Tag Archives: Gaming

Most Rugged Phones Hide From Heat, This One Has Two Fans to Fight It

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Rugged phones have always made a quiet trade-off. Sealing a device against water and dust means sealing in heat too, and that trapped warmth forces powerful chips to slow themselves down right when gaming or heavy use needs them most. OUKITEL’s WP600, unveiled at IFA 2026, treats that compromise as something worth engineering around, building visible cooling straight into its armor rather than hiding the problem under a tougher shell.

That solution shows up immediately on the back of the phone, where two turbine-style fans sit inside an octagonal housing next to the camera lenses. Rather than tucking cooling components away, OUKITEL frames them as part of the visual identity, finished in a gunmetal tone with RGB lighting that shifts through purples, oranges, and blues while the fans spin during demanding sessions.

Designer: Oukitel

Underneath that display sits a MediaTek Dimensity 8300 chip running at 3.35GHz, paired with up to 24GB of RAM and a full terabyte of storage in its top configuration. Active airflow means that hardware can stay at full speed through a long gaming session in direct sun, instead of throttling the moment internal temperatures climb, the usual fate of sealed devices pushed hard outdoors.

A 10,000mAh battery backs up that sustained performance, large enough to outlast a full day of mixed use, camera work, and gaming without needing a midday top-up. When charging is needed, 45W wired input gets things moving again quickly, keeping downtime short for anyone relying on the phone through fieldwork, travel, or a weekend away from outlets.

Privacy gets a physical answer instead of a software toggle buried in settings. A dedicated switch, styled as a bright red accent against the phone’s black and metallic paneling, physically disconnects the camera, microphone, and GPS at once. It is the kind of control that matters to fieldworkers or anyone stepping into a sensitive meeting who wants certainty that nothing is listening or tracking, not just a setting that claims to be off.

The rest of the chassis carries that same rugged-but-considered language throughout. Exposed hex screws, ridged texture strips along the frame, and a carbon-fiber-patterned panel insert surrounding the camera module all read as intentional detailing rather than leftover industrial parts. A 6.8-inch, 120Hz display handles the front, while the whole package comes finished in either black or yellow, playing into the tool-like character rugged phones usually lean into.

None of this asks buyers to choose between toughness and capability anymore. A phone built to survive drops and submersion can still run demanding software at full tilt, provided the cooling behind it gets treated as a design feature rather than an afterthought bolted on for a spec sheet.

The post Most Rugged Phones Hide From Heat, This One Has Two Fans to Fight It first appeared on Yanko Design.

Razer’s Clio X Is Gaming Audio for When Headphones Have to Come Off

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Immersive gaming audio has always come with a catch: wear a headset and get isolated from everyone else in the room, or build out a full speaker setup and lose the intimacy of hearing something meant just for you. The Razer Clio X sits between those two extremes. It’s a speaker built directly into a gaming chair’s head cushion, delivering focused spatial sound aimed at exactly where your ears already are.

Inside that cushion sit two 1.5 in loudspeakers paired with two 2.2 in passive radiators, a more compact arrangement than the 1.7 in aluminum cone drivers found in Razer’s flagship Clio. That tradeoff isn’t a downgrade so much as a different design goal, delivering the same THX Spatial Audio experience and near-field clarity in a smaller, less bulky cushion that sits more naturally against a headrest without announcing itself as hardware.

Designer: Razer

Getting sound to that cushion happens over Razer’s HyperSpeed wireless connection, a 2.4 GHz link built specifically to avoid the lag that standard Bluetooth introduces during fast-moving game audio. There’s no headset clamping down on your head, no cable running from your ears to your desk, just a strap securing the cushion to a high-back chair and a wireless signal doing the rest of the work invisibly.

Power comes through USB-C rather than a built-in battery pegged to a runtime number, drawing from a 15-watt or higher PD2.0 source to hit full volume. That decision keeps the cushion running indefinitely during long sessions instead of racing against a depleting charge mid-match, though it does mean planning a power source alongside the chair itself, whether that’s a nearby outlet or a power bank for a portable setup.

