Although all major game manufacturers have begun to shift their focus from handheld devices to smart phones, no matter how the performance of mobile phones is improved, touch screens without physical key feedback are always lacking in pleasure, which may be an important reason for the survival of handheld devices.

In order to make the game fans play better, many Bluetooth game consoles have appeared on the market. In September, Xiaomi also launched the public beta of its own Bluetooth game console Now let's see what the handset manufacturer will make of the handle.

Packaging and unpacking

The package is also Xiaomi's classic solid color kraft paper box, and the only pattern is the logo in the upper right corner.

At the bottom right corner of the package is a sticker printed with model name, production date and other information.

There is a layer of black buffer foam on the inside of the box top cover.

The handle lies on the tray made of kraft paper, and the product manual is placed vertically in the trunking above. This design is relatively novel.

The handle looks like a simplified and slimmed Xbox handle.

There are also two No. 5 batteries attached to the handle bracket.

The manual is also made black with the handle.

The content of the manual is quite simple, only specifying the key functions and connection methods.

Appearance and feel

The handle is made of black frosted material. The unknown surface treatment makes the hard plastic feel like a skin like coating and has excellent anti fingerprint oil stain ability.

It can be seen from the color difference that the material of the battery cover is slightly different.

The most prominent thing on the front of the handle is naturally Xiaomi's logo, which is actually a key with backlight and usually acts as the power key of the handle.

After the device is connected, the key backlight will always be on and will be recognized as the home key. On it are the return and setting keys, which just make up the three Android King Kong.

On the right side of the handle are A/B and X/Y keys, and the action rocker. There is a layer of soft plastic on the rocker to enhance comfort and friction.

The A/B and X/Y keys use the concave lines in the smooth surface to reduce the burden of button rubbing games such as Boxing King on fingers.

The left direction key setting is special for users who are used to playing PS. Its layout is the same as the Xbox handle, with the cross direction key at the bottom and the rocker at the top. The handle shape suddenly became asymmetrical, and Virgo users said that they could not accept _ (: ☒ "∠)_

The downward cross direction key is a "non engraved" smooth design, and it is estimated that it is also a change for punching handles such as Boxing King.

The damping of the rocker is moderate, which is similar to the handle of the PS4, and there is almost no empty position. The rocker is also equipped with a microswitch, which can be used as a confirmation key. However, the microswitch is hard to handle, and it requires a little effort to press.

There are R and L keys on the top, and the handle is flat, with small positive thickness. Because the rocker position is asymmetric, the front view is also strange. The two rectangular grooves in the middle should be reserved for the phone bracket.

The R2 and L2 keys of the handle have a special shape, which is an inverted triangular arc surface.

When the finger is put on, the radian can just cater to the larger middle finger, which can better deal with the problem caused by the lack of flat thickness of the handle.

However, for users who are accustomed to using the single finger to control the double R/L keys, when the middle finger moves up to "fill the knife", they may be tripped by the part growing out of the R2 key.

The plane area of the back of the handle is much larger than the normal handle. There is also a slot reserved for the mobile phone carrier under the battery compartment.

For the sake of cost, the handle is powered by two No. 5 batteries, and sheet contacts are used uniformly.

The grip of the handle has undergone obvious design changes. The shape of the handle is a little like eggplant, and the grip in the center of the handle is worthy of praise. The balance weight is added inside the grip bar, the overall center is inclined to the palm, and the grip is stable.

However, the size of the holding part is still not large enough (please fill the Xbox's plump and round shape), and the middle back part is too large and peaceful, resulting in the unnatural position of the middle finger in the normal holding position.

However, the feeling of holding hands is relatively comfortable and plump. The hardware workmanship of the handle gives a very good impression, and the buttons and hand feel exceed a number of third-party handles.

The author's good opinion of it is that 70% of it is due to the weight and shape of the grip, 20% is due to the surface warm coating treatment, and the rest is due to the hardware itself and the touch of the keys.

history

The millet handle we see now is the second generation. The previous generation came out as early as 13 years ago. At that time, it appeared as a part of the Xiaomi TV. Of course, it is also the second generation Xiaomi handle manual, which only explains how to connect the Xiaomi TV/box.

