Tencent Micro Game Console Review: More Suitable for Heavy Mobile Game Players

Since the ban on game consoles was lifted, the game console market has been divided into two camps: one is the traditional game consoles launched by Sony and Microsoft, and the other is the Android game consoles that have sprung up everywhere. Compared with the former, Android game consoles have a price advantage and have become a new living room toy that consumers are paying attention to due to their higher degree of freedom.

Compared with PS4 and Xbox, there are quite a few Android TV boxes that are marketed as game consoles, but there are only a few products from well-known companies and the quality of game content is uneven, which has caused the entire market to stagnate. However, Tencent's entry seems to have given the Android game console market a shot in the arm, and everyone's attention has been focused on this small box again.

Last month, Tencent miniStation was officially released, taking the first step into the living room game market. Today, Tencent Home Appliances got the green version of it. So how is it different from other game boxes on the market? Can it meet our needs for large-screen games? The following review will give you the answer.

More eye-catching design

Different from all the TV boxes and game boxes we have seen before, if you are not told in advance, you will never associate this Tencent miniStation with such products at first sight. It is no exaggeration to say that "unique beauty" is the first impression Tencent miniStation gives me.

From the above pictures, you can see that the Tencent miniStation is very eye-catching in appearance design. The overall shape is square, and the middle part is hollowed out. After it is turned on, it will change various colors, which has a strong sense of fashion and entertainment. Moreover, this game console also has a variety of colors such as red, black, white, orange, and green, which further emphasizes the elements of youth and liveliness.

In terms of interfaces, the back of the machine has a network card interface, an HDMI interface, a USB interface and a power interface, and a touch switch on the top, nothing else.

No remote control, but that's not a problem

After opening the package, you will see that the entire package of Tencent miniStation contains only a power cord and an HDMI data cable, in addition to the main unit, and does not come with a common remote control. This is exactly the biggest surprise that Tencent miniStation brings us in terms of operation.

After connecting the console, you can scan the QR code on the bottom of the package with your mobile phone, or directly download an application called "miniStation" in the App Store and use this application as a remote control to control the game console.

The whole connection process sounds complicated: you need to connect to the miniStation hotspot in the wireless network on your phone, enter the password, open the app, click the "Go to pairing" button, and wait for the TV screen to show that the pairing is successful. However, the actual operation only takes two steps, and each step is basically guided by a picture, so even a novice user can easily do it.

After the connection is successful, the miniStation software interface on the mobile phone will turn into a whole touchpad, and you can directly use this touchpad to control the game console. In addition, here you can also set the video output, volume, network, system, etc.

In terms of the operating experience, you may feel a little uncomfortable at the beginning, but with our familiarity with the feel of the mobile phone touch screen, this discomfort will soon disappear. To use a few key words, "smooth", "smooth" and "no delay" are my evaluation of changing to a "mobile phone touch remote control".

Mobile games are better on the big screen

Since Tencent miniStation is positioned as a micro game console, its hardware is also of great interest. It is reported that the machine is equipped with a quad-core Cortex A17 processor with a main frequency of 1.8GHz, supports H.265 hardware decoding, and the system is deeply customized based on Android 4.4.2. The overall operation is still very smooth.

In addition, Tencent miniStation has a different logic from other similar game consoles in game installation. It does not mirror the smartphone screen to the TV. Instead, it does not occupy the phone space. The game is directly installed in the game console and the TV screen is mirrored to the smartphone. In this way, the mobile phone only plays the role of game controller and image auxiliary. Therefore, during the game, you will find that the picture on the mobile phone is relatively rough and sometimes freezes. But you can rest assured that this will not affect the smoothness of the actual operation and the picture quality of the smart TV.

In the above picture, we can see that the system main interface adopts a horizontal axis design. The first row is the currently installed games, and each game icon also has an animation effect, which is very cool and makes people want to click it. The next row is the boutique recommendation. The popular games in the host can be installed directly here.

After entering the secondary menu at the top of the screen, you will find that this is actually a game market. On the left are various game categories, divided into action adventure, flight shooting, sports racing, casual games and controller areas. However, for us, there is no need to divide them so finely, two categories are enough - blockbuster and casual games.

In terms of blockbuster games, you can see many games including "NOVA3", "Asphalt 8", "Impulsion", "Modern Combat 5", "King of Glory", "Infinity Blade" and so on in Tencent miniStation. Basically, all the popular mobile games you can find here.

The leisure category is mainly composed of Tencent games, such as "Running Man", "Flying Car", "Tencent Table Tennis", "New Tribe Defense War", "Cross-Country Assault", etc.

Game screen real shot

Game screen real shot

Synchronize mobile phone and TV screen

In-game QR code payment page

After a round of experience, I have a few feelings to share with you:

First, it comes from the visual experience. After moving the mobile game to the big screen, the large-size 1080P screen has a stronger visual impact, which gives you a completely different feeling from watching it on the phone. Sometimes you even feel that these are two completely different games, and you can't stop playing;

Second, we must admit that for some shooting games, the control experience of using a mobile phone touch screen without physical buttons is not very good. Sometimes you don't even know where your fingers are pressed, and you have already died under the enemy's gun. Therefore, here we recommend that you try to choose a Bluetooth controller to control when playing shooting games, and the experience will instantly explode;

Third, I used iPhone 6s to connect and experience the whole process, and found that for the same game, the game progress on iPhone cannot be synchronized with Tencent miniStation. The reason is that Tencent miniStation is essentially an Android game console. When you log in to the game, although you also use WeChat or QQ, you actually open the Android version, so the game progress cannot be synchronized. Of course, this is not a problem with Tencent miniStation itself, but the reason why the progress of the iOS version and Android version of the game cannot be communicated with each other. Players must pay special attention to this point;

Fourth, the in-game QR code scanning payment process is smooth and provides an excellent experience;

Finally, you don’t have to worry about battery life when using your smartphone as a game controller. You can charge it at home at any time. But I have to admit that my iPhone will heat up slightly after using it for a while, which somewhat affects the feel.

In addition to playing games, you can also watch videos

In addition to the main games, Tencent miniStation also has two applications, "QQ Music" and "Shiyun Cinema", which meet our application needs for video and music.

This game console has cooperated with BesTV in terms of video on demand. While ensuring the legitimacy of the video content source, various blockbusters can basically meet our daily viewing needs.

summary:

As an Android game console, Tencent miniStation uses the mobile phone as a game controller to bring players a better operating experience. Although the actual control still feels a little uncomfortable when it comes to different game types, it is undoubtedly a big improvement compared to similar products.

In addition to having many Tencent mobile game content that is already very popular, Tencent miniStation has also cooperated with many top game manufacturers such as GameLoft and Rayark Games. It has built-in many major games such as "Nova3", "Modern Combat 5", "Asphalt 8", "Infinity Blade" and "Implode", which is a powerful supplement to the current lack of content on Android game consoles.

Finally, I would like to remind you that since Tencent miniStation is essentially an Android gaming console, it still has a certain gap in actual performance compared to traditional PS4 and Xbox. This can be seen from the games built into the machine, which is more suitable for heavy mobile game players. In addition, the price of 699 yuan is not expensive among similar products, so interested players may wish to give it a try.

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.