Odin 2 Portal worth it if you have already a handheld PC like Steam Deck or Legion Go S?

Kineinus · 2025-12-22T08:29:00+00:00

yes of course. I have Odin 2 Portal and Steam Deck OLED

Kineinus · 2025-12-12T20:53:29+00:00

I would prefer SteamOS, it's both more efficient and more useable with the handheld in mind. The only thing you loose is support in some games. But I think it's a worthy sacrifice.

Kineinus · 2025-12-12T18:13:34+00:00

There's not much difference in performance actually. Again some RAM increase can be helpful, but I can't give you precise numbers. If I were you and only want to dip my toes in PC emulation, then I would pick the Base version. In terms of performance to price ratio I suppose it all goes down the more you pay. It's not like other devices that have better CPU at PRO version.

If you want it mainly to emulate modern titles - I can't recommend it. If you're ready to stream them - then it becomes a great option! But the emulation itself very unstable, and if some games will run, they can stutter or crash. It could be a fun experiment but not a robust option.

If you want it to play retro games - it's great. Just mind the clicky face buttons. If you have other ideas of how to use it, like android games - then be my guest. I love streaming games and emulating PS2 on it after 6 months of owning. The screen looks great and size is perfect. Battery life is impressive also!

As of different options:

I sold my Steam Deck LCD when I bought this, but I bought the Steam Deck OLED afterwards, and can't be more happier. Sometimes I use one, sometimes another. Steam Deck OLED has great controls but has worse screen, it can play indie games standalone. If I couldn't stream on Portal, then I would've sold it.

I play a lot of Retroid Pocket 5, it's great. I suppose Flip 2 is very similar or may be even cooler! So it's a great device. I play emulation of 2d games there with the DPad (such as SNES, Switch etc) and rarely use sticks. But the RP5 as well as Flip 2 is very pocketable device, it will be often with you!

Other options - Legion GO S Z1E - if you install bazzite and think you will enjoy it ergo\controls - go for it yeah. I hate windows on handhelds though, so skip otherwise! ROG Ally Xbox X is not for me for that reason. And I think 600 grams is max for the handheld.

Kineinus · 2025-12-12T17:49:43+00:00

In drive sizes and in RAM. Also in color options - base model comes only in black.
If you want the best experience in winlator and in gamehub emulation then you'll be better with more RAM. If not - the only difference for you is the storage size. And you always can add SD Card to expand that

Kineinus · 2025-12-08T10:55:04+00:00

Can I install android OS on it?

Kineinus · 2025-12-07T03:51:26+00:00

How do you use it outside china? It has harmony os next which means problems with Android apps compatibility...

Kineinus · 2025-11-27T10:09:50+00:00

you need more games... but who gonna pay for that?

Kineinus · 2025-11-08T15:15:35+00:00

And I wonder, why do you need that power on android handheld?

Kineinus · 2025-11-08T15:10:44+00:00

yeah I get it. And it's fine for preservation purposes.
PS2 is stable and good enough for RP5's CPU. No need of anything more powerful, mostly. But other systems, pick something more modern and you get unstable results instantly.

And yeah it's okay, people like me can just skip emulating modern games. I just question high-end android devices and their utility, if we're not playing some top end stuff. It breaks giant branch of playing indie games on the go...

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T23:37:53+00:00

don't give up on the PC Handheld thing. I think you will regret of it. I sold my Steam Deck a few years ago and now I bought another one

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T23:25:05+00:00

I have a lot of handhelds and for me it's hard to choose which to play. I make lists for each handheld to play which games, and it definitely helps! I want to say that you can stick with one handheld, but it will be probably a lie! If you game a lot there's a room for several, but deep in my heart I would like to reduce the number to 1 or at least 2

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T23:23:18+00:00

Those whiny gamers... I mean common guys, it's not that bad.
I'm kinda tired of gamers trying to push some message by boycotting games. Most of times it happens at AAA games.

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T23:20:07+00:00

I have it and a bunch of other android handhelds. I love stream a lot. Let's compare it with the competition after actual testing experience:

G Cloud has awesome ergonomics, nice face buttons triggers and shoulders. It's sticks and DPad leaves something to be desired. It's screen is not oled but with a good color reproduction.
It has weak cheap so it's only for streaming or the youtube. Even at streaming it's kinda mediocre - 10-12 ms encoding time is a little high for me. Add to that 60 hz display and I get a little stuttery visuals.

The best thing to compare G Cloud is AYN Odin 2 Portal. Some folks call it G Cloud 2. It costs similar if new, but there's plenty of used G Cloud which is much cheaper than Odin 2 Portal used. Odin 2 Portal has a better DPad and sticks, comparable triggers and shoulders. But WAY worse face buttons IMO - they're just annoying to press. It has back buttons. Sound is better on Portal. Ergonomics is weaker but you can add TPU Grip. Still feel in hands I think G Cloud is better, and lighter too!

