Long before today’s ultra-powerful handheld PCs began chasing console-grade performance in a portable shell, there was something undeniably charming about simpler gaming machines. The kind that fit easily into your pocket, turned on instantly, and transported you straight back to pixelated worlds without menus, downloads, or updates getting in the way. Honoring that era, the HyperMegaTech Super Pocket Rare Edition is here to bring cartridge-ready gaming to your pocket.
Developed by HyperMegaTech (who surprised us with the Micro Keychain Gamer) in collaboration with the British game developer Rare, the original Super Pocket is designed to make retro gaming accessible and refreshingly straightforward. Its vertical layout echoes classic handheld silhouettes, pairing nostalgia with modern practicality. A 2.8-inch IPS display with a 320 × 240 resolution sits at the center, offering sharp visuals suited to 8-bit and 16-bit titles.
What distinguishes the Super Pocket from many low-cost retro handhelds is its hybrid approach. Each edition ships with a curated lineup of pre-installed games, typically centered around a specific publisher or theme. Earlier versions celebrated arcade and console heavyweights such as Capcom, NEOGEO, Taito, Atari, and Data East, giving players immediate access to recognizable classics straight out of the box. The console runs on a 1.2GHz processor and is powered by a rechargeable battery that delivers roughly four hours of gameplay per charge. USB-C charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack round out the essentials, keeping the device practical for everyday use.
The upcoming Rare Edition expands that idea a step further. The Super Pocket Rare Edition, launching in June 2026, includes 14 classic titles from the legendary British developer Rare. The selection spans decades of the studio’s catalog, bringing fan-favorite experiences like Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads, and Conker’s Pocket Tales into a compact, dedicated handheld format. For many players, this built-in lineup alone justifies the device.
Beyond the preloaded games, the Super Pocket is fully compatible with Evercade cartridges, significantly expanding its potential library. With more than 75 cartridge collections available and access to over 650 officially licensed retro games, users are not limited to the internal storage. This physical-media ecosystem adds a collector-friendly dimension rarely seen in modern budget hardware. If you are already in the Evercade ecosystem, this cross-compatible compact handheld is a no-brainer.
The Super Pocket does not attempt to rival high-end emulation handhelds or modern gaming consoles. Instead, it is a compact machine built purely for classic titles, free from distractions. For those who value tactile buttons, curated libraries, and the satisfaction of slotting in a physical cartridge, nothing gets better than this. In fact, the bright yellow shoulder buttons bring functional clarity and seamless sync with the design.
Despite the retro focus, the Super Pocket Rare Edition, in its signature vibrant blue, red, and yellow theme, remains competitively priced. It is expected to retail for around $69 in the United States, £49 in the United Kingdom, and €59 across Europe, keeping it within reach of casual players and seasoned collectors alike.
Sony’s next console is on the horizon, but a growing number of gamers are looking backward instead. The PS6 will almost certainly launch north of $500, and for that price, entire libraries of PlayStation classics remain locked behind aging hardware, digital storefronts, or subscription tiers that rotate titles in and out on a whim. Meanwhile, a parallel market of pocket-sized emulation handhelds has quietly exploded over the past two years, putting decades of retro gaming into devices that cost less than a single DualSense controller.
These handhelds won’t run God of War Ragnarök, and nobody is pretending they will. What they can do is play through Final Fantasy VII, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Crash Bandicoot, and thousands of other PS1 titles at full speed, often with save states, fast-forward, and display filters that the original hardware never offered. Search interest in retro gaming handhelds has grown 173% year over year, and the devices fueling that demand sit at a price under $130. Five of them stand out from the flood.
Miyoo Mini Plus
The device that started the modern budget handheld craze still holds its own, even two years after launch. The Miyoo Mini Plus runs on a Sigmastar SSD202D processor with just 128MB of RAM, specs that sound laughable on paper but prove more than sufficient for everything up to and including PS1. Its 3.5-inch IPS display at 640×480 fills a vertical body small enough to disappear into a jacket pocket, and the 3000mAh battery stretches to seven hours with the right custom firmware installed.
That firmware, OnionOS, is the real reason this device remains so widely recommended. Built and maintained by a dedicated community of developers, OnionOS transforms the Miyoo Mini Plus from a competent emulator into one of the most polished retro gaming experiences available at any price. Features like automatic save-on-shutdown, RetroAchievements integration, and a game switcher that lets you hop between titles without returning to the menu give it a level of software refinement that devices costing three times as much still struggle to match.
