For the last month or so, I've been tinkering with the new Honor Magic V6, the Chinese brand's latest foldable phone. I've been using it for streaming TV, opening packs in Pokémon TCG Pocket, and for the odd bit of note-taking, but now I think I've figured out how to really get the most out of the phone. I've combined it with a mobile controller and the GameNative app to turn it into a Steam Deck OLED replacement. Yes, I've essentially made my own Frankenhandheld.
Much like the REDMAGIC 11 Pro, the current top pick from our guide to the best gaming phones, the Honor Magic V6 packs the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip. That makes it the ideal candidate for this sort of setup, as it's one of the most powerful mobile processors out there, and that's exactly what I need in a handheld. The second benefit of the V6 is its foldable form factor, offering more display space than any regular candy bar-shaped phone, with the option to play on the smaller external display. Also, both displays are OLED, so they're perfectly suited to gaming.
As for the software side of things, the newly updated GameNative app for Android makes playing PC games on your phone easier than ever. All I had to do was sign in with Steam, and my library was there waiting for me, and not just that, but each game points out whether or not it's compatible with my phone. As I'll get into later, this system plays a bit fast and loose with its community ratings, much in the same way as Valve's own verification program, but it's still a nifty feature.
The last piece of the puzzle is the controller, and for this, I turned to the Asus ROG Tessen. Like the Magic V6, it's foldable, but in this instance, that just makes it more compact for storage. With that, everything was in place, and I booted up Balatro, a game I've put over 200 hours into on my Steam Deck OLED to compare the gameplay experience.
Honestly, it's great. GameNative recognizes the Tessen right away, so there's no extra setup there, and most of the games I tried load just as fast on the Magic V6 as they do on my Steam Deck. Balatro, even with the in-game speed dialled up to the max, runs perfectly fine, with smooth animations and responsive controls. This shouldn't come as a massive shock, considering Balatro has a popular Android port, but that makes it an even more ideal candidate for checking whether GameNative's emulation software is up to the task, and so far, so good.
The real test, though, was Hades 2. This is what I'd call a full-on console game, which, notably, isn't currently available on either Android or Apple's iOS. Much to my surprise, it ran absolutely fine, great, even, just as it does on the Deck or the Nintendo Switch 2. It was in this moment, gleefully pummeling the living daylights out of some underworld enemies, that I felt vindicated in throwing this hardware and software combination together to find another way to play. Honestly, I'd have accepted a couple of caveats to performance here, but I didn't have to, and, well, that's even better.
Outside of the performance, the main benefit of this mish-mash handheld experience is its portability. The Steam Deck OLED is a clunky bit of kit, taking up more space in my backpack than I'd like when I'm traveling, but this setup is more efficient, as all I need is the phone in my pocket and my fold-out controller. Combine that convenience with the GameNative, which now even incorporates data from How Long to Beat into each game description, and this is a handheld I could genuinely live with if I woke up tomorrow and my Steam Deck, Switch 2, and Retroid Pocket 5 were gone.
While I'm pretty happy with my current setup, there is a bit of room for improvement. For starters, the Asus ROG Tessen might not be the ideal mobile controller companion for the Honor Magic V6. The folding bridge on the back of the Tessen, combined with the V6's massive camera island, makes the phone sit slightly awkwardly and at a slightly odd angle inside the controller. It's not massively noticeable when you're playing a game, but if you look at the back, it looks a touch too mangled for my tastes. I might swap out the Tessen for the Razer Kishi Ultra, with its longer and stronger backbone, before long.
I'll also admit that, especially in some of the more demanding picks from our guide to the best Steam Deck games, performance doesn't always quite match up to the Deck. Sure, Hades 2 fared well, but that's not true of every game I tried. I gave Digimon Story Time Stranger a whirl, and while it was playable, stuttering was pretty frequent. Fortunately, I mainly play indies on Steam, such as Balatro, Clover Pit, and my latest favorite, He is Coming, and for those games, the gameplay experience is just as smooth as it is on Valve's handheld.
Ultimately, this whole experiment proves just how advanced mobile software is these days, with plenty of flagship phones capable of recreating the Steam Deck experience. If you'd have told me even just a decade ago that flagships in 2026 would be capable of running PC games at this standard, I wouldn't have believed you. The future truly is here, and while I'm still waiting on flying cars and world peace, if it means I can play Hades 2 anywhere and anytime I like, then I'm glad to be part of it.
It's also worth saying that, given Valve's recent price hikes, I wouldn't be surprised to see more Steam or general PC users try out apps like GameNative and its rivals. If, like me, you mainly use a handheld for indies, it's a genuinely viable alternative to spending at least $789 on a handheld. We've even got a guide to the best mobile controllers to help you put together your own Frankenhandheld. Now, if you don't mind, I've got a date with Balatro. Just do me a favor and don't tell my Steam Deck.