Can you remember the LG Chocolate? It was one of the most stylish phones on the market when it first came out, with that slick slide-up display and its compact form giving it a cool essence that made it one of the most popular phones on the market.
The slide-up phone disappeared for a long while with the arrival of the iPhone, and although the Xperia Play tried to keep it alive and ANBERNIC tried to bring it back with the chunky RG Slide, it still hasn't really taken off. But it looks like that's all about to change with the arrival of the super-thin AYANEO Pocket PLAY, which AYANEO say has been 'created in the name of games, made for the dreams of gamers'.
AYANEO also say that their first ever smartphone has been created and designed with gaming at its very core. It's mobile gaming like we used to enjoy back in the '00s, but with a modern twist, igniting that retro spark in all of us and making us want to go back to the days of Q*Bert and Snake.
The design is classic AYANEO; it's minimalistic and looks almost like a piece of art more than a bit of tech, though that's the design nerd coming out in me. They even call it 'handheld artistry', which probably means it's going to come with a premium price tag!
The smartphone opens up into gaming mode with a small push, giving access to a perfectly designed D-pad and four action buttons. There are also two digital touch pads in the place of joysticks that can be customised depending on the player's needs, which makes me think that we can use them as touchpads for editing photos with greater precision too. Everything is designed perfectly, as opposed to just sticking joysticks on the very bottom of a console because 'why not'.
I love how thin this setup is. It looks like it's going to be the equivalent of one and a half iPhones, which is very thin. And having the controls on the phone in physical form as opposed to them being digital on the screen, allows for much better control. Just think how good PSP games are going to look on this thing. God of War on the bus... yes please!
It also means that the makers of clip-on magnetic accessories might be panicking a little right now, and while most iPhone users will be hard to sway (I'm thinking about jumping ship after seeing this), I can imagine that Android phone users will snap this up in seconds.
Credit: AYANEO
We haven't had any information about specs or release date yet, but you can head over to the official Kickstarter page to be notified when the campaign goes live!
