Bethany
Empress of Light
Some time ago I bought a Moga Pro Power controller to use with my Android phone, a Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD. I really want to recommend this controller. When it works it's soooo nice! Sorry to say, from time to time I wish I'd returned it for a refund while I still could. Here's the story.
Physically it's a wonderful device. Its size, shape, weight, control layout, joystick and button spring tension, and overall feel in the hands are all nearly identical to the Microsoft XBox 360 controller, which I consider an excellent piece of kit. When holding it I get an impression of solidity. It doesn't feel like a cheap knockoff, nor should it because it's fairly pricey. When I bought mine it cost a lot more.
Built-in battery
Along with acting as a game controller it's got another trick up its sleeve, or rather inside its case: a 2200 milliamp-hour battery that not only powers the controller, you can connect it to most Android phones or tablets using the included USB-to-micro-USB connector. During a recent power outage I used this to preserve my phone's charge, and it worked just fine.
However, if I clip my phone into the provided spring-loaded arm that folds out from the top of the controller, the micro USB connector interferes with the right-side trigger and shoulder buttons. The only way to avoid this is to have the arm grip the phone waaay off center, which unbalances the whole thing and looks awfully inelegant. A shame since by itself it looks nice enough.
So I don't use the battery to run the phone, except when not actually playing games. Oh well. No biggie.
Connecting to Android devices
You can't just connect via Bluetooth and start playing. For your game to use the Pro Power, you must install and run Moga's "Pivot" app, available free at the Google Play store. For full functionality the game must also have been written to interface to the Pro Power.
Before starting your game, you must start Pivot, go through a simple syncing operation involving choosing a controller mode — A for full features, B for simpler generic HID mode. Moving the mode selector switch to A makes the power LED glow green, while the four blue player-select LEDs blink until connected. When they stop blinking and glow steady blue you're synced.
For mode B the power LED will be orange but the rest of the connection process is the same. Terraria supports mode A, so that's what I use.
Though Terraria isn't displayed anywhere in the Pivot app's listing of compatible games, when I perform the sync operation to connect the Moga to my phone, then start Terraria, a console-style help bar appears across the bottom of Terraria's display, showing currently active button assignments. These change as you enter and exit various game screens so you can always see which button does what.
Playing Terraria with Moga
Okay, so I've gone through the sync procedure and started the game. So far so good. Let's play.
I don't use consoles but wouldn't be surprised if the control assignments are the same as those on the XBox version of Terraria. It takes a little while to get used to if you're mostly a PC player, or if you've used only the on-screen controller pads in Terraria. After a few minutes muscle memory starts learning how to do common tasks and game play begins to feel reasonably natural.
Chop some trees. Yeah! Mine some ore, smelt it. Craft a sword and some armor and it's time to–
☁⌁✻₪#★!!!!
Oh crud. The blue LEDs are blinking again and the control's gone non-responsive. No worries, I'll just go back to Pivot and reconnect and everything will be hunky-dory. Right?
Well, maybe not.
In Pivot I unsync from the controller, then go through the sync process again. Except this time after the controller's LEDs show that a connection has been established, Pivot doesn't agree. After thirty seconds or so, Pivot displays a message telling me that Pivot can't find the controller. Try again. No dice, still won't sync.
Okay, so I shut down Terraria (using touchscreen, since the buttons no longer do anything), close Pivot, then restart both. Go through the little sync song and dance again, back to Android to start Terraria anew, maybe shut Pivot down and restart it two or three more times, and eventually I get synced.
Sure enough, after a few minutes of play those blue LEDs are blinking again and the connection is lost.
The Speaker relinquishes the podium
Maybe it's Bluetooth interference. Sure, the phone is just centimeters from the controller, presumably as close to the controller's Bluetooth antenna as the designers could arrange. But a decent speaker (Jawbone Big Jambox or Mini Jambox, depending on where I'm playing) isn't really necessary to play Terraria, so I try using the phone's built-in speaker.
After switching the Jambox off the Moga seems to get a more reliable connection. I'm able to play for a while, and things seem to work right. It's annoying that I can't use my favorite speakers, but maybe that's the price of using a good hardware controller.
On the fence
At this point I'm torn between loving the Pro Power's form and solidity and being frustrated with the instability of the Pro Power-Pivot team, possibly due to interference from other Bluetooth connections.
Anyone who is considering buying one of these controllers should ask whether they'll be able to get a full refund if it turns out not to be reliable in combination with their phone, tablet, or other Android device. Keep the packaging in as good condition as you can, since few stores will give a 100% refund if they can't display and resell (often with an open-box discount) the returned item.
I'll play longer and report back on how things go. If all goes well I'll try connecting to the Big Jambox again for superior sound, and we'll see whether it's the combination that causes trouble.
I'll also test the Pro Power with an Android tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. Naturally it won't fit in the controller's clip, but otherwise I anticipate it will behave similarly to the Droid. More on that later.
How about you?
I welcome input from anyone else who uses, or has used, a Moga Pro Power on Android. I'd also be interested to hear from Apple device users who've tried the very similar Moga Rebel for iOS. Naturally I'm especially interested to hear from people who encountered and perhaps overcame Bluetooth difficulties.
