What is the Logitech Powershell?
It sounds like a battery pack, but the Logitech Powershell is exciting because it's one of the first game controllers to use Apple's official controller APIs – the official gamepad mappings for iOS games. It does have a battery too, because those games are not easy on a phone's stamina.
This 16-bit style controller is likely to cost around £80 in the UK. Read on for more.
Logitech Powershell – Design and Features
iOS controllers in all sorts of shapes and sizes have been around for years, but Apple has only recently introduced its own controller mappings for developers to use. And it has single-handedly solved the problem of these gamepads – that few develeopers bothered to make pad mappings for piddly little third-party systems.
The Logitech Powershell is one of the first to use Apple's new mappings.
Your iPhone or iPod touch slots into the Powershell, and there are rubbery inserts included to fit any of the smaller Apple devices with a Lightning port – including the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. This is not a wireless gamepad, so there's no tricky setup involved beyond bunging your phone in.
In the hand it feels pretty good. The integrated 1500mAh battery gives the Powershell a bit of weight, and there are ergonomic curves on the shells' rear. It's a plastic accessory, but there's a lightly rubberised finish for grip and to stop the thing from feeling cheap. And feeling cheap would be pretty bad given the Logitech Powershell costs around £80 ($99).
There's also a headphone output, although no additional internal speaker - instead the Powershell offers a little cavity that does some way to
boosting the output of the phone's own piddly speakers, as well as directing it toward your face.
A camera cut-out avoids blocking any core phone features
Logitech Powershell – Controls
The Logitech Powershell is very much a 16-bit style gamepad. On the front there's a single D-pad and four buttons. And up top is a pair of shoulder buttons. This is a controller that works best for old-school platformers and some 2D/single-plane casual games. It's not going to be a great deal of use for first-person shooters.
Logitech has done a fairly good job with these controls, though. Although not quite on-par with a modern console controller, neither the buttons nor the D-pad is spongy or suffers from mushy action. The buttons are also much higher fidelity than the simple digital buttons you might be expecting. 
All the controls are analogue, meaning there's variable feedback through the press – letting them work pretty well as, for example, a car's accelerator.
We had a play with Trials Xtreme 3 on the Logitech Powershell, and here the D-pad really came into play, offering a great alternative to often-fiddly on-screen virtual controls.
Early Impressions
The Logitech Powershell iPhone gamepad isn't radically different from some older iOS controllers in pure design terms. It bulks up your iPhone and it's not much cop for first-person shooters thanks to its lack og analogue sticks. However, with the superior support of Apple's controller mappings on-board, it's a solid buy if you want a pad for 16-bit style platformers.
Next, read our best iPhone games round-up
