🎄Backbone One: playing well with your smartphone

If you indulge in the simple joys of video games, there’s a good chance it’s (also) on your smartphone. With technical progress helping, the latest models have little to envy of game consoles in terms of power.

But after a few hours, you quickly realize that the touch interface is not ideal for certain games. The solution ? Use a Bluetooth controller… or opt for Backbone One.

Backbone One differs from most of its competitors by the absence of a Bluetooth connection. This therefore avoids possible latency, which is very annoying during action games, as well as the risk of draining the controller’s battery since there is none.

Direct connection

Putting the smartphone in place is simple: a spring mechanism allows the two ends of the controller to be spread apart in order to place the device there. We position it by inserting the Backbone One connector into the charging port and that’s it!

Backbone One is available in a Lightning version, compatible with the iPhone 14 or its predecessors, as well as a USB-C model. The latter therefore covers Android devices, but also the iPhone 15 with which it is perfectly compatible. To be usable, your smartphone must be equipped with one of these connectors and have a height between 176 and 257 mm.

The designers of the controller had the excellent idea of ​​providing adapters to allow the use of thick smartphones or those whose back camera protrudes more than necessary. This is for example the case of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra which remains usable, although not perfectly positioned.

No problem, however, with Samsung’s Galaxy, Google’s pixels or of course with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Out of curiosity, we also tried it with an iPad mini: unfortunately it turned out to be a bit too big for the controller.

Backbone One has a USB-C connector through which you can charge the smartphone battery, as well as a 3.5 mm audio jack for using a wired headset.

The controller is available in a standard black version or a white PlayStation edition. The first uses Nintendo’s standard ABXY marking while the second uses that of Sony’s PlayStation. Apart from these details, there are no other differences to report.

Annual subscription

We appreciate the native compatibility with streaming game platforms from Microsoft and Sony as well as with Apple Arcade, Steam or GeForce NOW. More and more games available in the Google and iOS stores are recognized (this is for example the case of Asphalt 9).

The companion app is not required to use the controller. You will install it to update the firmware or if you want to use additional functions. You can thus create specific key layouts, take screenshots by pressing a button and obtain news on the release of new games.

That’s all ? No, of course… But as there are no small profits, you will have to take out a Backbone+ subscription to benefit from the rest! These include personalized game recommendations, Full HD video capture and unlimited cloud storage, live streaming on Twitch or 50% off new products and accessories.

Backbone+ is offered for 12 months at the end of which it will be billed at 40 euros annually. We find it expensive, even if the advantages offered may interest die-hard gamers. Rather than a subscription, purchasing a license would have seemed less painful to us.

Or…

Backbone faces many more or less well-equipped competitors. Among them, Razer offers two models of smartphone controllers. The Kishi V1 and Kishi V2 are available in USB-C and Lightning versions. The features offered by the companion application are similar, the comfort of use is excellent for Kishi V2 and very good for Kishi V1.

At the time of writing, the USB-C models appear to be partially compatible with the iPhone 15: the companion application does not recognize the accessory, but certain games directly support it.