Highly Limited Analogue will open pre-orders on an all-aluminum-shell version of the Pocket this Monday July 15th at 11AM NYC time. There’s four colors available: Natural (regular aluminum color), Noir (Silver), Black, and Indigo (Blueish/Purple). The price is $500 (more than double the standard edition) and they’re due to start shipping this Wednesday the 17th. No word on when the regular editions will be back in stock:
Purchase Here: https://www.analogue.co/editions/pocket-aluminum
As per usual per Analogue’s fomo marketing, these are available “in Highly Limited Quantities”…whatever that means. But patronizing marketing tricks aside, I REALLY think this is cool. And in my strong opinion, it’s what the NT Mini shell should have been: An OPTION. I’m 100% positive a ton of people will think these look amazing and they’ll sell out right away. And most importantly, you don’t have to buy it – You can just wait for a regular edition and get the same amazing FPGA handheld for less than half the price. I really wish they did that with the NT Mini: Keep making them with a plastic shell for a much cheaper price, but continue to offer “highly limited” editions with different colors and styles, just like with the Pocket.
…and let’s be clear: I’ve really liked all the different editions of the pocket. The different colors and transparent options were all cool and if I were a handheld gamer, I’d have had a hard time choosing which to buy. And I think it was smart to do limited runs of each, as it’ll cost less overall to not try and stock a ton of different color variants. Plus, all my teasing and price criticisms aside, they did a great job with the NT Mini case and I’m sure this will be the same. Their website claims:
“Each and every piece of the enclosure is fabricated entirely from solid billet 6061 aluminum“
That’s very cool, as the buttons and d-pad are also aluminum. So, check out their page for more info and see if this is the Pocket you were waiting for!
