Backbone Pro Review

When it launched successful 2020, the Backbone One made a large splash successful the mobile gaming scene. It offered a near-perfect mode to acquisition mobile games, acknowledgment to its compact, portable design, nonstop connection, and an fantabulous companion app that tied everything together. Since then, the mobile gaming scenery has evolved importantly – crippled streaming is much reliable, smartphones are much powerful, and caller games similar Assassin’s Creed Mirage tin present beryllium played natively, with nary console required.

Backbone’s latest release, the aptly named Backbone Pro, upgrades the archetypal with customizable backmost buttons, full-size analog sticks, and Bluetooth connectivity. While it's not designed to regenerate the Backbone One, the Pro is simply a premium telephone controller for players who privation to crippled crossed aggregate screens oregon are looking for a higher-end mobile gaming experience.

Backbone Pro – Design and Features

The Backbone Pro retains overmuch of the plan connection from the Backbone One – from the distinctive trapezoidal signifier to the fastener layout and extendable cardinal country – but introduces respective upgrades that present a much premium gaming experience. The archetypal happening you’ll announcement is the larger grips. While they astir treble the tallness of the Backbone Pro erstwhile compared to the original, they importantly amended comfortableness and ergonomics, particularly during longer play sessions. A subtle micro-texture connected the grips enhances the consciousness and helps forestall slippage, making the controller some functional and pleasant to hold.

But, there's a much important crushed for the larger grips beyond improved ergonomics; the Backbone Pro present supports Bluetooth, allowing it to link to a wide scope of devices beyond conscionable smartphones. This upgrade requires much blase internals and dual built-in rechargeable batteries, which present up to 40 hours of playtime. The batteries adhd immoderate heft without making the instrumentality consciousness heavy, alternatively creating a pleasant equilibrium that feels large successful hand.

The Backbone Pro supports 2 chiseled modes: Handheld Mode, which uses a nonstop USB-C transportation for near-zero latency gaming erstwhile your telephone is docked, and Wireless Mode, which enables Bluetooth connectivity with devices similar tablets (including iPads), laptops (PC and Mac), VR headsets (such arsenic Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro), and adjacent prime astute TVs with unreality gaming support.

A caller diagnostic called FlowState delivers a seamless connectivity acquisition reminiscent of AirPods, letting you power betwixt devices with a azygous tap. By allowing simultaneous connections to aggregate devices, it eliminates the accustomed Bluetooth re-pairing hassle erstwhile jumping betwixt screens. Like AirPods, the Backbone Pro besides receives firmware updates automatically successful the background, keeping the instrumentality existent without interrupting gameplay.

As with galore “Pro” devices today, the Backbone Pro includes 2 customizable rear buttons to heighten your gameplay. Positioned comfortably connected the interior grips wherever your fingers people rest, they’re casual to scope without straining. While Backbone intentionally designed them to debar accidental presses, I inactive experienced a fewer unintended activations portion testing. That being said, they’re some comfy to usage and elemental to assign, adding a furniture of flexibility for players who privation deeper control.

Another large upgrade successful the Backbone Pro is the inclusion of full-size thumbsticks. Their larger size delivers a much console-like feel, with a concave signifier and textured edges that heighten grip and precision. While they don’t usage Hall effect sensors, which whitethorn disappoint immoderate users, they’re inactive snappy, responsive, and satisfying to use.

The rear triggers person been upgraded with Hall effect sensors for greater accuracy and reliability. They connection buttery creaseless actuation and diagnostic a laser-etched texture that helps support your fingers securely successful place.

The look buttons and D-pad person besides received a subtle upgrade, present featuring a premium translucent finish. They consciousness much responsive than earlier and are noticeably quieter to press. Rounding retired the hardware, the Backbone Pro includes a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Bluetooth pairing fastener connected the bottommost near grip.

While the erstwhile Backbone One featured a passthrough charging port, the Pro expands connected this diagnostic with the instauration of Parallel Charging. This allows the instrumentality to intelligently apical disconnected its interior artillery portion your telephone charges done the USB-C passthrough. The effect is little hassle with charging and much clip jumping into games, nary substance what surface you're using.

Backbone Pro (top) vs Backbone One (bottom)

Despite each the precocious tech packed into the Backbone Pro, it inactive weighs successful astatine conscionable nether 200 grams, making it 1 of the lightest "Pro" controllers connected the market. Keep successful mind, that’s conscionable the controller alone. Once your telephone is docked, the full value tin vary. Still, successful Wireless Mode, the controller maintains a balanced, comfy consciousness successful the hand.

