GameSir G8 Plus

Verdict

The GameSir G8 Plus brings to top quality gaming controls to a wide range of devices. It’s not particularly compact, and the app needs work, but it’s arguably the most advanced all-round portable device controller available.

Introduction

Earlier this year we reviewed the GameSir G8 Galileo, which pretty much set a new standard for mobile phone game controllers with its Pro-level controls. The GameSir G8 Plus is essentially the same device, but it swaps out USB-C connectivity for Bluetooth.

This means that it requires power, unlike the GameSir G8 Galileo, and there are one or two other minor drawbacks. Conversely, with wireless connectivity in play, the G8 Plus becomes more than just a mobile phone game controller and becomes a portable device controller.

Besides Android and iOS, it’s designed to work seamlessly with the Nintendo Switch, replacing the Joy-Cons with a fully fleshed out set of controls. It can also be used as a generic Bluetooth or wired game controller for your PC or anything else that accepts such things.

At £64, GameSir has cut the price whilst appearing to offer a whole lot more flexibility. Is it really the portable gamer’s everything-controller that it appears to be?

Design

• Excellent mounting system
• Bluetooth means it works with almost everything
• Replaceable Hall Effect analogue sticks and controls

Like the GameSir G8 Galileo before it, the GameSir G8 Plus takes the form of a simple expanding mechanism flanked by two halves of a generic but well-appointed console controller.

With no USB-C plug to centre and pin your device, the first concern is over the stability of the G8 Plus. There’s really no need to worry, as the wide bridge, robust rubberised grips, and just-so pressure from the expanding section serves to clamp any device in place.

I tested the controller with an iPhone 15 Pro, a Redmagic 9S Pro, and a Nintendo Switch – three devices with very different sizes and shapes – and the G8 Plus remained securely locked on in each occasion.

You supposedly remove the rubber backing on the bridge section if your phone’s camera provides too chunky, but this proved rather too fiddly for my liking. It’s a shame GameSir didn’t implement some kind of magnetised system, like the one that removes the face plates of the control sections.

The latter feature has been implemented so that you can switch out the controls and analogue sticks. GameSir includes three spare analogue sticks of varying shapes, but the idea is that you can swap them out due to wear as much as feel.

With the G8 Plus also being Switch-friendly, it also means that you can swap around the X, Y, A and B buttons, as they default to the classic Xbox/PC configuration. There’s a remapping option in the free GameSir app to seal the deal.

Just like the G8 Galileo and very much unlike the BackBone One, this isn’t the kind of controller you throw in your pocket. It’s a chunky hunk of solidly-built plastic that will require a decent-sized back compartment. At 314g, it’s more than 60g heavier than its USB-C brother, thanks to the need for a 1000mAh battery (made up of two 500mAh cells) and Bluetooth components.

The ergonomics and control layout will be very familiar to Xbox gamers, and GameSir has even found space for a pair of mappable buttons on the rear of the controller – though the process for doing this is a little fiddly.

With no physical link up, you don’t get the pass-through 3.5mm headphone jack of the G8 Galileo, so you’ll need to add another Bluetooth device to the equation if you want proper audio. That’s perhaps the biggest reason to go with the G8 Galileo if you’re a pure mobile gamer, alongside the latter’s plug and play directness.

There is a USB-C port in the same location, alongside a pairing button, but that’s purely for charging the controller itself. Unlike the G8 Galileo, you can’t charge or power your phone whilst it’s inserted in the clamp, though of course the Switch’s bottom-mounted USB-C port makes such a thing viable. With Bluetooth connectivity, you can also take your device out of the controller’s clamp and continue using it.

Performance and Gaming experience

• Outstanding Hall Effect analogue sticks
• Nice clicky D-pad
• Bonus controls around back

I said it in the GameSir G8 Galileo review, and I’ll repeat it here: GameSir makes the best pure mobile gaming controls on the market. It’s not just the full-sized nature and dimensions of the control sections, but also the sheer quality.

It’s every inch a match for a high quality console controller. Indeed, in the case of the G8 Plus’s Hall Effect analogue sticks, it’s even better than the default Xbox and PS5 provisions.

To cut a long story short, Hall Effect analogue sticks aren’t susceptible to the stick drift problems that all bundled in controllers eventually suffer from. Stick drift is that annoying thing that happens with a well-used controller when an input is registered even when you’re not touching the controls. It’s not an issue here.

The sticks are well calibrated, making first person games like Warzone Mobile (on Android) and Void Bastards (on Switch) play beautifully, while I was able to guide Mario around in Super Mario Galaxy on the Switch with way more deftness than on the Joy-Cons.

On top of the controller there are well-sprung and super-grippy analogue trigger buttons (also Hall Effect), which are great with racing games and shooters.

The D-pad, meanwhile, is a brilliantly clicky and solidly planted example with a nice level of travel, making it great for fast-paced 2D fare like Dead Cells (pick your platform).

Talking of which, the process of switching between platforms isn’t as intuitive as it could be. You’ll need to hold the little circle button below the D-pad in conjunction with one of the buttons for each, but I was constantly having to check back in the annoying fold-out manual (though you can also find it online) to see which was which. Couldn’t you have given us a simple physical switch, GameSir?

Once you do connect, switching between multiple platforms works well, and it’ll even wake your Switch when in the appropriate mode.

In addition to generic Bluetooth for iOS, Android and PC (signified by a blue light); Android-specific for interoperation with the GameSir app (yellow light); and Nintendo Switch (red light); there’s a fourth mode for those mobile games that don’t technically support controllers. This one lets you map the touch inputs to controls, though you’ll need to navigate GameSir’s sub-optimal software to do so.

GameSir has also included its own haptic motors, so you won’t have to miss out on that immersive factor. It can’t hope to match the nuanced wonder of the PS5’s DualSense controller, but it provides good solid vibrations nonetheless.

Software

• GameSir app provides access to all your games
• TouchSync supports games with no controller support
• Streaming service support

The GameSir G8 Plus is less reliant on the free GameSir app than the Galileo. Indeed, if you’re predominantly buying it as a Switch controller, you won’t need it at all.

With that said, it’s on mobile platforms where you can access most of the controller’s features, and that means tackling that GameSir app.

Thankfully, it’s an improvement on my experience with the G8 Galileo. I managed to get the iOS app recognising it this time, at least, though this is still an Android-first device. Features like cloud backup configuration won’t work on modern builds of iOS, for example.

Even back on Android, though, this isn’t the tightest UI around. It lacks the style and intuitiveness of BackBone’s console-aping UI, with jumble of symbols that are still not perfectly configured for navigation with the controller itself.

As before, there’s a Discover page that serves as a pretty ugly storefront for recommended games, guiding you through an ugly individual game listing before sending you back to the Google Play store to download them. Or, in the case of Fortnite, sending you to a non-existent Google Play Store listing where you can’t download it.

There were no instances of random Mandarin text this time, which is progress, but I did experience a consistent glitch in which a a “Failed to Get Configuration” message appeared every time I entered the Trigger Settings section, and an inability to hit the Quick Trigger Switch toggles that would turn these analogue controls into digital ones.

All in all, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to make a UI that’s worthy of GameSir’s impeccable hardware.

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