Lenovo may be developing an Android-powered handheld gaming device called the Lenovo Legion Play.

The company hasn’t officially announce the Legion Play yet, and might never do so, but a set of  images found on the Lenovo website indicate that the company was at least considering introducing the handheld game console earlier this year. It’s one of two mobile gaming device I found hidden on Lenovo’s website. Update: The Lenovo Legion Play was never officially launched, but a handful of prototypes showed up in China in early 2023

Lenovo Legion Play

The images were uploaded to the Lenovo Germany and Lenovo Japan websites, where they were supposed to be part of the company’s Mobile World Congress 2021 showcase. When MWC came around this summer, Lenovo never actually introduced the Lenovo Legion Play, and it’s not visible on the company’s MWC websites… but if you search the source code for the page, you’ll find links to four images, as well as the following text description:

“Designed for AAA gaming, the Lenovo Legion Play is the first Android cloud gaming console. The console lets users play hundreds of cloud games, stream their game library, or play mobile games. It features a 7″ 16:9 FHD bezel-less display, HDR 10, built-in controllers, dual speakers, dual vibration, and 7000mAh battery to provide the best gaming experience. Our developer program is open to all game developers. Coming soon in select markets.”

I’m not sure why Lenovo refers to the display as “bezel-less” when there are clearly thick bezels around all sides, but then again, the company chose not to actually unveil the Legion Play at MWC, so maybe it doesn’t matter all that much what the hidden promotional text on the company’s website says. It’s possible the Legion Play just isn’t ready for prime time yet, so the company will give it an official launch at a later date. But it’s also possible it’s just a concept the company was working on, which will never actually be released.

For now, we can see that the pictures show what appears to be a handheld gaming device with a screen surrounded by game controllers on the left and right sides. There are two analog sticks, a D-Pad, X, Y, A, and B buttons, Shoulder buttons, and at least a few other function buttons.

On the bottom of the Legion Play, there’s a USB-C port, headset jack, and built-in microphone that you can presumably use for voice chat even when you don’t have a headset. There does not appear to be a camera.

While the Legion Play has a custom user interface designed to focus on gaming, it’s pretty clear that the software is Android-based thanks to a Google Play Store icon. There are also icons for YouTube, Google Drive, and Chrome as well as NVIDIA’s GeForce Now game streaming service.

Theoretically the Legion Play could be a more affordable device than gaming phones, like the company’s own Lenovo Legion Phone Duel series, since the Legion Play wouldn’t  need the cellular hardware necessary to make phone calls or connect to mobile data. But since we don’t know anything about the specs, (or whether Lenovo actually plans to make this thing), there’s not really too much point in speculating about the price.

Lenovo Legion Phone Duel H20 Edition

Speaking of gaming phones, here’s a fun fact: the Legion Play wasn’t the only device hidden in Lenovo’s MWC website. There’s also a concept phone called the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel H20 Edition. I’d be very surprised if it ever sees the light of day, as it’s a water-cooled smartphone with a very, very bulky cooling system attached to the back of the phone. Here’s how Lenovo describes it:

“The Lenovo Legion Phone Duel H2O Edition is a water-cooled concept of the Legion Duel 2. Adding the active Twin Turbo-Fan was already a bold move, but bringing water cooling to a mobile phone is the perfect solution to dissipate heat and improve the device’s stability in high-performance mode. Featuring the latest processor, this phone is perfectly capable of staying cool and extracting the best performance available. To make it an epic gaming phone, we also maxed out the other specs; it comes with 18GB of ram and 1TB of storage. This product is still in the concept phase.”

 

via /r/Android and gbatemp

This article was originally published October 2, 2021 and last updated October 3, 2021. 

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23 replies on “Lenovo Legion Play leaked: Handheld game console running Android”

  1. I hope it’s a phone, I know a lot of people don’t get it but that’s why they are where they are, if it’s done well and makes a lot of sense it could restart the mobile gaming phone market… Like gpd (portable pc)and Nintendo(portable gaming consoles) saved the portable market… Steam just jumped in to a market that was already proven I’m not impressed. My loyalty goes to the company willing to take the risk… P.s. why I won’t buy razer or Sony that tried their best to kill the mobile gaming market… Not sure why that’s not talked about

    1. I doubt it’s a phone even if it has a cellular connectivity icon on the screen. Mostly because it doesn’t have a camera. I’m hearing that, where phones are newly obligatory, cameras are an obligatory feature. Although aside from that there’s no externally visible reason it couldn’t make phone calls.
      Also, what did Razer do? I don’t really care for most of their products, but I actually liked the Razer phones.

