Turtle Beach has always been a pioneer in the gaming industry. From reliable and robust headphones to a fantastic range of gaming accessories, Turtle Beach always tends to hit the mark regarding top-of-the-line gaming peripherals.
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The Atom Controller is yet another piece of technology that looks to meet and beat the industry standard. With the tactile joy-cons, high-quality buttons and triggers the Atom is a great choice for mobile cloud gaming. The version which is featured in this review is the Black/ Yellow model, however, the Atom comes in a few different colour schemes including Red/ Black and Black/Teal.
Atomic Power – What makes the Atom Controller Exceptional?
With the Atom, Turtle Beach has managed to take the clumsiness out of mobile gaming controllers, with a few simple but effective design choices. The main one that sticks out against the competition is that instead of it being a case or gamepad that attaches to your phone, it is two modules that slide on and off with ease. The decision to go with two detachable sections makes the Atom compact and easy to attach to your phone while on the go.
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The Atom was tested on a Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 7a with the slide-on sections fitting comfortably on both phones. The assistance of some handy, strong, built-in magnets mean that once attached, the controller modules aren’t coming off easily. For compatible phones with Android 8.0+ and Bluetooth 4.2 or later Turtle Beach recommends that they be between 67-92mm in length and 6-10.5mm, for the best user experience.
Syncing to compatible phones is also incredibly simple, with the aid of the Atoms 2.4GHz wireless connection modules, connecting via Bluetooth has never be easier. The Xbox Nexus button is located on the left section and by pressing it in for two seconds turns the left module of the Atom on. To turn on the right module repeat the previous step with the Menu button, to power up the controller fully. From there it is pretty simple to connect via Bluetooth. There is also a step-by-step quick start guide you can refer to that makes the process of connection as painless as possible.
The Atom provides a phenomenal low-latency gaming experience on Xbox Cloud Gaming. While testing it using mobile data and home internet to stream games to my device, I found that a Wi-fi connection provided a more reliable experience. However, even while using mobile data I was surprised at how smooth streaming games was even while using Bluetooth, as doing both simultaneously can be taxing on a mobile device.
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Weirdly the controller itself is only let down by the Xbox Game Pass that helps power your play, with cloud gaming through this service only accessible with a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. However, of course, you can use other cloud-based services such as GeForce Now or Steam Link with the Atom, but the Xbox Nexus and Menu buttons becoming little more than glorified fidget toys. Turtle Beach also recommend downloading the ‘ATOM APP’ to help fine tune your experience. The app gives you the chance to change stick responses, dead zones and make sure your device is updated with the latest firmware from Turtle Beach.
In terms of durability, the Atom is a solid piece of tech surviving many train and bus journeys over the time I’ve tested it. The sturdy nature of the controller combined with the exceptional battery life meant I was able to play many of my favourite games mid-transit. The only major issue I found with the Atom is that although it does hold a decent twenty-two hour battery life per two hours of charging, you can’t charge your phone while you play. What this means is that your phone will probably die off long before the Atom itself, resulting in a premature end to your gaming session.
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Overall, I would say that Turtle Beach is going for gold with this latest gaming peripheral. The Atom controller is one of the best cloud controllers on the market with a sleek colour scheme, comfortable-to-use buttons and joy-cons. Turtle Beach has spared no experience in getting the best bang for its buck with the Atoms design. Although the Xbox heavy design decisions and lack of a charging option for your phone may put off some players, the Atom is an excellent peripheral that turns any compatible phone into a handheld console.
8/10
The Turtle Beach Atom Controller was provided by LickPR.
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