Review: Moga Pocket Universal Controller

As more and more people play games on their mobile device, there are companies who make controllers to allow users to play games on their Android device like any game console or portable game console. PowerA is one of those companies that is making controllers for those people.

Upon opening the box, you are given documentation allowing you to get Pac-Man and Sonic the Hedgehog for free as well as information to download the Moga Pivot App.

After taking out the controller, you will find out that the controller is powered by two AAA batteries (not included). You will also find that there is a way for you to secure your phone to the controller. For the buttons, you have two flat analog joystick (one on the top left and the other on the lower right), A, B, X, Y buttons on the upper right of the controller, start and select buttons on the lower left of the controller, start, select and the Moga button on the lower left of the controller, and left and right shoulder bumper. Upon using the controller, the A, B, X, Y and the Moga button is noisy when pressed.

As for the software, there is a limited number of games that will work with the controller. Not only that they have a limited number of games, but it sounds like you have to purchase the games from the Moga store to be able to work with the controller (which sounds like you will need to repurchase the games if you bought it from the Android Market. To overcome this, you will need to install the Moga Universal Driver, which is not developed by Moga, to play other games. Though when we tested it, we have seen some problems with the app. For the device we tested it on, we had to repair the device every time we want to play with it, and once it stop syncing and just replay the last command constantly.

So here are the pros and cons.

Pros:

• Allows you to play Android with a bluetooth controller

• Housing mechanism with variable mount size to hold your phone while playing

• Bundled with Pac-Man and Sonic CD1 for Android.

Cons:

• Requires you to buy games from their store that has preconfigured to work with the Moga controller.

• To play other games, you have to rely on the Moga Universal Driver, which is not supported by Moga.

• For the universal driver, the software connected well at first, but then it stop communicating and repeated the last command. It also was unable to connect without repairing the device.

• A, B, X, Y and lighted Moda button are noisy when pressed.

• 13 hour battery life

For the price they are offering, the controller does not perform well even for a device that is specifically designed for Android. For the price, we would rather buy a PS3 controller and use an app that would allow the device to pair with an Android. Limiting users to a number of their games designed for the controller is rather too limited for most people; they just want to use a controller that allows them to play with their pre-purchased games from the Android app store.