The Backbone One game controllers, which snap on to your phone, are among the best I've ever used, and certainly in the top two for iPhones.
My bed is covered with game controllers of all sorts, as is the repurposed shoe organizer hanging off a tension bar that holds the ones I’ve actually put away (it was an interesting work-from-home couple of years). So when I say that the Backbone One, which comes in Xbox (black) and PlayStation (white) versions, is one of my favorites, there’s your context. It and its competitors are usually around $100, and while the seasonal price for the Backbone One seems to have dropped to $75, Amazon’s got it for $10 off that for Cyber Monday.
Backbone One PlayStation Edition $65 at Amazon
It attaches to your iPhone via the Lightning connector, which is far better than going the Bluetooth route if you’re sensitive to latency, and leaves Bluetooth for your audio connection. And you can now magic it to connect to any iOS device that uses the Lightning port. The switches and triggers feel responsive and the software is great for social players, and because it powers off your iPhone you don’t need to recharge it separately. It can accommodate some of the thinner cases, but not all, so keep that in mind.
I like the feel of Razer’s nearly identical competitor, the Kishi V2, more in some ways — it uses Razer’s optomechanical switches — but at $35 less the Backbone One is a no brainer. Even at $25 less. The company’s Android model is in preorder for delivery by Christmas, but sadly at its original $100 price.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2022 sales
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