So despite being absolutely dead set on one of these and first to put a pre-order in, I have now cancelled it and refunded.
Refund is quick and easy for anyone else interested and was done within 15 mins of my email.
I used to work in the industry so out of interest, reached out to some contacts I still speak to from my time within. I was pleased to hear one had an Ally and my former colleague popped by for about an hour or so for me to play.
Theres a few things that jumped out straight away. The UI needs love. Its pretty buggy but he told me they are pushing multiple updates a week to resolve. Apparently the initial aim was an immediate release after announcement, but has been pushed back for refinement of the software before shipping.
The big two for me though, which hopefully one is software, but one is 100% hardware.
1. Stick latency and delay. There is defo a strange disconnect from input to the sticks and what they do. At first I thought it was V-sync but it isn’t. I’m told this has improved greatly in the last few weeks, but it is still there.
2. The big one - sticking buttons.
In my hour of playing, I have had the X button get stuck 3 times as well as the Y button twice. I had to use a small flathead on the X button to pop it back up. The issue seems to be side to side play in the buttons rather than overall touch. It seems to snag the top cover on depressing the button.
Add to it the Saga of ASUS, warranties and shenanigans i have decided to now wait.
A look at more reviews today has confirmed at least 3 others getting buttons stuck, particularly the X button.
I think I’ll wait for the dust to settle before re-comitting.
So if you were on the delayed shipment list - you may have just been promoted!
I hope you all enjoy and the issues are rare enough its not an issue.
This was a production unit, not the production sample unit with the yellow sticker.