![]() ![]() If you need help redeeming the trial to your Microsoft account, check here. If you still need to redeem your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate trial from a Backbone One - Standard Edition for iOS purchase, check here. The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate free trial perk is only available for customers who purchased the Backbone One - Standard Edition for iOS from an authorized reseller. And obviously a whole lot more if you use that cash on digital indie games from the PlayStation Store.Before getting started, you'll need a Microsoft account with an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Subscription. With the $130/£130 you’re saving not buying a PlayStation Portal, you could probably buy at least three new AAA PS5 games for that. With all that said, if you are privileged enough to have strong interwebs, I’d recommend the Backbone One at this lovely Cyber Monday discounted price without reservation. Again, like the Portal, the Backbone is a device I’d suggest using with your home Wi-Fi only. I’m lucky enough to have access to pretty much the best internet speeds in the UK, something I definitely don’t take for granted. Of course, if your broadband sucks, you’re not going to have a great time with either the Backbone One or the PlayStation Portal. There was some occasional, fairly mild stuttering, but that’s the only thing that has ever so slightly blotted the Backbone’s copybook during my time with it. Image quality for me was immaculate, with zero video artifacting, while I felt no discernable input lag. That said, I’m sure if you have a connection of at least 30 Mbps, you’ll have a good remote play experience with this brilliant gaming accessory. I’m lucky enough to have 1GB fiber optic, my PS5 is connected to my router through an ethernet cable and I was sitting all of 9 ft away from my console the entire time I was playing remote games on the Backbone. Just like the PlayStation Portal, your experience with the Backbone One will hinge entirely on how good your internet is. There are a couple of caveats I need to throw in, though. The screen on the iPhone 14 Pro is so good, it makes playing Snake’s sneak ‘em up far more pleasurable than on my 77-inch LG G3 OLED as it’s far harder to spot the game’s muddy textures on a small display. and I had a blast with all of them on the Backbone. I played Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Cyberpunk 2077 and even Metal Gear Solid 2 from the disastrous MGS: Master Collection Vol 1. Yet thanks to my iPhone’s perfect black levels, that’s such an easy sacrifice to make for this OLED obsessive. Sure, at 6.1-inches, I’m losing a fair bit of screen real estate compared to the 8-inch Portal. How could it not? This is an OLED screen with a resolution of 2556 x 1179, after all. I’ll go one further: the experience of playing titles remotely on my Apple cell phone looks stunning. ![]() Hoo-boy does playing games on the tag team of my iPhone 14 Pro and Backbone look specialĪnd hoo-boy does playing games on the tag team of my iPhone 14 Pro and Backbone look special. Oh, and as an added bonus, the Backbone One can also be paired with an iPad, Mac or PC where it functions as a reliable Bluetooth controller. Navigating through its menus is also a breeze thanks to the Backbone’s pleasingly responsive sticks. ![]() It lets you switch between PS Remote Play, Xbox Game Pass and even your PC library thanks to the additions of Nvidia GeForce Now and Steam Link. I primarily played single-player PS5 games on the Backbone over the weekend through the device’s official app, which is really well designed. The Portal’s panel may get admirably bright, but it can’t compete with the stunning, infinite blacks of OLED. Hell, every Apple mobile since the iPhone X has been treated to one. The main reason for that? My iPhone has an OLED screen. While it’s cool you get all the same haptic feedback and adaptive trigger features of a regular DualSense with the Portal, and that 8-inch LCD screen certainly looks vibrant, there’s just no way I could justify buying one when I own an iPhone Pro 14. Factor in the $199/£199 price of the Portal, and in my book, the Backbone make’s Sony’s first-party streaming gizmo a must-avoid product. It also has the official PlayStation logo on the back too, which makes it feel like a truly premium device. Thanks to a handy adapter that comes in the box that creates extra room for the camera on the back of my iPhone Pro 14, it fits my smartphone like the most elegant of gloves. I bought my Backbone on Black Friday and spent most of this past Sunday glued to the device. ![]()
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