Not too long after the ASUS ROG Ally X was announced officially, I was given the opportunity to give it a try at the company’s HQ in Taipei, Taiwan. The experience with the new-and-improved handheld was part of the Computex 2024 motions, Still, it’s also worth noting that it was by far the thing that most people were trying to get their hands on, at least among media organisation reps from around the world.
It’s probably fair to say though that I was probably not the best person to be doing this, as I was not the one in the Lowyat.NET team to have the most time with its first iteration. That being the case, ifyou’re interested, I can still offer my thoughts of the ASUS ROG Ally X with no comparison to the predecessor.
With that, I’ll go over some what the company said officially about the ASUS ROG Ally X, and what it translates to when having it in your hands. Not being a full-fledged review though, only a few items in the spec sheet is relevant to this article, considering the short amount of time that I had with it.
First is that the handheld has double the battery capacity of the original Ally. Granted, there are other smaller improvements as well like more RAM and storage, but the biggest change is the battery. The cost of these improvements, is an increase in weight by 11.5% compared to the original.
With that out of the way, the ASUS ROG Ally X feels pretty good in hand. This is probably down to the very well-balanced weight distribution of the device. That being the case, your fingers will start to feel that additional 11.5% of weight pretty quickly.
On the demo grounds, one of the ASUS ROG Ally devices available had a fresh install of Tekken 8, with no saved progress. Considering the situation, the only meaningful test I could do with it is completing one Arcade Mode. The process took slightly under 10 minutes, with loading times and a couple of lost rounds in the mix, and I had my elbows on the counter the entire time.
By the end of the Arcade run, I could feel the early signs on my fingers getting wrinkly, and some slight soreness. While not necessarily caused by sweat buildup, there’s definitely some heft to the ASUS ROG Ally X, leading to the aforementioned situation.
Being a fighting game aficionado also meant that I encountered some issues with the ASUS ROG Ally X that the average user may not. In a presentation to media attendees, the company says that it has also made improvements to the buttons on the handheld, be they face or shoulder buttons, triggers, or even the D-pad. On this front, the triggers felt a bit floaty, but it is no doubt responsive. Ditto the shoulder buttons, but some may not enjoy the short travel distance as a result. Granted, that one is probably up to taste.
Now, the face buttons and D-pad are where some issues may come in, at least where fighting games are concerned. For the former, the buttons are elevated somewhat, and they feel good to press, when you do so one by one. But in fighting games like Tekken 8 where fast inputs are needed – as indicated by the ~ in some movelists – the buttons are too tall for such moves to be keyed in comfortably.
As for the latter, for the most part the D-pad is accurate and responsive. But the lack of resistance leads to a lot of missed inputs, with a cardinal direction input commonly ending up with a diagonal one in my case. This may be one of those things you get used to and adjust over time, but it’s pretty jarring initially.
Also, the brand noted that it got a lot of feedback that the back buttons got in the way, ending up in a lot of accidental presses. To address this, said buttons have been made smaller as a result. During my short time with it, I never even noticed that they were there, so to me it sounds like the implemented solution to one criticism was effective.
With all that being said, that’s what a person who did not spend too much time with the original has to say about the ASUS ROG Ally X. If the handheld does come in for review, chances are it will be reviewed by the one who did it for the original Ally, which would make for a better comparison for those who are looking for that.
John’s Impressions on the Ally X:
Given that I currently own the original Ally, I thought I’d just chime in here and give you my initial impressions. For starters and as my colleague has stated, you may not initially feel that extra 70g in the short term, and that’s due to its overall weight distribution. However, in the brief moment I had with it on the floor – it was approximately 15 minutes before I got shoved aside by some enthusiastic fan of Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, who just so happened to making his run – I noticed very quickly that the wielding it in a gyroscopic manner definitely felt heftier.
As far as gaming on it goes, the joysticks certainly felt stiffer but for the most part, it didn’t really that much more different from the original Ally. However, the redesigned palm grips of the ASUS ROG Ally X and extra padding and thickness made the gaming handheld fit more comfortably in my hands, more so than its predecessor. So, that’s a plus point there.
Sadly, I can’t talk about the extended battery life yet, but I am looking forward to the day ASUS passes me a review unit to test out that aspect.
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