Nyko Playpad Wireless Game Controller for Android Tablets and Smart Phones
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About this item
- Easily control your favorite tablet games with console like precision
- Optimized HID protocol for Tegra 3 based devices and games
- Includes Nyko's free Playground app with the ability to customize controller layout and download game profiles for older titles
- Playground supports the following controller input: Keyboard Mapping, Mouse, Touch Event Mapping
- HID, Keyboard mapping, and mouse emulation make PlayPad compatible with 100s of titles
Product information
| ASIN | B0092ZEIN4 |
|---|---|
| Release date | October 1, 2012 |
| Customer Reviews |
3.4 out of 5 stars |
| Product Dimensions | 6.5 x 1.97 x 5.51 inches; 7.04 Ounces |
| Type of item | Video Game |
| Language | English |
| Item model number | 80691 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Item Weight | 7 ounces |
| Manufacturer | Nyko |
| Date First Available | August 21, 2012 |
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Product Description
Bring the console experience anywhere and everywhere with the PlayPad for Android based tablets. The PlayPad is a travel sized wireless Bluetooth controller with specialized tablet stand and carry case designed to work with a multitude of today's top Android titles. Featuring dual analog stick, d-pad, 4 face buttons, left and right dual shoulder/trigger buttons the PlayPad has all the necessary tools to tackle any game. Designed in conjunction with NVIDIA the PlayPad is compatible with numerous high-end mobile games optimized for Tegra-powered devices. For expanded compatibility, the PlayPad works with Nyko's free Android app, called Playground, to provide backwards compatibility for the PlayPad Pro with legacy tablet titles, including those that currently utilize keyboard mapping, touch mapping and mouse support. Playground provides profile management for customized control schemes, as well as pre-set profiles for top selling and popular games. The PlayPad Pro works with any Android 3.0 device or higher with Bluetooth.
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Everything was breeze. Easy to charge and quick to link up with both items via Bluetooth.
I mainly use this for Retro game apps which run MAME, Sega Genesis, NES, SNES and others. The Playpad works great if you have a break at work, even if you need to pass the time on a road trip or just to kill off an hour of time.
My apps allowed me to program the buttons without any Nyko app. Please note this may be different for other popular games, but if these little apps work fine with the controller, I don't see why some of the more advanced games would have a problem.
This also is a great controller for anyone not looking to be directly connected to your phone. The controller allows you to sit back and view your tablet or phone from a comfortable distance.
The only thing would be it might be a small controller and it can cause a slight cramp if played for an extended time.
The controller comes with a carrying case and with a stand for your phone or tablet. Both are handy for being on the go or just sitting up for home use.
Since there really isn't a large amount of Bluetooth controllers, this would be a solid choice for the money. I was able to get it for about $25.00 and I'm pleased with the results.
In Gamepad/HID mode the controller is very fast and reliable, but the button mappings are strange in Windows. The D-pad actually sends keyboard arrow key inputs instead of gamepad directional inputs, the trigger buttons on the back don't work at all, and the back and home buttons send commands to any open web browser (or open a new one) that send your currently focused page a "go back" command or "go to home page" command respectively. My browser tries to load my home page about 500 times while trying to turn the controller off since you have to hold the home button a few seconds to do so.
The mouse mode seems to work well. It's hard to mess up a mode that just inches a cursor around the screen.
In Android mode the controller works very well, though the trigger button inputs are still absent. The Playground software, even when it is able to sync with your controller, seems to be unable to update the firmware or program any button profile changes into the controller since it can't determine the firmware version. Make sure you start the Playground software before turning on or pairing the controller or it won't find the controller to sync with it. I was hoping I could remap the errant buttons that were giving Windows so much grief using the Playground software but until the firmware issues are resolved, I don't see that happening.
This could be a very nice device if it came with reasonable defaults or a way to change *anything* about it. Be prepared to either have your games work perfectly or not at all until Nyko releases a way to configure their device. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt about all my DOA playpads since they all seemed to come from the same possibly faulty batch, which is understandable.
Good luck. :)
Next, I decided to load up Nyko's Playground software from the Google Play Store. Terrible, terrible idea.
