RiotPWR ESL Gaming Controller for iOS Review

Late final yr I reviewed the Rotor Riot RR1852 iOS Controller and almost gave it an ideal rating, I known as it among the finest cellular controllers I’ve ever used and beneficial it for these in search of a consumer pleasant cellular controller. Now a couple of months later, Rotor Riot stunned me with their upgraded cellular controller, the RiotPWR ESL Gaming Controller for iOS.

What precisely is new about this controller and may it truly outdo the earlier close to good cellular controller, or is it a brand new verse similar as the primary and is it definitely worth the $70 price ticket?

The Look

The RR1852 PWR Plus was a really fundamental and plain wanting controller that didn’t win me over at first look, The ESL rectifies that by having a much more broad and daring look, the inexperienced and white combined with small touches of yellow actually catches the eyes and helps make the controller look distinctive and distinct. It additionally helps that the ESL appears like a contemporary Xbox controller, I discussed that the RR1852’s D-pad was just like the Xbox, now the ESL appears sports activities a design that makes the gadget really feel prefer it might be a third occasion Xbox controller.

The Clip that holds the cellphone has been vastly permitted upon, now as an alternative of being screwed on the highest of the controller the clip clicks into the entrance, this places the cellphone in a greater place and places the burden within the entrance quite than on prime. The clip can be adjustable this time and doesn’t really feel stiff, repositioning the cellphone is clean and easy, making setup a breeze and cable administration is much much less bothersome than the RR1852.

Performance

I praised the RR1852 for it’s low energy consumption and lightning cable cross by, and I’m comfortable to say that the identical factor applies to the ESL, there isn’t lots I can say that wouldn’t be a repeat of what I discussed in my final evaluation. However not like the final mannequin, the ESL now has the 4 LEDs exhibiting on the controller quite hiding it, it reveals which participant is controller 1,2,3 and 4.

The controller additionally now helps 3.5mm headsets subsequent to the lightning port, now gamers who don’t use wi-fi earbuds have extra choices with their headsets and it leaves the charging port opened up and free.

One of many greatest adjustments for the ESL is the replace to the sharing performance, the RR1852 used the choice button that additionally doubled because the share button, customers must double press it to take a screenshot and holding the button to activate display recording. Rotor Riot has moved that perform away from the choice button and easily made it a separate button, it’s simply situated close to the D-pad and might be simply reached with out the necessity for the consumer to fumbling round attempting to recollect the place it’s situated, and fortunately it’s additionally simply avoidable so unintentional screenshots don’t happen.

Similar to with the RR1852 customers can selected to share to Fb, Instagram or YouTube. There’s nonetheless no choice to make use of Twitch or different providers, and customers nonetheless can’t select to select what they need to use when recording. The iPhone permits customers to select a number of choices when display recording, similar to Discord, Fb Gaming, Twitch and lots of different providers; so it’s nonetheless disappointing that customers are solely caught with in-built choices once they might merely pull down the menu and manually decide their favourite service.

I wish to see the following mannequin help extra choices and possibly even permit customers to select providers that they have already got on their gadget.

The house button nonetheless capabilities just like the earlier mannequin, I used it with Amazon Luna and it does open a fast menu to exit video games, so a minimum of one service makes good use of it. In any other case all the things I stated about it in my earlier evaluation nonetheless stands.

The Mapp App

The app that enhances the ESL is identical as earlier than, the truth is, I’m actually simply going to repeat what I stated final yr.

The Ludu Mapp app capabilities as the house of types for avid gamers, it gives the perfect and best method to see what video games help controllers, it additionally affords motion pictures, stroll by guides, xCloud, PS Distant Play arrange and curated video games that would assist gamers discover their subsequent favourite sport. It additionally capabilities as a method to replace the controller’s software program every time they turn out to be accessible.

