Does Your Phone Make a Better Switch? - Backbone One Review (Hardware)
User Review
Product Information:
- Official Store: http://playbackbone.com
In the age of phones being double to triple to price of a game console, why wouldn't you just want to game on your phone? The Backbone One is an IOS only (as of writing) controller that aims to turn your phone into a mobile game console. Is the experience good enough to rival the switch? Can mobile gaming become more mainstream?
I just want to preface saying that I never thought I would ever spend $100 on a controller, let alone a mobile game controller. Yes, you will have to spend $100 on a controller that you can only used wired on a iPhone. Here are the features the controller offers:
- Standard xbox layout controller buttons (with L3 and R3)
- A capture button and Backbone One button
- Backbone One Home App
- Low Latency Input
- Optimized structure for iPhones
The Feel
To get this out of the way, I am not a fighting or rpg gamer so I can't fully say if this controller is perfect for it. The D-Pad is pretty decent, there is a ball in the middle which means you can't press down on all of the buttons. There is a smooth click when pressed but it can feel mushy if rolling your finger around each direction. The face buttons are as clicky as you would expect a joycon to be. My brother did say that there is small delay in Brawlhalla but I cannot say the amount.
In more of my own expertise, first and third person shooters, I am very happy with the analog sticks. I played a lot of Tomb Raider, Doom, and The Division 2 with the backbone one (I will get back on how I played those later). If you have used joy cons, you can expect the same amount of mobility as them with the Backbone controller). However like the joycons, there is a deadzone in the middle that is big enough to affect shooters. While quick and large movements on the stick are fine, making very small adjustments are almost impossible. I had to rely on flick aiming in fast paced situations in Doom. Playing Black Ops Cold War was difficult to recoil control because of the deadzone. There are similar problems that you would find on regular joy cons and the deadzone is the price you pay when you decide to use small joy sticks like these. My experience playing Doom and Division 2 which are against ai has been a very fun experience while competitive games like Cold War made me feel like I was playing at a disadvantage (though the zombies mode was very playable with its aim assist).
Playing Call of Duty Mobile felt very satisfying but there were some problems with how the game interpreted the stick inputs. There was no aim assist which was not too much of a problem but I think there was no aim acceleration which made the movements feel very linear and I had to jump up the aim sensitivity. This is a problem I only noticed in CoD Mobile but since many reviewers stated that this controller was perfect for it, I had to get it out there.
Mobile Games...
The feel of the controller does not matter if there is no games to play on your phone. On android, you have software that can map buttons to screen taps but since this is IOS, you are limited to games with official controller support. Thankfully, the app store does has lists of games that support gamepads and the Apple Arcade seems to push their developers to include gamepad support if it makes sense. Exit the Gungeon, Brawlhalla, CoD Mobile, and Minecraft were all games that benefitted greatly to being used on a controller versus a touch screen. However, you will quickly run out of games that support controllers. While I expect gamepad support to increase with Apple allowing ps4 and xbox controllers to be used recently, I have found a way to still enjoy using the controller...
STADIA (and remoteplay)
Stadia has gotten a bad wrap lately but it is actually the perfect solution for mobile gaming. Without Stadia or remote play, I wouldn't have been able to play the Division 2 or Doom on my phone. The controller feels very natural when using Stadia without needing any setup and the on screen button prompts match the buttons on the controller. Some connection hiccups aside, playing Stadia with the controller felt like the game was running on the phone itself.
Steam link and the Moonlight app also worked pretty well with the latter having a smoother connection. I played around in Destiny 2 and played a few matches in Apex Legends (got kill leader a couple times) and had a decent time but strangely, the connection had more hiccups than when playing on Stadia but my PC was not connected via ethernet (5ghz).
PS5 remoteplay was actually a very great experience when using the backbone controller. This is where the backbone felt the best as my PS5 was connected to ethernet and there was just a noticeable but very playable input lag. While playing Cold War online made me feel like the controller was holding me back with difficult recoil control (as mentioned above), I could confidently play something like Rocket League or The Last of Us 2 on it.
If you are looking for remoteplay device, your phone with the backbone could be a great solution. I have also started only playing stadia on my phone with the backbone exclusively because of the portability it serves.
My only gripe is that the deadzone I mentioned earlier only adds onto the input lag that comes with game streaming and I wish there was an option to remove the deadzone completely.
Other Nice Things
There is no "home button" on the controller but there is a backbone app shortcut button. This will take you to the backbone app if you chose to install it. The interface on the app is very polished and clean. It serves as a hub for games with gamepad support that you have installed and also a social community for partying, viewing captured clips, and developer update blogs. The app really brings the experience full circle when it comes to making your phone more of a game console. Once you put the controller on your phone, it is as easy as pressing the app button and you are on your "homescreen" which you will want to do anyways as IOS does not support gamepads on its own home screen.
Despite IOS being a very closed down operating system, this does not mean people have not found out ways to have emulation on their 1000 dollar phones. The advanced mobile chipsets on the recent iPhones actually allow for fullspeed Gamecube and Wii emulation for most games which is already more than what a switch is capable of doing. I am unfortunately not able to test out the backbone one controller with dolphin as the recent update to IOS broke the dolphin app for the time being but I have used it on my Iphone 12 Pro Max before and it worked pretty flawlessly. PPSSPP and a Gameboy emulator Delta also are on IOS with the latter being the most optimised for iPhones. Emulation can truly make the iPhone a great switch alternative if you pair it with a backbone.
Personal Thoughts
I have had a great time with this controller. Do I think it is worth the $100 investment? Yes, if you are in the target demographic that does mobile gaming, game streaming like Stadia, or into emulation through jailbreaking. I was worried that the controller would feel cheap but I was surprised by the sturdiness of it even with the phone connected. The Razer Kishi is known to feel flimsy in the middle. If it was not for the deadzone, I would spend a lot of my time playing my ps4/5 games on my bed. As a pretty good controller user, the sticks are not terrible and have felt worse controls with bad v-sync or a bad tv with high latency. I have been playing the Tomb Raider reboot recently on the backbone exclusively and have had a good time and I plan to complete the game entirely with the controller. The Division 2 is also really fun with the controller as I play that game very casually solo and being able to hop into it quickly on my phone with Stadia and run through a side mission is satisfying. The Backbone One is also not the most portable in the sense that you can't just carry it around in your pocket. You would definitely have to put it into a bag or else you need to hold it. If it contracted completely I would feel less scared of the middle mechanism breaking while in a bag.
Verdict
What I Liked ...
- Fully Featured Controller
- Great Companion App
- Premium Feel
- Great for Streaming Games Portably
What I Didn't Like ...
- Deadzone makes small adjustments hard to accomplish
- Native IOS games with gamepad support are lacking
- Does not contract completely which could lead to breaking
- D-Pad is only decent
- Only worked on iPhones
8
out of 10
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