Gamevice Flex Mobile Gaming Controller Review

thesixthaxis.com:

You carry your mobile phone around with you all day, messaging, calling and swiping your way through life. It’s also capable of being pretty much your entire entertainment centre, and gaming is an integral part of that. The Gamevice Flex joins a steady stream of physical controls to make your mobile gaming as close to the home console experience as possible.

The Gamevice Flex folds up into a tight little package, and doesn’t look all that different to the Switch’s Joy-Con when they’re in a grip. This does prompt a minor note of disappointment, as while it looks as though it’s capable of being used as a standalone controller, it’s not. With no power and no Bluetooth, the Flex relies on the lightning connector of an iPhone to draw power. It does however include a 3.5mm audio connection and a power passthrough, so you can keep your phone topped up through hours of game time, and frankly anything that adds a headphone socket to an iPhone is doing God’s work.

Unclipping the two main parts is straightforward and simple, and then you’re onto the only fiddly part of the whole package: setting the Gamevice Flex up for the first time. You need to make sure that your iPhone is held snuggly in place, and to do that you have to use the little measuring card that’s supplied. That helps you to identify which plastic inserts you’ll need to clip into place – it can even accommodate your phone with a case on. Once the inserts are in, your phone should just slot firmly into its spot, with the lightning plug comfortably ensuring that the connection is solid.

You’re getting the offset analogue sticks of the Xbox layout here, which makes sense given that the Gamevice Flex is aimed firmly at Xbox Cloud Gaming via Game Pass. The sticks feel taut