Where the Clio X earns its place in an existing setup is flexibility. Someone already running a 2.0 or 2.1 speaker system at their desk can fold the Clio X in as a wireless rear channel instead, turning a stereo setup into something closer to real surround sound without running an extra cable behind the chair. Used alone, it just becomes the entire audio system on its own terms.

Picture a late-night session where headphones start pressing uncomfortably against your ears, or a shared room where blasting a soundbar isn’t an option out of consideration for someone asleep down the hall. The Clio X splits the difference, audio present enough to feel surrounding, contained enough to stay mostly private, all without adding a single extra object to hold or wear.

None of this replaces a dedicated home theater setup chasing maximum output, and nobody buying this expects it to. What the Clio X actually delivers is a specific, narrower promise: immersive audio that lives in the furniture you already sit in every day, asking for nothing more than a strap and a power cable to make itself useful.

The post Razer’s Clio X Is Gaming Audio for When Headphones Have to Come Off first appeared on Yanko Design.

LEGO’s 1:1 PlayStation replica lets you put the iconic ’90s console on your desk

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PlayStation 1 changed the complexion of gaming when it first came out in the mid 1990s, and the rest is history. The graphics on the machine were unlike anything anyone had seen before – pushing the gaming industry into overdrive. It was only time before the cult classic console got a LEGO avatar, even though it came way after the official release of the Atari 2600 and Mini SEGA Genisis sets.

Created in collaboration with Sony Interactive Entertainment, the PlayStation set is a nostalgic remake of the gadget that defined the video gaming era of yesteryear. The 1911 piece set is a 1:1 replica of the real thing, and the details are worth appreciating. Right from the tactile feel of connecting the brick controller to the functional Open button, LEGO has gone to considerable lengths to make the model feel like the console people remember.

Designer: LEGO Ideas and PlayStation

Since we are talking LEGO, there had to be a buildable diorama element to it, further building the nostalgia. There’s a mini GT track that can be assembled when the Open button is pushed. It has mini racing cars, and a scene from Ape Escape. Officially named LEGO PlayStation 72306, the model closely follows the proportions of the original console, measuring over 2.5 inches high, 10.5 inches wide, and 7.5 inches deep. The original PlayStation measured approximately 10.6 inches wide, 2.4 inches high, and 7.4 inches deep, making the LEGO version remarkably close in scale.

The grey console also comes with Sony’s first PlayStation controller, complete with its familiar D-pad and the iconic Triangle, Circle, Cross and Square buttons. There are no analogue sticks or DualShock functionality here, staying true to the earliest PlayStation hardware. The attention to detail extends beyond simply getting the shape right. The controller plugs directly into the front of the console, while both the Power and Open buttons have working mechanisms. Pressing Open lifts the circular disc lid, recreating one of those small physical interactions that made the original hardware so memorable.

It is still a display model and cannot actually power on, but the level of detail makes it surprisingly easy to mistake for the real machine at a glance. The hidden elements give the otherwise familiar-looking console another layer of personality. The two game-inspired builds can remain tucked inside the console or be pulled out and displayed alongside it, allowing the model to shift from a convincing piece of retro hardware into a small gaming diorama. The Ape Escape reference also nods to the later evolution of PlayStation hardware, as the game introduced the need for Sony’s DualShock controller and its twin analogue sticks. Designed for builders aged 18 and above, the set combines 1,911 pieces with a form factor that should fit comfortably on a shelf or desk. LEGO also recommends its Builder app, which offers 3D instructions with options to zoom and rotate the model, track progress and save sets.

The LEGO PlayStation is priced at $179.99 and will be available to LEGO Insiders from October 1, 2026, ahead of its general release on October 4, 2026. For anyone who remembers the original grey console as more than just a piece of hardware, this is a chance to bring that era back—without needing to find an old CRT television to complete the setup.

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