The ROG Xbox Ally X20 makes its strongest case through its screen and controls, not raw speed. Gizmodo's review praised the 20th-anniversary handheld's comfort and looks while finding performance effectively unchanged from the previous model.
At $1,300, that leaves buyers paying a $300 premium over the original Xbox Ally X for a more polished version of familiar hardware.
A brighter OLED and better controls
The X20 replaces the original model's 7-inch panel with a 7.4-inch OLED display. It keeps a 1080p resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, refresh rates up to 120Hz and variable refresh rate support. Asus rates the panel for 600 nits of typical brightness and a 1,400-nit peak with HDR content.
Gizmodo found the display vivid but still vulnerable to washout and reflections in direct light. The review was more consistently positive about the revised ergonomics, including grippier surfaces, more flush buttons, clickier bumpers and TMR joysticks that are marketed as more drift-resistant.
One experiment worked less well. The transforming D-pad can switch between four- and eight-direction layouts, but Gizmodo found it could rotate back out of the selected position during use.
