Home windows 11 may get a ‘Handheld Mode’ sooner or later that would make it excellent for the Steam Deck, or certainly different transportable gaming units.

This thrilling revelation comes courtesy of WalkingCat, an everyday supplier of Microsoft gossip on Twitter (as noticed by Home windows Newest (opens in new tab)).

https://t.co/OWiw0f2k2v pic.twitter.com/RdSGMmhgBdApril 13, 2023

See extra

The story is that Microsoft simply held its Hackathon – the place employees get collectively to discover potential new concepts – and one venture mentioned was the ‘Handheld Mode’ particularly mentioning the Steam Deck.

The Handheld Mode – which may apply to any handheld gaming machine, not simply Valve’s – would usher in a redesign of the desktop, making it a launcher-style affair (catering for varied totally different shops, not simply Steam) with an interface higher suited to a (comparatively) small touchscreen.

That would come with a greater digital contact keyboard – one which might be operated with the Steam Deck’s controller as properly – together with interface optimizations, resembling a streamlined taskbar and higher UI scaling.

The Handheld Mode may merely be switched on and off as wanted (through the taskbar), and it might enable for the OS to be totally and globally navigated utilizing the Steam Deck’s controls.

There’d even be choices to decide on between higher efficiency or power-efficiency, which within the latter case would assist prolong battery life on the transfer for the Steam Deck.

Evaluation: Deck finished proper with Home windows?

As you possible know, it’s already attainable to put in Home windows 11 (or 10) on the Steam Deck (although it’s a bit fiddly, we’ve obtained a information right here). Nevertheless, it’s removed from a great expertise, being very tough across the edges, affected by, for instance, driver points, and plenty of thorny issues across the interface.

That is what all of the above measures are meant to remedy, with loads of the work needing to be finished on the interface entrance. (Most notably with the Home windows digital keyboard, which could be very flaky on Valve’s handheld, and getting the Deck’s controls to work globally with the Home windows UI – and with non-Steam video games, too). The venture leaders even point out collaborating instantly with Valve on Home windows drivers for the Deck.

To summarize, this might signify an finish to most of the shortcomings with Home windows 11 on the Steam Deck proper now. Issues like video games failing to work correctly with the show, or failing to acknowledge the Deck’s {hardware} (not with the ability to entry VRAM for instance), and falling over because of this.

Whereas SteamOS is nice, so far as it goes, the Deck’s default working system has its limitations by way of what it could possibly do, and what video games it could possibly run. Placing full Home windows on the Steam Deck opens up issues significantly so players can, say, get pleasure from titles that anti-cheat performance presently scuppers for SteamOS, or video games that are wonky for varied causes with Valve’s spin on Linux. And naturally, you’ll be able to run video games from no matter supply you need, and certainly Home windows apps, for that matter.

Earlier than we get too carried away with this Handheld Mode, although, we should bear in mind, that is nonetheless very early work on the thought. It’s only a idea underneath dialogue in the meanwhile, and there’s removed from any assure the mode will ever develop into an possibility that’s totally realized in Home windows.

Nonetheless, it’s thrilling stuff even to listen to about this for Steam Deck house owners, and certainly for different handhelds in the identical sphere – let’s not neglect the just lately revealed Asus ROG Ally, an AMD-powered machine which in actual fact runs Home windows 11.

The emergence of Steam Deck rivals like this underlines the sturdy buzz round this space of {hardware} growth, and that’s likely precisely why Microsoft is wanting into the Handheld Mode within the first place.