By: Nick Gambino
Ayaneo has been hard at work designing and building a gaming handheld that can compete with the Steam Deck. They’ve missed that target on their last couple outings, but they intend to change that with the new Kun handheld set for pre-orders on September 5th.
The company’s Indiegogo campaign for the Kun starts at 8am EST on that date. We finally got our first full spec sheet, laying out what we’ll see when it arrives. Right out the gate, something that grabs attention is the size of the screen.
While the Steam Deck comes in at 7 inches (same as the Nintendo Switch), Ayaneo’s Kun rocks a whopping 8.4 inches. That’s impressive for a handheld. The trick will be to make sure it’s not too bulky. We’ll have to wait for it to come out to get our hands on it and see. They’re also competitive in the resolution department. The Steam Deck features a 720p display, while the Kun racks it up to 1080p. The Switch doesn’t even offer 720p on its handheld.
Add those to the 500 nits that allow for a brighter screen and you start to worry about the battery life. Ayaneo has compensated for the extra work the device is putting in by fitting it with a larger battery that promises double the life of a Steam Deck battery. That’s of course if you play it in perfect conditions.
The base model sports 16 GB RAM and 512 GB storage. If you’re willing to cough up a few hundred more dollars you can get all the way up to 64 GB RAM and 4 TB of storage, or 8 TB if you include the SSD slot (again, beating out all competitors).
You’ll be able to choose from three different colors: White Silk, Silver Wing and Black Feather. In other words, you’re getting black, white or silver.
If you choose to be an early bird buyer, you can snag the Kun for a starting price of $999 for the base model. Otherwise that goes up to $1,129 for Indiegogo pre-orderers and $1,209 official retail. If you go for the largest configuration it’ll cost you $1,699, $1,809 and $1,949 respectively.
