Can the MiniStation, a microconsole capable of playing mobile games jointly developed by Tencent and Skyworth, reverse the plight of Android consoles in China?

As a nationally, no, globally renowned gaming giant, Tencent has always made many achievements in the gaming industry. Of course, as the overlord of the domestic gaming industry, Tencent has not only made efforts in game content, but has also been constantly exploring new development paths.

Android game consoles, as the next-generation consoles entered the domestic market, began to become a weapon for many domestic companies and manufacturers to compete in the field of living room entertainment. However, due to problems such as porting and adaptation, the games on the Android console platform could not reach the level of players and their games. Finally, under the dual pressure of foreign product competition and the sluggish domestic market, the domestic console industry finally came to nothing.

In such a harsh industrial environment, Tencent went against the trend and jointly created a gaming microconsole MiniStation with Skyworth, and at the same time launched the slogan of "playing mobile games on a big screen". What kind of changes can Tencent's first hardware gaming product bring to Android consoles?

Previously, I have done an unboxing review of MiniStation, so I will not go into detail about its appearance features here. This article will mainly focus on the experience.

Easy to operate on mobile phone, simple and easy to understand interface

As an Android gaming microconsole, MiniStation is indeed very similar to other Android game consoles. Although the default 2K resolution did give people a sense of amazement at the beginning, now even TV boxes can play 4K videos, and MiniStation does not have much advantage in terms of picture effect.

MiniStation only has a remote control as a control device, and does not come with a controller like most consoles. It can be said that this is a bit unreasonable for a game console. However, Tencent has indeed put a lot of effort in operation. Faced with the market environment where the popularity of controllers is low, MiniStation chose the simplest one, which is the mobile phone APP.

Nowadays, screen projection technology is becoming more and more advanced, and mobile phones are gradually adding control functions in addition to screen projection. For mobile players who love to play mobile games, such thoughtful design is indeed worthy of praise. At the same time, this also lays a foundation for MiniStation's "big screen mobile game playing".

This approach is bold and innovative, and the tailor-made App is simple and clear. The operation interface with a menu key and a touch screen for the return key is simple and clear, saving the cost of buying a controller and successfully eliminating the problem of controller adaptation. Users only need to download the APP and connect to the host, and the phone will be transformed into a game controller with a touch screen. Of course, players can also connect the controller via Bluetooth.

The only drawback is that this mobile APP still belongs to the previous Lenovo version, so during the adaptation process with the mobile phone, there are some factors that cause it to fail to run. To address this situation, Skyworth will launch the official version of the APP on July 18, which will be perfectly adapted at that time (the Apple version of the APP is currently on the shelves).

Although they are all Android systems, the interface UI of MiniStation is very simple and clear. It is not as complicated as other Android consoles or TV boxes, giving people a sense of clarity at a glance.

The game is rich in content and the operation needs to adapt

As a game console, MiniStation, backed by Tencent's huge mobile game resources, can indeed compete with other consoles in terms of content richness, but its exact effectiveness still needs actual testing to be determined.

It is worth mentioning that although there are many game resources in the game console, the initial 16G memory of MiniStation is disappointing. After downloading 3 games, it takes up nearly half of the memory. In today's mobile phones with 32G or 64G large memory environment, this memory is indeed not enough. Fortunately, MiniStation supports TF card expansion up to 128G, which can save the trouble of digital version downloading.

As the mobile version of League of Legends, "All People's Super God" has always been the top-ranked MOBA mobile game. The game graphics have indeed reached a good level, and there is no lag when casting skills and team battles. It is worth mentioning that the mobile phone APP as an operating device is not in the same network as the MiniStation, but the host is used as a wireless transceiver to manage the mobile phone. This method also allows the mobile phone to operate smoothly without any delay during operation.

In addition, it can be seen that the hero modeling has also been greatly optimized. However, there is one thing that needs to be improved, that is, the adaptation of the game screen. From a 5- or 6-inch mobile phone screen to a 50- or 60-inch TV, the picture is not as simple as becoming bigger. Players should also be able to enlarge their field of view to see more content.

As a masterpiece of racing games, Asphalt 8 has always been a boon for racing graphics fans, but it also has very high requirements for device hardware. However, it runs very smoothly on the MINI miniStation. The large-size graphics are comparable to the effects of PC and game consoles, and the graphics are very beautiful. The beautiful scenery of the track and the drifting special effects are very dazzling, giving people an immersive feeling, and there is no lag when drifting and crashing.

The operation is the same as that of the mobile phone, but from the mobile phone to the miniStation, the gaming experience of "Asphalt 8" is not only the shock brought by the large-screen fine pictures, but also that the body and head do not need to twist with the phone when controlling the car to turn.

After testing two heavy mobile games, the performance of MiniStation is remarkable. Although the operation of the mobile phone does solve the requirements of most players for handles, the only shortcoming lies in the control of the mobile phone.

Unlike Lemon MiniStation, if there is no relevant game on the mobile phone of Skyworth MiniStation, the screen of the mobile phone will be pitch black, and it is impossible to press the corresponding position accurately. At the same time, there is no granular feeling when operating the handle, which makes it easy for players to fail at the critical moment.

This isn't really a TV box.

As a major feature of domestic Android game consoles, there will definitely be videos added in addition to games. MiniStation, backed by the resource libraries of Tencent and Skyworth, has also added this localized part.

In the market section, in addition to being able to find many popular mobile games, the addition of Skyworth Cinema also directly announced the abundance of video resources. All resources, whether it is movies, TV series, etc., can be found here. Among them, the large-scale American TV series content is definitely a great benefit at a time when it is difficult to introduce overseas TV series.

Of course, under 2K expression, the picture effect has reached a good level. Of course, if it is only 2K, it will definitely not meet the needs of video enthusiasts. In order to test the video decoding capability of MiniStation, the 4K video "Beauty and Roast Duck" was selected to test the video playback capability of this micro host.

With the help of Skyworth's TV technology, MiniStation's 4K decoding capability is also outstanding. Not only is the picture effect exquisite, but it is also very smooth when fast forwarding and rewinding, without any sense of drag.

As a game console launched by Tencent, although it has good performance in video, Tencent still hopes to focus on the game function. Therefore, other video APP software cannot be read on external devices. The TV version of the video and video-related APP were copied to an external U disk, but the content was not displayed when it was plugged into the MiniStation. It can be seen that Tencent does not intend to use MiniStation as a TV box.

Can playing mobile games on a large screen really help Android microconsoles break through the barriers?

Nowadays, many manufacturers are trapped in the quagmire of TV games. It’s not that Android games are bad, but as an emerging industry, TV games have not found a suitable development path. Many large manufacturers have always hoped to use the Android platform and high-performance hardware to create game consoles that are not inferior to PS4 and Xbox One, but most of them have taken the old path of porting. Many stereotyped and poor light games have also made TV games and Android consoles gradually lose market favor.

Faced with such a situation, Tencent MiniStation's slogan of "playing mobile games on the big screen" seems to be alternative and novel. Although the big screen and mobile games are not the same thing after all, after all, real TV games and Android consoles cannot be easily developed by taking shortcuts. The lack of independent and original platform content does not allow Android consoles to compete with traditional consoles.

If Android game consoles are inherently unable to compete with Sony Playstation and Microsoft Xbox, creating a new way of playing mobile games on a large screen, relying on the huge audience of mobile games, expanding the range of TV game players to a larger range, cleverly avoiding competition with game consoles such as PS4 and XboxOne, and solving the two major problems of poor game quality and player base at one time, is indeed a development strategy.

However, it will take time to test whether Tencent MiniStation can really take this step.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.