However, the difference is that the shape of the first generation Xiaomi handle is as shown in the figure above. It uses the male model of the Xbox handle, which makes many game fans ha ha.

However, the second-generation handle began its one yuan public test in late September, and 300 engineering machines were sent out. The appearance has finally been redesigned. Despite its slogan of "integrating PS4 and Xbox handle design", its feel is still good.

parameter

Xiaomi game handle is a Bluetooth handle, which supports Bluetooth 3.0. Built in three-axis acceleration sensor, dual vibration motor and low-voltage alarm, powered by two AA (No. 5) batteries.

The special ones are the three-axis acceleration sensor and No. 5 battery power supply. The latter is obviously to reduce the cost of the handle. The former looks tall, but in fact few games can support it, but it is better than nothing.

Of course, in terms of size, the original PS4 and Xbox handles are the real heroes. The PS4's DualShock4 handle has a dynamic detector, a six axis detection system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), and a built-in horn.

The Xbox handle is additionally equipped with a geomagnetic sensor to better sense user actions. But their prices are also high. The most awesome wired Xbox One handle costs $60 (about 360 yuan).

Connection and use

On Xiaomi TV, the connection mode of the handle is extremely simple. According to the official instructions, you can find the "Game Center" module on the Xiaomi TV and Xiaomi box. After entering, you can see the assistant tool with a handle.

Press the "MI" key on the handle according to the prompt to connect. As you can see, the TV indicator still uses a generation of handles.

After connection, the MI key of the handle will stay on and act as the home key function. In the TV desktop management program, the direction key, return key, and setting key can all work normally, which can replace the original remote control.

The game module has a dedicated controller area.

However, it is regrettable that there are only 9 games in it, and the most decent ones are Shadow Gun and Rapids.

All operations in the whitewater speedboat can be completed through the handle.

There will be a handle detection prompt before the game starts.

The key function can be adjusted according to the prompt.

In the game, the response of the controller is rapid, and no delay can be perceived.

If you like zuo si, you can go to the remote control game area. The remote control has fewer buttons than the handle, and most games can be directly mapped.

It is still no problem to use the handle to play hand bird chopping.

compatibility

As an accessory of Xiaomi TV, the normal test of Xiaomi handle has been completed here, but the good tradition of death should be adhered to. Since it is a Bluetooth handle, people will naturally wonder whether it can connect other TV, even mobile phones, tablets, computers and other devices?

The compatible Kings Windows system can connect the handle successfully and automatically display its name. The figure above shows Lenovo's Miix2.

However, if you want to play games, you need to install third-party console debugging software, and not all games support console operation. When a generation of handlebars are connected to a computer, the egg pain that can play FIFA but cannot play Fantastic Flying Car and Call of Duty may also occur.

Xiaomi's own TD version Xiaomi 3 (MIUI 6 has been painted) has successfully connected without accident, and the direction key on the desktop can also move the selected icon at will.

Unfortunately, both the home key and the set key can only be mapped to the multitasking key.

There are many games in Xiaomi Store, but most of them do not support the controller. The author imagined that the graffiti jump might support the gravity sensor in the handle, but the handle could not be operated in the actual test.

So you can directly select a large game with complete support, but in Wild Racing 8, the handle cannot be selected.

Fortunately, the game supports handle operation, and you can even select your favorite key layout.

It can operate normally during the game. However, the same door Xiaomi 2s (MIUI 6 has been brushed) has the problem of wrong key mapping, and the direction keys are completely invalid. In addition, when the handle is connected, the touch screen and gravity sensor of the game will immediately fail.

Asus Zenfone5, as the representative of ordinary Android computers, can still be connected, but it is completely inoperable on the desktop.

The iPhone 5s and 5c can't even search the Bluetooth signal of the handle.

The iPad 3 is also unable to search for its signals.

However, the touching thing is that the controller's support for TV is unexpectedly good. Even the S60 of LeEco, a competitor, can be connected normally, and the key functions are normal. It can also replace the native remote control for all operations.