  2. I hope Lenovo scrapped this in light of the Steam Deck and are now making an x86 gaming handheld instead. Maybe even work with Valve to get the new SteamOS on it.

  3. I sure as hell hope the Phone Duel H20 is just a concept, the idea of slapping a watercooling tank to a portable device is beyond ridiculous, I dare wonder who was stupid enough to OK this for release (and don’t give me the futuristic concept car that never sees the light of day excuse, this isn’t even a good idea by any sort of stretch, nor some technological prowess anyone should be proud of).

    1. I can only imagine it was intended as next year’s April fool’s joke that someone got done working on early. The only thing that looks like it could be a radiator is that thing that looks like an engine nacelle, but in one of the renders it looks completely encased.
      The cooler is covering up the cameras, too!

  4. I’d much rather buy something that runs one of the many Linux-based emulation operating systems, like Retropie, Batocera, Lakka, ArkOS, etc. The RG351M is a good option for $150 or less. Or the Odroid Go Super for $80.

    The only thing that Android has going for it is the ability to use Discord, and game streaming services.

    1. That’s not entirely true.
      Android-based Handhelds also have access to Mobile Games, Useful Apps, and a much better Browser. Those are pretty big features to wave away. And they also can be modded with different GUI or front-ends (Launchers and Custom Roms). And before you ask; No an AndroidOS is not THAT much more bloated than these Mobile Linux OS variants.

      Not to mention, that some of those Emulators are better on Android simply due to active development, or proper drivers (notorious on Chinese devices). And the fact that these are usually based on mobile phones means you generally get a larger battery, cameras, GPS, compass, and other things as a bonus.

      Oh, lastly the processors. Those Odroid Go-Advance and the like are using SoC’s with either MIPS or low-end ARM chipsets. I’m talking Cortex-A7, Cortex-A35, Cortex-A53, and Cortex-A55 at best. Very rare to find them with a Cortex-A73 or better CPU, never mind the budget cuts to the GPU. So you’re left with emulating 2D games mostly. A midrange phone, and the soon coming Android-Handhelds will be powerful enough to do Nintendo n3DS emulation. Highest-end Android devices can do Nintendo Switch emulation. Whilst I’m expecting the Valve SteamDeck to do that and more (WiiU, PS3, PS2 etc etc) whilst playing Current-AAA titles whilst being portable.

  5. Other than the Lenovo Brand (if it matters), how does it differ with the other Android Handhelds available in aliexpress? Are they good with regards to Android updates?

    1. They’re not particularly good about Android updates, buy I suspect there are plenty of people who would rather buy a device from a company with a strong Western presence and a track record of providing customer service for things like returns and repairs than buying from a vendor on AliExpress. That’s all assuming Lenovo actually brings this to market though, which isn’t a given.

    1. The title gave me a roller coaster of emotions. I was excited up until the last word where I totally lost interest

      o_O
      \(^o^)/
      ( ̄ー ̄)

        1. How well would games run at this point? Might be a major gamble for a non-MS vendor to take.

          1. You won’t get the battery life and thinness with x86.

            ARM64 x64 translation is good enough for many games.

    2. Lenovo probably didn’t reveal it at MWC because they realized that a dedicated Android gaming-only device was a bad idea.

      1. Android is popular on phones and has app stores full of games 😀 Maybe your interest is unauthorized sharing of others works without paying for the games software.

        1. Yeah, that’s why it’d be better to just buy a really good phone and use one of the many available controllers. Many of them are attachable too. No need to buy a dedicated device to just play the few decent Android games that exist.

          app stores full of games
          Full of mostly crappy games you mean. The people who actually get these dedicated Android gaming handhelds largely use them for illegal pirating because Android gaming is just bad.

          1. Fortnite, Pubg mobile, call of duty, unkilled, shadow gun and all those console emulators, just how does poor Android survive..

  6. Just put game controllers on your phone ! That way your game console upgrades each time you upgrade your phone 😀😁😎

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