Controller Accessory: EasySMX 9110 2.4 GHz Wireless Game Joystick Controller
Year: 2020
Developer: EasySMX
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Where as many third-party controller developers try and make their pro controllers for the pro-competitive players by being Xbox style, adding Back Buttons with small customizable features which leads to an overly expensive controller, some other controller manufacturers try to make their own pro controllers that offer said pro controller options at a more affordable price. I've looked at a few manufacturers in the past who have made cheaper alternatives to the pro controllers from Nacon like ASUSPORACE and HORI and many of them have fared reasonably well. Now you have another third-party controller manufacturer making their own line-up of third-party controllers named Easy SMX which releases a wireless controller for players looking for a cheap third-party controller for their consoles. Called the EasySMX 9110 2.4 GHz Wireless Game Joystick Controller it is one of their controller revisions that offers up not only an Xbox/Nintendo Switch controller layout but also has Turbo Functionality, Back Buttons and customizable features which seems unusual for a universal controller.
Like all of these third-party controllers opening the box you get the device itself with the USB Receiver plus the instructions on how to setup the controller and lastly a 10m Type-C USB charging cable which you'll need to charge up the controller. It takes up to 2 hours to fully charge the controller and the controller lasts about 8 hours of playtime on a full charge. The charge cable it comes with is short which is not ideal if you are sitting far away from the TV in the living room, you can use a longer USB Cable provided that it is a Type-C USB Cable but using a different cable can cause the controller to not turn on or operate properly which is something I have had happen a couple of times when I wanted to sit far away from my TV.
Setting up the controller is simple enough like any other third-party controller, you put in the receiver into your console or PC's USB slot, then place the Type-C charge cable onto your controller, then lastly plug the USB into the other USB slot of your console or PC. Once it is plugged in you then press the Home Button, wait for the controller to turn on and you are connected. The controller is compatible with the PC and a range of consoles, it works with the iOS devices, it works with the Nintendo Switch and yet the designers of the device made the thing compatible with the PlayStation 3 system for some reason and completely overlooked the PlayStation 4. Okay sure, the controller doesn't have a Touch Pad Button so it wouldn't be possible for the controller to have any kind of PlayStation 4 compatibility so why have PS3 compatibility with the device when we are far past the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 generation when the device could have had support for the Xbox consoles? It's just a bizarre design choice when it came down to choosing what systems they were going to make this controller compatible with.
The controller has all of the staple Face Buttons, Analog Sticks, Triggers and Bumpers of any regular controller but it has customizable back buttons that allow you to set any of the Face, Bumper or Trigger buttons to them. Setting up the Back Buttons is the same as some of the other third-party pro controllers I've looked into, you press and hold the Mode Button for a few seconds to put the controller into customize mode then press any button on the controller and then press any one of four of the Back Buttons that you want to have a button set to and then you are done and can do the same for the other Back Buttons. You also have a Turbo Button where you can set any of the buttons on the controller to turbo which is easy to set up and you can toggle Turbo for any button on or off anytime. Having turbo functionality in this day and age is not something you see any-more but if you are playing games that relay on a ton of button mashing like in an Olympic Sport game or a classic turn-based Role-Playing Game if you needed to skip all of the dialogue so the Turbo Function is very welcome.
The EasySMX 9110 Wireless controller has two other buttons on the lower front of the controller which one is the Light Control Button that adjusts the LED brightness of the controller from no light to fully bright, the other button is the Vibration Control Button which allows you to adjust how strong you want for your controller although you can always turn on or off the controller vibration in the PS3 console menu which kind of makes adding additional Vibration Options kind of unnecessary. The LED lights on the controller look absolutely beautiful especially on the brightest and also on the second or third light setting and I also like that the light on the Right Analog Stick changes colour when you enable Turbo mode or Customization Mode, it's pretty good.
