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SteelSeries made small however welcome enhancements to its Android gamepad

Written by Jeff Lampkin

Cell gaming has been an enormous factor for a decade now however it’s solely lately that accent makers like Razer and Logitech have taken it significantly, providing gaming headsets made particularly for telephones. On the controller entrance, nonetheless, SteelSeries has been forward of the curve for a while, promoting the Nimbus line of gamepads for Apple units, and Stratus for Android and all the pieces else. Right this moment the latter will get an enormous improve with the addition of the $60 Nimbus+.

SteelSeries Nimbus+ in black with a phone attached

Kris Naudus / Engadget

At first look it doesn’t seem to be an enormous change for the gamepad; as soon as once more we’re a matte black, Xbox-style controller. However this time round, the Nimbus comes with a cellphone grip within the field: no extra shopping for a separate accent. The clip is skinny when folded, with two lengthy steel prongs which you could push out to plug them into the highest of the gamepad. It’s form of satisfying to slip the clip and never tough — which is nice, as a result of for those who screw up you’re prone to scratch the end on the gamepad, and the matte texture can solely achieve this a lot to cover it.

In hand, the Nimbus+ is stable and doesn’t really feel heavy, even with a cellphone connected to the highest. The clip holds the cellphone securely, although placement is a matter since I’ve a Pixel 3, which means the amount management sits halfway on the appropriate facet, placing it proper below the place the clip would grip the cellphone. So sure, I ended up turning my quantity down rather a lot if I wasn’t cautious. That’s most likely the toughest a part of utilizing the Nimbus+, since connecting by way of Bluetooth is tremendous straightforward now.

SteelSeries Nimbus+ in black

Kris Naudus / Engadget

I fired up Brawlhalla on my machine and began punching and kicking my method via ranges. The buttons had satisfying bounce and had been extremely responsive; it’s all the time good when the character does what they’re speculated to, particularly in a combating sport the place timing issues. Poor responsiveness is usually why I draw back from enjoying most motion video games on a touchscreen.

Which will get to the larger query of whether or not I really need one thing just like the Nimbus+. I play video games on my cellphone, certain, however it’s often the form of stuff I can play one-handed and that doesn’t require quite a lot of nimble finger work. (I needed to obtain Brawlhalla for testing.) However not less than for PC gaming it’s a stable choice for those who favor Xbox-style wi-fi controllers.

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About the author

Jeff Lampkin

Jeff Lampkin was the first writer to have joined gamepolar.com. He has since then inculcated very effective writing and reviewing culture at GamePolar which rivals have found impossible to imitate. His approach has been to work on the basics while the whole world was focusing on the superstructures.