An odd device from Asus recently appeared in Antutu and it seems to suggest that the company is working on an Android gaming console. However, we are not sure that the entry is legit. The listing was unearthed by Mobilegeeks.de.
The name of the device, according to Antutu, is Gamebox. It is powered by a Tegra 4 SoC with Android 4.3 on top. The entry also points to a 720p screen and 8GB of internal storage, so it appears to be 5-inch console with a very similar spec to Nvidia’s Shield console.
Frankly we are not sure what to make of it. Nvidia’s Tegra 4 is a good fit for an Android console, but it all sounds a bit weird. Why would Asus bother with it at all? The Tegra K1 is coming in a few months and it would be unusual for Asus to launch an entirely new product category based on a practically obsolete chip.
Another possibility is that it is some sort of prototype rather than an actual product, which would make a lot more sense. The “gamebox” name is weird, too, as Asus doesn’t tend to throw words around. For example, in the world of Asus branding an EeeBox PC is a nettop, a Chromebox is just that – a box, not a handheld device.
Besides, we’re not sure handheld Android consoles have much of a market, at least not for the time being.
