04/03/2020
What to Know about Game Controllers for Android
Remember those PC , Mac commercials in the late 1990s and early 2000s?
In them, now-famous actor Justin Long played the role of the hip and cool “Mac,” while a rather flustered guy played the role of the “PC.” Today, that image of PCs as a clunkier and outdated option to Apple may persist in some circles, but hardly in the world of gaming.
After all
today, you can far more easily play a huge menu of games on Android and PC systems than you can on anything operating via iOS. Yes, there are Apple approved products and peripherals that enable those using iPads, iPods, and iPhones to get in on the gaming action. But, if you want the best game controllers for mobile devices, it is the Androids that stand out.
As an article in Lifewire indicated,
one “of the big advantages of Android over iOS is that if you like playing games with actual controllers, your options are more plentiful. While iOS has had an official controller standard for a couple of years now, most controllers are expensive and support is often limited. However, on Android, controller support is much more widespread.”
It is great to have options, and because Android game controllers have been around longer, they have the widest compatibility levels, operating easily with Androids using the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich systems. As that same article pointed out, when describing the superiority of the Android game controllers, “Android Bluetooth controllers work over the Human Interface Device protocol, so they can work with computers as well.”
This means that some of the top manufacturers are creating devices with multiple types of compatibility at once. GControllers, for examples, has several game controllers that can be paired with an Android, but also with a PC and a Nintendo Switch.
Gaming Everywhere
And while you might think that your use of a game controller for Android leaves you limited to propping a phone or tablet awkwardly in a holder and gaming only in spaces conducive to it, the better third-party manufacturers have specialty clips designed to hold the Android device right on the controller.
And when the game controller has been made for compatibility beyond Androids, like the PC Gamepad Compatible with Android mobile and Switch 9628, you can easily pair it to home computers, and systems like the Nintendo Switch.
Before leaping into the purchase of just any Android friendly game controller or gamepad, look at the various factors below that can steer you towards the best options:
