Acer Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller

Introduction

The Acer Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller aims to throw the Taiwanese brand’s hat into the competitive ring of mobile game controllers.

We’ve seen this area of the market grow slowly but surely in recent years, as mobile gaming becomes a lot more competent with both phones and handheld consoles such as the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally X continue to take hold.

The Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller has some fierce competition at its modest £69.99 price tag, with the likes of the GameSir G8 Galileo and Backbone One beating Acer to market with a similar feature set as clever add-ons for phones for a more handheld console-style experience.

I’ve been testing Acer’s entry for the last couple of weeks to see how well it stacks up against those key rivals, and to find out how good it really is.

Design

• Smart two-tone chassis
• Solid compatibility with Android and iOS devices
• Familiar button layout

The Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller features the signature black and red colour scheme, and looks quite smart. It’s predominantly plastic and feels solid in-hand, with slight texturing on the reverse, which helps comfort.

Attaching devices is also easy. Similar to other mobile controllers, it expands to fit the size of your chosen device – Acer says it’ll work with mobile devices up to 8.3 inches in screen size, so it’ll fit all best phone choices around. This controller is also collapsible and folds in half for easy storage.

During my time with the Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller, I tested it with both my normal Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, as well as an Honor Magic V3 and Poco F7 Pro. With each phone, the controller fitted well with a secure fit thanks to the integrated USB-C port. 

The only issue was with the Magic V3 – when folded out, there was a large overhang of the phone on the bottom side, but that’s because of the form factor of a foldable. It may not have looked the best, but the controller still worked a treat.

The button layout is designed to be as similar to a ‘standard’ controller as possible for easy transition. It comes with a pair of rubberised thumbsticks in similar positions to those on Xbox controllers, as well as a D-Pad on the left side and ABXY buttons on the right. The top side also has shoulder buttons and small triggers.

Inside, the Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller has a USB-C port for connecting to an array of Android phones, as well as the latest iPhones. Acer also says it’s compatible with iPad.

There are also some rubberised portions to help the overall fitment and grip of the controller to your phone.

A neat addition to this controller is the presence of a USB-C port, which allows for up to 18w of charging power to be passed through from an external source to your phone, allowing you to play and charge at the same time.

The Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller is a little light on extra features against key rivals, such as swappable, hall-effect thumbsticks.

Performance

• Seamless setup with a variety of Android devices
• Clicky main and shoulder buttons, although triggers lacked some feeling
• Comfortable for extended sessions, as long as you’ve got smaller hands

During my time with the Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller, I was impressed with how easy it was to set up and how responsive it was in games. All I needed to do was plug the controller into my phone, and it was recognised as a controller in the games I tested, without a hitch.

I spent most of my time using it with Xbox’s Cloud Gaming feature, messing around in the likes of Forza Horizon 5 and EAFC 24. Here, the controller worked pretty much identically to an Xbox controller, with pretty responsive analogue sticks and clicky buttons.

The shoulder buttons are arguably some of the most tactile here, although I was less impressed with the triggers as they did lack a little bit of feeling when rushing across the desert in Forza Horizon 5 or crashing into other participants in Wreckfest.

The Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller’s form factor is such that it is familiar to use, but it is on the smaller side, so it may not be as suitable as key rivals for those with larger hands. As I have hands that are a little smaller, I had no issues here, but your mileage may vary.

Where the Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller is light against key rivals is with software, or any other extras. There quite simply isn’t any.

This is a little bit of a shame, as even rivals priced slightly higher have different gaming modes for different platforms, as well as standalone apps for providing help and guidance.

Should you buy it?