Huawei Tron, the Mac Pro-looking Android console [CES2014]

In an effort to compete with the growing popularity of mini consoles (Gamestick, Ouya, Onlive), Huawei has unveiled a new mini gaming console called Tron. The Chinese tech giant showcased the cylindrical canister, micro-console running Android 4.2.3 at CES this week. Has the Mac Pro kicked off the cylinder shaped gadget revolution?

One of its greatest selling points, and one that would most likely set itself apart from something like the Ouya, would be the fact that it’s cheap and supposedly quite simple.

There are two colour variants available, one white and one black. The console itself is a simple small cylinder that Engadget calls “waste bin-like” while the controller looks very much like the love child of Ouya and the Xbox with a massive touch pad smacked in the middle.

The controller is supposedly exceptionally light and has four actions buttons (X, Y, A, B), four shoulder triggers, as well as home, mute, view and menu buttons. Then there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom of the controller’s face.

Inside the cylinder, Tron holds Nvidia’s Tegra 4 processor, 2GB RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage with an expandable storage option. Furthermore, it has 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0 support with USB 3.0. Gamers who connect the console to their TVs will be able to stream 1080p movies or games.

The specs are better than Ouya’s while other Android-based micro-consoles such as Mad Catz Mojo and Nvidia Shield remains competitive but are relatively pricier.

When looking at the platform itself, for now, there’s about twelve Android games available including popular titles such as Red Blade and Dead Trigger 2. Some rumours have suggested though that Huawei would somehow be customizing games and that certain PlayStation 3 and PC titles will soon be available.

Images via Gizmochina