Lenovo has announced the second-gen Legion gaming phone, which will be known as the Legion Phone Duel 2 in the UK and Europe and Legion Phone Pro 2 in other regions, including China.

The new model builds on the foundations of the original Legion Phone, but increases the number of features aimed at gamers - including the design.

The rear of the phone is constructed from three pieces of glass, the centre raised section housing the RGB Legion logo, the cameras and the cooling system.

That's because this phone puts the Snapdragon 888 hardware in the centre of the phone, so it can apply direct cooling, using that space in the middle of the phone that you're not gripping when playing games.

There's both a passive and active cooling system: the passive half includes graphite plates and a vapour chamber - pretty common in smartphones - with the active section using copper pillars and tunnels, and twin fans to drive out the heat.

Lenovo Legion Phone duel 2 photo 4
Lenovo

One of those fans is visible on the surface to draw air in, while the vents top and bottom expel the warm air. Lenovo says it boosts the thermal performance by 30 per cent, meaning the Snapdragon 888 can work harder for longer without throttling because it's getting too hot.

Moving on, there's a 6.92-inch Full HD+ display on the front of this phone, supporting a 144Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch sampling rate. That's a really fast touch sampling speed which should cut input lag compared to competitors and give you a gaming advantage.

The AMOLED display supports HDR10+ and Lenovo is putting this to work boosting the HDR performance in games, again saying that this will mean you're more likely to spot your opponent because you'll have better visuals.

There are also a host of gaming controls that can be customised. The top of the phone offers two air triggers on each side, while the back offers a touch area too and the front can be used to support force presses, meaning there are eight additional controllers you can interact with.

Lenovo Legion Phone duel 2 photo 2
Lenovo

These can be customised to your game, but also support taps, force press, swipes - there's over 200 configurations available to get the exact controls you want in a game.

Returning to the battery, it's a 5500mAh cell, split into two cells. Thanks to the two USB-C ports, you can change at 90W - although it's worth noting that this is an average for the whole charge. You can charge from 0-82 per cent in 17 minutes (the equivalent of 120W), but the final stage of the charge to 100 per cent is slower, taking 13 minutes.

Still, you'll be able to fully charge the phone in 30 mins, using Lenovo's charger and the two USB ports.

You can change with one port or you can bypass the charging to just power the phone using the USB-C on the side, so you can game connected to the power - thereby avoiding excess heat.

Lenovo Legion Phone duel 2 photo 3
Lenovo

The pop-up icing on the cake is the selfie camera. Like the original Legion Phone, this pop-up camera means the screen is free from notches or punch holes and makes it ideal for streaming or capturing yourself when playing.

You can even set a custom avatar if you don't want to use your own face - and there's direct livestream options for Twitch and YouTube. The front camera is 44 megapixels.

Those rear cameras sitting in the middle of the phone offer a 64-megapixel main camera and 16-megapixel ultra-wide.

There will be a number of different versions of the phone, with Europe getting the Legion Phone Duel 2 in 12/256GB for €799/£699 or 16/512GB for €999/£899.

It is on pre-order now and will be available from May 2021.