They sent this for a sponsorship. I reviewed it instead lol – Logitech G Cloud

we're on the record saying that the Logitech G Cloud a handheld console designed exclusively for cloud gaming sounds pretty dumb the planning for this must have started before they heard about steam deck holy good luck Logitech so I was pretty surprised when Logitech slid into my DMs with an offer to sponsor me to promote the device I mean I gave them the usual yeah I'm interested wouldn't you logitech's check's always clear but I also told them that I needed to experience it in person before we could move forward and well I have and short answer it is good enough to accept the sponsorship long answer we didn't accept the sponsorship which is why this video is brought to you by some other sponsor like PDQ PDQ makes device management simple secure and pretty darn quick so don't wait start automating your patch management and software deployment processes with PDQ deploy and inventory start your free trial now at pdq.com LTT Logitech pegged me completely wrong here I don't hate cloud gaming and I especially don't hate handheld cloud gaming I mean I was probably the single biggest advocate for the original Nvidia Shield outside of Nvidia and its entire stick was that you could use it to play Android games but it was at its best when you were streaming AAA games over Wi-Fi from your desktop gaming rig it was pretty much the spiritual predecessor to this thing and I absolutely loved it even back then the latency was really impressive and while image quality lost due to video compression is going to be a challenge for any streaming service game streaming in particular the smaller the screen the less noticeable any blocking or motion artifacts will be so game streaming to a handheld made and makes a ton of sense the question then is whether this is the right handheld big black elephant in the room for the Logitech G cloud is of course the steam deck even though it starts at only fifty dollars more valve's handheld packs so much more Firepower that it can not only stream games from the cloud but even render them locally without an internet connection it also boasts standout features like haptic touchpads programmable grip buttons and a consumer-friendly approach to user repair however after spending some time with both of them I no longer agree with the other reviewers who say that the gcloud should be completely ignored right out of the gate there's actually a lot that Logitech did right here it's only marginally heavier than the OLED switch from Nintendo with much better ergonomics thanks to having a permanently attached controller and the quality and feel of the Plastics really highlight logitech's Decades of experience designing human interface devices the screen has a pleasing color profile right out of the box and is rated at 450 nits which in practice is much brighter than you will ever need indoors and I was also pleased to find things that I used to take for granted but no longer do like a three and a half millimeter headphone jack next to the bottom mounted USBC charging port and a Micro SD expansion slot at the top next to the power switch and volume rocker navigating the initial setup wizard then gave me a lot of confidence in the buttons and the joysticks until abruptly my overwhelmingly positive First Impressions ended during setup I was given an unskippable prompt for 10 cents privacy policy and end user license agreement it's probably not the worst Eula that I've ever signed and Logitech isn't exactly hiding the partnership given that they've talked about it on their blog but the only hint at tencent's involvement on the product page itself is the subtle grammatical and spelling errors that are sprinkled throughout so I feel like some of my disappointment is Justified here and unfortunately that feeling carried through to the interface it's not bad if all you ever want to do is fire up one of the three pre-installed cloud gaming apps GeForce now Xbox cloud or steam link all of this is likely going to feel like nitpicking it's just that it's kind of obtuse you know like why are my Android notifications under messages instead of pull down shade why does the touchscreen work to interact with my photo gallery but not my Wi-Fi icon why does it take a colossal 20 interactions and entering my PIN to go from handheld mode to regular Android tablet mode something that you will probably find yourself needing to do at some point even if it's just to get access to the back button and then while we're at it why the Sam heck does it not have a back button In fairness to Logitech or realistically 10 cent put pretty much every game under the sun uses face buttons for both confirm and for bag and both opening and closing the Quick Settings overlay is intuitively handled with the home button though I wouldn't recommend using the gcloud as an Android gaming handheld anyway to which you might say what how can an Android Tablet with a controller bolted to the side possibly be bad for gaming oh it can to hit their aggressive 350 dollar price point it is pretty clear that Logitech cut some Corners the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720g that powers the gcloud was targeted at Emerging Markets when it was announced nearly three years ago and if you attempt to run anything heavier than casual games you are going to be extremely disappointed one of my personal favorite Android games bomb squad is a total blast on this thing but it's an ancient game I used to play it on my original Shield portable try to play something like fortnite it was an absolute stuttery mess when I tried to run it at Native resolution and that's even ignoring the current lack of proper Gamepad detection and on-screen control mapping Logitech says they're working on this but for now that doesn't help me and it was seriously awkward to jump with the face buttons and then Fire by reaching over them to the touchscreen since the right trigger wouldn't do anything furthermore while it's not something that I explored in detail running Android console emulators is snow walk in the park either according to Gary over at the fox it can easily handle consoles from the 90s but even heavier PlayStation 2 and GameCube games were a struggle for its weak SOC and he often find himself frustrated by poor controller mapping agree with you 100 their men however there's one aspect of Gary's excellent and detailed review that I take issue with and I alluded to this before his recommendation to completely ignore the gcloud and buy a steam deck instead let me explain Logitech has been careful to Market this device very specifically while they don't get in the way of running any Android app you want including playing games or watching great behind the scenes content from our channels over on floatplane.com and they are apparently even discussing the possibility of unlocking the bootloader other than to say that it runs Android 11 they make no mention of Android whatsoever on the product page it's for running Cloud games