I checked my handheld bingo card for March, and I have to admit a Nintendo DS-like system with arms that flip Transformers-style into a more-traditional, 6-inch gaming handheld wasn’t on the list. The OneXSugar Sugar 1 from OneXPlayer wants to be the noble Optimus Prime of retro handhelds. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out as a pricey, obnoxious Starscream.
The OneXSugar Sugar 1 is an Android-based handheld that can take the shape of a Nintendo DS, or else you can unlatch and fold up the two arms and swap them to the main display for use as a more-traditional gaming device. A video accompanying Monday’s announcement shows how the two sides of the controller operate on a hinge that plugs into two USB-C slots on the side of the device. The top screen itself also appears to operate on a hinge, though it folds backwards rather than forwards.
Talk about “handhelds in disguise.” While it’s not a clamshell design like the Nintendo DS, the Sugar 1 still offers the dual screen needed to enjoy games from Nintendo’s original touchscreen handheld. This design could be handy for DS or 3DS emulation, though it’s not going to be a 1-to-1 simulation considering the Sugar 1 houses a 6-inch main display and a 3.92-inch secondary screen. The 3DS XL, the largest version of Nintendo’s previous handheld, had a mere 4.88 inches display.
The other big consideration is its processor, Qualcomm’s new G3 Gen 3 chip. That’s the company’s gaming-specific chip built specifically for Android handhelds. That chip includes the octa-core Kryo CPU made up of one prime core, five performance cores, and two efficiency cores which Qualcomm said should be 30% faster than the company’s previous handheld-centric chips. It supports WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3.
The G3 supports the upgraded Adreno A32 GPU, which allows it to support displays up to QHD+ at 144 Hz. While we don’t yet know how it stacks up against the company’s flagship mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm said this processor should be designed with Unreal Engine 5 ray tracing in mind. So it should theoretically be powerful enough for newer games rendered very prettily. Yet we don’t have any other details on the handheld’s specs, including RAM and storage.
It will also run into competition from other DS-style handhelds. Since last year, Ayaneo has promoted its Flip DS that runs on Windows. Despite initially implying the handheld was being discontinued, Ayaneo claimed on its crowdfunding page it is still fulfilling orders. If you’re looking for a cheaper clamshell, last week, Retroid showed off its Retroid Pocket Flip 2 that will sell for $230. The company’s Retroid Pocket Classic with its Game Boy-like design will also make use of the Snapdragon G1 Gen 2. And if you really want the most pure DS emulation, you could buy a used 3DS and hack it, but we understand most users don’t want to bother with all the extra hardware headaches.
If you’re looking to stand out from the crowd headlined by consoles like the Steam Deck or Asus Ally X, you need to get weird, and that’s exactly what the Sugar 1 does. OneXPlayer’s previous handheld, the 8.8-inch X1 Mini was more akin to a tablet with detachable controllers, but it also included swappable SSDs. The X1 starts at well over $1,000, so I hope that the OneXPlayer can manage to keep the Sugar 1 to a more reasonable price.
It’s also not going to be for sale for a while. The company is using an Indiegogo campaign. We can never suggest you put down money for unfounded tech, but OneXPlayer does have a relatively consistent track record of shipping its products not long after the end of its crowdfunding campaigns.
