I kickstarted the MCON — short for magnetic controller — pretty much right when it was announced. I thought the concept was cool and the design was well thought-out. It also took me back to a “close enough: welcome back, Xperia Play” place of nostalgia. At early-bird pricing it wasn’t too costly for me, so it was a bit of a no-brainer. And then I waited. And waited. And waited… The kickstarter was early 2025, but I didn’t actually *receive* my MCON until two weeks into 2026. And, uh. A bit has changed since then. --- To get it out of the way early: the MCON is a good piece of hardware. It’s solid and well-built, and the way you attach it to your phone is intuitive. It’s better for iPhones overall, since it’s based around magsafe technology, but it works if you have a magsafe android case too. And if you don’t, the box comes with a magsafe sticker you can put on your case too.[^1] You can readjust the puck on the MCON so it can fit on all manner of phones, as long as they’re somewhat normally sized. It even fit on my [[Thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy Fold 6|Fold 6]] (although it hardly mattered — more on that in a bit). The magnet is strong, so you don’t have to worry about your phone sliding off while you use it. Press the metal button on the top of the controller, and the puck will slide out, revealing the controller underneath. The controls themselves are fine. The buttons aren’t too clicky-clacky, and you have all the options you’d see on a standard PlayStation or Xbox controller. On its own, it’s not particularly ergonomic if you’re planning on playing games that are thumbstick heavy. They’re too close to each other, and you end up needing to keep a tighter grip on the controller overall. But You can offset this using the extendable flaps on the back of the MCON. Doing this lets you grip it more like the aforementioned standard controllers, which is very nice. The worst buttons are the shoulder buttons and triggers. I can’t describe how tiny the damn shoulder buttons are. They’re thin and short and annoying to use in games that ask you to use them frequently. The triggers are a little bigger, but they just don’t feel great to press. I feel like I have to squeeze them all the way to get any input out of them, which is irritating. The MCON a bluetooth controller, which would be annoying if it wasn’t so responsive. It automatically activates its bluetooth when you slide the puck out, and turns itself off when you slide it together again. No issues there. You can even slide the backplate off of the MCON and turn it into a stand for your phone, letting you use the controller as you play like a little TV set-up. It’s unexpectedly comfy. Overall the MCON is an engineering marvel. I’d use it all the time…if it had come out like 6 months earlier. See the thing is between this kickstarter and the long wait, I ended up getting that Fold 6 I mentioned. And it turns out there’s a limit to what you can do with an MCON that attaches to a tablet-like phone. To be clear, the MCON *is* usuable with the Fold, which is a marvel in and of itself. It just feels and looks like ass. ![[Thoughts on the MCON-1768869737394.png]] The folded screen is way too narrow to play games, so the only way to really do it is by unfolding the phone. Doing that makes an already large set-up become gargantuan. It gets way too top-heavy, and even using the paddles on the sides of the controller doesn’t help much. I could feel the tell-tale pangs of pain that come from ulnar nerve strain, which is a painful experience that I don’t want to live out again any time soon. The MCON is also pretty chonky on its own. Coupled with a thin phone, that might not be so bad. But putting this thing on an already thick boi leads to an uncomfortable sandwich situation. ![[Thoughts on the MCON-1768869959147.png]] The last major con isn’t really the MCON’s fault, but it is worth bringing up, in my opinion: gaming on your phone just kinda sucks, still. On the surface, there’s no real difference between this and a [[Less Doomscrolling More Silly Lil Tech Toys|silly little tech toy]]. But your Anbernic device isn’t going to send you text message notifications, or remind you about work you need to do, or distract you with a live pop-up from a streamer you follow. Those rectangles are not of God, existing to take you out of an experience whenever it can. The exact opposite of what you should be having happen when you play videogames. If none of that applies to you, then the MCON would be a great choice. Except for the fact that it’s ***$150*** now. If you only play games on your phone, that might still make it a worthwhile purchase, but that’s the same price as something like a Retroid Pocket Classic. It might be slightly less powerful than your phone, but it’s nearly the same size as an MCON anyways, while providing a more pleasant experience. So what’s the point in getting this thing? Therein lies the problem. I simply don’t think an MCON is worth it unless you truly only play games on your phone. But I’d question whether it wouldn’t be worth it to just stop doing that and get a handheld instead. Maybe I’m showing my bias here but still…anyways, I’m still getting use out of the MCON, actually — it’s a great lightweight bluetooth controller that I plan to just keep in my bag when I travel for work. I bring a Samsung Tablet around with me as I travel, and it works surprisingly well for that use-case. But I’d be pissed if I was describing a $150 use-case right now, instead of the early bird price. While an incredible piece of engineering, I can’t recommend the MCON to the average person. [^1]: you could put it on your phone, but it’s likely not gonna work, to be clear