BACKBONE One PlayStation Edition

I recently purchased the Backbone One Mobile Gaming Controller, and it has completely transformed my mobile gaming experience. The setup was straightforward—just plug in my iPhone, and I was ready to play. The controller feels very comfortable in the hand, and the tactile feedback from the analog sticks is excellent—responsive and satisfying to use, much like a traditional console controller. Pros: Seamless Integration: Works flawlessly with my iPhone, providing a console-like gaming experience. Ergonomic Design: Comfortable to hold during extended gaming sessions. Tactile Analog Sticks: Great feedback that enhances control and precision. Low Latency: Responsive controls with minimal input delay. Pass-Through Charging: Allows me to charge my phone while gaming, ensuring uninterrupted play. Backbone App Access: Provides a hub for all my games, game recommendations, and social features. Cons: Price Point: Slightly on the expensive side, but the quality justifies the cost. Final Thoughts: If you're a mobile gamer looking to elevate your gameplay, the Backbone One is an excellent investment. It offers a seamless and immersive gaming experience that enhances every game I play.

Perfect device. That in my opinion is worth the premium price tag. Fits all sorts of phones and makes allowances for cases. I’ve used to play Xbox cloud over WiFi and 5g and the latency is brilliant

After using the Backbone One for around a week now, I'm pretty impressed. While this review is likely marked as the iOS flavour, I do also have the PS Android version on hand too. Both are fantastically put together, with the Android version surprising me by just how large a phone it can support. For reference, the largest phone I was able to put into it was the LG Wing at 170mm, which is no small feat. The iOS flavour comes with a detachable rubber piece (that Backbone are happy to provide for free if you lose yours or it's just not there for some reason) to allow newer iPhones with a large camera bump to sit cleanly. Buttons feel good, with a deep click sound to them when hit. The D-Pad is fine, feeling a bit like a smaller and smoother SNES D-Pad. If you like that kinda thing, you'll be right at home here. The triggers are weird in how smooth they feel. They're definitely the nicest I've used to date, but feel a little bit shallow. I do like how they sit flush with the case when fully pressed though. The Backbone app is a neat bonus, and is something quite meaningful on iOS where you really don't have many controller-oriented launcher options. You are limited to adding the apps Backbone know support controllers, but if you spot one they've missed, the customer support team is quick to respond and add it to their database. For Android I'd recommend other launchers, with there being a number of great ones out there like ConsoleLauncher or Daijisho if emulation is more your thing. All in all though, it's a great controller. Be aware for those on iOS, that this will NOT support older iOS versions like iOS 9 or 10. This is stated in the description, but I wanted to try anyway since these older versions are the only way to play 32 bit games, and a few other controllers do support these firmwares despite stating not.

As someone who doesn't always get a lot of time to sit down in front of a console, I've started taking real advantage of both Xbox Cloud Gaming and Apple Arcade on my phone. But while some games work fine with touch controls, there's a massive - and growing - library of streaming titles and iOS-native games that benefit in a big way from physical controls. And from that point of view, Backbone is ideal: the hardware is well-made and robust. Compared to the analogue sticks on the Nintendo Switch (which I find really imprecise) these are well-tuned and they feel durable. The same goes for all the face buttons and triggers. If what you're looking for is an Xbox or PlayState-grade controller to use with your phone, Backbone is up to that standard. And rather than having to pair an Xbox pad to your phone via Bluetooth - and find a way to stand your phone up - attaching your phone to Backbone turns the whole ensemble into a single piece that feels great in the hand, and is convenient to carry around. From a software point of view, the Backbone app does a great job of bringing games from multiple different sources together, and adding community features. Having the ability to "pin" games from Apple Arcade and Xbox Cloud side-by-side, and to jump between them, is a marked improvement over tapping through folders in iOS. The integration between software and hardware is also strong: attaching the Backbone and pressing the dedicated button launches the app, meaning that once you're set up to game, there's no requirement to navigate touchscreen menus etc. I've never previously been a big mobile gamer, but with time at a premium (and with the big lounge TV hotly contested by family) the ability to play both dedicated mobile games and local / cloud streaming titles on a great screen, with great controls, anywhere, has become a pretty big deal for me.

I bought the Backbone One Mobile Gaming Controller for my son last December, and nearly a year later, it’s still going strong. He absolutely loves it! The controller has made Xbox Cloud Gaming on his iPhone an absolute breeze. It’s easy to use, responsive, and feels sturdy even after months of regular gaming sessions. It’s clear this is a well-built bit of kit designed to last. If you’re looking to turn your iPhone into a proper gaming device, I’d highly recommend the Backbone One. It’s been worth every penny for us. 5/5 ⭐️ – Durable, reliable, and brilliant for mobile gaming!

I had the first edition of this and it worked flawlessly. The EU decided to force apple to have USB C connectors so I saw this as an opportunity to purchase the PlayStation version as I prefer the button layout. How wrong I have been. The device stopped working around a week ago due to a faulty ribbon connection. I should have just approached Amazon for a replacement but decided to approach backbone. Their customer support is absolutely shocking. They don’t care at all. They are the least helpful customer support on this planet. This review admittedly is more about their customer service than the device but I can’t comment on the device as it’s not been working. Apparently the ribbon fault is very, very common and the company are doing nothing about it.

The controller is great and snaps onto basically any phone. I personally have the iPhone 13 myself and have a traditional apple phone case which I need to take of when snapping in the backbone. The first thing you should do is unbox it which should come with a manual, the backbone and a pair of smaller phone grips (for the minis) Attach your phone phone and the download the app backbone. After that It will take you through a couple steps to setup and then offer you a subscription. I believe the subscription is 45pounds annually. What this subscription does is give you access to things like Xbox live GeForce now etc. This subscription is OPTIONAL and you do not have to buy it to play games on your phone but will mean that you can’t play gt5 csgo2 etc without the subscription. This subscription is sadly hidden when you order and isn’t shown. I haven’t bought the subscription because I play Codm on my phone with this and don’t play pc games on my phone but if you want to you have to buy the subscription. The backbone is AMAZING QUALITY and the buttons feel great and tactile although the LT and RT are a little squishy but this doesn’t really impact gameplay. Overall I think the purchase is definitely worth it but do be warned about the 50 pound subscription. If you play App Store games with this make sure it says it supports console or just search it up. If you want pc games then you must buy the subscription. Thank you for reading

Works well on my android phone for playing call of duty etc. Tried other brands but wasnt impressed so decided to spend a little extra. Great functionality just like the xbox/ps controller and easy to set up