Mobile phones are the most used device in Spain to play, according to the latest data from Statista and it is not surprising, considering that practically everyone has one, and has many possibilities in this regard. There are great titles available for mobile, but cloud gaming platforms, such as GeForce NOW , are a great improvement in this section.
In fact, portable consoles that have Android as their operating system have already been launched on the market due to the great freedom it offers when playing. Models like the Razer Edge or the Logitech G Cloud are a good example of this, and can be highly recommended for those people who want a very powerful device to play with.
These are devices with great hardware for playing, but mobile phones can also be great. With a series of actions, it is possible to turn it into a kind of portable console, and the best thing is that you don’t need a high-end smartphone to get a good experience.
A good command
Touch controls can be interesting for some games, but in the vast majority of cases it is usually more comfortable to use a controller. It does not have to be a specific controller for Android , since it is possible to connect Xbox or PlayStation controllers with Android using its Bluetooth. There are also other generic controls that are inherently compatible with Android.
However, there are other types of controls designed specifically to work on mobile phones that can provide better grip and complementary software functions to make the experience more comfortable. An example is the Gamevice Flex or the Razer Kishi v2 Pro , a controller that we already analyzed that surprised us by its good performance and by having a wide variety of interesting functions such as virtual button mapping.
The controller is not only used to play compatible Android games, but cloud services are also compatible with devices that are connected to the mobile, so platforms such as those mentioned above are made to be compatible with the controller that I am connected to the device from which the user is accessing them.
Cloud services
The possibility of playing console games from your mobile phone is a reality and is something that has been made possible thanks to the use of cloud gaming services. These platforms have a fairly easy-to-understand operation that is based on running games on devices that can be controlled remotely from the mobile phone, tablet or portable console.
This means that it is only necessary to have a good internet connection and a device that meets the requirements of these apps. That is another of the great advantages of this type of services, since it is not necessary to have high-end hardware to use them. It is possible to enjoy great games that are not available in smartphone format, and brings titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2 , Death Stranding or the Assassin’s Creed saga closer to users who do not have a console.
There are some free alternatives , such as GeForce NOW, which allows you to play the titles in your catalog for free for one hour straight. Of course, this service requires that the user have previously purchased the games. However, other alternatives such as Game Pass Ultimate allow you to play a series of compatible games just by paying the monthly subscription, avoiding the extra cost of having to buy each game individually.
Use the PC from your phone
To use your phone as a portable console, you can also start the game you want on your computer by controlling it from your phone with a remote desktop app. There are even services like Shadow that directly allow you to control a high-end remote PC on which everyone can install the games they prefer.
Steam has an app called Steam Link with which you can play the games installed on your PC from your mobile, duplicating the screen, as long as they are on the same WiFi network. It is completely free, and you can add games purchased from other stores.
On the other hand, alternatives such as AnyDesk or Parsec that are capable of showing our computer’s desktop from anywhere, for which, yes, it must have been configured before and the computer must be turned on. The latency, in any case, will depend on the connection speed of both the computer and the device being used to play.
Send mobile screen
Android phones and tablets can also be connected to a monitor or a Smart TV that plays in a larger format, in the purest style of the Nintendo Switch . This is ideal when playing some titles with a lot of detail, since it allows you to emulate the experience you have with a tabletop console.
There are several ways to send the image. It is possible to do this using the Chromecast protocol , which is integrated into Smart TVs with Android TV. Using the DLNA protocol is also a possibility when the television does not have Chromecast integrated. However, these two options can cause latency to increase enough that the experience is no longer good.
Therefore, the best option here is to buy a cable with USB Type C and HDMI outputs , which will allow you to connect your mobile phone to one of these ports and see the signal on the television or monitor without depending on the strength of the WiFi signal. The mobile screen will continue to work, since it is a duplicate screen and not an extension. Some devices, such as Samsung, are capable of launching a specific desktop version of the system that greatly improves usability.
