Smartphone manufacturers strive to use the highest performing chipsets in their gadgets. And these times, when the processor model will be important to someone, will very soon become a thing of the past. And it's all about the development 5G and streaming services. Currently, the most popular such solution is the Google Stadia project, which was previously only available to owners of Pixel smartphones. But things are changing, and Google has added support for a number of Samsung, Razer and Asus smartphones.
Samsung, Razer and Asus smartphones now support Google Stadia
The list of Google Stadia-enabled devices is as follows:
- Samsung Galaxy S8
- Samsung Galaxy S8 +
- Samsung Galaxy S8 Active
- Samsung Galaxy Note8
- Samsung Galaxy S9
- Samsung Galaxy S9 +
- Samsung Galaxy Note9
- Samsung Galaxy S10
- Samsung Galaxy S10E
- Samsung Galaxy S10 +
- Samsung Galaxy Note10
- Samsung Galaxy Note10 +
- Samsung Galaxy S20
- Samsung Galaxy S20 +
- Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
- Razer Phone
- Razer Phone 2
- ASUS ROG Phone
- ASUS ROG Phone II
A total of 19 new phones are presented, and if we take into account Google devices, the total number of smartphones with Stadia support was 27, which is not so bad. It's also surprising that Google decided to add support for even the rather outdated Galaxy S8 – the phone was introduced back in 2017 and became the first frameless device on the market, which is why, by the way, even in 2020 it still looks good.
Google has been testing Stadia on non-Pixel devices since the beginning of January, and only now – after lengthy tests – they decided to add official support. Support for the above devices will be rolled out gradually, meaning that not all users will be able to play games through Stadia right now. However, no updates are required. Streaming will be available automatically. So far, the service can only work over Wi-Fi and does not support mobile networks. Probably the reason for this is poor distribution 5G. Obviously, 4G resources will not be enough for this.
What is Google Stadia
We have already written material on this topic, but we will repeat ourselves. Stadia is a streaming service that lets you play PC games like Read Dead Redemption 2, Assasins Creed, and other AAA projects over the Internet. The service makes it possible to play on TV, laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones – wherever there is Wi-Fi.
So far, unfortunately, when you try to buy a subscription, which is equal to 10 dollars, the service redirects to a page with a message that Russia is not yet supported. However, by analogy with YouTube Premium, I do not exclude that Stadia will work in Russia in the near future. And this will be expected, because our Internet is much better than in the United States. By the way, this is why, most likely, when launching the service, many complained about the lag of the character's actions from the clicks on the gamepad.
Why is the Stadia Controller needed?
Although the Stadia gamepad can monitor users, it is not necessary to buy one to use the service. You can connect to the device and conventional gamepads from the same Microsoft or Sony. But Google wouldn't just release the Stadia Controller. Its feature is the ability to connect via Wi-Fi directly to Google servers to reduce latency. In addition, the gamepad has two function keys, one of which takes screenshots, and the other calls the Google Assistant voice assistant.
Now the main problem is the absence of Russia in the list of supported countries. And it is not yet entirely clear when Google will decide to please Russian gamers as well. And if Stadia becomes popular, there is no doubt that mobile gaming will die out. Developers will focus on creating solutions for Windows in order to stream them to smartphones in the future. Why overload your phone when you can use cloud resources? The future belongs to this. We can even assume that the mobile app market will die out, leaving cloud streaming and PWA.
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