I took a close look at the AYANEO Pocket Vert—AYANEO’s loud, premium love letter to the vertical handheld shape—and yeah… it’s kind of offensive (in the best way). Hardware-wise this thing is dense: a 3.5-inch 1600x1440 LCD touchscreen at 60Hz, completely covered by a full glass front panel. The pixel density is ridiculous at 615 PPI, and paired with the metal-and-glass build, it straight-up looks like a little monolith on your shelf. You also get a 6000mAh battery, USB-C, headphone jack, and SD card slot—no weird omissions—plus a clicky-everything control setup, including a satisfying clicky volume wheel. The wild card is the hidden dual-mode touchpad system: two invisible “digital joysticks” built into the front. They’re not instantly user-friendly, but once you dial in sensitivity and mappings, they start to make sense. Performance is solid thanks to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 on Android 14, with access to Android gaming, streaming, PC translation options, and emulation up to PS2—though comfort depends heavily on whether you’re willing to live with those touchpad sticks. Compared to stuff like the Retroid Pocket Classic or the TrimUI Brick, the Pocket Vert isn’t trying to be cheap or familiar—it’s trying to be premium and different, and it absolutely nails that lane.