Backbone One

We all know mobile gaming is huge, especially with services like Apple Arcade and xCloud, but playing mobile games is the fucking worst! The touchscreen you’re relegated to is often too small, forcing you to claw-grip your phone, which both covers up the display and makes hitting the on-screen buttons cumbersome. The Backbone One won’t solve the issue of screen real estate, per se, but it will give you a more console-like experience on account of it being a premium-feeling gamepad similar to an Xbox controller. What you get is a retractable gamepad, available for both Android and iOS devices of varying sizes, replete with offset thumbsticks, four face buttons, and a D-Pad. It’s hella nice, especially if you’re big into battle royales like Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier and MOBAs such as Pokémon Unite. There’s also a companion app which functions like an operating system reminiscent of tvOS, where you can not only check out new controller-supported games, but also view and share the photos and videos you’ve taken. The Backbone One is a cool, feature-complete addition to any gamer’s gear catalog, hardcore mobile player or not. – Jeremy Winslow