Lenovo Legion Go S review: SteamOS is a huge improvement over Windows, but battery life falls behind Windows-based handhelds and its touchpad is nearly useless
Sean Hollister / The Verge : Forums: r/LegionGo Forums: r/LegionGo : The Verge: Lenovo Legion Go S Review Part 2: you were the chosen one!
Context & Ripple Effects
Lenovo's original handheld coverage identified Windows as a recurring usability liability, while a later review paired that friction with poor battery life. The Go S arrives after Lenovo became the first authorized third-party SteamOS handheld maker, making its software choice a meaningful test of whether the platform can improve the category's everyday experience.
That test is mixed: SteamOS addresses a weakness seen in the earlier criticism of Windows on the original Legion Go, but the review preserves hardware concerns around endurance and input design.
First-order effects
- For Legion Go S buyers, SteamOS materially improves the handheld experience over Windows, while weaker battery life versus Windows-based rivals becomes a direct purchase trade-off.
- Lenovo's touchpad is an immediate product liability: an included control is reported as nearly unusable, limiting the value of the device's physical interface.
Second-order effects
- Windows-based handheld vendors retain a clear comparison point on battery life even as SteamOS raises the bar for software usability.
- Lenovo faces pressure to improve power efficiency and control hardware; otherwise SteamOS's experience advantage may not overcome the endurance and touchpad compromises in buyer decisions.
Third-order effects
- The result suggests handheld competition is increasingly decided by the hardware-software combination rather than chip specifications alone: a better operating system can shift perceived product quality, but cannot fully mask hardware shortcomings.
- If more third-party devices adopt SteamOS, vendors may differentiate less through Windows flexibility and more through battery tuning, controls, and device-specific integration.
The trend: PC gaming handhelds are moving toward platform-led differentiation, with SteamOS challenging Windows on usability while hardware execution remains decisive.