Qualcomm announces Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform
This week is the Snapdragon Tech Summit 2021, Qualcomm’s big annual event at which the company presents its latest proposals for next year’s devices.
This year they have come very strong with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that paints very, very well, especially in artificial intelligence and computational photography, but also an SoC for laptops with Windows 11, many novelties related to the metaverse, and even a console.
This is the Snapdragon G3x, a console, and platform that is a rather strange concept because it is developed by Razer and Qualcomm, it looks spectacular, it looks like a final product and many of you have asked us about it.
However, it will not be able to buy because, as its name suggests, it is still a development kit for video game studios although well, I do not completely lose hope and I will tell you here.
That said, let’s go with our first review of the Snapdragon G3x. I have already told you that I liked it more than I thought.
Shooting the design of Switch and Steam Deck with very, very satisfactory ergonomics
Let’s start with the design because the console seems very simple, but many times in that ‘simplicity is the magic of hardware.
It does not have much mystery: the design is what we have seen in other laptops and in controls of those that are attached to the mobile, but the truth is that razer’s good work in this regard is noticeable.
For starters, it weighs much less than it seems. It must be clear that this is not mobile with two controls on the sides, so there are many elements that we save such as glass and aluminum parts, camera modules with the weight that this implies, and other components that add grams at the end.
In the hand, the grip is very comfortable both for that low weight and for the two ‘horns’ and the arrangement of buttons. The truth is that it is a machine with which it gives the impression that you can spend the hours and we would not even know.
The buttons have reminded me a lot of those of Razer’s Kishi — analysis- and it is normal since this console is 80% off Razer (all hardware) and 20% of Qualcomm (the SoC).
They are somewhat rubbery and in some, you have to squeeze more than the account, but this I do not take into account because, and this is important and must be taken into account at all times, it is not a final product.
But hey, beyond the sensations in the hand, which are good, at the top we have a 5-megapixel camera, a USB-C and a hot air outlet.
On the back is the fresh air intake for a small fan uy important for something that we will tell you later and at the bottom, we have the 3.5 mm jack and the volume up / down buttons, as well as the power button.
The OLED panel behaves well in full light and is a visual spectacle
The screen is something fundamental in a console and is something that has been seen in Nintendo Switch OLED. Being the same hardware as that of 2017, with the addition of an OLED screen the game rises in level thanks to better brightness, more generous angles, and, above all, much richer colors.
Here we have an OLED panel that I have not found that of the highest-end mobiles on the market because it lacks some brightness, despite looking correctly outdoors, but that more than meets what we would expect from such a console.
The viewing angles are very good, it has support for HDR content and the refresh is 120 Hz.
You already know that this refreshment is not an absolute value because there are games that do not take advantage of that rate, but well, that is precisely one of Qualcomm’s interests thanks to its set of tools, that developers can easily reach those frequencies.
The resolution is nothing crazy and stays at 1,080p. In this size of 6.65, “the experience with the pixel density is adequate and the lower resolution, the better to be able to squeeze the SoC and create richer experiences at a visual level. Or to get to that Hz rate.
And on both sides of the screen, we have two speakers. They were not at their best, but to play the truth is that they comply. If you want better quality, you can always connect headphones thanks to Bluetooth 5.2 and the different audio technologies that the SoC incorporates.
We have not done it and I have only tried Asphalt 9, a game of Qualcomm and xCloud, and they are not the best when it comes to sound. It sounds good, but it’s not something you can seriously value.
The most important thing about speakers, which will depend on each company, is the Low Latency Bluetooth and HD Sound capabilities of the SoC.
Up to 4K at 144Hz, 10-bit HDR, TV connection, and a GPU to hold the most while the battery lasts
But hey, let’s go to the guts. Both in Qualcomm’s presentation in which they announced the console and in the private demonstration, talk of numbers has been avoided.
We know we have several Kryo cores and an Adreno GPU, but that, honestly, tells us absolutely nothing.
There is talk of a new generation mobile platform (this is how they define the SoC) that is capable of running very heavy games with the GPU always working at the maximum frequency.
We have not been able to verify this, but we have tested recent Qualcomm chips that, after a while playing, lower the performance due to overheating.
Snapdragon 8 gen 1
To avoid this, and it is something that I was told on three occasions in the half-hour I was with the console, we have the fan.
It is a dissipation system designed so that the frequency at which the GPU operates is always maximum and, thus, to be able to get all the juice out of the SoC without the gaming experience being hindered.
This console does not have gyroscopes and accelerometers, but they confirmed to me that the SoC would support those technologies and, if a manufacturer decides to include them in their product, it could be perfectly played with motion controls in compatible titles.
Originally published at https://www.lktechsky.com on December 3, 2021.
https://www.lktechsky.com/2021/12/qualcomm-announces-snapdragon-g3x-gen-1.html