What we like
OnionOS custom firmware with a polished, intuitive interface
Genuinely pocketable
Strong PS1 performance despite modest hardware
What we dislike
Extended sessions can cause hand cramps
No Bluetooth audio, no HDMI output
Anbernic RG35XX Plus
Anbernic’s answer to the Miyoo Mini Plus arrived with a meaningful hardware advantage and a familiar form factor. The RG35XX Plus swaps in an Allwinner H700 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with 1GB of LPDDR4 RAM, a substantial leap over the Miyoo. That additional horsepower translates directly into smoother PS1 emulation and opens the door to Dreamcast and Nintendo DS titles that the Miyoo simply cannot handle, all wrapped in a horizontal Game Boy-inspired shell.
Connectivity is where the RG35XX Plus pulls further ahead. Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 4.2, and a mini HDMI port come standard, which means this handheld can double as a TV-connected retro console when paired with a wireless controller. Dual microSD card slots support up to 512GB each, and the 3300mAh battery delivers around eight hours of play. The trade-off is software: the stock firmware is rough enough that most owners immediately replace it with GarlicOS, a community-built alternative that requires sideloading via SD card.
What we like
Best price-to-performance, handling PS1, Dreamcast, and DS titles
Mini HDMI output and Bluetooth
What we dislike
Stock firmware can be a bit clunky
Powkiddy RGB30
Most handhelds in this price bracket borrow their proportions from the Game Boy or the PS Vita, but the Powkiddy RGB30 charts its own course with a 4.0-inch square IPS display running at 720×720. That 1:1 aspect ratio is a deliberate choice, not a gimmick. Retro games from the NES through the PS1 era were designed for 4:3 screens, and a square panel accommodates that ratio with minimal letterboxing while giving Game Boy titles a perfect native fit. The taller body this requires also gives the D-pad and dual analog sticks room to breathe.
Under the hood, a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz, and 1GB of LPDDR4 RAM keep things moving. PS1 games run without issue, and the device extends into Dreamcast, some N64, and limited PSP territory. The 4100mAh battery is the largest on this list, rated for eight hours. Stereo speakers and Wi-Fi round out a feature set that punches above its $70 price point. Build quality, though, remains a step behind Anbernic’s hardware, with a plastic shell that feels lighter and less refined than the competition.
What we like
The 1:1 square screen is a thoughtful design decision for retro titles
Large battery at 4100mAh
What we dislike
Unremarkable build quality
Trimui Smart Pro S
The Trimui Smart Pro S occupies the top of the sub-$100 bracket and makes a strong case for spending the extra money. It packs an Allwinner A133P processor and a Mali-G57 GPU that Trimui claims delivers 2.5 times the graphics performance of the original Smart Pro. In practice, this means PS1 runs flawlessly, Dreamcast and N64 titles play at full speed, and most PSP games are smooth enough to enjoy without constant tweaking. A 4.96-inch IPS display at 1280×720 presents all of it on the largest screen in this roundup.
The hardware refinements extend beyond the processor. TMR hall-effect analog sticks eliminate drift concerns and support L3/R3 clicks, larger trigger buttons improve ergonomics over the predecessor, and an active cooling fan prevents thermal throttling during extended sessions. A 5000mAh battery provides around five hours of play, and stereo speakers with a vibration motor round out a surprisingly complete package. The PS Vita-inspired form factor is comfortable for long stretches but makes the device less pocketable than smaller alternatives, and the 16:9 widescreen wastes real estate when displaying 4:3 retro content.
What we like
Powerful hardware
Hall-effect analog sticks and active cooling
Large 4.96-inch screen
What we dislike
The 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio isn’t good for retro gaming
Bulky and heavy
Retroid Pocket Classic
The Retroid Pocket Classic pushes past the $100 mark at $129 for the current available model, but it earns its place on this list by being the only device here running Android and the only one with an AMOLED screen. That 3.92-inch panel at 1240×1080 delivers deeper blacks and more saturated colors than any IPS display in this bracket, and the Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 processor paired with up to 6GB of RAM puts it in a different performance class entirely. PS1 is effortless here. GameCube, PS2, and Saturn emulation become viable options.
Running Android 14 with Google Play Store access means the Retroid Pocket Classic can function as more than a dedicated emulator. Streaming apps, cloud gaming services, and native Android titles all run alongside the retro emulation suite. A 5000mAh battery with 27W fast charging, active cooling, and Bluetooth 5.1 complete the picture. The vertical Game Boy-inspired body lacks analog sticks, which limits comfort with 3D-heavy titles from later console generations. Unlike the Linux devices on this list, the Retroid Pocket Classic ships without any pre-loaded games, requiring users to supply their own ROMs from the start.
