BACKBONE One Mobile Gaming Controller (Open Box)

Let me start off by saying this is not inherently a bad product. Despite my criticisms you’ll see in the following paragraphs I do think this is at least a decent product for a lot of people who are less picky than me. Probably the more casual crowd will like this more than I do. I was looking for a nice game pad for my recently purchased IPhone 13 Pro so I can really take advantage of the immense power that is in this phone. For anyone who doesn’t already know, due to the 13 Pros larger camera module that is both larger and protrudes more than the previous generation 12 Pro, the backbone requires a special adapter in order to mount your 13 Pro comfortably into the device. I anticipated liking this product so I went ahead and ordered it from their website (free, you just pay shipping) but I did not arrive in time for me to use the adapter. Be warned, without the adapter it’s a very tight fit and the “backbone” really rubs against the camera lens of the phone. I don’t consider this a con quite as much as I normally would because the company took it upon themselves to release a solution very quickly. I saw someone mention in their review that the game pad had the tactile feel and functionality of an actual dedicated console controller. I’d have to agree! It does! But it feels like a 3DS or a Switch. Perhaps that’s not a big deal especially since we’re talking about playing games on your phone. It has PlayStation reminiscent triggers and bumpers but the rest feels very Nintendo-ish. I’ve been spoiled from using a Xbox Elite Series 2 controller for the past year and I’ve grown accustomed to this excellent button presses and joystick manipulation. Joysticks, that’s where my main gripe is. They’re probably great for most people playing casually but the issue is they’re small and lack the same manipulation that the Xbox joystick has. It feels very difficult to make small incremental adjustments unless I take my focus off the game and then take the focus to actually manipulating the joystick. I think you could make the argument that this is a muscle memory issue and can be remedied by getting used to these joysticks. Maybe, but maybe not. The hours I spent trying to play cod mobile and then Minecraft just felt clunky with constantly having to adjust sensitivity settings until I realized that the real issue is just the lack of ability to make those fine small adjustments on these joysticks. Is it better than using your fingers? Absolutely. It’s more comfortable by a long run but I often times felt I could generally be a faster and more accurate player using my fingers for aiming then I could using the joysticks which is natural yes, but the gap was so large I found it to be unacceptable. Moving onto the ergonomics. This is a mixed bag, one the one hand the ergonomics feel pretty good and I’d say that’s exactly what they are but the button placement feels every so slightly awkward in terms of spacing that I find myself making slight adjustments with my hand I order to comfortably click ABXY buttons and mostly the D pad under the left joystick. When your holding it normally and don’t need to use that D pad it’s fine but when you do need to use it (at least for me) I had to adjust my hand each time. The handles on each side are also a little too small for my hands but that wasn’t a huge deal for me. Another con for me is that the “backbone” and the way the device is designed prohibits the use of both a case and MagSafe accessories. It’s incredibly annoying to have to take off the case each time you want to use the backbone. But even without a case the backbone covers the magsafe area so you cannot use a magsafe charger while playing. Some people may wonder why this is a big deal, honestly it’s not but here’s my thinking. I have one charger, an apple 20 watt charger with the apple magsafe hockey puck attached to it. I don’t use the lighting cable so in order to use the backbones built in lighting bypass to charge the phone while I’m playing would require I disconnect my magsafe charger each time and revert back to lighting for my charging needs. I don’t want to do that. But hey, it has a headphone jack!!! Too bad I bought AirPods with literally the same order the backbone came in though. Last con and probably the most nitpicky thing The plastic material of the type that absorbs the oils from your hand and wears it like a badge of honor. It’s honestly kinda yucky to look at because it looks oily and stained and it’s actually kind of hard to clean if you don’t have alcohol. Not a functional con but it still bothers me. You can see this in my picture that I attached. Onto the pros It feels generally well constructed despite my criticisms. The buttons have a very clicky feel which is always satisfying. The backbone app software (despite my limited use) genuinely looks and feels pretty cool. It’s a seamless experience once you plug your phone into the built in lighting connector and it honestly feels like something that apple would have made themselves as a first party accessory once you get it up and running. The backbone app feels like something actually built around gaming, whether that be mobile games or your streaming Xbox on Xcloud. Unfortunately the awkward ergonomics and sub par joysticks could not make the product live up the expectations I had for it.