Introducing the GameSir F8 Pro Snowgon
www.gamesir.hk
$39.99 (£29)

To show my age for a second, I remember when my only mobile game with a pixely game of Snake that you have to mash at with your thumbs on a tiny Nokia. These days, mobile games are better than some of the PC and console games I was playing back then, and phones are also much larger and have a much more satisfying screen. However, that larger size can be quite a pain on the fingers to wrangle, even with Pop Sockets and the like to help you out, and those beefier games can, on occasion, take a toll on your phone after too much playing. Overheating, leading to forced restarts or battery freak-outs, can interrupt your game right when it’s getting good – but not with GameSir’s F8 Pro Snowgon.

This is a really cool (no pun intended) solution to an annoying problem. Not only does the grip mean that your phone isn’t against the heat source of your hands, but it actually uses semiconductor refrigeration technology to actively cool down your device. Its construction includes a fan, a semiconductor refrigeration chip, a cooling column, a cold plate and a thermally conductive silicone pad. All of this is designed to both cool down your device and to draw heat out of it.
 

The fan isn’t distracting, and in fact, GameSir have turned it into a really cool feature. Small coloured LEDs light up the back section of the Snowgon - this looks fairly cool when the fan is stationary, but when it’s spinning, the blur of the fins picks up this light and turns it into a glow that fills up that circle. I assumed the advertising images of this colourful glow had exaggerated, but was very pleasantly surprised when it started happening in real life. There are usually two different colours blending together at once, and these colours phase and change. It looks really cool and is great for making your friends jealous as you play!

As well as its cooling solution, the easier, ergonomic grip really does make a huge difference. As soon as I had my phone slotted in, it made me much more eager to play games on it. There’s three of us at home, and currently, we live in a constant battle over the PS4. Playing a mobile game just doesn’t feel the same – I, for one, find that I’m hunching, and sometimes you want a different action to jabbing at your phone the way you’ve already been doing all day. Slotting into the F8 Pro, my brain instantly gets ‘time to play games’ signals from holding that shaped controller, and playing that was is instantly easier and far more comfortable. Now, I can comfortably chill out and game away on my phone without missing the PS4, shooting smug looks at my friend who just forked out for a Switch.

Another detail worth noting is that the Snowgon extends outwards to fit the size of your phone. With phones changing so frequently, and with so many on the market, I was afraid the Snowgon had taken a one-size-fits-no-one approach, but was thrilled when I realised that I could pull on either side and snap it it around my phone in a perfect fit.

As well as gaming, this grip is brilliant for more comfortably watching movies and videos, and even taking video calls, as well as protecting against overheating as you do.

5/5

Pros:
Actively cools your mobile
More comfortable grip whilst gaming
Extends to fit any phone
Perfect for gaming, watching videos and taking video calls
Fan lights up in a fun way
Good value