Cell video games are extremely common, however they’re restricted by finicky touch-screen controls with little suggestions. That’s particularly a difficulty for recreation streaming companies that allow you to play titles supposed for bodily gamepads—glass merely doesn’t really feel pretty much as good as analog sticks. Nonetheless, there’s a resolution. The Spine One is a snap-on controller you connect to an Android cellphone or an iPhone that provides a contemporary gamepad’s bodily buttons. At $99.99, it’s costly in contrast with customary controllers (or the $69.99 PowerA Moga XP5-X Plus, our Editors’ Alternative), however it’s a compact and cozy pad for taking part in video games in your handset.
A Springy, Two-Piece Sport Controller
The Spine One is a two-section controller on a springy arm designed to clamp round a appropriate cellphone, just like the Razer Kishi. Closed and with no cellphone in it, the controller measures 3.7 by 6.9 by 1.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.9 ounces. A plug, Lightning for the iPhone model and USB-C for the Android model, resides in the precise controller half. In a pleasant contact, the Spine features a port for pass-through charging and a headphone jack. Rubber pads on the 2 controller halves maintain your cellphone in place.
The iPhone model we examined works with all iPhones from the iPhone 6 onward, and consists of an adapter for the bigger iPhone 13 Professional, 13 Professional Max, 14, 14 Plus, 14 Professional, and 14 Professional Max. The Android model works with any USB-C-equipped cellphone operating Android 10.0 or newer, together with the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google Pixel 2. The Android model will work with the iPhone 15 and its completely different variations by way of their USB-C ports.
Both Spine One mannequin is accessible as a typical, black controller or a white, PlayStation-licensed variant, they usually each have Xbox-style, off-angle analog sticks. I examined the PlayStation mannequin, which options 4 shiny face buttons labeled circle, sq., triangle, and X, whereas the usual model has A/B/X/Y face buttons organized within the Xbox configuration. These variations are beauty, as each Spine variations really feel and performance precisely the identical.
The twin analog sticks are the identical measurement and form because the joysticks on the Nintendo Swap Pleasure-Cons, whereas the path pad is plus-shaped with rounded factors. Small, round Menu, Choice, and Share buttons sit beneath the path pad and proper analog stick, together with an orange Spine button that launches the Spine app (accessible for Android and iOS).
The Spine+ Subscription Service
Spine One provides a premium subscription service, Spine+, and it’ll not allow you to overlook it. In one of the obnoxious implementations of an non-compulsory subscription to a product I’ve ever seen, the Spine app successfully calls for that you simply join the three-month trial to Spine+ to do something in addition to replace the controller’s firmware and check inputs. In reality, the “full setup” choice jumped straight into affirmation to activate Spine+, which prices $39.99 per yr after the trial ends. I instantly canceled the renewal.
Spine+ permits many app options, however none are definitely worth the $39.99-per-year charge on prime of the controller’s value. It turns the app from a bare-bones configuration menu to a full recreation launcher that brings collectively all your gaming apps and companies in a single menu. It additionally provides associates lists, chat rooms, and reductions (like three free months of Discord Nitro).
Nonetheless, a recreation launcher shouldn’t be locked behind a paywall, and the social options are pointless when Discord already exists and works on cellular units. The helpful gamepad-related options, like remapping controls and establishing profiles for various video games, aren’t even accessed via the app; on iOS they’re constructed into the system menu anyway! Though you may remap most buttons, you may’t remap the orange Spine button. It merely opens the Spine app (and should you don’t have the app, it opens up a menu asking if you wish to set up it).
Clean, Responsive Controls
The software program bloat is irritating, however the Spine One works properly. iOS routinely detects the controller, and the pad inputs work with appropriate apps and video games, together with titles accessible by way of Xbox Sport Cross Final’s cloud gaming.
The analog sticks transfer easily and reply precisely, and the buttons and path pad really feel springy and agency. Hole Knight, Responsible Gear Try, and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga felt nice in testing, with the controls exactly registering inputs. The 2 controller halves are wider and thicker than Pleasure-Cons, making the Spine One barely extra snug than the Nintendo Swap in my arms.
Some titles might require tweaking, nonetheless. The Spine One labored with Genshin Impression after I manually switched the management scheme from contact display to controller within the recreation’s menus. Nonetheless, I needed to change the controls each time I opened the sport. Regardless of that annoyance, the analog controls, face buttons, and triggers have been responsive in testing.
I examined the PlayStation-branded Spine One, so I assumed it becoming to fireplace up the PlayStation Distant Play app. It labored simply in addition to the opposite video games and apps I examined, registering my inputs as if I have been utilizing a DualSense controller. Armored Core 6, a mech shooter, performed properly with the controls. Needless to say distant play requires you to energy on a PlayStation 4 or 5 and log into your PSN account. Additionally, PlayStation Plus Premium’s recreation streaming service lacks a cellular app.
A Compact and Snug Cell Controller
The Spine One is small, easy, and cozy, and a good way so as to add bodily controls to your cellphone for taking part in sure video games. It additionally provides a now-nearly-extinct headphone jack to your cellphone, which is a pleasant contact. It’s dear in contrast with standalone Bluetooth gamepads, and the app is irritating, however the Spine One is among the finest methods to get pleasure from distant recreation streaming or cellular titles in your handset. If you happen to do not thoughts extra bulk, the Moga XP5-X Plus is a standard gamepad with a cellphone clip that gives the identical advantages, sans the app, for $69.99, incomes it our Editors’ Alternative award.