Leaked Lenovo Legion Go 2 Will Make You Mad at Xbox and Nintendo

If you’re on the fence about whether to snatch up a $450 Nintendo Switch 2, or if you’re still hemming and hawing about that upcoming Xbox handheld made by Asus, there’s one more device that looks set to make your wallet scream bloody murder. We haven’t seen hide nor hair of Lenovo’s Legion Go 2 for about six months now, but leaks suggest it could be the sequel handheld you were actually looking for, thanks to a major screen upgrade that neither Nintendo nor Xbox is offering for its current-gen handhelds.

The story goes back to several posts on Reddit, where some users claimed there were a slew of leaked Legion Go 2 models available through China-centric prototype and aftermarket reseller Xianyu. While Gizmodo could not confirm there were Legion Go 2 units changing hands, Videocardz claims to have seen models up for sale on these Chinese sites. Either way, some users have already pushed out videos allegedly showing the ins and outs of Lenovo’s upcoming sequel handheld. One, posted by YouTuber in yo, shows off a prototype with its 8.8-inch OLED display.

It’s still running regular old Windows, just like the original Legion Go S released earlier this year. Lenovo later unleashed its same handheld with SteamOS, which offered a major boost in performance. The prototype shown in that video is reminiscent of early prototypes we saw last year. Despite this being an early model, the 1200p OLED display at 144Hz and VRR—AKA variable refresh rate—is still the real star of the show. We don’t mind the Switch 2’s 7.9-inch display despite ghosting issues that leave some games—especially fast-paced sidescrollers—looking blurry. Nor did we have many complaints about the Asus ROG Ally X’s smaller screen, save for its relatively low brightness. Let’s face it, OLED still wins every day. The Steam Deck OLED has a 720p display, and yet we still prefer it to most handhelds we’ve used that are still beholden to IPS LCD.

Lenovo is likely waiting for Microsoft to release its version of Windows built specifically for handhelds. It essentially uses the Xbox app as the front-end user interface for accessing all your games on Xbox as well as third-party launchers like Steam and Epic Games Store. Like SteamOS, it will also dual-boot with a regular version of Windows for users to access all their regular apps. Microsoft hasn’t offered a release date for that Windows version, but it could arrive later this year and would have backward support for all previous Windows-based handhelds.

I first went hands-on with the Legion Go 2 at CES back in January. The device was still just a prototype, but AMD had the machine running with its upcoming Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, which is supposed to be the next big thing for handheld performance. I didn’t have any time to test its overall performance or to get a feel for its improved ergonomics with its detachable controllers. The videos of leaked Legion Go 2 models show off how you can still detach each side of the device to go controllers akimbo. The right-side control stick can still act as a mouse cursor for playing FPS or RTS games, though we’d have to test whether it’s as smooth and accurate as Nintendo’s Switch 2 mouse controls proved to be.

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