really small. I deliberation that’d beryllium nan 1 for me.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge