A little while back, we managed to take a look at the Lenovo Legion Go while in Singapore. The device marks the brand’s first foray into the realm of portable, gaming handheld consoles and an alternative to the consumers looking beyond The ASUS ROG Ally, Valve’s Steam Deck, and all the other handhelds coming out of China.
I’ve spent a reasonable time with the Legion Go by now – living with it, using it in public as well as in the privacy of my home, be it in bed or on the porcelain throne. Here’s what I can tell you about it, as well as what it’s like as my on-the-go daily gaming driver.
Specifications
Looks And Functionality
It is difficult to talk about the Legion Go without drawing comparisons from the Nintendo Switch, so instead of avoiding it, I’m going to do just that. Yes, the Go essentially is an accumulation of some of the best features from existing consoles and technologies, and yes, that kickstand design is clearly Lenovo taking a page out of Nintendo’s book when it made the Switch OLED.
The kickstand on the Legion Go, in particular, feels like a direct port and carbon copy from the Switch OLED, and even feels sturdy due to its all-metal design. Having said that, it’s not quite as solid and with minimal effort, I can partially bend and twist the frame of the kickstand into odd angles.
That backplate on the Legion Go is there on tight.
Like the ROG Ally, gaining access to the Legion Go’s innards isn’t difficult; all it takes is a Philips head screwdriver, a little bit of elbow grease, a bit of leverage to pop open the back and voila, you’re in. On a side note, I think it best to speak about the Truestrike controllers and more specifically, the joysticks. Unlike the ones attached to its competitors, the ones on this console are Hall Effect joysticks, meaning that you do not have to worry about the dreaded Stick Drift issue that has plague not just gaming handheld consoles but also controllers of static consoles like the PlayStation.
The storage option that Lenovo has chosen isn’t conventional either and by that, I am referring size of the M.2 SSD. Instead of the 2230 form factor that is used in both the Ally and Deck, this SSD is the 2242 form factor, which is slightly longer and not necessarily easier to procure or replace. On that note, getting access to the back of the console is a little difficult and unless you can get leverage, that panel’s stuck in tight there, almost like someone that is busting for a pee but has to desperately hold it in, hard, until they get to a washroom.
Connectivity, for another matter, is one port more than the competition offers. Lenovo saw fit to install two USB-C ports, and USB 4 ports to boot. The idea here is that you can use one port for keeping the Legion Go charged either with the provided 65W adapter, or any compatible adapter of the same output, while the second can be used to connect the Legion Glasses.
And that’s a nice segue way into what is the most exciting accessory to be used with the Legion Go: the Legion Glasses. Lenovo describes it as a pair of AR glasses but the bottom line is, it isn’t. Fact of the matter is, this is a pair of glasses that comes with prescription-friendly lenses, and built inside it is an FHD OLED – OLED – display with a 60Hz refresh rate. It’s a fun piece of technology for me, simply because I found myself pairing it up with other use-case scenarios.
Having said that, the Glasses are far from perfect. While they can be connected to virtually any device via USB-C – connecting the glasses to the Legion Go or any gaming handheld with a USB-C automatically turns off the main screen and projects it into the glasses – connecting them to Android devices doesn’t shut down the screen. It’s understandable, given that you still need to navigate the device. Then there’s the detachable bridge on it; I’ve lost count on how many times that damn piece of the accessory has detached itself from the cradle when I use it to watch videos in bed, fall asleep, and wake up to the realisation that something’s missing.
Performance And Battery
As far as gaming goes, the Legion Go and the Z1 Extreme inside it barely breaks a sweat, up until you try gaming at QHD+, at least. I’ve said this several time in this review but as pretty as that display is, the chipset that’s bound to clearly hits a wall at Full HD resolution or in this case, FHD+. On triple A titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Starfield, gaming at the QHD+ means you’ll only see the handheld push a maximum average of 30 fps, best case scenario. At FHD+, I can still wring out a comfortable 40 fps average but if you really want to milk the console for all its worth, dropping the resolution down to HD+ is the ideal solution to the problem.
Moving on, Legion Space is leaps and bounds better in its execution than ASUS’ own Armoury Crate SE for the Ally, but it is far from flawless. THe UI overlay, for instance, still needs a bit of work. More on that in a bit.
Another downside to the console is the gaming mode: Throughout the review, I left my unit running in the Performance mode by default, simply because running it in either Silent or Auto Mode simply brings about a massive drop in frame rates, coupled with the fans running so fast, it’s almost as if they’re making up for being lazy throughout the review process.
Then there’s the Legion Go’s FPS mode that works great in theory, at least when it comes to simple FPS titles such as Counter-Strike 2 or Overwatch. The mode transforms the right Truestrike joystick into a mouse and even comes with a detachable foot that you slip the base of the joystick in. With the left controller in hand, it offers a relatively unique experience by providing dynamic movements and mobility that you get with a controller, while providing a level of precision that you would only get with a high-grade gaming mouse.
Speaking of a mouse, the dedicated trackpad on the Legion Go is definitely a nifty little tool, but I have to be honest: it feels a little out of place. Again, to draw comparison from other consoles, the Deck itself has two dedicated trackpads, both of which are programmable and can be used however you choose, in whatever game you want. The one on the Go? All I find myself doing is using it to navigate the onboard Windows OS and maybe the occasional doom scrolling or clicking on YouTube.
There’s just one issue with FPS mode: in transforming the right joystick into a “mouse”, the function effectively disables – removes, even – the ABXY buttons from the equation. This renders many titles in the ARPG genre and the likes of it, such as Starfield or Cyberpunk 2077, completely unplayable, simply because the button mapping of this mode just wreaks havoc and causes confusion. To put it in another way: imagine a car with a button that enables to it go from 0-100km/h in 2.5 seconds. However, upon pushing that button, it also ejects all four wheels simultaneously.
I also do not get the button placement for the back buttons on the right controller. Honestly, I don’t: in its coveted FPS mode, and even if I do manage to find a purpose for them, its horizontal layout makes no sense to me. I mean, what are you expecting me to do, Lenovo? Press the inner button with the ball of my thumb? I’m sorry, but to borrow a vulgarity from the Spanish to describe my frustration: Coño.
On a somewhat related note, the Truestrike controllers aren’t the most ergonomic I’ve used. I mean, yeah sure, it’s certainly more comfortable to hold than the Joycons on the Switch, but due to its lightness, there is a hollow feeling that my hands just aren’t able to get used to about it.
Having said that, the overall design of the Legion Go feels, dare I say it, chunky. With the Deck and Ally, both consoles are essentially a single, molded units. With the shape of the Go, it reminds me of the Chinese handheld console, the OneXPlayer – it’s boxy and heavy, but to its credit, there is still a bit of attitude to the design, thanks to the angular vent cut into it.
Another issue I take with it is that it isn’t isolated from the console when it is summoned – typically, controls for such a UI would pause or disable in-game controls temporarily, while you cycle through the functions and features that you wish to see in the overlay. That isn’t the case here.
Even when the Legion Space is open, navigating through it still executes action within the game that it is temporarily beholden to. So, imagine if you’ve got a game such as Diablo IV or Cyberpunk 2077 running in the background, and you find that your character is moving and performing actions in the background, all while you’re trying to make some minor adjustments.
The performance monitor isn’t bug-free either and it is always the FPS counter that either works or just outright doesn’t. Worst, resetting the Legion Go doesn’t necessarily help it return to working order, and it usually takes me a handful of resets before it starts to behave. All in all, it’s still a moderately buggy mess but hopefully, Lenovo would have address these issues after the publication of this review.
Lastly and still in regards to Legion Space – this is perhaps and old and tired argument but having to open up a launcher from the UI is completely and highly unnecessary. Much as I did with the ROG Ally, I find it quicker to just launch the corresponding launcher and platform directly from the Windows home page than going through the console’s dedicated UI.
Conclusion
I’ll be frank here. the RM3,999 price tag that Lenovo has slapped on the Legion Go makes the gaming handheld a little less appealing to the general consumer. Mind you, this price tag is for the model with the Z1 Extreme processor only, as it is currently the model the brand will be pushing to the masses.
Like the Ally, the Lenovo Legion Go is a halfway decent first attempt at handheld gaming consoles.
But, if you’re willing to look past the price tag and look at the finger points of the gaming handheld, you could probably learn to appreciate them as I do. Once again, having a larger 8.8-inch QHD+ display is nice but realistically, I don’t play the majority of my games at that resolution and dumb it down to either FHD+ or HD+, in order to get as many frames out of the Legion Go. On top of that, the fact that the controllers are detachable gives the machine a unique edge amongst its rivals but again, even that without drawbacks. The console’s biggest flaw, however, is that, like the ROG Ally and being a Windows-operated portable, battery life is still an issue, be it in Auto or Performance mode.
For those among you looking to be an early adopter of the Legion Go, though, none of the flaws issues that I’ve addressed in this review stops it from being an eye-opener and party piece, be it within the walls of a multi-purpose hall at university, a pretentious cafe that you go to drink expensive artisanal coffee, or if you’re paying tribute to the porcelain throne. Just make sure you’re next to a wallplug and you have a charging adapter capable of outputting 65W, or high output powerbank if you intend to be on it longer than a couple of hours.
Photography by John Law.
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