Gaming handhelds and controllers for mobile devices have had so much innovation lately, it seems there’s not much more left to explore. We’ve seen controllers with a steering wheel, handhelds with dual screens, or one with a 3D display, and controllers with dual-orientation mode support. Now, there’s a handheld by GameMT with a knob for the second analog joystick, because why not?
The Android gaming handheld dubbed Pocket Super Knob 5000 has a knob that can be turned to select from one of the four performance profiles in games where the function is supported. One advantage that dedicated gaming handhelds have over a phone-controller setup is the freedom of a full-blown set of physical controls. This handheld is another example of a gaming console with a specific set of control inputs targeted at a niche set of gamers.
Designer: GameMT
GameMT’s super-thin handheld has been teased on X by user Retro Gaming With Deadfred, hinting at the most important specs and details that would pique the interest of gamers. Pocket Super Knob 5000 has a 5-inch display and is powered by the MediaTek Helio G85 processor. Definitely not the most powerful processing power in there, but it should be suited to play arcade titles and RPGs that are not demanding. On the left, there is the Hall Effect thumbstick for the customary control input for movement. On the right is where things get a little interesting, as the handheld has a twistable knob that can be cranked for linear game input to choose the options. By our assumption, it cannot be used for actual game input because it would be highly impractical and ergonomically challenging.
If we go by what they’ve released last year (the EX5 handheld), the Super Knob 5000 should have the same functionality. Having the freedom to toggle the power and performance balance with the twist of a knob should come in handy for gamers who love to change the settings frequently. However, this should sacrifice the input of directional panning in first person shooter or 3D games. Meaning, the handheld should only be good for playing a specific set of titles that don’t require the second thumbstick input for the major in-game controls.
Other than this novelty, the handheld has the other control inputs, like the shoulder buttons and triggers. GameMT claims the handheld has 5-8 hours of extra battery life when the battery saving mode is turned on. The metal backplate should keep things cool, and the lightweight form of 13.2mm thickness and 200 grams weight should make it an interesting buy.
For us, replacing the second thumbstick with a limited functionality knob doesn’t make much sense unless GameMT has a hidden feature that they’ll reveal when the handheld is launched in April.
The PS4 era is over, but the library is still incredible, and the only way to enjoy it portably has been streaming or emulation with compromises in latency, compatibility, and control. The fantasy of a true PS4 handheld that runs games natively has floated around for years, but Sony never built one. Reddit user wewillmakeitnow decided to stop waiting and built it himself instead.
This is not a Raspberry Pi or a cloud device but a heavily modified PS4 Slim motherboard, cut and re-laid to be as compact as possible while keeping full functionality. The builder redesigned the layout for better power efficiency and thermals, then wrapped it in a custom ABS enclosure with full controls and a 7-inch 1080p OLED screen, turning a console into something that looks and plays like a handheld from an alternate timeline.
The cooling story is where most of the work lives. A new airflow path, custom heatsinks, and a large rear fan are managed by an onboard ESP32 microcontroller. The ESP32 runs custom firmware to watch temperatures in real time, enforce thermal thresholds, trigger emergency shutdowns, and supervise power draw and battery charging. It is the safety brain that makes running a console-class APU in your hands viable instead of a thermal disaster.
The power system uses six 21700 cells at 6,000 mAh each in a 3S2P configuration, roughly 130 Wh of energy. Under lighter loads, the system pulls around 44W for about three hours of play. In demanding games, it can draw close to 88W and land closer to an hour and a half before shutdown, at around 10V, which protects the pack. There is also a dedicated port for playing on AC.
The handheld still behaves like a PS4 when you want it to. There is HDMI out for plugging into a TV, multiple USB-C ports for charging, configuration, and connection to controllers or external drives, plus a USB 3.0 port for storage. In that mode, it stops being a handheld and becomes a very small PS4 Slim you can drop next to a hotel TV.
All of this comes at a cost. The enclosure is about 113mm x 270mm x 57mm, with sharp edges and no sculpted grips, and the weight is likely well north of a kilogram once you add the board, cooling, and batteries. The builder chose to let the shell hug the motherboard as tightly as possible, sacrificing rounded comfort to keep the footprint from ballooning further.
This one-off build shows both the promise and limits of turning a living-room console into a handheld. It proves that a native PS4 portable is technically possible if you accept thickness, weight, and fan noise. It also quietly asks what might happen if a company with Sony’s resources took the idea seriously. Until then, it stands as someone picking up their favorite console and refusing to put it down.