The feel of the controller is great, the build quality feels very solid and it is very comfortable to hold in hand. The Face Buttons and the Bumper Buttons feel nice but the Trigger Buttons are excellent and it feels good when you press them. All of the functions of the controller work really well and I didn't notice any kind of lag or delay on my games when I used this controller. The D-pad feels great too however the diagonal movement much like the other third-party controllers that go for an Xbox/Nintendo Switch style layout has a D-pad where the movement is not 100% and if you do diagonal movement, you'll either just go to the right, go down or if you press right on the D-pad you'll sometimes crouch where you meant to go right. Yep, the D-pad is much like other controllers of the Xbox/Nintendo Switch controller style where it does whatever it wants which makes it bad for 2D games or fighting games. The Thumbsticks are really good and they went for a flatter design instead of a hole-based design which is what all of the controllers today go for, to my surprise the EasySMX 9110 Controller's Thumbsticks are really smooth and comfortable and the flat design of the Thumbsticks allows you to rest your thumbs easily on them and move them without feeling any kind of discomfort. It won't beat the original PSOne and PS2 Dual Shock 1 & 2 Controller's Thumbsticks but still the EasySMX 9110 provides has a better Thumbsticks which are better than what you see on the market.
If it is for other kinds of competitive games like racing games, sports games and most importantly for shooters like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, Paladins and so forth then this controller succeeds and the Back Buttons give you the advantage you need against other players online.
It works well with the Nintendo Switch system; it is easy enough to plug in and setup and it responds perfectly to what buttons you press. It also works fine with PC and iOS as long as you set up the controls on what PC game you are playing on. As for using it for PlayStation 3 it works for the vast majority of games but like all other third-party controllers on the PlayStation 3 it may not work with every game on the system if a game uses either Six-Axis motions which the EasySMX 9110 controller does not provide or if a game uses a different Analog Stick movement behaviour from other games which will make the controller not work well for them. It just depends on what games on the PS3 that will work fine with the controller but for the vast majority of online multiplayer games that are on the PS3 will likely work fine without issues.
One other thing with the device is that if nothing is pressed on the controller for about a minute the controller will turn itself off. While it may be a great feature that if not playing & charging it will turn off to save battery power but if you are playing a game where there are long cutscenes (not ones like in the Metal Gear Solid games) or playing games like Heavy Rain where there are Quick Time Events and you have to react to them. If the controller turns itself off during the ending of the cutscene and you have to take action immediately you have to turn on the controller every time and sometimes it may cost you a game if you start out in a quick life or death situation which is annoying.
The EasySMX 9110 2.4 GHz Wireless Game Joystick Controller overall offers some pretty cool adjustable features from the LED Brightness and Vibration. It also has really smooth and comfortable Thumbsticks customizable Back Buttons as well as adding Turbo Functionality. It may be some bizarre compatibility with consoles like making it compatible with Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS as well as making it compatible with the old PlayStation 3 console for a controller made in 2020. It has necessary features of a pro controller and best of all it sells for a very cheap price tag under £29.99 so if you are looking for a cheap third-party controller that has the Back Buttons and want one that is comfortable to use on the Nintendo Switch as well as using it on your ageing PS3 hardware then I do recommand this controller. It's only held back by the USB Charge Cable issue were using a different one can sometimes cause it to not function properly, turning itself off automatically if you are watching long cutscenes forcing you to make sure it doesn't turn off during a cutscene. If you can look past the small issues then you get yourself a reasonably good controller that has the features you want plus customization all for a cheap price tag.
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Console Score: 7.5/10
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The Goods
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Customizable Back Buttons, LED Brightness and Vibrations
LED Lights look beautiful
Comfortable Analog Thumbsticks
Turbo Functionality which is good for anything involving rapid button mashing or skipping dialogue
Compatible with a good number of platforms including the PS3
The Bads
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Controller turns itself off every minute which don't make it good for games with long cutscenes
Using a different USB Cable can cause the controller to not function properly
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