Having gifted the multi-billion dollar portable gaming space to Nintendo, Sony has loved to prove time and time again that it just doesn't give a hoot about people not glued to a 50-inch OLED screen. The latest exhibit is an admittedly slick looking third-party licensed product that looks a bit DualSensey. Just so they can say they support portable gaming, without investing any money in it. On the plus side, it definitely looks a neater solution than the bit of plastic I have that clamps my DualSense to an iPhone.
The BackBone One or "bone" to its friends is a $/£99 piece of plastic (plus the cost of the BackBone app subscription) available for Android or iPhone users, with the PlayStation edition only in white for iPhone. That big gap in the middle could easily fit the heart of an anguished PSP or Vita owner, or any model of iPhone. Early reports are it feels and plays well, which is the main thing.
The orange BackBone button launches their own app, but the unit supports Remote Play and Xbox Live among other services. It also comes with a free month of Apple Arcade to remind people that iPhones also play games. Not in these photos are a headphone socket in the bottom of the left stick and a power passthrough lead (I think) on the right.
It supports all models of iPhone and comes with an adapter to fit the latest iPhone 13 larger models and uses the iPhone's own power to run. At $99 it had better feel very premium, but like most other phone-controller-adapters I suspect this won't sell in great numbers, so let us know if you find out. To be fair the original model (available on Amazon, and the same price) is basically identical except in black and gets pretty good reviews.
Note, the BackBone app costs £45 a year, which makes this a bit more expensive (offering game recording and party features). In the meantime, the wait for an official Sony PlayStation 5 Remote Play device with a screen and decent 5G/WiFi chip goes on.
Unofficial gadgets like the $99 Razer Kishi for iPhone or Android, can probably do the job just as well via the PSPlay app, and there are plenty of knock-off products out there on digital marketplaces.