The handheld wars are entering the territory where end-users will benefit the most, getting the best hardware at the most competitive prices. Ayaneo, Anbernic, and other new players in the handheld market are vying for dominance, which is likely to manifest in sharp pricing. Android handheld maker Mangmi, targeting the entry level of the gaming community, wants to join the tussle with its new iteration of a gaming handheld device.
The Chinese maker is known for its $99 Air X handheld that punches well above its weight, giving retro handhelds priced around $150 a run for their money. Now, the Pocket Max handheld revealed this week, wants to take things further in the quest for handheld supremacy. Going by the revealed specs, we assume the handheld will be priced around $200, making it compete with the likes of Retroid Pocket Mini V2. Considering the global RAM shortage, anything less than that would be a good option for gamers who play a lot of emulation titles.
While the Air X touted the portable aesthetics, the Pocket Max targets gamers who want to swap better performance with a bit of sacrifice in size. For now, Mangmi has released some renders and the specifications of the gadget. It’ll have a 7-inch AMOLED display with 1920 × 1080 HD resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. The device will be powered by the Snapdragon 865 processor, which also powers the Retroid Pocket 5 and Ayaneo Thor Lite. If we go by the official specs sheet, Mangmi will offer the handheld in one variant only that will have 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB UFS 3.1 storage, which can be extended via the MicroSD card slot.
For extended gaming sessions, the Android 13 handheld gets an 8,000mAh battery with a charging capacity of up to 27W. This is done via the USB-C port that also supports video output. You also get a 3.5mm headphone jack for lossless video output. To maintain constant framerates in graphics-intensive titles, there is an active cooling fan to keep the temperature to a minimum. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity take care of all your wireless connectivity needs.
The gaming device comes with magnetic modular D-Pad and ABXY buttons, which is a good addition if they can survive the onslaught of emotional gamers. The maker claims this to be the first-ever Android-powered handheld with modular magnetic buttons. Other than this, the handheld follows suit with asymmetric TMR thumbsticks with RGB ring lights, Hall Effect triggers, and a 6-axis G-sensor. Pocket Max is on the heavier side at 450 grams and has slightly beefy dimensions of 10 inches high, 4 inches wide, and 0.7 inches thick. When finally released, the handheld will come in White, Black, and Retro GB color variants.
The handheld wars are entering the territory where end-users will benefit the most, getting the best hardware at the most competitive prices. Ayaneo, Anbernic, and other new players in the handheld market are vying for dominance, which is likely to manifest in sharp pricing. Android handheld maker Mangmi, targeting the entry level of the gaming community, wants to join the tussle with its new iteration of a gaming handheld device.
The Chinese maker is known for its $99 Air X handheld that punches well above its weight, giving retro handhelds priced around $150 a run for their money. Now, the Pocket Max handheld revealed this week, wants to take things further in the quest for handheld supremacy. Going by the revealed specs, we assume the handheld will be priced around $200, making it compete with the likes of Retroid Pocket Mini V2. Considering the global RAM shortage, anything less than that would be a good option for gamers who play a lot of emulation titles.
While the Air X touted the portable aesthetics, the Pocket Max targets gamers who want to swap better performance with a bit of sacrifice in size. For now, Mangmi has released some renders and the specifications of the gadget. It’ll have a 7-inch AMOLED display with 1920 × 1080 HD resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. The device will be powered by the Snapdragon 865 processor, which also powers the Retroid Pocket 5 and Ayaneo Thor Lite. If we go by the official specs sheet, Mangmi will offer the handheld in one variant only that will have 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB UFS 3.1 storage, which can be extended via the MicroSD card slot.
For extended gaming sessions, the Android 13 handheld gets an 8,000mAh battery with a charging capacity of up to 27W. This is done via the USB-C port that also supports video output. You also get a 3.5mm headphone jack for lossless video output. To maintain constant framerates in graphics-intensive titles, there is an active cooling fan to keep the temperature to a minimum. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity take care of all your wireless connectivity needs.
The gaming device comes with magnetic modular D-Pad and ABXY buttons, which is a good addition if they can survive the onslaught of emotional gamers. The maker claims this to be the first-ever Android-powered handheld with modular magnetic buttons. Other than this, the handheld follows suit with asymmetric TMR thumbsticks with RGB ring lights, Hall Effect triggers, and a 6-axis G-sensor. Pocket Max is on the heavier side at 450 grams and has slightly beefy dimensions of 10 inches high, 4 inches wide, and 0.7 inches thick. When finally released, the handheld will come in White, Black, and Retro GB color variants.
