Xbox Cloud Gaming has two new ways to play without a standard controller, both opened today as previews. On a supported smart TV, your Android or iPhone can act as the gamepad. Separately, the new Xbox Nano controller can talk to the cloud server over Wi-Fi instead of going through the TV by Bluetooth.
Microsoft says both are early tests, so they will not work with every game, TV or country yet, and it is asking players for feedback while it decides what to change.
The phone option is described in Xbox Wire as a fix for the moment you want to play a cloud game on the TV and no controller is within reach. Nothing needs installing: the touch controls run in the phone’s web browser, and certain games get an on-screen layout shaped to their style of play. Turn on Preview Features in the TV app’s account settings, then launch a game while no pad is connected and the TV will offer your phone for that session. The rollout covers supported TVs wherever the cloud service itself is offered.
The Nano feature is called cloud connect, and it is limited to players in the US for now. Microsoft’s reasoning is latency: skipping the Bluetooth hop to the TV and linking the controller to the game’s server directly over your home Wi-Fi should make input feel more responsive. It works on supported smart TVs and the Xbox Cloud Gaming site, but not with every cloud experience.
Phone and Nano are meant for different problems. The phone option needs no hardware at all, only a supported Android or iOS phone and a TV app that supports the preview, so it suits a quick session on a friend’s TV. Cloud connect asks you to own the Nano, but in return it aims to trim the delay between pressing a button and seeing the result.
Setup goes through the Xbox beta app on Android, or the Xbox Accessories app on a PC, and the PC route needs Xbox Insider enrolment. You join the controller to your Wi-Fi in the app, then open a supported cloud gaming screen signed in with the account used for setup, and the Nano links up by itself. Microsoft has put the full steps in a cloud connect setup guide on its support site.
Feedback goes through the preview itself: on the phone, tap the Xbox icon after scanning the TV’s QR code and choose Give Feedback, and cloud connect users can send it from the Xbox Accessories or Xbox mobile app. Microsoft has not said when either preview will become a regular feature.
