XBOX Series X

From what I’ve read, backbone seems like the way to go if you’ll be gaming mostly on your iPhone!

It’s what I’m also leaning towards too, though I have far fewer reasons to get one, especially since @Alexxxxx shared that tip earlier!

One point in favour of backbone may be the free month of gamepass ultimate that comes with it, which I don’t believe you can get with Kishi. Kishi is more widely available though, so you may find one discounted somewhere.

I’ve been looking, but can’t really find any differences between the two, other than build quality maybe. The Kishi has some plastic nubs on the back which hold the phone, apparently; while the Backbone doesn’t seem to collapse as much as the Kishi

If there aren’t any differences I’m missing, I think the Kishi may be the way to go since it seems like it would deal with being thrown in a bag better

Haven’t bought yet but I’m firmly leaning towards Backbone.

The grips look/sound comfier, given they extend down like a console controller, whereas the Kishi seems to be more square like a switch?

Not huge for me personally but Backbone has a 3.5mm audio jack on it.

Main thing which appeals to me though is the Backbone app - which appears to act as a launcher for all your games/apps. I play stuff from Apple Arcade, just regular paid games, and ofc Xbox streaming too, so this seems quite cool and handy. Plug in the controller, press the button, and boom, into a games dashboard just like a console.

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Tried it last night. It’s at least as magical as some of the things Apple labels as such!

All the time I waste on here, justified in a single post!

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In addition to what @Alexxxxx says above, the key one for me is ergonomics. Backbone looks comfy. Probably more comfy than a switch. Kishi doesn’t look at all comfortable, and it looks uglier too.

Guess someone is gonna have to actually take the plunge soon and let everyone else know how their chosen option is :grimacing:

On Amazon the Kishi is only £79. I might take the plunge and update people, although my heart says Backbone. Tough one!

The other thing holding me back is the iPhone 13 and whether we’ll still have lightning (most likely to be honest)

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Yeah I’d be fairly confident re lightning for another year at least.

Well… let us know if you do :eyes:

I may drop some hints re the Backbone for my bday (only about 5 weeks away now).

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I think lightning will go away soon, the question is how soon. There are rumours it’ll be the iPhone 13, some say 14, personally, I think it’ll be iPhone 15, but that’s a plain guess based on the current design life cycle. It feels like the sort of thing you’d do when you redesign the chassis. That matches with when lightning was first introduced with the iPhone 5 in 2012. ETA: had to double check here, but iPad’s move away from lightning came with the new squared edge chassis too.

With that said, iPhone 14 will be the same iteration in this design life cycle as the infamous iPhone 7 that did away with the headphone port. And will also be the phone released 10 years after the first iPhone with the lightning port, the length of time Apple committed to supporting the port.

Personally I’m in the camp of waiting for a potential Bluetooth version, or for the inevitable magsafe reverse charging to allow for a magsafe version. But I really don’t need one of these because I mostly use my iPad for this stuff, I just kinda want it.

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So having seen some videos of both, I’m not convinced either way… the Kishi is very… floppy? The middle bit is just an elasticated flat data cable, there is no rigidity to the body of the controller which raises questions of durability

The Backbone though, is very wide, even when collapsed. Not sure if I’d feel comfortable just chucking it in my bag when my stop is coming up on a train. Hmm… maybe I shouldn’t be playing on xCloud on the train? :laughing:

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Switch is probably better on a train when cellular connectivity can get patchy as you move between towers!

In all honesty, when I have a train journey, I plan things meticulously that I can do to pass the time. Then I’ll wind up just listening to music and podcasts and the planned games or films never get touched!

What happens when your skull fort takes longer than expected because some blasted no good pirates decide they want to steal your loot! It’s either miss your stop or forfeit your hard earned loot to those rotten to the core scallywags!

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Before I stock up on XBL Gold gift cards, I just wanted to ask if anyone knows whether the Gold to Gamepass Ultimate conversion works even if I have, in the past, converted?

I’m not 100% on this, but I believe it does. Unlike the initial 1:1 conversion though when the system was first introduced, I believe it’s now pro-rata.

Edit: I am now 100% on this because I found the table from Microsoft!

I think that’s if you already have Ultimate and add on some Gold.

If you have Gold and then add Ultimate on top I believe it converts at 1:1.

@ndrw mentioned having already converted in the past, so I believe that makes them subject to the pro-rata conversion ratio.

If the subscription has lapsed, and they’re not currently a gamepass ultimate subscriber then I think we’re in a grey area that isn’t properly referenced in any FAQ or terms.

It’s weird, but personally I’d err on the cautious side and assume you need to be new to gamepass ultimate to get the 1:1 rate for £1. With that said, way back before I committed to gamepass full time, I was considered new often enough to take advantage of new customer trials quite regularly (£1 for 3 months). So it’s possible this loophole of sorts will work for converting too, in that if the subscriptions has ended, it may be treated as new to convert again and so will get the 1:1 rate for £1

What I’d do is hedge this slightly. Buy a 1 month gold card, go through the conversion process, see what conversion rate you’re offered but don’t proceed with the conversion. If you get the 1:1 rate, go all in. If you don’t then convert your month of gold and don’t bother buying any more. I think 1 month for 20 days is a fair conversion rate for the price anyway, especially if you get one on the cheap or for free, so you’re not really losing anything from trying it.

Thanks both! I can confirm that as of today, 1:1 conversion still works if you don’t have an active Gamepass subscription

I was able to get 2 years of GPU for £70 (2x12 month Gold gift cards from CDKeys). I could’ve gotten three years but PayPal blocked my account (I suppose buying game codes from CDKeys must be a common fraud thing with stolen accounts) and after unblocking and unsuccessfully trying Apple Pay, I decided to cut my losses

Hope my cards/accounts won’t be locked down due to trying for a third time!

I did have to pay £10.99 though instead of £1

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Thought so, but good to know for sure.

I’m currently on the 3 month free trial but have a 5 year old 12 Month Gold card which I’ll be redeeming once it’s ended.

May just grab the two extra years too and then convert.

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I recommend trying to convert with 1 first to be safe, but as @N26throwaway says, don’t go through with it. It’ll tell you how long you’ll get so if it’s what you expect, you can go ahead and add other gift cards

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I got the Kishi a couple of months ago (for Steam Link purposes). Returned it almost immediately.

Build quality seemed really poor- buttons were very mushy, and had a lot of wobble.

Thoroughly not recommended from me.

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Something shady is definitely going down with CDKeys, and it might be issues arising from that that’s causing PayPal to lock accounts. After the palaver I had last time I used them, I’ll never be going back! I tend to buy a lot when there are good offers to save in the long run, but I think they assume I’m going to resell or commit fraud.

Eneba is the place I go to these days for codes. Much nicer experience than CDKeys