The Tecno brand is little known in Europe, but is nonetheless a player to follow: it is part of the Chinese group Transsion whose rise can be seen in 2023. The group (which includes several brands) is climbed to the 5th step of the podium among smartphone sellers. Present mainly in South-East Asia, South America, Africa or Eastern Europe, it is not distributed in France. But it is no less innovative, offering among its many references a folding smartphone in Fold format (the Phantom V) and a clamshell model, the Phantom V Flip 5G, made official at this MWC 2024.
It is also at the Catalan show that the brand shows an original product, and rather attractive, even when you don’t have the heart of a die-hard gamer. Called Pocket Go, the device takes the form of a portable console, but without a screen. And for good reason: it is accompanied by a pair of augmented reality glasses which play this role for the user. Good idea on the part of the manufacturer, it is possible to adjust the display according to the user’s visual acuity; two dials (one for each eye) allow you to regulate the diopter in order to use these AR glasses… without wearing your usual glasses. A very good point which avoids having to go through the expensive addition of corrective lenses.
The console itself looks like an imposing gamepad, including battery (50 Wh) and processor (an AMD Ryzen 7 8840 HS at 5.1 GHz) accompanied by 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of memory, for store games there. This Pocket Go is more or less a Windows computer, on which it is therefore possible to install compatible games; for our part we tried Cyberpunk 2077, a game selected by Tecno to carry out its demonstrations. The display is stunning: two 0.71 inch micro-OLED screens offering the user the equivalent of a panel of more than 200 inches. The immersive effect is there, thanks to the gyroscope which easily follows the movements of the head, and it is quite easy to imagine playing anywhere with such a device, especially since the location of its buttons and joysticks seems It couldn’t be more classic.
Many elements remain unanswered: will the power of the console be sufficient to run all types of games? Quid autonomy? All this will be detailed later, as will its price, since Tecno is content to give a preview of its console at MWC. The real launch of the device will take place within a few months, representatives of the brand told us.