As you all know, the team here at Cloud Dosage are big advocates for cloud gaming. We all firmly believe that Cloud Gaming will play a big part in the future of video games.
When the opportunity came to review a device with a strong focus on cloud gaming and remote gaming in general, we jumped at this.
The device is the abxylute one handheld gaming console, which is manufactured by abxylute.
abxylute one features
Before we dive into our review, let’s take a look at some of the key features of the abxylute one:
- 7-inch screen
- 1920/1080p resolution
- 60Hz screen refresh rate
- Low latency Wi-Fi module – optimised for game streaming
- Hall linear trigger and hall rocker – help to avoid drifting
- Xbox Style ABXY face buttons
- Dual speakers
- 8 hour+ battery life
Out of the box
I was very impressed with how securely wrapped and packaged the abxylute one was upon its arrival. Given that the device was flown internationally to the UK, where I live.
In the box i, we have the abxylute one device itself and I am pleased to say that the device also comes with its own carry case, which is something I am a big fan of when it comes to devices such as this.
We were also very kindly provided with a set of thumb caps for the device and also a screen protector. As I will detail later in the review, I highly recommend the thumb caps.
The abxylute one also comes with instructions to set up the device and a USB C charge cable and it is recommended to charge the device fully before use.
Design
I can easily say that the abxylute one feels fantastic to hold. The only other handheld device I can compare to is the Nintendo Switch in its handheld mode and for me, in terms of comfort, the abxylute one comes out on top.
The device is light, yet the build quality still feels solid. The face buttons follow the style of the Xbox controller, and the shoulder buttons feel very quick and intuitive to use. I want to give an extra special mention to the shoulder buttons here as on some devices, especially mobile handheld controllers, they can feel too light and squishy as if you don’t get any purchase on them when pressed. I am pleased to say that the triggers on the abxylute one do not suffer from this issue and are both comfortable and feel very good when pressed.
On the bottom rim of the device, you will find the USB-C charging port along with a 3.5mm headphone jack and an SD card slot to increase the storage of the device if needed. Further face buttons include your start and select buttons as well as a home button that takes you directly to the device’s user interface.
Performance
Now, the main use case for myself for a device such as this is cloud gaming and that was the main focus for me when I first put it through its paces. However remote play is also a big selling point for the abxylute one.
The abxylute one runs on Android 12 but it also has its own unique UI which is very clean and easy to navigate. I was able to load up the Google Play Store very easily and download all my favourite cloud gaming and remote play apps such as GeForce NOW, Boosteroid and I also downloaded the PlayStation Remote Play as well as apps for Xbox Cloud Gaming and Xbox Remote Play.
First up, I jumped straight into GeForce NOW as in my personal opinion, GeForce NOW is the gold standard for cloud gaming, especially the Ultimate Membership tier. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition was the first game I tried. My home network gets a maximum of 68mbps download and I am pleased to say that the game ran flawlessly on the abxylute one.
Not only did the game perform well, but it also looked vibrant and crips on the 1080p 60Hz display, which allowed me to stream the game at 60fps. I then moved on to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Traversing ancient Greece felt natural, the controls responsive and before I knew it I was completely immersed in the game and a couple of hours had gone by!
Next up I jumped into tried two racing titles, The Crew Motorfest and Forza Motorsport, again both on GeForce NOW. The reason for this is that I wanted to put the triggers on the abxylute one through their paces. Again, I am pleased to say that both games looked and performed well and playing both felt natural and comfortable.
After testing out GeForce NOW, I moved on to something that was a little different for me and tried out the remote play app for the PlayStation 5. Given that I have not tried this feature in some time as my past experience with it was not very good, I am pleased to say that the performance of the app on the abxylute one was fantastic. It did feel like I was playing my PS5 natively on a portable device. I tried this both at home and at another location that was roughly around 25 miles away from my house, which is where my PS5 is located, both experiences were excellent.
I also tested out Boosteroid and Xbox Cloud Gaming on the abylute one and again, both performed extremely well and these are two cloud gaming services that I use a lot less than others.
A feature that I feel is worth a shout here is the option to take screenshots of your gameplay. They automatically save to the device and you can go ahead and share them, the easiest method I found for this is to save them to my Google account and upload them from there.
In terms of battery life, I have been getting around 8 hours on a full charge, but take in mind that I have settings such as the screen brightness turned up to the max. I am 100% certain I could gain extra battery life by making some adjustments in the settings but in all honesty, I have not felt the need to do so.
It is worth noting here that I did look to try both Amazon Luna and Utomik, but neither app seemed to be compatible with the device at the moment.
The Verdict
Overall I am very impressed with the abxylute one, not just with how the device operates and performs but also with how much I am using the device. I have now played through several games in their entirety, only using the device.
My previous experience with portable gaming was using various mobile controllers that were designed to be used with my mobile phone, these devices were great in quality but I never found myself using them for a long period of time, something that I have found to be the complete opposite with he abxylute one.
Another area that has changed for me thanks to the abxylute one is remote play. Again, remote play was not something I actively used due to a previous bad experience, however now I am finding myself putting my feet up on the sofa and using my abxylute one to remote play from my PS5. Being able to get my Brotato fix on the move is something is a huge plus point that I simply cant put a value on!
If you are a fan of cloud gaming, or you want a very reasonably priced device that can take care of your remote play needs, Xbox or PS5, then I can not recommend the abxylute one enough.
The abxylute one is available to purchase at abxylute.com – you also enter code clouddosage at checkout for an extra discount on your purchase.
*all gameplay images were captures on the abxylute one*
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