Most gaming handhelds today, from Steam Deck to ROG Ally, are big, loud slabs that look like shrunken consoles. They are great for playing, less great for slipping into a bag without announcing themselves. The category has settled into a familiar silhouette, thick bezels, and aggressive angles that scream gaming from across the room. ONEXSUGAR’s Wallet asks what happens if a handheld tries to look more like something you would quietly carry every day.
The ONEXSUGAR Wallet is a foldable-screen gaming handheld that, when closed, looks like an oversized wallet or clutch, a long, rounded rectangle with almost no visible tech. The name comes from this closed state, where it reads more like a personal object than a console. You can hold or pocket it without broadcasting that you are carrying a gaming PC, treating discretion as a core part of the design rather than an afterthought.
The Wallet uses a clamshell design with a flexible display inside. When you open it, the screen unfolds into a single large canvas, one continuous display bending at the hinge like a foldable phone scaled up to handheld size. That lets ONEXSUGAR keep the closed footprint small while giving games and media more room to breathe when you flip it open, reconciling portability with a genuinely usable screen.
Once open, the Wallet reveals a familiar handheld layout, a central screen flanked by controls on the left and right. Each side has an analog stick, a D-pad or face buttons, and additional inputs and speaker grilles. The controls are baked into the chassis, not detachable, so the whole thing feels like a single, unified object rather than a tablet with clip-on gamepads, which should help with rigidity and ergonomics.
The aesthetic language leans soft and minimal, with heavily rounded corners, smooth surfaces, and almost no branding. Early shots show at least white and dark grey versions, with small gold accents and a subtle logo. It looks more like lifestyle tech than aggressive gamer gear, the kind of device that would not look out of place next to a phone and earbuds on a table, which is an unusual stance for a gaming product.
The wallet-like shape and clamshell closure change the relationship between device and user. Closed, it protects the screen and hides the controls, making it easier to toss into a bag or carry in hand without worrying about sticks catching or buttons being pressed. Opened, and it becomes a full-fledged handheld. That duality could make it more practical for people who want serious gaming hardware that does not dominate their everyday carry.
The ONEXSUGAR Wallet hints at a future where foldable screens reconcile big displays with discreet objects, and where handhelds borrow cues from wallets and clutches instead of only from consoles. It is still a tease rather than a shipping product, but as a piece of industrial design thinking, it suggests that gaming hardware can afford to be softer, quieter, and a bit more playful about how it shows up in the world.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of handheld gaming, Ayaneo continues to stand apart by treating portability as an experience rather than a specification. Its newest handheld embodies that philosophy with quiet confidence, merging high-end performance with a level of craftsmanship and material intention that feels decidedly premium. Every curve, texture, and component has been considered not just for function, but for how the device lives in the hand, resulting in a compact form factor that feels effortlessly capable and thoughtfully designed.
Meet the upmarket Pocket Vert, which has an Android-powered handheld that’s crafted out of a full CNC-milled unibody construction. The handheld has a full glass front panel fitted with a 3.5-inch high-resolution LTPS display having 1600×1440 resolution (at 615 ppi), 60Hz refresh rate, and 450 nits peak brightness level. In their latest teaser video, Ayaneo has revealed that the device will be positioned flush in between the flagship Pocket DMG and budget gaming controllers like Anbernic RG40XX V. This certainly will fill the gap, and the sweet spot mobile gamers were craving.
The company teased the handheld earlier this month on November 5, revealing the design and some specifications. Now, in a fresh Product Sharing Session, they’ve revealed multiple prototypes that’ll ultimately morph into the compact handheld. Touted as a premium Game Boy clone, it’ll come in three color options: Black, White, and Red, with matching buttons. Measuring 86x143x20mm, the classy little gadget is smaller than the Pocket DMG. Despite the petite form factor, it has a 3.5mm jack and a USB-C port at the bottom. The Pocket Vert should have enough power under the hood as it is seen running the God of War title, which requires a good amount of processing fuel.
Section below the D-Pad and buttons is a touchpad, which the player can map to various button configurations or sticks. The touchpad is completely invisible and beyond the physical buttons for a less intrusive functionality. Just like the DMG, this one has a wheel called the MagicSwitch key for added functionality. It is used to toggle the volume control levels, short-pressed to mute, and long-pressed to trigger the function menu. As is clear from the naming convention, the handheld is targeted towards vertical retro handheld enthusiasts.