Nyko's Playground software is meant to allow you to program your Playpad for any games that don't natively support their controller. It does nothing of the sort. Not only is the app very unnecessarily confusing, but it doesn't work. At all. Nyko doesn't even deny this fact. Their app is officially in BETA, but as far as I'm concerned it shouldn't even be considered an alpha build at this point. It just doesn't work, period.
So after realizing that the software didn't work, I decided to go ahead and continue to use the Playpad and use the controller on games that DO natively support it. I powered the Playpad on, and it wouldn't sync via Bluetooth any longer. I tried every conceivable trick or workaround to get it to work again, but no go. A quick Google search revealed that this is a common problem after loading the Playground software with MANY android devices, and the only satisfactory resolution is to do a full factory reset of your Android device. That's what I ended up having to do. Worked like a charm again after a factory reset but I'd be EXTREMELY hesitant to load up the Nyko Playground software ever again. Even when it's out of Beta and is supposedly 'officially' working.
If I never bothered trying to use the Playground software I would've given this controller 4/5 stars. It's solidly constructed and works very well for games that natively support it. Because of the headaches caused by the Playground software, however, I can't feel comfortable rating this higher than 2 stars.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in Italy on January 5, 2015
Resumiendo: un buen producto fatalmente rematado. No lo recomiendo en absoluto.
Por cierto, a lo mejor tuve mala suerte pero necesité 3 cambios para conseguir un mando que funcionase, los 2 primeros me vinieron directamente muertos, al parecer este producto tiene bastantes problemas con la alimentación/batería. Afortunadamente en ese aspecto Amazon funciona de lujo y no tuve ningún problema con los cambios, excepto por las molestias de necesitar 3 envíos/devoluciones para un sólo producto.
It's loads of fun. I'm glad I bought it.
Und das war es schon mit den guten Punkten, denn das Playpad tut leider nicht das was es soll. Ich habe mich an die Anleitung gehalten, und zuerst mal die Nyko Playground App auf meinem Nexus 7 installiert, welche dafür da ist, um Key-Mapping-Profile für Spiele zu erstellen, die der Controller sonst nicht unterstützen würde. Als ich versucht habe ein solches Profil für die Mupen64-App (N64-Emulator) zu erstellen, sollte ich im Anschluss den Controller mit der App synchronisieren. Der Vorgang funktioniert das erste Mal, aber im Anschluss wird immer gesagt, dass der Controller nicht verbunden sei.
Das ganze kann man solange wiederholen, bis der Synchronisierungs-Vorgang irgendwann zwischen 25% und 50% einfach stehen bleibt und nichts mehr passiert.
Ich habe dann natürlich das Orakel befragt, und habe einige Foren gefunden, in denen andere Leute dieselben Probleme hatten. Anscheinend kann der Controller nicht richtig per Bluetooth verbunden werden, sobald die Nyko-App installiert wurde. Auch eine Deinstallation der App bringt keinen Erfolg. Die einzige Lösung ist, das Tablet komplett zurückszusetzen, was ich dann auch getan habe. Im Anschluss habe ich das ganze ohne Nyko-App versucht, was auch relativ gut funktioniert hat. Leider kann man so weder den rechten Analog-Stick, noch die unteren Schultertasten belegen. Auch dieses Problem kann man oftmals in diversen Foren lesen.
Als ich dann endlich spielen konnte, ist mir leider noch aufgefallen, dass die Analog-Sticks sehr schwergängig sind, was es einem nicht ermöglicht, diese nur leicht zu bewegen. Dadurch hat man nur die Wahl zwischen den Stellungen "Mitte" oder "Vollgas"
Somit hat das Gerät aus meiner Sicht komplett versagt. Hier noch eine kurze Liste mit Pro und Kontra:
Pro:
- Gute Verarbeitung
- Standfuß
- Transportbox
- Gutes Design
Kontra:
- zugehörige App sehr schlecht umgesetzt (offiziell BETA)
- nach Installation der App keine BT-Verbindung
- bei manuellem Key-Mapping funktioniert weder der rechte Analog-Stick noch die unteren Schulter-Tasten
