With PlayStation Mobile out the door and Sony’s Xperia Play a thing in the past, one would think that there is no real audience for phones with built-in gaming buttons. However, Chinese companies Much and 78point still think that there’s demand for such hardware.
Strangely enough, both companies sourced their hardware from the same OEM, or original equipment manager, so that means that Much’s W1 and 78point’s PO1 are virtually the same, with the exception of the their Android 4.2 skins. The phones feature a 5-inch 720p IPS display, 16GB of internal storage (microSD expansion of up to 64GB), 8MP/2MP cameras and a generous 3,000mAh battery. All of this makes for a pretty decent mid-range phone.
The phones are made with gaming buttons built in, and all-in-all, they boil down to about 330 US dollars each—a pretty sweet deal if you can deal with the weight. The phones come in at around 213g, just lighter than a PS Vita, and slightly chunkier.
The PO1 even comes with a multi-platform emulator that supports N64, Dreamcast, SNES, PSP and more, which is actually pretty amazing. The W1 plays it safer, recommending emulators instead.
Though these phones will probably never make it to our shores, it is interesting to see how some tech gets a second life on the other side of the world. What’s your favorite long forgotten tech? Let us know in the comments.