Hands cheap try to touch the screen operation of the fruit ninja. Well, that's right. Needless to say, the controller can't move. Even the native remote control can't control this game.

Fortunately, LeEco also has its own console game section.

The game inside is obviously one more order of magnitude than Xiaomi's.

During the game loading process, there is also an advertisement for the game controller, which supports both LeEco and Xiaomi TV (unfortunately, it is not Xiaomi controller, see the following test for compatibility).

You can't control the angle of view in the downloaded Shadow Gun. The character can walk, jump and shoot, but can only look at the ceiling all the time. What a sad story it is

In addition, the actual measurement found that the devouring heaven and earth, running kart, 3D Mario, 3D billiard and other games in the special area of the controller game had problems of varying degrees. The first three were completely inoperable, and the last direction key was invalid.

It seems that it is impossible for two competitors to support each other's hardware, so try to use a third-party sofa butler directly. Sofa butler provides remote control, mouse and handle games.

There are 36 handle simulation games, but the game size is basically around 10m. Almost all of them are red and white machine transplantation games at the level of Little Overlord. The quality can only be ha ha.

Try KO video game city, where there is a special area for high-definition games, top speed cars, robot wars FIFA、 All the great works of the Three Kingdoms are complete.

There is also a handle mapping adjustment tool in the application, which is very touching.

All of the large games come from PSP migration. The installation package has a volume of more than 300m and occupies more than 1G of space. LeTV TV, which has only 2G of storage, can only lie down on the ground.

Find an unknown 3D racing game. The operation in the game is normal.

The classic alloy warhead is also normal, but because of the age, the 4:3 picture has two big black edges on the TV.

Boxing king games are also normal.

The Minduro and Mario transplanted on the red and white machine are completely normal. However, it is worth mentioning that in Mario, high-speed jumping will have a perceptible delay, leading to high mortality.

It is estimated that there is a problem with the support in Mario, because there is no similar problem among the alloy warheads that also need reaction speed. In addition, although the handle has a vibrator, we haven't encountered any games that can support vibration for the time being. The vibrator only vibrated several times alone when the equipment was connected.

summary

The biggest feeling after the test is only one sentence: the software cooperation of Android platform has failed the hardware of Xiaomi handle.

The workmanship and design of Xiaomi handle have improved significantly compared with the previous generation, showing sincerity. But unfortunately, I met my pig teammates in software ecology. And the actual test results confirm the opening sentence: this is a part of the Xiaomi TV/box, not a part of mobile phones and tablets.

The support of Xiaomi handle for TV is quite good, even the TV of rival LeEco can be seamlessly compatible. However, the support for mobile phones is not flattering. In addition to the Xiaomi mobile phones of the same family, other Android devices can connect normally but cannot control the desktop. iOS devices are not uniformly supported. Other users on the Internet also report that WP devices cannot support it.

In addition, in terms of game support, Android native touch screen games almost without exception do not support handle operation, and the actual games that can be played are basically works transplanted on red and white machines and PSPs. Of course, the handle can also support some games operated by remote control, but the number and quality of these games are not high.

Purchase suggestions

First of all, the official price of Xiaomi handle has not yet been announced. In Xiaomi's habit, 79-99 is the most likely price range. The following suggestions are also based on this assumption.

The price of Bluetooth handles on the market is mostly between 68-159. The shapes of other handles range from classic red and white machine handles to PS and Xbox handles, and many also claim to support game consoles and computers.

In terms of cost performance, function and shape, they are not far from the millet handle. Basically, you can choose the shape and brand you like to buy.

For users who already have smart TVs at home and do not have high requirements for games, but also want to review the classic childhood temperature, the Xiaomi handle is worth buying. Adding a handle can improve the gaming experience of smart TV. After all, the price is not too high, and it can be used as a TV remote control even without playing games.

If your favorite PSP or red and white machine game already has a portable version on Android, the handle is also worth getting.

But if you prefer to play games on your mobile phone, you'd better buy a Bluetooth handle with its own mobile phone bracket. They support your mobile phone better. After all, the Xiaomi handle is designed for TV