The app appears like a retailer, however the video games aren’t downloaded by the app itself, customers whereas be despatched to the App retailer and solely there can the sport be downloaded on the gadget. Fortunately the app is up to date in actual time, so paid sport costs are up to date to match what’s within the digital retailer.

As for the controller itself, the app has a controller take a look at choice the place customers can get a visible glimpse on the controller’s format and take a look at which button isn’t responding and see the sensitivity of the thumbsticks and triggers.

The Really feel

Not like in earlier critiques I’m not judging the ESL to different controllers outdoors of the unique producer, I truly get to match it to a predecessor and have a greater understanding of what has modified and what might be higher, so how does the ESL stack up in opposition to the RR1852?

Brilliantly! The ESL is such an enormous enchancment in terms of the texture of the controller that I truly need to knock factors off of my evaluation for the RR1852, and that’s one thing to be excited for, I truly don’t need my RR1852 anymore. It appears like a controller that I wouldn’t hassle with and wouldn’t advocate if I used the ESL first, the enhancements to the form and weight makes the RR1852 really feel a cut price bin controller and I completely love that.

Not like the RR1852, which I stated might really feel low-cost with out the cellphone hooked up, the ESL feels proper with or with out a cellphone hooked up to it and the brand new clip is a good enchancment over the earlier model. The clip on the ESL nonetheless feels sturdy and the thumbsticks really feel extra in tuned with the Xbox controller than the iffy really feel of the RR1852.

The enter buttons are additionally extra just like the Xbox due to the form of the controller, the D-pad doesn’t really feel that a lot totally different than the RR1852 however i did discover that it has a decrease profile that mimics the newer Xbox controllers. In truth, the share and choice buttons are additionally decrease than earlier than, this makes the buttons really feel like they’re within the controller and it feels unusual at first.

I didn’t like that the buttons had been designed to be so flat, I’m used to them protruding and being part of the button schemes, however the ESL does make up for this by having the buttons really feel very totally different from the controller, you’ll discover as you slide your fingers throughout the controller that the buttons are  manufactured from a very totally different materials and the design helps hold the share button from being by chance push. I shortly got here to admire this design alternative and understood it’s objective.

Enter lag, just like the final mannequin, was nonexistent and the controller nonetheless works as flawlessly as earlier than.  I performed BloodRayne 2 Terminal Reduce, Asphalt 8+ Detonation racing and different quick paced video games to check the controller’s response time and easily functioned simply as clean because the RR1852 did.

I known as the RR1852 PWR Plus among the finest cellular controllers I’ve used, not only for its familiarity however for its easy plug in and play performance, and I nonetheless stand by that. However the RiotPWR ESL Gaming Controller is such an general enchancment that I’d truly advocate skipping the RR1852 and choosing the brand new mannequin as an alternative, Riot Energy has made all the best enhancements with the ESL and I can’t consider something that might be improved except for permitting extra display recording and streaming choices.

The ESL has managed to outdo the RR1852 PWR Plus as essentially the most consumer pleasant cellular controller I’ve ever used, I can actually say that it’s the finest cellular controller I’ve seen available on the market, display taking pictures and recording remains to be fast and even simpler than earlier than and with the added audio jack, provides customers much more choices.

However, and that is one thing I needed to save lots of for the tip, I can’t say that the controller is value $70. It does almost all the things proper, however an Xbox controller can value simply as a lot (relying on the fashion of the controller) and even much less and people have the additional benefit of being suitable with an Xbox, cellular gadget and a PC at that value vary.

In case you’re in search of a controller purely on your iOS gadget and also you need straightforward sharing performance then sure, I’d advocate giving the ESL a go, the plug and play perform remains to be one thing that provides it an edge over utilizing an Xbox controller and it’s constructed particularly for iOS. But when the value tag makes you wince, I’d ask how typically would you be utilizing the controller on you cellphone? In case your reply isn’t, ‘typically’ or ‘lots’; then I’d nonetheless advocate the RR1852, however cellular content material creators will certainly discover the ESL as their go to controller.