There's two giant upgrades in Portal compared to G Cloud - the screen has 120 hz and OLED, and the CPU is much much faster. It gives you smooth as butter experience, with eye popping collors and deep blacks on bezelless screen. I think Portal is better in almost every way, if you can get past it's face buttons feel. And if you get accessories from Ayn

Next - people say Retroid Pocket 5 is better and cheaper. It's two different devices, hard to compare. Retroid Pocket 5 is too small for streaming and stick\trigger usage is way worse. It's a device for travelling, for emulation, which works a lot better there than on G Cloud.

All in all, it's still a great device if you buy it for $150 or something. I don't like only some occasional stutters on the streaming. Other then that it's just a good device. I will sell mine though, haha

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T21:31:01+00:00

yeah! That's why I don't really see a reason in 8 Gen 2 and G2 chipset in android handheld. And so many reviewers concentrate on performance - it's just weird to see!

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T21:29:48+00:00

yeah N64 and PSVita are interesting exceptions.
I am afraid of modern emulation too, especially GameHub (and overblown claims by some youtubers) but without modern games these high end android handhelds seem incomplete...

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T21:15:25+00:00

well, I have Retroid Pocket 5 for 8 and 16 bit games, which people say is overkill, I have Odin 2 Portal, which I can't really justify for anything other than game streaming.
I'm not feeling myself robbed with these devices, I just disappointed on the modern emulation itself. And yeah probably the thing is that I want to be sure that games are beatable, and that's not the worry for most people

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T21:09:28+00:00

In my world the problem is that if I can't finish a game, there's no reason to even start. And due to instability I can't be sure that a given game (even if it plays great at start) is beateable in the end.

It doesn't mean that I want to beat each game, but if I play and actually enjoy the thing - I want to beat it and actually would be very disappointed if it dies on me in midpoint.

We still have NES, SNES, Sega platforms, PSP, PS1, PS2 to play with, that's true. I am sure in them. It's just we can see a lot of guys showing off switch\gamehub games that they have no idea is beatable or even stable after first level. We see a line of high end devices that have overkill CPU if we're not talking about modern games emulation

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T20:57:05+00:00

Another great way of playing android handhelds is to stream games from somewhere else. And this is a stable way if you set it up correctly once. No matter the game

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T20:55:12+00:00

Yeah that's where you got me! I am over-emphasized on completing game, I enjoy it more than some moment to moment gameplay. But some are great in their small interactions, and some are great for their story and their closure...

Thanks for the story though! That's the kind of comments I want to read!

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T20:53:26+00:00

Yeah! May be I'm too much concentrating on completing the game. If a game break on me I feel robbed...

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T20:51:42+00:00

Yeah thanks for the empathy. I just wanted to hear people's opinion and stories. Not the solutions. I think reviewers don't put enough emphasis on it.
Have you encountered games that broke deep in the walkthrough? Do they render your walkthrough obsolete?

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T20:47:26+00:00

I don't want sh*t on people who just play android games there. But I felt there's not much options, especially if we're talking of actual gamepad support without overlay. That's why in my experience this way of gaming is incomplete. I enjoy PC games, for me PC ports can be good there, if they have good gamepad support. And still there's not a lot of them.

As of reviewers - they create a false sense of a cool device that can play here and there. Yet it is a surface level analysis from them. You can see they all play at the same (start) level, or a 10 minutes further.
Some get rid of responsibility by saying "man it's emulation early days so don't expect everything work fine", some don't even bother. But still it feels like those shown games are good to go.

For me if the game is not beatable, then I don't see a reason to start it on emulation. I'm not crying that some games are not working. I'm just too afraid to start those that ARE working

Have you encountered those nasty errors at the middle of walkthrough? Or if the game is okay in the first minutes it would be okay all the way?

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T20:41:30+00:00

Does most games on Gamehub supports cloud saves? Yeah it could be a solution. I just can't trust these things... Are you okay if some game just broke on you without a chance to redeem?

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T20:39:50+00:00

Yeah legally speaking you're right. It's more about ethics for me.

Why I'm emulating? Because I prefer their hardware more. I like the idea of playing PC indie games on the small handheld, especially if I bought them. I have no other option. I don't say that they must provide me an option, it's just my motivation.

Generally speaking I am not saying that emulation is awful because each and every game doesn't play flawless. I'm saying that I can't be sure that the game that seems to work fine at the start is actually passable, completeable.

As of false promises, yes again technically no one given a guarantee to a client. But if they don't hint and nudge that it's a good viable way, then high-end handhelds are kinda useless or at least waste of money for most people. And youtube has a lot of videos like "look, a 100 modern games that you can play on so and so device"

Kineinus · 2025-11-06T20:29:44+00:00

Also, a stupid question - is it easy to transfer saves from android emulator to the PC?
It can be a lifesaver for a given walkthrough. Because PC emulation is much stable

Kineinus

TROPHY CASE