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The Ultimate Xbox Smartphone
Sep 17, 2025
Xbox Game Pass on mobile now features cloud gaming (Microsoft xCloud). Here's how streaming Xbox works on Android smartphones. There is no Xbox required for this function, you do not need an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S. FOLLOW ME IN THESE PLACES FOR UPDATES Twitter - http://twitter.com/unboxtherapy Facebook - http://facebook.com/lewis.hilsenteger Instagram - http://instagram.com/unboxtherapy
View Video Transcript
0:00
I'm on Xbox. I'm on Xbox is a thing about it. So this is Xbox on an Android smartphone
0:12
All right, so I'm a little pumped up. It's fair to say I did a video recently on these units over
0:19
here. Series S, Xbox Series S, and Series X. Cannot play them, of course, yet. Well
0:27
They're not out yet, but something else came out today that I'm really interested to check out
0:33
This is my first impression. I have not goofed with this stuff at all. I never got to the actual game part
0:39
Of course, I'm talking about the new Xbox game streaming service, which was previously called xCloud
0:45
It's going to become part of Game Pass. It's currently, it's still beta at the time that I'm filming this
0:50
However, when you're watching this, you can apparently go experience it for yourself as well
0:56
because it's launching, releasing the day that you are watching this. Anyways, in front of me
1:01
I have some of the more interesting recent form factors for smartphones because I thought
1:06
these would be interesting to test. All you have to do is take one of these, Xbox Bluetooth controller
1:12
and pair it up to your favorite Android device or any Android device
1:16
So then you have to be your favorite. It could be in your pocket. Maybe it's not even your favorite. It's just the one you happen to have right now
1:21
Could be a tablet, could be a smartphone. And just like that, you're tapping into somewhere around 150 Xbox titles on your mobile device
1:30
Now, these are, in most cases, a lot more elaborate and sophisticated, these titles
1:36
than your typical mobile game. And you're playing them on demand, no download
1:42
It's just streaming. It's, again, very exciting. So I decided to pick some of the more interesting devices that have shown up recently
1:49
because, I don't know, why not? Make it exciting. and also to kind of establish the fact that maybe there is a reason
1:58
some unforeseen reason that we keep venturing into new form factors. Like I'm sitting here looking right now at the Surface Duo
2:07
thinking to myself, that's a nice little game console. Look at this little guy
2:11
You have the screen, you pick whichever angle you like, like some sort of mini laptop
2:15
You can have it plugged in, charging while you're playing. I got the Xbox controller hooked up via Bluetooth, 150 titles with the Xbox Game Pass
2:25
and I'm just, look at me, moving and grooving. This, of course, is the Z Fold 2
2:31
You prop that guy up, and you have a huge gaming surface available to you
2:36
And then just for the fun of it, since this is the freshest of the bunch, I have the new LG Wing here, and I was thinking to myself
2:44
oh, this could be cool, too, because with the dual screen setup, You could have your Xbox game up top
2:50
and then whatever other notifications or purpose, whatever you might want to have going on on the bottom side as well So I got some cool form factors here to experiment with and I actually have the beta version of the Microsoft game streaming on all three of them
3:05
So this is Xbox on an Android smartphone and we might as well just kick it off
3:10
with the Microsoft product first. As you can see on the left hand side here
3:14
I have the Xbox app. This is the beta version of the app
3:18
Again, time you're watching this, you can probably just grab the regular one
3:22
Willy Do has been playing Forza Horizon 4. I mean, that sounds good to me
3:25
Maybe I'll give that a shot. That's a legit Xbox title. Oh, here we go
3:30
So it's actually gonna prompt me. I totally forgot to connect the controller. It's gonna prompt me within here
3:35
Bluetooth settings. Pair new Bluetooth. I'm gonna just power this up. Xbox wireless controller. Lovely
3:45
And it's gonna launch my game. Now keep in mind, this is a big game. Many gigs
3:49
It's one of the downsides of... Look at this and I'm just a..
