Kyocera has introduced the K500 Gamepad, a gaming peripheral designed to work with a few of the company's mobile phones. Kyocera partnered with gaming expert Alienware to create a 'compact, comfortable and familiar ergonomically-designed' gamepad.

Many mobile phones come with games, but they still aren't considered to be hard-core gaming devices. This is mainly due to small screens sizes, basic power under the hood, and a massive lack of developer support. After all, they're designed for dialling and not for manoeuvring fast-moving graphics.

'Wireless phones are becoming a distinct extension of certain lifestyles and personalities, including the hardcore and casual gamers,' said Savi Soin, senior director of business development at Kyocera Wireless. 'Being able to offer popular titles from gaming giants like Sorrent and Taito on our phones only increases the attractiveness of Kyocera products to gamers, as we continue to try and do our part by offering gaming-friendly phones and a compelling set of accessories such as our K500 Gamepad.'

Nevertheless, Kyocera is aiming to change all that. At $30, the black-and-grey K500 GamePad looks just like a typical game controller, except you can attach your Kyocera Slider Sonic or Slider Remix phone and blast away with familiar controls and buttons. It's hardly likely to make your game come alive, but hard-core gamers might appreciate holding the ergonomically sound K500 while chasing high scores.

The peripheral sport rubberised grips, and once you snap your mobile phone into place you'll need to connect a short data cable from the controller to the phone. Other features include an eight-way controller pad and a set of four navigation keys. Unfortunately, there are no 'trigger' buttons on the top of the controller and you can't map controls to different keys.

Kyocera promises 18 hours of gameplay and 30 hours of standby time from the K500's three AAA batteries (does not use or drain phone battery). It's definitely a great idea, but limited phone support and lack of features may deter you from the slick-looking gamepad. Lets hope other peripheral manufacturers get on board. More information can be gleamed here.

BIOS, Nov 14, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Gaming