and for that purpose it's really really good like the steam deck it packs a large 7-inch display for a big screen portable gaming experience but unlike the steam deck it's 1080p meaning that your streamed games will end up looking noticeably sharper than your friend's locally rendered games and actually even streamed games onto this team deck because the screen resolution is so much lower and because all game rendering is being done remotely the gcloud never gets loud or hot I can't stress enough how much of a difference this makes I would describe the stereo speakers as pretty darn solid but by far the best thing about them is that I can actually hear them over the zero other noise that the system is making [Music] it's the kind of quality life difference that might not get captured by a typical review process which is all about your measurements and your fps's but it makes a big difference when you're actually living with the thing and so does the form factor I love the steam deck as much as anyone for real I'm on the record saying things like it'll revolutionize the console industry and even the broader gaming industry but part of loving something is being willing to be honest with it and steam deck is kind of cumbersome the size and weight difference between these two devices is enough that if I had both of them on my bedside table I know which one that I would grab to lie on the couch and veg and it wouldn't be the steam deck the last major advantage for the gcloud is battery life Logitech advertises 12 hours and as far as I can tell they are selling themselves majorly short here it over to the lab where at a screen brightness of 2 which is plenty bright for indoors it managed five and a half to seven and a half hours in Apex Legends mobile depending on the frame rate target so far so not that impressive but then we set it up streaming playing bravery and greed on G-Force now and we managed a whopping 15 hours of battery life that is another huge W for the gcloud that goes beyond just bigger number better and into my battery anxiety just disappears compared to my other handhelds of course that doesn't mean that there's no room for improvement in what appears to be an effort to make the gcloud more comfortable for children they crammed the face buttons so close to the right thumbstick that I accidentally bump it constantly both in games and in menus and that isn't even the thumbstick's worst quality I think Logitech nailed the size of them they're kind of in between the Nintendo switch and the full-size sticks on the deck but I cannot emphasize enough how bad the dead zones are whether we're talking racing or shooting games the absolute last thing that you want to do on a console that already has anywhere from 50 to 100 plus milliseconds of extra input delay is ADD even more input delay it's not too bad for All or Nothing inputs like in Hollow Knight but it makes fine adjustments to aim or steering basically impossible if you're attempting anything other than a casual playthrough I'm waiting to hear from Logitech whether this is something they can fix in software we'll have the answer either overlaid or in the video description but if it isn't I would recommend steering clear of the gcloud until they've revised the hardware to address it which is a real shame because that's my only real game breaker here though of course there is another elephant in the room and that's the cost it's not only designed for use alongside an existing gaming PC or monthly cloud service both of which cost money but at the time of writing the gcloud itself costs over eight times as much as strapping a Razer Kishi to your phone I understand that that's not an Apples to Apples comparison your phone's screen is a lot smaller and the gcloud is Worlds more comfortable but your phone also doesn't turn into an expensive paperweight if you want to take a break from your monthly subscriptions and use it for something else making it a much more practical option now I've seen people saying hey yeah I love the concept and if the price was a hundred dollars I could totally justify it but 300 ain't happening the issue is that the only decent Android tablets that I've seen for 100-ish dollars are Amazon Fire tablets and those only exist because Amazon can sell them at a loss and make up the difference with the prime subscriptions and other Revenue that they're assuming that they'll generate Logitech enjoys no such luxury and while we have seen them discount the gcloud there is no way it's going to make it that low because they need to make money on every unit or they might as well just cancel the project which I sincerely hope they don't there are some obvious bugs to resolve in the software like this weird floating error or the inconsistent behavior of back in the menus but overall I actually do like the concept and with a bit more on device performance the combination of an enormous catalog of cheap Android games and outstanding streaming performance would make this thing a serious Contender for my money because compared to buying my kids something like a switch now steam deck customers you guys know who you are and this product isn't for you but for other people the gcloud really does bring something new and interesting to the table and I'm rooting for it to be a success in the long term by the time this comes out it'll be too late to do that Black Friday sponsorship deal but that's okay I had a lot of fun working on this review I don't get to write much these days and I can probably make just as much with this message from our other sponsor Bessie do you ever struggle figuring out what to wear in unpredictable weather well vesty's got your back or well rather your feet vessi is known for offering lightweight easy to pack sneakers and check this out rain or shine you're good to go because the water just beads right off them it simplifies deciding what shoes to wear in the morning because you can just completely ignore the weather your people even stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer and putting them on and taking them off is super easy their shoes are made from cruelty free products right down to the glue and whether you're trying to keep your grip on a slippery sidewalk or a Rocky Trail their herringbone tread design is there to help you check out vessi's Cyber Monday sale today using the link down below if you guys enjoyed this video you might enjoy my recent coverage of the Aya Neo next which is actually my daily driver handheld it's really heavy and really expensive of but it has other redeeming qualities like a full-size internal SSD that make it a compelling option for me so go ahead and check that out

Channel: Linus Tech Tips

Views: 3,781,725

Keywords: logitech g cloud gaming handheld review, tech, gaming, mobile gaming, mobile, android, android gaming, cloud gaming, game streaming, stadia, geforce now, logi, game pass, steam, steam deck, steamdeck

Id: tdhNpxyQLGo

Length: 14min 6sec (846 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 28 2022