3:53
You see what's happening here? I'm streaming right now. I can just go ahead, click A
3:58
Oh, this is kind of cool. Now I don't know about the speed. We have a decent connection here in the studio
4:04
Just keep in mind while watching this, at the time that I'm playing this, it is still in beta
4:10
Oh, I'm just in the game now. Yes, I'm playing right now. Whoa
4:17
Oh my God. I was on like some side trail on the grass over here
4:23
I gotta get back to the track. I was just too heavy on the throttle
4:29
And I'm sitting here, I'm just deep in the vibe right now. I used to be into racing games, you know
4:34
Gran Turismo days. Yo! This, I gotta say, okay, hold up, can I
4:44
What do I, oh, I'm on Xbox, so I just, what do I do? I just, I'm on Xbox, I'm on Xbox
4:49
is a thing about it. And the weird part for me right now, right here
4:54
is not the game, yeah, it's Forza, okay, fine. The weird thing for me right now is I jump straight into it
5:00
And it's very, now of course I know I'm not on the console
5:05
I have certain apprehension around playing it on mobile and is light gonna jump in
5:10
maybe if you're playing super competitive or something. But to just have a vision of the future
5:16
in which, you know, the load times and the download times, it can be such a buzzkill, you know
5:21
What they're charging for the ultimate package, it's like 150 games or something like that
5:26
And you could just jump in, jump out. It's kind of, it's like Netflix, but for gaming, sort of
5:31
And that's what's got my wheels turning. But that is Forza. I was playing Forza, just the opening thing
5:37
but it was definitely Forza. Do I just? Oh, I just go here
5:44
I just quit the game. I just quit the game and I got all the games and even Kirk is watching, he's interested
5:50
now Maybe I want to play a different game Now they got to remind you on the beta thing and you can see the loading time I mean this may change and this is going to be dependent on your connection as well And you not going to have the craziest resolution coming through
6:04
But how much does that matter on a display like this? I still, I feel better off than just booting up some mobile game
6:10
One thing this has me feeling though, that I would like some louder speakers
6:14
And that's one area where I feel like if I switch to the Z Fold 2
6:19
it's going to hit me more in the eardrum. Now keep in mind, there are all types of clips and things you can get for typical smartphone form factors as well
6:26
You want to just have them up above the controller. So anyway, I'm going to Ford Frenzy
6:30
Sure, why not? Yeah. Oh, you're multi right now. Yeah. Yeah, I'm online right now
6:37
Yeah, I'm online right now because it becomes part of, you got the gold pass as well with the thing
6:42
It's all bundled together. Yeah, I'm in a squad. Fighting off the
6:50
Cool. Not good. Whoa
7:05
What's my melee? Completed. All right, so I'll say about that, that's a tougher, that's a tougher gig
7:14
I'll tell you what. With the shooter and it's obvious the game is mapped
7:19
for a bigger display. I do believe, though, that some games are going to map better to this service than others
7:28
And a lot of people will be in the comments. A lot of people will hit me up on social media and say, you know, why didn't you
7:33
You weren't harsh enough on the thing. Why didn't you talk about this, this, this, and that
7:37
And I hate that. And I hate that, too. I realize how complicated these types of endeavors are
7:44
To put this catalog and have it on demand and to just hit a play button and jump into it
7:49
and I personally, I get excited about the future and the potential of things
7:54
and I kind of, I also want to make sure that I represent that part of it as well as possible
8:02
I also want to make sure I'm able to say, okay, maybe not today
8:06
but it's part of a thing that could be a bigger deal in the future. So I totally expect there to be hiccups on a service like this
8:14
It's a very ambitious concept. However, I'm glad that it exists. I'm glad that they're working on it because at least for me the mobile gaming experience and
8:25
specifically the titles available have never Really been all that compelling can you mix this with these emerging form factors here
8:32
I am on the z fold to same thing. I could launch Forza over here and
8:38
What you would see is this going to give you a huge gaming surface might have a typical smartphone
8:44
I know this one is not typical but I chose it because it works in a typical form factor whether or not you take it all the way to the wing format And what you can see here on this one no problem it functions there as well let try to pair this one up let just do this
8:59
real quick i mean maybe you have to give a few minus points for the fact that the camera notch
9:09
creates a line you don't expand the whole screen width wise however when you think about a
9:17
television screen it's typically a little bit taller than your average smartphone in 2020 and
9:26
so this one is probably going to give you a little more bang for your buck in terms of screen real
9:31
estate this is the intro video so it's going to be a little wider with black bars
9:37
one thing though listen to the sound on this thing It's your dream and life
9:51
That's the horizon of it. Like, look at the screen real estate and how that actually breaks down
10:03
So you can hear, you can hear from time to time a little bit of an audio glitch and this and that
10:08
And it's, you know, it's streaming. It's still streaming. It's streaming a tremendous amount of bandwidth
10:12
So we need to kind of curb our expectations and I mean it's hard to compare it one to one with having a look at the size difference
10:20
This box is not in your pocket So we got to think about it in those terms. I guess it's fair for people just to want it to be perfect
10:27
That's fair, but you don't get there right away You got to get the ball rolling and so like I said for the time being I think some games are gonna map a little bit better than others
10:37
but it's a it's a whole inventory and i'm not sure who can match this right now i'm not sure
10:44
who can compete with it right now i find it very interesting regardless of which android device
10:50
you bring to the party and then i find it interesting as well it's something i've talked
10:54
about on loo later a number of times that this stuff is not going to show up on ios at least
10:59
not anytime soon because apple has had all kinds of restrictions around the idea of launching
11:04
straight into a game. They want each game title listed individually within the app store, and it's not gonna happen
11:10
and it's not how these services work. So now you have iOS users that seriously need
11:14
to be considering an Android device if they care enough about Xbox caliber gaming
11:20
via screen instantly with a controller on their device. And that goes for tablets too, by the way
11:26
I don't have a tablet here, but if you had an Android tablet, it would be the same situation
11:31
So anyway, there you have it. It's a quick look into the capabilities here. I can't play all 150 titles
11:37
But regardless of which exciting platform you're using in 2020, as long as it's Android, you can play Xbox games on it now
11:48
Cool
#Computer & Video Games
#Computers & Electronics
#Driving & Racing Games
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