I've been writing about retro handhelds and emulators for years now; never has a well-known tech giant ever entered the fray, likely because it's a fairly niche market, and the fact that emulating is still in a complicated legal grey area that no other large tech giant wants to play with, just in case it gets messy.
So, when I saw the news that Lenovo, a 40-year-old tech company renowned for creating computers, gaming peripherals and some pretty beastly handheld PC's, was entering the affordable retro handheld scene, my ears perked up in curiosity.
After further research its unclear if this is actually a Lenovo product, or if someone has simply white labelled it as Lenovo's in order to pull in some sales, very, very illegally.
What is the "Lenovo G02"?
The "Lenovo G02" is apparently a Linux-based handheld games console, featuring a 4.5" IPS display, sat in a vertical form-factor, with action buttons below the screen, alongside shoulder buttons on the back.
Originally listed on AliExpress, it looks like any cheap, low-quality handheld that has plagued this marketplace over the years, many being whitelabelled to random names to make the customer think there's new devices being released, when in fact, it's simply a rebrand with the same specs under the hood.
I am not saying this is the case with the G02, but it might well be the case, as the only official announcement from Lenovo, from what I can tell, is a very small text-based mention on their Chinese website which was uploaded back in March. This mention shows no association or familiarity with the device being sold on AliExpress and other retailers, making me believe this device could be a fake.
There's also the obvious that it looks cheaply made, does not match Lenovo's high quality portfolio of gaming PC's and its being listed for sale by random retailers and sellers on AliExpress by the name of "Audio Brand Online Store".
Pricing, Specifications & Release Date
A promo video for the G02 via AliExpress
The "Lenovo" G02 is currently available to purchase on AliExpress for £64/$87 and will ship instantly. Making me even more hesitant to believe this is the real deal. The video above shows Lenovo branding on the box alongside clips of the Lenovo branding on-screen when booting up, but again, this is easily added, and cheaply too.
- 4.5-inch" IPS Display (1024 x 768)
- Rockchip RK3326 CPU
- 1GB RAM
- 4000 mAh
- Linux OS
These specifications are nothing special and have been seen in much older Retron handhelds of the past. It's likely this device, if real, will be able to handle emulation up to PlayStation 1, Nintendo 64 and perhaps some PSP. Because it's using a Linux-OS it's also likely that this device is using third-party emulators and frontends made by the community, which again, doesn't feel very "Lenovo".
I personally don't think this is a legitimate handheld from Lenovo, but it if it is, more shame on Lenovo for dropping this low and shipping a handheld that is obviously white labelled and built using the similar material of a Kinder Egg.
No innovation went into this, and it's likely that again, real, Lenovo outsourced the entirety of this production to a cheap handheld manufacturer, which we have all seen plague social media and cheap Chinese marketplaces.
We have contacted Lenovo to question the reality of this device, and will attempt at getting in a sample to take a look at to see if it is infact either a legit device, or a device that is infringing on Lenovo's brand for profit. Join our newsletter to keep updated on that.
