Samsung Unveil Game Controller For Galaxy S4

Dominic L 24 Comments

Whilst it’s a simple fact that mobile gaming has taken a significant portion of the handheld market, one of the key reasons that many core gamers steer clear of the format is the lack of dedicated physical inputs.  It would seem however that mobile company Samsung intends to remove this obstacle with the unveiling of their prototype wireless game pad for the Galaxy and Note range of phones, shown at their press reveal for the new Galaxy S4.

The pad itself is clearly modelled on the 360’s, featuring dual analogue sticks, a d-pad, shoulder buttons and similarly coloured face buttons in the familiar layout.  It’s powered by two AAA batteries and connects by bluetooth so the length of play between it and a tethered phone will be a key question when it launches this Summer.

Android is set to become a significant player in the core games market this year, with the arrival of Ouya, and various other Android based consoles, all featuring traditional input sets.  Samsung are obviously keen to convert even more handheld gamers away from their Nintendo and Sony devices, and as Android devices become increasingly powerful and prolific Samsung providing their own controller speaks volumes about their aims moving forward.

The newly revealed S4 will feature the same size screen as a PS Vita, with a 1080 x 1920 resolution (compared with the Vita’s 960 x 544), 2GB of RAM and both a quad-core processor and an octo-core one as well.  Whilst numbers do not remotely translate to quality software, developers will have significant power to play around with, and if there is a good level of support for the gamepad we could start to see some genuinely impressive gaming experiences appearing for the platform, tailored for the core market.

Source: Engadget

Tags: , ,

Related stories from TSA

2022 Samsung TV’s will ship with the Xbox app, allowing you to game without a console
Vivo Y70 Mobile Phone Review
Shadow Fight Arena Review
The new Xbox phone app lets you install any game, even if you don’t own it

24 Comments

  1. S4 does support BLE, (Bluetooth Low Energy) so it may use hardly any power at all.

  2. to be honest imo.. why on earth would i want to have a controller connected to a handheld device? its odd.

    • This. Plus I could never get on with the 360 style layout.

    • For games that are useless when played with a touchscreen?

      GTA, beat hazard, various emulators.

      • Yeah but why don’t they just put buttons on the device? do a spin-off or whatever.

  3. Hope they don’t get into any trouble from Microsoft for that pad.

  4. Doesn’t sound very practical, the xperia play was the right sort of idea but that didn’t work out. Are people really going to carry a pad as well as the phone. Makes the size of the Vita look a lot more practical.

    Battery life will be a problem, not from the controller but the screen. You won’t get any decent time with it even on power saving modes.

  5. And with all of this we will see a proper hand held CoD game maximising way more power than the Vita. People will of course love this new CoD game that costs £40 and is download only and likely with no stable sure multiplayer.

    That was all sarcasm by the way, but it was meaningful sarcasm, yes. In other words, why is this controller being made at all and why will mobile android gaming be more meaningful I don’t know. £40 digital games on a service that wasn’t originally built for gamers.

  6. Have played some games with a Moga controller, for Android phones, and it just isn’t appealing at all. Carrying around a controller that is bigger and weights more than the actual phone is dumb by my standards; you want so much to play games on the go with physical buttons, just buy a handheld.

  7. I would actually play the GTAs on my Galaxy S3 if I had this, but if it’s in excess of £30 I won’t be buying it, couldn’t justify that much for just a couple of games.

    Mobile gaming still eludes me; the only time I would actually be able to put time into a game would be at home, and even then I’d rather play it on the TV.

    • If you’re rooted you can just use your ps3 controller :-)

      • No root required for ICS and above. Plug your PS3 controller into the device, use it for a few minutes, unplug it, Hey presto, you’re connected via bluetooth.

        Once its paired once thats it. (unless you hook the controller up to the PS3, in which case you’ll need to re-pair with the ICS device again)

        :)

      • Add a gameklip and it looks the same.

        I have this for my note 2, great for GTAs and other classic stuff you want buttons for.

      • Never even crossed my mind, I’ll be straight onto Amazon and ordering that cable. That being said, if this is the case then I can’t see many people picking up this Samsung controller unless you’re strictly an Xbox gamer.

      • Why? I’m not an Xbox gamer and I use the Xbox 360 PC controller for PC gaming.

  8. It’s not the best looking bit of kit I’ve seen. I know it’s a prototype but as it is it looks like something my 2 year old nephew would play with.

  9. i wonder if it would work with the S3 mini.

  10. Without discussing the point of having such an accessory, it shows how much mobile gaming has grown in the last few years when phone manufacturers start selling official game pad accessories.

    • I think that’s the biggest thing – Samsung recognising the market and aiming for it themselves rather than leaving it up to 3rd party manufacturers.

Comments are now closed for this post.