I’ve been using this handheld since launch day, and after nearly 1 month, here’s my honest take.

1. I’m starting to regret buying the Xbox Ally X, and it’s mostly because of the display. I’m used to OLED screens—my phone and 4K monitor both have them—so switching to this LCD panel has been rough. The colors look washed out, and even with AMD variable brightness turned off, the screen still feels dull and uneven.

I was playing a game: Planet of Lana. In the first hour of playing there are moments when the character is in the dark cave. And man the whole display turned grey, looked so ugly. I couldn't see the character due to that hue of the grey. It was such a bad gaming experience.

2. The bezels are massive, and during gameplay, it almost feels like watching a movie in letterbox format instead of actually playing.

The small text in many games is hard to read and causes noticeable eye strain. It’s just not enjoyable to use for long sessions.

A common comment comes along why did you get it if you knew it was not OLED at the first place. I bought it bcz i thought i had used LCD my whole life. How bad could it be? But after using OLED for past 1yr for all my displays, and now using this average LCD SCREEN. I can tell it's a huge fucking difference.

3. The build quality is disappointing. The plastic creaks when I grip it firmly, and I’m not alone—others on Reddit have reported the same issue.

4. The ABXY buttons are also extremely clicky and noisy. Every press makes a sharp sound, and it doesn’t feel satisfying or premium. It’s distracting during gameplay and adds to the overall cheap feel.

5. The Xbox Full Screen Experience feels more like an advertisement than a launcher. Every page is pushing new games or subscription offers instead of showing the games I actually own. When I power on the device, it doesn’t take me straight to my library—it shows banners for new releases or Game Pass promotions. It feels like the UI’s main goal is to sell, not serve. For someone who mostly plays on Steam, it’s frustrating to constantly be redirected toward Microsoft’s ecosystem. The whole experience feels intrusive and cluttered.

6. My steam games have ugly icons on the FSE. Feels so unfinished. A developer had to make a plug-in to solve the issue. The thing which microsoft had to do at the first place.

7. Lastly, the Xbox UI performance feels sluggish. It doesn’t seem to run at 120Hz—the animations stutter, pages lag, and the interface often feels closer to 30Hz.

Overall, the device feels rushed and overhyped. For this price, I expected a higher-quality screen, better build, and smoother software experience.