Physically it's a wonderful device. Its size, shape, weight, control layout, joystick and button spring tension, and overall feel in the hands are all nearly identical to the Microsoft XBox 360 controller, which I consider an excellent piece of kit. When holding it I get an impression of solidity. It doesn't feel like a cheap knockoff, nor should it because it's fairly pricey. When I bought mine it cost a lot more.
Built-in battery
Along with acting as a game controller it's got another trick up its sleeve, or rather inside its case: a 2200 milliamp-hour battery that not only powers the controller, you can connect it to most Android phones or tablets using the included USB-to-micro-USB connector. During a recent power outage I used this to preserve my phone's charge, and it worked just fine.
However, if I clip my phone into the provided spring-loaded arm that folds out from the top of the controller, the micro USB connector interferes with the right-side trigger and shoulder buttons. The only way to avoid this is to have the arm grip the phone waaay off center, which unbalances the whole thing and looks awfully inelegant. A shame since by itself it looks nice enough.
So I don't use the battery to run the phone, except when not actually playing games. Oh well. No biggie.
Connecting to Android devices
You can't just connect via Bluetooth and start playing. For your game to use the Pro Power, you must install and run Moga's "Pivot" app, available free at the Google Play store. For full functionality the game must also have been written to interface to the Pro Power.
Before starting your game, you must start Pivot, go through a simple syncing operation involving choosing a controller mode — A for full features, B for simpler generic HID mode. Moving the mode selector switch to A makes the power LED glow green, while the four blue player-select LEDs blink until connected. When they stop blinking and glow steady blue you're synced.
For mode B the power LED will be orange but the rest of the connection process is the same. Terraria supports mode A, so that's what I use.
Though Terraria isn't displayed anywhere in the Pivot app's listing of compatible games, when I perform the sync operation to connect the Moga to my phone, then start Terraria, a console-style help bar appears across the bottom of Terraria's display, showing currently active button assignments. These change as you enter and exit various game screens so you can always see which button does what.
Playing Terraria with Moga
Okay, so I've gone through the sync procedure and started the game. So far so good. Let's play.
I don't use consoles but wouldn't be surprised if the control assignments are the same as those on the XBox version of Terraria. It takes a little while to get used to if you're mostly a PC player, or if you've used only the on-screen controller pads in Terraria. After a few minutes muscle memory starts learning how to do common tasks and game play begins to feel reasonably natural.
Chop some trees. Yeah! Mine some ore, smelt it. Craft a sword and some armor and it's time to–
☁⌁✻₪#★!!!!
Oh crud. The blue LEDs are blinking again and the control's gone non-responsive. No worries, I'll just go back to Pivot and reconnect and everything will be hunky-dory. Right?
Well, maybe not.
In Pivot I unsync from the controller, then go through the sync process again. Except this time after the controller's LEDs show that a connection has been established, Pivot doesn't agree. After thirty seconds or so, Pivot displays a message telling me that Pivot can't find the controller. Try again. No dice, still won't sync.
Okay, so I shut down Terraria (using touchscreen, since the buttons no longer do anything), close Pivot, then restart both. Go through the little sync song and dance again, back to Android to start Terraria anew, maybe shut Pivot down and restart it two or three more times, and eventually I get synced.
Sure enough, after a few minutes of play those blue LEDs are blinking again and the connection is lost.
The Speaker relinquishes the podium
Maybe it's Bluetooth interference. Sure, the phone is just centimeters from the controller, presumably as close to the controller's Bluetooth antenna as the designers could arrange. But a decent speaker (Jawbone Big Jambox or Mini Jambox, depending on where I'm playing) isn't really necessary to play Terraria, so I try using the phone's built-in speaker.
After switching the Jambox off the Moga seems to get a more reliable connection. I'm able to play for a while, and things seem to work right. It's annoying that I can't use my favorite speakers, but maybe that's the price of using a good hardware controller.
On the fence
At this point I'm torn between loving the Pro Power's form and solidity and being frustrated with the instability of the Pro Power-Pivot team, possibly due to interference from other Bluetooth connections.
Anyone who is considering buying one of these controllers should ask whether they'll be able to get a full refund if it turns out not to be reliable in combination with their phone, tablet, or other Android device. Keep the packaging in as good condition as you can, since few stores will give a 100% refund if they can't display and resell (often with an open-box discount) the returned item.
I'll play longer and report back on how things go. If all goes well I'll try connecting to the Big Jambox again for superior sound, and we'll see whether it's the combination that causes trouble.
I'll also test the Pro Power with an Android tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. Naturally it won't fit in the controller's clip, but otherwise I anticipate it will behave similarly to the Droid. More on that later.
How about you?
I welcome input from anyone else who uses, or has used, a Moga Pro Power on Android. I'd also be interested to hear from Apple device users who've tried the very similar Moga Rebel for iOS. Naturally I'm especially interested to hear from people who encountered and perhaps overcame Bluetooth difficulties.
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