A Casual Gamer's EDC (AYN Thor Edition)
The AYN Thor was the first thing I packed for my trip to France over the holidays. But it wasn't alone.
Why the Thor Made the Trip
A week at my in-laws’ place in France meant limited time to myself, but a few late-night hours after everyone had gone to bed felt worth planning around. The AYN Thor was an easy pick. Its dual-screen OLED setup means it can handle an enormous range of systems, the clamshell form factor keeps it compact in a bag, and it doubles as a media tablet when you just want to watch something. It covers a lot of ground without taking up much space.
What I didn’t anticipate was how much I’d end up leaning on single-screen mode. Games like Dr. Mario and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 turned out to be ideal for the kind of fractured gaming sessions you get as a parent — ten minutes at the airport, half an hour while waiting to pick someone up. Those sessions add up. I very nearly 100%‘d Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 entirely in stolen moments like those.
The real surprise was how well the Thor handled proper PC emulation. Dispatch runs to around eight or nine hours for a single playthrough, which made it perfect for a one-episode-a-night approach over the break. That top OLED — only six inches, but genuinely stunning in terms of vibrancy and clarity — made it a pleasure to sit with each night. There were a few graphical glitches here and there, and the ABXY buttons being reversed from what’s shown on screen led to some unintended dialogue choices, but overall it was a really solid experience. Battery life was impressive too — I only needed to charge it two or three times across the whole trip.
Carrying the Thor Day-to-Day
AYN make their own carry case for the Thor and it’s well built — nice materials, a hand strap, and a TPU grip moulded perfectly to the device. The problem is the bulk. It’s considerably larger than the Thor itself, which makes it awkward to slip into a bag alongside everything else you’re carrying.
Just before the trip, Insta360 sent me a cross-body bag designed for cameras, and it turns out it’s an almost perfect fit for the Thor once you leave the TPU grip at home. The top zips open cleanly, the interior layer holds the device snugly without putting any pressure on it, and there’s a small zipped pocket for a stylus and a hidden compartment underneath for charging cables. It’s also waterproof, which is a nice bonus. The neutral colourway with bright toggle accents is exactly the kind of outdoor gear aesthetic I tend to gravitate towards, and being able to wear it across your shoulder means the Thor is always within easy reach on public transport.
The Bigger Bag Option
When I’m heading somewhere that warrants taking more kit — or a bulkier handheld — I reach for the CRKD Pro Gamer carry case. CRKD are best known for the Nitro Deck, which I reviewed and wasn’t entirely won over by, but this carry case is genuinely excellent regardless of your feelings about their controllers.
The main compartment is deep and wide, with a magnetic flap that keeps larger handhelds in place. A Switch in a Killswitch case, a Steam Deck, a Legion Go S — it handles all of them comfortably, and there’s still room left over for accessories. I keep my reading glasses in there these days, along with a Joy-Con adapter for tabletop mode and the magnetic adapters that go with it. A hidden zipped pouch handles cartridges and cables, a front compartment offers more storage than it looks like it should, and the inner lining pockets are handy for smaller items you don’t want rattling around loose. You can even slot a vertical handheld into those inner pockets, so if you want to travel with a handheld PC and a retro device simultaneously, there’s genuinely enough room to do it.
Audio and Power
For everyday use, the AirPods 4 remain my go-to. The noise cancellation hits a sweet spot — enough to take the edge off street noise without making you feel cut off from your surroundings, and the Apple device integration is seamless. The slight catch is that a lot of these handhelds run Android or Linux, and while you can pair AirPods to something like the Thor or a Steam Deck, it’s not quite as frictionless.
For those situations, I’ve been using the Sony Pulse Explores. The planar drivers deliver genuinely impressive spatial audio, particularly through the PlayStation Portal, and having them paired to multiple devices simultaneously is convenient once it’s set up. The setup process itself, though, is a frustration — holding a button for twelve seconds to establish a connection doesn’t make for a smooth experience. The case is also notably bulkier than the AirPods 4, and getting the earbuds seated correctly when putting them away can feel unnecessarily fiddly. They do a good job; they’re just not a joy to use.
For power on the go, an Anker battery pack has been serving me well for a while now. The built-in stand lets you prop your phone up on a plane tray table for media or controller-based gaming, and it’s compact enough to be genuinely portable. I also use it around the house more than I’d like to admit, largely because handheld PC battery life still isn’t quite where it needs to be.
Final Thoughts
The everyday carry setup is always evolving, and the Thor has slotted into mine more naturally than I expected. The Retroid Pocket 6 is on my radar for later in the year, so if that’s something you’re curious about too, it’s worth keeping an eye out.