Anyone making phones with controllers built-in?

So yesterday I stumbled into one of those chinese game handhelds, "nothing new here" I thought, but this one was different: it was a phone too

Of course by phone I mean just barely:



There are a couple videos of it on YT and it takes the tacophone of the ngage to a whole new level, extra-grande especial level I say.

HW is kinda weak, sub-HD screen with one of those cheapass chinese quads that are actually 4 lowpower cores from the likes some phones have for idle use, but still it can emulate up to Dreamcast quite well.

But theres no way I or like 90% of gamers out there will trade a phone for this, so heres my question: is there any other company out there making these, and do they make something more like a phone eg: like the xperia play was?

 

Android gadgets with controls are just standar tablets but 200-300% overpriced coz the clunky controls. Like the classic RK3188+Mali400. You can find it on Pipo S1 Pro for about ~70€ or just pay 200€ for an awkward Archos Gamepad 2 with same config except 1GB more of RAM.

Anyway, most of developers do not add gamepad compatibility or compatibility is for Moga/iPega. This Android devices with controls usually deliver some kind of mapping program to use touch gestures with physical controls but most of them just suck, there are better alternatives like Tincore or USB/BT Joystick Center Gold. Tincore even emulate the Moga/iPega controller with standar controller.

Better buy a basic tablet and use an XBOX 360 controller.

 

This is probably your best bet. I loved this phone. It has a built in ps1 emu from Sony. You can inject different roms but not all of them work. I spent the majority of my senior year playing the Mega Man X's on this.

Edit: oops you've already scene it.

 

Its already a pain in the ass having to lug around a handheld and a smartphone, carrying a controller is yet another thing that add weight and gets lost.

My point is getting something thats all-in-one like that JXD thing above but looking more like an xperia, which also makes it more pocket friendly.

And the xperia would be an option if it wasnt so damn outdated, why sony didnt make a new one? vita competition?

 

That's only kind of part of it. It came out around the same time as the 3DS and a little while before the Vita (but I think the Vita had been announced). It had to compete with the iPhone 4 on the phone side. It also had terrible support: it never officially got ICS, and the games available for it weren't the best PS games, and they sold terribly.

Maybe if they put games like Metal Gear Solid on there, people would care. It's tough though, how many times can you sell the games to people over and over again? There were excellent games that could have been on the system... But people probably bought them new, maybe bought them on PSN, and now they are expected to buy them again on their phones? For $4+, when every other android game is free or $1? I'm sorry monsignor, that dog won't bark.

Another flaw/feature was that the playstation games could only be purchased from the xperia play. That should be required from a UX standpoint, but given how poorly the hardware sold, no publisher would want to limit the sales to the their games like that. It's a chicken and egg thing. No one wanted to buy it because the games weren't that good, and no publishers wanted to make games for it because no one wanted to buy it...

It just comes down to this being a very niche product with bad software support. Every once in a while someone tries it though, maybe someone will get it right. The NGage came before it, and there are always rumors that Apple wants to do something like it in the future. Good luck to them.

 

I've used an icontrolpad (bluetooth controller with internal battery that can actually help charge the phone) and a smartphone to play GBA/N64 games a lot and I like it. The + side is that if you change phone, the controller still works. And it also works on pc.

Though I don't suggest buying that controller from its maker anymore. Craig Rothwell is a real asshole. But if you can find it second-hand, it's quite nice.

 

You can buy this

http://gametel.se/

or this cheap chinese

http://dx.com/p/ipega-pg-9017-wirel...-ipad-iphone-smartphone-android-ios-pc-172963

 

I seen plenty of those clip-on controllers and thats why I rather have a phone with one built-in.

IIRC google launched a controller standard for android which AFAIK is what most devs are using these days for support, so you only have to build a phone with that, no need for specially made versions of games and the rest of the hardware can be off the shelf

If I didnt suck at electronics I would build one myself, maybe we could ask benheck to make one

 

I've found a lot on Chinese Taobao. Search for "Much i5". Might be good?

 

I found the Xperia Play to be overpriced and buggy as hell. Not to mention the controller made the phone pretty hefty and the build quality of most Xperias at the time was pretty poor, with cheap looking and feeling plastic and buttons.

