The Zotac Zone Handheld: First Impressions and Analysis
One of the most notable features of the Zotac Zone handheld is its radial dials around the analog sticks, which are hall-based. This technology allows for precise control and customization, as Reps have indicated that they plan to program these from software to do different things inside the operating system. For example, users may be able to adjust the volume, brightness, or even set up custom controls for games. The new radial dials also offer improved ergonomics and a more comfortable gaming experience.
The d-pad on the Zotac Zone does appear to be a bit unconventional, with Reps explaining that it was designed to accommodate specific types of games rather than just general-purpose handheld control. Unfortunately, this meant that we couldn't test the d-pad's functionality in fighting games or platformers during our time with the device. However, the overall feel and design of the unit seem to be well-executed, with a unique aesthetic that sets it apart from other gaming handhelds.
The gold accents on the Zotac Zone are particularly striking, evoking memories of The Sword of Omens from ThunderCats for the reviewer. Additionally, the device features a built-in kickstand and two rear programmable macro buttons, which offer users a range of customization options. Reps also assured us that these units were designed to be lockable on both sides, providing an added layer of security.
One of the most significant strengths of the Zotac Zone is its display, specifically the AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate and up to 800 nits of brightness. This creates a vibrant and immersive visual experience, with deep blacks and bright colors that are sure to please gamers. However, Reps noted that this is not a native landscape display, but rather a portrait-oriented design. Furthermore, the device does not feature variable refresh rate (VRR) support, which may be a concern for some users.
Despite these limitations, the Zotac Zone still looks and feels like a solid gaming handheld. The 48Wh battery provides around 48 hours of runtime, which is an impressive feat considering the device's power-hungry display. However, it's worth noting that this battery life estimate may change depending on actual usage patterns.
Pricing and Performance: A Wait-and-See Approach
For now, Reps seem to be holding back on releasing specific details about pricing or performance specifications. As such, we'll have to wait until the device is officially released or perhaps even earlier than that to get a better understanding of its capabilities and limitations. However, one thing is certain: the Zotac Zone will likely face stiff competition from established gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck.
The reviewer personally finds the Zotac Zone's design to be visually appealing, with a unique color scheme that sets it apart from other devices in the market. While there are some drawbacks to consider – such as screen tearing and the non-VRR display – these may be addressed in future revisions or updates.
Community Feedback: Share Your Thoughts
As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts on the Zotac Zone handheld! Are you excited about this new device, or do you have reservations due to its limitations? Perhaps you're waiting for something with a native landscape AMOLED display or better VRR support. Whatever your stance may be, share your feedback in the comments below, and we'll keep an eye on any updates or developments regarding this intriguing gaming handheld.
In the coming weeks or months, I plan to create more content around the Zotac Zone, including videos and posts in my community section. Stay tuned for further information as it becomes available, and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or topics you'd like to discuss.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's going on everybody it's ETA Prime back here again recently I had a chance to go Hands-On with the upcoming Zotac Zone in taipe we actually attended compex this year and I'll tell you there were a lot of new handouts presented at compex this year but the one that really caught my attention was the Z Tag Zone and it really comes down to the overall design personally I'm a huge fan of the color scheme now final production units will be a bit darker and the gold here is going to be a little more Rosier hopefully they don't change it too much because what they presented with the prototypes that they had look absolutely amazing in my opinion and a lot of us were actually able to go Hands-On with this I attended computex with the fox cyber dopamine baldy Rudy and stubs from retro handhel I want to give them all a big shout out because it really wouldn't have been an awesome trip without them it was such a cool experience I would love to go back with them next year maybe even CES I'll leave a link to each of their channels below definitely check them out but we've got a lot to talk about here when it comes to the upcoming Zotac Zone and if you're not amiliar with this handheld basically what we've got here is a ryzen 78840 u a 7-in full HD AMOLED display dual track pads and something new that we haven't seen on handhelds before we've got these radial dials around the analog sticks and by the way these are Hall based analog sticks with the new radial dials we will be able to program these from software to do different things inside of our operating system like adjusting the volume I'm sure we could set up brightness control or something like that the d-pad on the Zotac Zone does look a bit funky and unfortunately I wasn't able to test any fighting games or Platformers with it but the overall feel and what they've done here I think it's actually going to work out pretty well we'll definitely have to see by the time we can actually get our hands on some real fighting games and Platformers to test with it I personally really do like the gold accents and just looking at the unit it really does kind of remind me of uh The Sword of Omens from ThunderCats not exactly sure why but as soon as I saw it I thought of that sword hair lock triggers around back so we can actually lock these down go all the way with them on both sides does have a built-in kickstand two rear programmable uh macro buttons if you want to call them that I personally thought the overall experience with the handheld itself was really comfortable on all of the pre-production or prototype units that they had at computex they had two games preloaded Horizon forbidden West and Forza Horizon 5 both games seem to run really good but we didn't get any kind of frame count or anything like that and of course one of the main claimed fames here is the AMOLED display super vibrant we're getting some really deep blacks here pretty bright screen but we did see a bit of screen tearing and again this is a prototype the Reps assured me that this is not the final unit we're going to be seeing and the way things are right now with a handheld Market I don't think that Zotac would bring this to shelves with screen tearing so they've definitely got a little ways to go with this unit and there are some things I'd like to see changed now of course we do have kind of the final specs that they're stating we're going to be getting once this hits store shell like the AMD ryzen 78840 U we can go anywhere from 15 watts up to 28 and that's with their built-in software I'm sure we could go higher with third party 16 GB of LP ddr5x at 7500 MHz a 2280 m.2 SSD and the only thing I've seen so far is 512 gigs and I guess that's the initial model this could change down the road it's got that 7in 120 HZ AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080p up to 800 nits of