back to article iControlPad Bluetooth controller for mobile devices

Ever tried a bout of Quake III on your Android tablet or a few laps of Super Mario Kart on your iPhone? Chances are, you spent the first few seconds smiling with nostalgia and the rest of the time hurling expletives at the poor controls. Even simple platformers, such as Super Mario World, although translating well onto …

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  1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    Hmmm

    "...device that almost perfectly solves the touchscreen game control conundrum..."

    is called a PC.

    1. LuMan
      Stop

      @Hmmm

      Yeah, but a PC is a little bulky to carry around when connected to your smartphone.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Product in search of solution

    Doesn't work with standard iphones? Good luck selling that...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      wait, wait...

      i think you're forgetting the much more populous 'android devices with bluetooth' market which don't even require rooting.

      iDevices aren't the be all and end all, you know.

  3. MGman
    Thumb Down

    Price?

    Looks nice and I was quite tempted but when you go to the checkout postage and VAT are added making the device £59.55 with the sides!

    As there is very little support for iOS at the moment that makes it a definite no for me for now.

    This is from the OpenPandora team too. So is it really shipping?

  4. dotdavid

    Gamepads

    I love the idea of these things but that one is just too expensive.

    There's also other problems - I bought a £10-ish Zeemote for my Nexus One, figuring I'd use it to play Gensoid. Apart from a few quick games of Sonic I haven't touched it since, mainly because running an emulator seems to drain my phone's battery at an alarming rate. That said I'm not really much of a smartphone gamer - I like games that I can just pick up and put down on a whim usually, which has the side benefit of prolonging battery life.

    What phones do people have that they can spend large amounts of time playing these things without their phone dying by mid-afternoon (OK, maybe early evening)?

  5. Tim Walker

    Symbian?

    I wouldn't mind one of these for my Nokia N8. Reading between the lines, it sounds as if the iControlPad fits the Bluetooth SIP profile for BT keyboards (which work like a charm on Symbian^3 handsets), so I'm guessing that at least some of the 'Pad's controls would work with the N8.

    (Incidentally, I have a Zeemote (picked it up for £7 from Amazon). Ironically, it doesn't work with the majority of games on the N8, but it makes a reasonable remote controller for browsing multimedia when the N8 is plugged into a TV. Generally prefer my Apple BT keyboard, though.)

  6. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Happy

    Superb!

    Finally a reason for me personally to jailbreak and get me some of that retro gaming, homebrew goodness!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    I have been looking for something like this for ages...

    and i've even considered creating a FrankenNes controller out of my Zeemote but my soldering skills just aren't good enough.

    Come to think of it, i was only looking last night, so i must have sent some sort of telepathic instructions to reg to review it.

    ah, the price. something like this really needs to be in the £25 bracket. almost throwaway money, but a unique (in functionaility) product.

  8. NightFox
    WTF?

    iVe got no imagination

    I can just imagine the focus groups who name these products - a week on Starbucks and Krispy Kremes to come up with a name for their new control pad - then 3:00 on Friday afternoon some genius comes up with the idea of putting an 'i' in front of it and it's all down to Corney and Barrow for celebratory drinks.

    At least our ancestors had a bit more imagination when they invented the wheel and fire otherwise we'd be no doubt be referring to iRounds and iHot.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    Wii Classic.

    This does not seem worth the money. Wii classic controllers are about £20 and apparently work a treat on Android and jail broken iOS.

    1. Alastair 7

      Wii Classic?!

      I'm not going to carry around a Wii Classic controller and a Wiimote (both bigger than the phone itself) in order to play games. What would you hold the phone with?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Charges your phone, too

    @dotdavid - The iControlPad has a built-in 1350maH battery for charging your phone while you play, so you don't have to worry about draining your batteries. Although, you have to track down the cable for your specific phone. I think they have instructions on their wiki for what type of USB cable you need.

    @Tim Walker - I'm not sure about SIP, but I do know it supports SPP and several HID modes. If in doubt, I would say post on their forums and I'm sure they'll get back to you.

    Also, they're about to start giving out rubber sides for using the iCP without the clamps. They're just asking for S&H (which if you're in the US like me, is still a pretty penny)

    In case you can't tell, I've been following the iCP for some time now, and I picked one up when I started taking the train downtown. It's worked great so far. Although, as the review said, don't expect to pick it up and start playing games right away, you gotta do some legwork for most phones.

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