 

I like to study these Chinese android mod/gaming devices all the time. Here are the things you should look for in the reviews:
1.)Do the analog sticks register as true analog in androids kernel (they may be true analog, but some companies just use the keyboard driver to save time/money). This is a big deal if you want to play N64/PS1/Dreamcast games or GTA3 on Chainfire3d.
2.)How do the buttons perform; some have far mechanical button travel causing latency when pressed, some have small button targets or lack of a pivot point causing the buttons to stick or multiple opposite buttons being pressed on the directional pad(ie; left and right).
3.)How do the buttons register in the OS. Because some companies cheat and use keyboard drivers with shift registers, some combinations of buttons might cause issues. (ie; up on the directional pad and "R" might be the equivalent of the back button).
4.)How locked down the OS is. Some android gaming devices might have the ability to emulate the most awesome systems, but sometimes Chinese companies lock down the devices so much you can't even add new roms or customize their sorry excuse for a buggy menu system, never mind get access to the android desktop/apps drawer/google play. Additionally most Chinese companies are afraid some other company might steal their precious abortion of a menu system(that was probably stolen and hacked together from the competing companies system) that they almost never release the source code to fix issues. Good luck pressuring the companies into giving you that source code, as GPL in china is a suggestion rather than a rule.
5.)Watch out for mips based android devices; While mips are great processors cheap and fast, they are incompatible with about 50% unsigned android apps and about 25% of Google play store apps. This is due to lazy app programmers, or programmers who want to save space in their app.

Keep in mind new android gaming devices come out every 6 months, and I have yet to find one that has solve all of these issues. Conversely I have purchase around 3 or 4 of these devices. So its looking on this list and seeing what best suits you.

Also of note! always check the OS version, and if you want capacitive or resistive touch screens. If no OS is listed, with no mention of android(even if an android is in the picture) assume its a windows CE based piece of junk.

 

Yeah the xperia was pretty bad which is why I didnt get it (nor I recommend doing it) but a slider is way better to carry around than a tacophone handheld, let alone that closed it looks like any other phone.

I checked the i5 much, has better specs than the JXD but its still taco-grade......

These guys (shenzen) can do copies of almost anything, how hard can it be to ripoff the xperia slider mechanism?

 

Speaking of that, hows app support for android x86?

 

It's a Sony phone, duh.

 

a little bit better according to intel 95% of official apps run. although X86 isn't the processor of choice for Chinese handhelds.

Well you have to ask yourself, has any other Chinese company reverse engineered it yet, or stole plans from EE's? and is it cheap to manufacture? Are the modules readily available in Chinese electronics street markets? All of these have to be completed for any "inventive" project to leave the shores of china. Why haven't The chinese improved on the NOAC asic? for the same reasons.

 

There are some interesting x86 CPUs for tablets now, and who knows maybe a dualboot option to run some nondemanding PC games on the go.

As for the mechanism, we are not talking about anything complex here, the xperia had the same springy mechanism from any side-keyboard phone, but with a controller instead. The shenzen guys could just clone the PCB from an ipega or some other controller and jury rig it through USB via OTG (tho a proper implementation would be better IMO).

I think the real problem is demand: checking those chinese sites I see there are no phones with screens smaller than 5 inches (that dont suck or are from non-chinese brands). Checking forums the answer is simple, for the chinese big screen=better even if a lot of those phones have crappy resolutions and poor colors.

 

When I see this image I feel so sad.

Imagine how generic this stupid combat-something-4 must be.

And no, gamers will really not play stupid-combat-4 in their phones. Is this even called a "game"?

 

Check out www.obscurehandhelds.com if you want a place to check out the Chinese handhelds.

Apparently the new thing on the street there is the GPD G5A. Its open source, has some custom android roms available, has a arm cortex A9, and the analog sticks work. Also the controls are spot on. The negatives so far: no R2/L2 analog function(meh). Its available on willgoo(the place to buy chinese handhelds without the wait, or roll of the dice for customer support).
http://www.willgoo.com/gpd-g5a-android-gaming-tablet-hand-grip-design-quad-core-5-8gb-p-539.html
BTW I have no connection to willgoo, except I have purchased 2 or 3 Chinese consoles from them.
The GPD G5A is also availible on Alibaba, aliexpress, and Amazon.

If you don't care about true analog sticks, you can't go wrong with the JXD S60X (replace X with 1, 2, or 3). Lots of custom roms and such, and some versions have the keyboard issue.

Waiting for my poor spell to end to purchase the G5A. As always, do your research on youtube and forums. and preorders aren't worth it unless there is quality unbiased reviews from beta testers.

 

Saw the GPD in a german forum, the thing is just another android handheld but with better ergonomics, not a phone and definitely something you dont want to use as such if it had 3G. Is good they didnt use a shitty chip like others do but its still weak in other aspects like the screen.

About the analogs you mean the JXD models with slider psp-like sticks? because the one I posted and the 7800 seem to have true analogs (tho good luck getting that in your pocket)