brightness but there are some downsides here so we talked to the Reps about what screen they're using here it is not a native landscape display it's actually a portrait display and it's non vrr because it's a myy display was really hoping we'd see some vrr support and a native landscape display so we'll really have to see how they Implement everything once we can kind of get our hands on a production unit or something really really close and it's got a 48w hour battery taking a look at the new Ro GX 80 W battery with that 120 HZ vrr IPS 1080p display so Zotac definitely has some stiff competition to go up against but I got to say I mean this is one of my favorite looking handhelds really comes down to that color scheme we've got those gold and silver accents the AMOLED display looks really good I mean we've got some really bright colors deep blacks and I know a lot of people saw that screen tearing but I'm going to let this go right now because these are early production units they put together together for comput TXS once we can get our hands on it if we've still got screen tearing then that's definitely another story but what they've put together here in my opinion does look really good now it's really going to come down to pricing and performance once these things are officially released or if we could probably get our hands on something a bit earlier maybe a bit newer than the ones we saw at computax but until then I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments below is this something you'd be interested in are you just going to skip it all together due to the 8840 U waiting for something with a native landscape AMOLED display let us know your thoughts down below as soon as I can get some more information or hopefully get my hands on one in the upcoming weeks or maybe months I will be making more videos I'll also post some stuff up in my community section but that's it for this one like always thanks for watchingwhat's going on everybody it's ETA Prime back here again recently I had a chance to go Hands-On with the upcoming Zotac Zone in taipe we actually attended compex this year and I'll tell you there were a lot of new handouts presented at compex this year but the one that really caught my attention was the Z Tag Zone and it really comes down to the overall design personally I'm a huge fan of the color scheme now final production units will be a bit darker and the gold here is going to be a little more Rosier hopefully they don't change it too much because what they presented with the prototypes that they had look absolutely amazing in my opinion and a lot of us were actually able to go Hands-On with this I attended computex with the fox cyber dopamine baldy Rudy and stubs from retro handhel I want to give them all a big shout out because it really wouldn't have been an awesome trip without them it was such a cool experience I would love to go back with them next year maybe even CES I'll leave a link to each of their channels below definitely check them out but we've got a lot to talk about here when it comes to the upcoming Zotac Zone and if you're not amiliar with this handheld basically what we've got here is a ryzen 78840 u a 7-in full HD AMOLED display dual track pads and something new that we haven't seen on handhelds before we've got these radial dials around the analog sticks and by the way these are Hall based analog sticks with the new radial dials we will be able to program these from software to do different things inside of our operating system like adjusting the volume I'm sure we could set up brightness control or something like that the d-pad on the Zotac Zone does look a bit funky and unfortunately I wasn't able to test any fighting games or Platformers with it but the overall feel and what they've done here I think it's actually going to work out pretty well we'll definitely have to see by the time we can actually get our hands on some real fighting games and Platformers to test with it I personally really do like the gold accents and just looking at the unit it really does kind of remind me of uh The Sword of Omens from ThunderCats not exactly sure why but as soon as I saw it I thought of that sword hair lock triggers around back so we can actually lock these down go all the way with them on both sides does have a built-in kickstand two rear programmable uh macro buttons if you want to call them that I personally thought the overall experience with the handheld itself was really comfortable on all of the pre-production or prototype units that they had at computex they had two games preloaded Horizon forbidden West and Forza Horizon 5 both games seem to run really good but we didn't get any kind of frame count or anything like that and of course one of the main claimed fames here is the AMOLED display super vibrant we're getting some really deep blacks here pretty bright screen but we did see a bit of screen tearing and again this is a prototype the Reps assured me that this is not the final unit we're going to be seeing and the way things are right now with a handheld Market I don't think that Zotac would bring this to shelves with screen tearing so they've definitely got a little ways to go with this unit and there are some things I'd like to see changed now of course we do have kind of the final specs that they're stating we're going to be getting once this hits store shell like the AMD ryzen 78840 U we can go anywhere from 15 watts up to 28 and that's with their built-in software I'm sure we could go higher with third party 16 GB of LP ddr5x at 7500 MHz a 2280 m.2 SSD and the only thing I've seen so far is 512 gigs and I guess that's the initial model this could change down the road it's got that 7in 120 HZ AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080p up to 800 nits of brightness but there are some downsides here so we talked to the Reps about what screen they're using here it is not a native landscape display it's actually a portrait display and it's non vrr because it's a myy display was really hoping we'd see some vrr support and a native landscape display so we'll really have to see how they Implement everything once we can kind of get our hands on a production unit or something really really close and it's got a 48w hour battery taking a look at the new Ro GX 80 W battery with that 120 HZ vrr IPS 1080p display so Zotac definitely has some stiff competition to go up against but I got to say I mean this is one of my favorite looking handhelds really comes down to that color scheme we've got those gold and silver accents the AMOLED display looks really good I mean we've got some really bright colors deep blacks and I know a lot of people saw that screen tearing but I'm going to let this go right now because these are early production units they put together together for comput TXS once we can get our hands on it if we've still got screen tearing then that's definitely another story but what they've put together here in my opinion does look really good now it's really going to come down to pricing and performance once these things are officially released or if we could probably get our hands on something a bit earlier maybe a bit newer than the ones we saw at computax but until then I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments below is this something you'd be interested in are you just going to skip it all together due to the 8840 U waiting for something with a native landscape AMOLED display let us know your thoughts down below as soon as I can get some more information or hopefully get my hands on one in the upcoming weeks or maybe months I will be making more videos I'll also post some stuff up in my community section but that's it for this one like always thanks for watching\n"
