GTEK Wireless Gaming Controller Pro Review: Turn your tablet or phone into a gaming machine

Announced just before Christmas, the new GTEK Wireless Gaming Controller Pro from LASER is available now through JB Hi-Fi Online, and we’ve grabbed one to have a quick play with it. 

Priced at $89.95, this is a very budget friendly option when faced with the higher priced competition of the Backbone One, Razer Kishi and Turtle Beach Atom.

The GTEK Wireless Gaming Controller Pro can fit phones and tablets ranging from 6.1 inches to tablets up to 10 inches. 

The controller connects through Bluetooth with support for Android, iOS, PC, or Switch and includes a battery with ‘up to 10 hours of playtime’ says GTEK,  on a single charge. 

GTEK has sent one of their controllers over for us to check out and here’s how it went.

The GTEK Wireless Gaming Controller Pro is one of the larger gaming controllers I’ve used, though it’s also aiming at a larger device range than those others on the market. 

Whereas the Razer and Turtle Beach offerings can be effectively dismantled down to a compact storage, the GTEK controller is a fixed size. 

It’s made of a durable plastic with a springloaded pad with a rubber pad in the middle to cushion your device, with rubber bumpers on either end to grip your phone or tablet while it’s in use.

The rubber bumpers allowed me to put larger phones in while still in their case, but I did have to remove the Pixel tablet case before I could put it in.

Despite it being larger, it still slips pretty easily into a backpack for travel, though you have to accommodate the more rigid shape. 

There are comfortable controls on either side, with a thumbstick and D-Pad on the left, and a USB-C charging port on the base and a Select and Power buttons, while on the right you get the A-B-X-Y buttons and thumbstick, with a Start button. 

There’s triggers and bumpers at the top of the controller on either side, with programmable macro buttons on the bottom of the controller. 

The controller features hall-effect rocker and triggers, so stick drift shouldn’t be an issue long term, and they’re quite nice to use with the textured surface easy to grip, and feel like they can take a little punishment over time.

The power button has an LED built-in which shows your status – connected, power, pairing and more. Charging, using the USB-C cable included in the box and a port takes up to 3-hours – with up to 10 hours of battery life.

I’ve been using the GTEK Wireless Gaming Controller Pro for a few weeks on and off, and it’s taken that long to run it flat so I could check the charging time. Suffice to say it’s pretty long-lasting.

The LED has several colours based on the device you’re connecting to, neat.

The key to the versatility of the GTEK Wireless Gaming Controller Pro is in the different pairing methods per device.  I absolutely recommend grabbing the manual here to get the right pairing combo – Power + Right Bumper for Windows, Power + Square for Android etc. but once it’s done, it’s easily paired to each device next time.

While the device is connected via Bluetooth – you can also just plug it into your PC, Mac, Switch, Android or iOS device. 

This is an under-rated benefit, letting you play on your laptop, or connect to a Switch or your phone while on the go. 

Because it’s connected to your devices as a Bluetooth controller there’s not a lot of configuration – however Android users can download the ShootingPlus V3+ app from Google Play for key mapping.

For anyone else, you can still get some customisation with the Macro buttons on the bottom. You can program in quick presses of the A-B-X-Y buttons, as well as other button combos – making it a nice way to program in tricks or moves in game. `

The controller supports all the services you want, Steam, Xbox GamePass Cloud Streaming and even NVIDIA’s GeForce Now. I did have to hit ‘Continue anyway’ in the Xbox app on Android, but apart from that perculiarity the first time around it was smooth sailing.

Should you buy it?

This is a great bit of kit from LASER, offering a more premium, yet well priced and well built option for gamers on the go.

The unit itself is a little larger than other options on the market, but it’s also more budget friendly and fits tablets securely. It also features hall-effect rockers and triggers offering a pretty premium option for precision gaming. 

The battery lasts an age which is great for extended travel, giving you a way to play the way you want, when you want. 

At just $89.95 it’s a great additional gaming controller to add to your travel kit, or just have laying around when you want to kick back and relax.