Review: Zeemote JS1 Bluetooth-Controller

At the Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig Nokia announced their partnership with Zeemote and also shown the JS1 controller at their show case. Now the N85, a gaming oriented device, comes with the Zeemote JS1 out of the box. The JS1 is a bluetooth controller for gaming and more. Read this review to take a deeper look including pictures and a video.

Usage:

The JS1 is mainly for gaming purpose. So, you can play N85′s N-Gage games using the JS1or even plug in your N85 to your TV-set and enjoy an awesome gaming experience with your N85, the TV-set and the JS1.However, of course you can use it for many other actions. For example for navigate through the menu, to use it in presentation to use it as a remote control or to switch to the next sheet.

Design & Keys:

(click to enlarge)

The JS1 is a handy controller and has the size of about 100 x 25mm. Due to its ergonomic shape it really feels good in the hand and is good to use. It has in total 4 keys and a 4-ways-Joystick. On the front you have the joystick and the D-button which is also the power button. By press and holding the D-button you can turn on the controller. On the top you find the A- and B-button and on the back the C-button. All keys are really big and good for gaming. The joystick is good to use but sometimes it overreacts but nevertheless it’s pretty good for gaming and all other task you want to solve. The JS1 uses two little AAA batteries.

Geting connected:

The JS1 works via bluetooth so that you can enjoy a wireless gaming experience.  For getting connected with your device you need to have the application ”Zeekey” (Download) on your phone. In our test, the Nokia N85 already had the application pre-installed. First press and hold the red D-button on the JS1 until the LED starts to impulse.

• impulse blue: ready for gaming
• impulse blue and yellow: ready for connection
• impulse yellow: low battery

Than activate the Bluetooth on your device and go to the menu and open the Zeekey application. Than just press on Connect or Reconnect. Than after some seconds you’re ready to go. Unfortunately, you need to switch on the Bluetooth on your device manually, the Zeekey application doesn’t ask you whether you want to do this so that you need to do this in advance.

Key Mapping:

The JS1 already has a pre-install key mapping. So, you use the joystick to move up, down, left and right. The C-button represents the right softkey, the D-button the left softkey and the two remaining button, A and B represents the navigation key ( center of the D-pad) by default. If you don’t like this key mapping which comes by default you can of course change this key mapping. This is useful when you want to replace the gaming keys of the N85, N96 or N81 which aren’t defined by default. Going to the application and choosing ‘Key Mappings’ you can easily create your own mapping. Just assign each key and than you have your own key mapping. However, in the test we had issues to assign the gaming keys. The A-button (N85′s gaming key) was no problem but we could not assign the B-button. This is really a mess if you want to play for example ‘The One’ but you can assign the keys in the One’s menu too.

Demonstration:

Now a video demonstration showing you all steps from connecting the JS1 and the N85 till playing several games.

Verdict:

To put in a nutshell, the JS1 is a handy and ergonomic bluetooth controller mainly for gaming. The usage is simple and gaming with the JS1, especially on the big TV-set is a real pleasure. Indeed a useful gadget for every mobile gamer. Head over to  the official Zeemote homepage.

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3. German Nokia N85 to come with Zeemote out of the box?
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