Manba One Gaming Controller Review

thesixthaxis.com:

As the festive season grinds to a close, there’s still new bits of tech popping up to enhance your current gaming setup – or perhaps to help you out with whatever was sat underneath the Christmas tree. The Manba One controller instantly falls into that category, with an enhanced ‘pro’ style experience at a very reasonable price point.

Before you pick it up, the Manba One sets itself apart from the pack with two very key inclusions. The first are customisable RGB strips down each side of the controller, with a batch of different colour schemes and effects to choose from. The second, and perhaps more obvious feature is the screen that’s slap-bang in the middle of the controller, giving you instant access to a batch of customisation options and ways to tweak the controller’s performance. It’s a setup we’ve also seen in the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra Controller, but where that costs £180, the Manba One comes in at £75, making it much gentler on the pocket.

The Manba One offers both Bluetooth and wireless connections via its USB-A dongle, happily playing with PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android. Interestingly, those are the platforms that many of these controllers are aiming for, which makes sense when Sony and Microsoft don’t like to share their technology with others and have very specific requirements when they do.

The Manba One is available in black or a transparent white and silver colour scheme like our review unit. It looks and feels quite smart in the hand, and overall apes the official Xbox controller shape, with a few changes here and there. The top case is exceptionally smooth, almost to the point of being slippery, but the underside of the controller has textured plastic to ensure you don’t lose your grip. There are little windows in each handhold so you can see the rotating rumble motors inside, and alongside the screen and the RGB lighting, this is a great looking controller.

Included in the box is a smart charging dock, and the Manba One gives a satisfying