Image: Backbone The Backbone One controller is one of the best ways to unleash your smartphone’s gaming potential, and Backbone today revealed the third iteration of the gamepad (after the original iPhone and Android versions ), featuring a major facelift that looks right at home alongside the PlayStation 5’s stark white DualSense controller.
These types of clamp-on smartphone controllers have been around for almost as long as touchscreen smartphones have, but until recently, they’ve been mostly niche products for playing the handful of mobile action and racing games that are actually worth playing, or as a way for fans of retro gaming to turn their phones into solid handheld emulation devices.
Then 5G and wifi improvements helped make game streaming a viable thing a few years ago, and suddenly the smartphone you’ve already got in your pocket could be used used to play AAA titles from Microsoft and Sony that were otherwise only available on powerful consoles. Smartphone controllers became a must-have accessory, and while companies like Razer have been iterating them for quite some time, the Backbone One more or less knocked it out of the park on its first time at bat—so much so that the recently released Razer Kishi V2 looks like it borrowed a few ideas from Backbone. Image: Backbone There’s no debating whether or not the new Backbone One: PlayStation Edition took inspiration from Sony’s hardware, because the folks at Backbone actually worked with the PlayStation team to recreate the colors and finish of the PS5 DualSense controller, right down to the transparent face buttons. G/O Media may get a commission 22% Off
Sony 85-Inch 4K Smart TV The biggest of screens This massive TV uses intelligent TV Processing thanks to a 4K HDR Proeccesor X1 to deliver unparalleled visuals for your TV shows, films, and games, has an amazing array of colors to draw from, and grants access to a bunch of streaming services thanks to Google TV and Google Assistant. Image: Backbone However, PlayStation fans will undoubtedly notice that the symmetrical analog joystick design that’s been a hallmark of Sony video game controllers for years was not carried over to the Backbone One: PlayStation Edition. According to Backbone, since the controller is designed to be “used primarily on mobile devices which have smaller form factors,” the asymmetrical joystick placement provides “a more natural ergonomic position on smaller screens so they can play the games they a