Yeh IMO they are too large. I have a steam deck and I barely ever use it outside the house because it just isnt really that portable in terms of being able to fit it in a bag with all the other stuff you may need when going away, it takes up more than half of my bag space.

So I reverted back to my vita and the experience of actually using it as a portable is miles ahead. Like you say I can slip it in my pocket when transferring between trains or the like and it doesn't fill half my bag when not in use.

I'm a big guy so dont have the smallest hands either but honestly find the steam deck a bit uncomfortable where as the vita just feels good to me.

Loved my PSP when it still worked. Size-wise, I personally think the Gameboy SP was the perfect sized handheld. That thing could fit in any pocket easily and it had a backlight.

For PC handheld you could always use the Steam Link app on your phone with a controller grip. Just need to have a PC with Steam installed to run the games.

I do like it with those controller attachments, it does improve it further still be sacrifices a bit of portability in terms of no longer being pocket friendly.

I do agree it can be uncomfortsble after a time but for me that is more after hours opposed to minutes but everyone's bodies are different and I can see why is may cramp some peoples hands quicker.

I find with the steam deck it is just a bit too large for me, it makes it feel a bit unwieldy and unstable in my hands for some reason. For me I think the sweet spot in terms of comfort would probably be something in the middle.

It probably has a lot to do with the kinds of games I play on it as well though. On the vita I played a lot of jrpgs, it really was a beast for that genre, and with those games it can be a lot more menus with turn based combat etc. That means I'd often play with it flat on my lap and not gripping it like a controller which is definitely a less cramped position.

The PSP and the Vita had a better idle drain than the DS and 3DS respectively.