Ayaneo has confirmed the device packs a 6,000mAh battery and bottom-firing speakers for a satisfying playing experience. Depending on the processor fitted inside, the battery life could be excellent for such a small gadget. That said, there is no detail about the release date and other vital hardware information. We can expect the remaining fog to clear with another official sharing session in the coming days.
Although hardly the first of its kind, the Nintendo Switch definitely kicked off a handheld gaming renaissance. Now we have mini PCs letting us play all sorts of games on the go and innumerable projects that try to cobble up together their own handheld console. The latter has given rise to many unconventional designs, though most follow the standard combination of buttons and joysticks found on gaming controllers.
One designer, however, went out of his way to do something different thanks to his dislike of joysticks. The result is a unique and rather curious handheld device that combines the clamshell form factor of the Nintendo DS and the guts of a laptop, and then stretches it wide to a rather unusual degree.
Designer: Marcin Plaza
There are a few things quite unconventional about this ultra-wide Steam Deck Nintendo DS hybrid, not just its super-wide form factor. Actually, that shape was a result of the decision to repurpose the usable motherboard of a broken Lenovo laptop, which happened to be roughly 13 inches wide. But unlike another DIY Steam Deck that did the same with a modular Framework laptop motherboard, the “DS Deck” didn’t go the usual joysticks and buttons layout either.
Since the goal was to ditch the joystick and replace it with a more PC-oriented keyboard and trackpad, a new kind of shell design was needed. Long story short, it required looking for a compatible 12.7-inch screen that happened to also be in an ultra-wide aspect ratio. These restrictions and requirements led to a design that followed the footsteps of the clamshell DS, which made for a rather interesting device.
While time and effort were saved in using the laptop motherboard as-is, more time was spent designing a custom circuit board for the non-standard keyboard and button layout. There was plenty of soldering and assembly involved, not to mention repairs of data cables that were accidentally torn off. Suffice it to say, this is a project very few will be able to follow.
Still, the final result is just as interesting and special. The DS Deck is able to run a full operating system like Windows or Linux because it basically uses the same motherboard and battery as the source laptop. Widescreen compatibility with games is a mixed bag, but one can always run two windows side-by-side thanks to the screen size. The custom design definitely needs a lot of work, as it doesn’t take into account safety and heat management, but the fact that it even works is itself already a commendable accomplishment.
Smartphones and smartwatches today have a variety of sensors and apps that give us a glimpse of our health. We can track heart rates, blood oxygen levels, and even temperatures, and combine that data to create a more holistic picture and actionable steps. Of course, nothing beats professional medical equipment, but we can’t carry those around with us.
Phones and wearables might be convenient, but they don’t always offer the best user experience for specific needs. This concept device, for example, tries to imagine a dedicated health scanner that is able to cram more features while still retaining its portable size. And it even looks and feels quite advanced to boot!
Designer: Vadim Trofimenko
When talking about handheld scanning devices, many sci-fi and pop culture buffs will probably think of Star Trek tricorders. These fictional devices can detect and analyze almost anything, from materials to creatures to people. Of course, we haven’t yet reached that level of technology, but we’re getting pretty close thanks to computer vision and AI.
The MediScan Pro concept design tries to deliver some of that futuristic experience to the realm of personal health. It’s a pocket-sized metal box that offers more specialized functionality than generic smartphones and smartwatches, at least in theory. Based on the concept, it still scans your finger to get data, similar to how IR and laser scanners work today.
In terms of design, the MediScan Pro has a bit of a retro-futuristic aesthetic. It’s quite box and angular, not hiding the fact that it’s a technological product. There’s a sizeable fingerprint scanner near the top, a small display in the middle, and buttons and wheels at the bottom for controlling the devices. It has an aluminum body but, curiously, the textured surface on its back is supposed to be made from recycled plastic.
Much of the functionality it tries to offer is, to be honest, already available today, especially with the limited data you can glean from a fingerprint. It also uses AI to evaluate the data, give you recommendations, or contact your health provider. The difference from smartphones and smartwatches that already exist today is that MediScan Pro offers a distraction-free experience so you don’t suddenly forget what you’re doing because of the flood of notifications and alerts that greet you.
One unrealistic feature, however, is the use of holograms to display your health status. We’re not yet at that point where small devices can display detailed holograms, let alone ones that contain enough information at a glance. That’s not entirely outside the realm of possibility, but by then we might also have less bulky and more elegant designs by then.
