Mobile phones are getting more and more powerful as time goes on, in fact, phones these days are WAY more powerful than even the computer that landed us on the moon in 1969, these things fit in our pockets for crying out loud! Not only are they beasts when it comes to processing power, but when I was a kid we had a huge tube TV, my current phone is a 1440p 90hz HDR display, making media consumption and of course GAMING on the go so much better than I could’ve ever dreamed when I was young Stubat.
Now, we’ve all played silly games like Fruit Ninja and Candy Crush on our phones, but did you know you can play ACTUAL REAL games on mobiles these days? Minecraft, Fortnite, Call of Duty, FIFA and so many more big-name games are available to play on your mobile phone, 2020 may be an absolutely abysmal year but what a time to be alive.
The statistics show that mobile gaming is on the up and up every single year, in China alone, it’s believed that mobile games generated around $18 BILLION and is forecast to grow even more to around $30 BILLION within the next few years. So it’s a train that shows no signs of slowing and based on that alone, there’s money to be made! And when it comes to making money for companies start looking for a slot in the market that they can slide into, something that others aren’t doing or, something you can do BETTER, that’s where GameSir comes in with the GameSir X2 mobile controller.
One of my biggest problems in the past when playing mobile games was using on screen controls, for some games it’s absolutely fine sure but others, like Minecraft or PUBG you really want to be able to see what you’re doing and while screen sizes are getting bigger every year, I mean, just look at the Galaxy Fold as an example, huge screen. It’s still better to have a dedicated controller for gaming.
I’ve tried pairing up a DualShock 4 controller to my phone and while it works somewhat well because it’s Bluetooth you can often feel latency and in fast-paced games like shooters that just isn’t good enough.
Enter GameSir, the folks over at GameSir make all kinds of peripherals, today we’re looking at mobile controllers, weird right? Who’d have thought! While they do make Bluetooth controllers too, today we’re taking a look at the GameSir X2. This is a USB C controller that you stretch out to make your phone appear like a Nintendo Switch. Simply put, this thing is pretty neat. Let’s break it down.
We’ll start with the appearance, as you can see, the GameSir X2 is a white plastic built, USB-C game controller, it has rubber pads on the inside where your phone goes so you don’t have to worry about scratching up your device as well as rubber pads on the back where your hands go to stop the plastic body slipping out your hands. As I said previously, this thing makes your phone look and feel like a mini Nintendo Switch, I like that a lot. It fits naturally in your hands and even for extended periods of time it never really got uncomfortable.
The GameSir X2 is really light weight, coming in at 12.3 ounces (or just shy of 350 grams) minus your phone, so it’s never going to feel like a chore holding it, it has very responsive thumb sticks and nice clicky buttons, that includes the shoulder buttons. The USB-C connector is ever so slightly flexible which makes inserting and retrieving your phone much easier, you’re also less likely to damage the controller OR your charging port that way.
Speaking of charging the GameSir X2 also has a USB-C passthrough on the bottom left, so if you’re in a pretty deep session gaming on your mobile phone, like if you’re on a long journey, for example, you can charge while you play! Unfortunately, I couldn’t get this thing to work with my USB-C to 3.5mm jack so I couldn’t use my headphones and play, I don’t know if that’s just a problem with the Pixel 4 XL or not though, so it may be worth testing that out. Of course, you can still use Bluetooth headphones with this, since this controller is WIRED! Yay.
I’ll be honest, I don’t do a LOT of “proper” gaming on mobile devices, it has always piqued my interest and honestly, this thing kind of gave me a reason to try out a bunch of stuff. I downloaded the Steam Link app and played a whole load of TemTem, I played a bunch of PGA Tour 2k21 (pssst, review of that coming soon, keep your eyes peeled!) and after buying Minecraft in a Christmas sale years ago for 10p, I redownloaded that on my phone and played a boatload with my kid. My experience using the GameSir X2 was great, it really was, zero problems. So is it worth it?
The GameSir X2 sells on their site for $69.99 or on the UK Amazon website for, well, £69.99 however it’s CURRENTLY (23/11/2020) on sale for £55.99, so if you hold your horses a little you could get it a little cheaper. On the surface, £69.99 seems a little steep for a mobile controller, however, the only other WIRED mobile controller I could actually find was the Razer Kishi and that thing is priced at £99.99.
So if you’re the kind of person who travels a lot and you don’t want to carry a whole load of equipment with you like a Nintendo Switch or other portable gaming devices, £69.99 may be a pretty wise investment for you. This thing is gonna kill so much boredom it’s crazy.
As a gamer, if I had to travel more than 10 minutes for work I’d definitely find the GameSir X2 to be a lifesaver, a one-time investment that allows you to actually enjoy playing games on your mobile device and with services like Google Stadia improving constantly, it may be worth your hard-earned money!
GameSir X2 overall thoughts
I really approve, the GameSir X2 is a solid 9.5 out of 10, it would be a 10/10 if it had a 3.5mm passthrough also but that would be me nitpicking and like I said, headphones not working through the USB-C port may be an issue for just my phone, unfortunately, I don’t have access to other devices to confirm or deny this!
What do you think? Is the GameSir X2 the sort of thing you could see yourself getting? Are you of the opinion that mobile gaming isn’t REAL GAMING like a lot of people seem to be? Or do you believe that mobile and cloud gaming is the future? We’d love to hear your thoughts and as always you can reach out to me on Twitter @Stubat_ if you want to talk garbage about tech games or esports!
The GameSir X2 is available to purchase now via Amazon in the UK, you can find it HERE. For more of our hardware reviews, click HERE.
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