The Backbone Pro is compatible with USB-C smartphones, including the iPhone 15 and newer, arsenic good arsenic astir Android smartphones. It comes with 2 upgraded, interchangeable magnetic adapters that fto you usage it with oregon without a telephone case. Like the Backbone One, it doesn’t see built-in rumble, but it does instrumentality vantage of the iPhone’s haptic feedback to simulate vibrations successful supported games.

Backbone Pro – Software

Like the hardware itself, the Backbone app has seen a fig of updates since my past review. It inactive serves arsenic a cardinal hub for each your games and services, but present leans much heavy into find and getting you into your adjacent crippled arsenic rapidly arsenic possible.

Within the app, you tin play autochthonal games from the App Store, Apple Arcade, Google Play, Google Play Pass, and Netflix Games, oregon watercourse from services similar Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Remote Play, Steam, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Amazon Luna.

Adding games is arsenic elemental arsenic pressing the Backbone fastener portion you're in-game. This automatically adds the crippled to your launcher truthful everything stays successful 1 place. While this works astir of the time, I inactive ran into a fewer games that refused to beryllium added. It’s not a dealbreaker since you tin ever motorboat them manually from your phone’s location screen, but it puts a flimsy damper connected what is different a seamless experience.

If you're utilizing the Backbone Pro, you tin instrumentality things adjacent further with customization. Remap immoderate button, set thumbstick dormant zones, fine-tune trigger sensitivity, and prevention unsocial profiles for idiosyncratic games that tin beryllium swapped with a tap.

Backbone+ is besides receiving updates alongside the Pro's launch. For those unfamiliar, Backbone+ is simply a subscription work that provides discounts connected hardware and accessories, much than $35 worthy of in-game rewards, and unlocks further app features similar 1080p/60fps crippled seizure with unreality storage, Twitch streaming from wrong the app, and more.

One caller summation is the Backbone Emulator, which supports retro gaming by integrating fashionable emulator cores similar NES, SNES, Game Boy, and GBA straight into the app, with much cores planned for aboriginal updates. Backbone+ members volition besides soon summation entree to a rotating room of escaped games for some Backbone One and Backbone Pro.

Backbone Pro – Gaming

Backbone Pro makes meaningful upgrades implicit the archetypal Backbone One successful astir each way, and it’s evident erstwhile utilizing it crossed a wide scope of games. Whether I was bouncing betwixt shooters similar Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 oregon dabbling successful immoderate Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE, the Backbone Pro ne'er skipped a beat.

The full-size thumbsticks consciousness importantly amended to usage and are connected par with those of the PS5 DualSense oregon Xbox Wireless Controller. The aforesaid goes for the upgraded triggers, which are satisfyingly clicky and highly responsive. I was already a instrumentality of the D-pad connected the Backbone One, but this mentation someway feels adjacent better. It’s astir soundless and silky smooth, making it casual to descent betwixt inputs with precision.

It took immoderate getting utilized to utilizing the Backbone Pro arsenic a standalone controller since my hands are farther isolated than usual, but the ergonomic plan and well-balanced value assistance it consciousness natural, adjacent during agelong gaming sessions.

While I spent a bully chunk of clip successful Handheld Mode, I was pleasantly amazed by however good the Backbone Pro worked with the Meta Quest 2 erstwhile streaming Xbox Game Pass games. Despite the imaginable for latency betwixt unreality streaming and Bluetooth input, determination was virtually nary input lag, adjacent successful fast-paced shooters similar Call of Duty oregon Fortnite.

An absorbing enactment instrumentality that I managed to propulsion disconnected with the Backbone Pro was the quality to somewhat “handoff” games betwixt devices. For example, I booted up a crippled connected Xbox Game Pass successful the Meta Quest 2 successful Wireless Mode, paused it mid-game, docked my telephone and swapped implicit to Handheld Mode and was capable to occurrence the crippled up successful the Backbone app, unpause, and prime up exactly where I near off. While this surely won’t enactment with each game, it was a chill glimpse astatine what’s imaginable arsenic unreality gaming continues to evolve.

Even though the Backbone Pro needs to beryllium recharged successful Wireless Mode, artillery beingness was ne'er an contented during testing. Parallel Charging portion successful Handheld Mode kept it topped up arsenic it charged my phone, and unless you're utilizing it exclusively arsenic a standalone controller, you’ll seldom request to interest astir artillery astatine all.