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If you want to turn your smartphone into a gaming handheld, there are plenty of accessories available to try out. However, most people add full-sized controllers to either side of your phone – this is great for gaming, but not so good for portability. OnePlus seems to be trying to do something different (at least from most competitors), by offering a gaming case that you can keep in your pocket.
“Gun God” adds triggers and a cooling fan to the Ace 6 Ultra
In a post on its Weibo pageOnePlus announced a new gaming accessory for its upcoming Ace 6 Ultra smartphone. The name “OnePlus Gun God Game Controller” may sound strange, but the accessory itself looks quite sleek. The controller is a flat slab with rounded edges on both sides, which serve as “grips”. Here, you’ll find the traditional L1 and R1 triggers, as well as internal triggers accessible via your ring finger. OnePlus says the triggers have a 1,000Hz polling rate (the rate at which the trigger reports its position to your device) as well as a 1.8ms “ultra-fast” response, and you can remap the buttons to your liking.
Perhaps most interesting here is the magnetic detachable “suction” fan. From the promo images, you can see that the fan can lie flat in the controller, but detach it, and you can open the fan up for additional airflow. It’s unclear if the Ace 6 Ultra is specifically designed to take advantage of this active cooling system, or if the fan is simply taking the heat generated by the device and pushing it away, but either way, it’s an interesting design. I’m curious to see testers put it through its paces and identify what impact it has on performance – if any. The controller also comes with USB-C pass through, so you can charge your phone while it’s inside the case.
Credit: OnePlus
Of course, the major omissions here are the buttons and stick. Although there are four triggers, you’re still relying entirely on the phone’s touchscreen for the rest of your controls. Having dedicated triggers frees up some screen real estate and potentially makes it easier to play shooters and other trigger-intensive games, but it probably won’t appeal to players who rely on physical buttons, directional pads, and joysticks for their games. The advantage here is that this controller is much more compact than some of the controller accessories available on the market. Compare Gun God to something like Backbone, and you’ll see the difference. You can keep the former in your pocket, while the latter you will have trouble fitting anywhere except a bag.
What do you think so far?
On the other hand, there are compact solutions on the market that include these extra buttons and sticks. Take the MCon, which is designed to be converted into an attractive pocketable form factor like the PSP Go. It’s almost as convenient to carry around as the Gun God, but it comes with all the buttons and sticks you’d want in a mobile gaming handheld. Also, it is not phone dependent.
Still, what OnePlus is doing here is very interesting. Gun God will launch on April 28, though it’s unclear when (or if) it will debut in the US.
