abxylute S9 Full-Size Gaming Phone Controller for iPhone 15/16, iPad Mini 6/7 and Android Phone Tablet, Bluetooth and Type-C Mobile Gamepad with App, for Roblox, Genshin Impact, Call of Duty, Hall Joystick &Trigger, Handheld-Quality Black

I used to play a lot of handhelds, like the Gameboy and Playstation Portable, but had sold them long ago. I'm back into emulation on my laptop and smartphone. I just picked up a C6 for that, and it works nice on my Surface Pro and phone. But, the phone screen looks a bit too small while playing games because I'm sitting in my chair and my phone is on my desk with the C6, so the S9 looked like it could PSP my phone.The S9 arrived in an Amazon bag, so nothing besides the S9 box to protect it. The box had two taller analog sticks, two extra D-pad buttons, and a bunch of stick on phone spacers. There's three spots, two on the USB port side, one on the other side of the S9 dock to stick them, but I didn't need to use them. I couldn't figure how to get the D-pad out at first, but a sharp knife underneath it on the right arrow with a gentle nudge up popped it up. After I got it off, I saw how the pads are held down by two springy notches on the left and right - see photos. So as long as you get the left or right side of the D-pad nudged loose, the pad comes off easy.The sticks worried me right away trying to pull it off. The entire ball its on actually came up a tiny bit with a click and I was worried I broke it. I pushed it back down and the ball clicked back to the original position. To get the stick off, I used my thumbnail to hold the ball in place while pulling up on the stick with my other hand to pop it off. It'll take a bit more pull than you might think, but it won't hurt them.The instructions came with labels you can stick on your phone or controller to remind you how to switch modes and stuff. It's not that hard - just press the M button on the left grip and the home button on the right grip until the M light changes modes. The S9 is better than the C6 because it has one extra mode - PS/Playstation mode. Both also have HID, Xbox, and Switch modes.The controller instantly worked the moment I plugged in my phone. No need to do anything else. Controller test app immediately saw the controller and the buttons and sticks worked when testing. The optional Abxylute S9 app also has a built-in controller tester to make sure everything's working.I started up my favorite, Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis emulator. Worked fine cranking through the levels like nothing. Smooth buttons, solid grips - felt like I was gaming on my Sega Genesis again. Tested a few more games on the PPSSPP emulator. Taiko worked fine - XYAB for the small drum stick, L/R shoulder buttons for the big drum stick. Took a few minutes to settle into the groove to get my timing right since the buttons weren't like the arcade or PSP buttons, but the S9 shoulder buttons were actually better than the PSP because they're bigger and rounded versus the squarer edged PSP shoulders.Next was Wipeout. I wanted to try the gyroscope, and had to go into the PPSSPP settings to turn on the support and calibrate it - a must otherwise the ships fly goofy. Like ten seconds to figure it out and done. I actually got used to flying the ship faster than using the analog stick, and Wipeout is a lot more immersive using the gyro. Super easy to get into the groove flying this way and faster than Taiko for me to get into the groove.I tried Socom next and it was smooth going at first, then I moved in my chair and the controls went a bit wonky. I couldn't figure it out for a few seconds, then realized I left the PPSSPP gyro support on. So yeah, I could aim my pip and shoot just by leaning the S9 and I didn't need to use the stick/D-pad. That was cool to play with, so maybe I'll try playing with the gyro on, but I'm still better with the stick. Moving, shooting, locking targets, switching weapons, squatting, standing was all smooth on the S9.I tried out the PS mode with the AtherSX PS2 emulator and MGS2. Crap spare phone, so fps was in the dumps. But I was able to plug in my headphones and use the vibration on the S9 just fine. The rumble isn't exactly the same as the Playstation controllers, but it best for me on the second to highest vibration level.There's a lot of ways to customize the S9 in the Abxylute S9 app - dead zones for the sticks and triggers, XYAB button arrangement, etc, but I didn't need to tweak these because the S9 works fine out of the box. You can shortcut a bunch of favorite games for the apps home screen, update the firmware, and map on-screen touch controls to the S9 buttons and sticks. Don't play any native Android games to use that feature, so didn't test that out.Overall, the S9 feels like a great controller. Instantly turned my spare phone into a PSP and everything worked fine. The balance and feel was great, just like my PSP when I bought the launch edition from Japan, but the shoulder buttons are definitely better than on the PSP. And Sonic really runs nice with the S9, so that makes me happy. Easy to use, stretches out to hold big phones, tight springs so the phone won't drop out, and no setup - just plug in the phone and game away.

To put it lightly this controller does everything I want and then some. Lets go over some of it I suppose...First and foremost, it supports wired and bluetooth. Though you need a power source like your phone connected to use bluetooth mode. This lets it connect to anything the USB-C can't. Or, in my case, use your phone as a controller screen with discord, etc, while you use the controller on the PC. The phone acting as a controller battery.When connected wired to the phone, it uses bluetooth (it'll have a unique pairing outside bluetooth mode) so it can communicate with its software. This bluetooth is solely so it can still configurat the controller while using other controller standards.It supports all 4 of the important game controller standards. NS, DS4, XInput, and HID for android. This means SteamLink and Moonlight/Artemis have access to its rumble feature while on android if you use NS, DS4, or XInput while still being customizable with the software on android. It can switch these modes when using wired or bluetooth with say your PC.For those confused, the manual has a great listing of modes to favor for different situations. It even lists the recommended modes for Android and iOS since the two have a slight support difference. (I don't believe iOS supports the XInput mode). The only thing the manual doesn't cover easily is the fact it has bluetooth on for just the software when in wired mode with your phone. Hopefully this helps someone understand that portion.So...this controller has rumble, supports a wide range of standards while still being configurable with their software at the same time. As well as a bluetooth mode which shares all the standards.All in all the only thing it lacks is a battery for bluetooth mode, but really your phone will suffice if you really don't want to wire it to power in any other way while using it.It feels solid, though a removal tool for the dpad to swap it out would've been nice. But the rest of it fitting some really obscure niche situations absolutely makes up for a slight annoyance swapping the dpad. Should I run into any issues over the next few months I'll update this review accordingly. But out the gate it has a fantastic combination of weird features that fit some awesome niches I didn't even know I needed filled.