What are the best Android gamepads?

[scarper]

I'm looking for a nice bluetooth gamepad for my new android phone, preferably one that clips onto the device. Since most of the games I'll be playing are older emulated games, I'm more concerned about a nice d-pad than anything else.

I'm considering buying this one, but was wondering if you guys had any suggestions.

[Anapan]

It is good, but incompatible with some emulators without using Bluez IME. I had it and happily used it for a while. I gave it to my brohter after upgrading. It works great with all the -oid emulators and lots of others, but I had trouble configuring some emulators - notably the PS1 emus with it's start button (it would randomly report a "y" character with 2 dots on the top) and even when reconfiguring the IME with other tools it would still cause problems. It didn't do that on my Galaxy S3, but it seems to have a problem with the keyboard input (which it emulates) on the S4. The D-pad and buttons are solid enough. For the price it's great!
It even has a mouse emulation mode - analog mouse control.
Save on shipping if you're willing to wait - Deal Extreme has it

The best you're gonna get is the PS3 gamepad - unfortunately, it requires Root on most Android phones. The Sixaxis Compatibility Checker is free, so give it a try. If you can handle lugging a full-sized gamepad around it's totally awesome. You can use the tilt controls and everything - all the analogues are fully compatible with the games and emulators I've ever tried it on. You can pick up a PS3 controller locally, used, and buy a gameklip.
I use the Sixaxis when I have my phone hooked up to my Plasma via a MHL HDMI adapter. All the emulators come through without lag and have scanlines @720P. Too cool.

The best, most pocketable gamepad I've found (what I use now) is the Steel Series Free. It's got a solid 9 hours of gameplay on a charge and I've been using it heavily for the past year, tho it had a few months downtime, and it still had a full charge when I pulled it out. I've been able to use it successfully with every emulator - some newer emulated games need a couple of L buttons or other as screen buttons off to the side, but it's been solid for every game I tried it on. It's pretty rugged - I keep it in a zip-lock freezer bag at the bottom of my work bag - usually with all my gear, lunch, and 5-8 canned drinks for the day dumped on top. It doesn't scuff. I got it on sale, 50% off from Future Shop, so it's price was comparable to the iPega at the time
(edit: looks like they're less than half-price right now - they were regular $58 last year, now $25).

If you want something bigger, Steel Series makes many other models that all work well too. I don't know if you need the addon app "Steel Series engine". I've never really used it myself, but it probably has some compatibility tweaks.

More Racketboy discussion of these devices here:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... =6&t=42802

I've also been eying those Bluetooth NES-shaped controllers. Those are slick.

[GSZX1337]

I have the Ipega and think it's fine. The d-pad's not the best, but it gets the job done. I didn't have any of the incompatibility problems Anapan mentions, though I mostly use the .emu apps.

[Hazerd]

GameKlip, its all i really want.

Phone doesnt need to be rooted, since you plug it in, i mean you could ditch the plug that comes with it and just use the PS3 controllers blue-tooth, but you would need to root the phone then.

[Tanooki]

I've got a Moga Pro and I can recommend it. The buttons, sticks and d-pad are responsive and work well so you're not fighting it to play a game. It comes with a set of two modes where there is A for Moga equipped games, and B where it's like on a PC (hid) and just detects it as a generic game pad for anything else that'll pick up a controller (non moga) natively. I'm not sure what they go for now, but I know they weren't exactly too cheap and I only happened upon an open boxed new one at a flea market or I wouldn't have it.

[Atari5200fanatic]

I like the Archos Gamepad 2. The problem is that it's tough to find it in the US for some reason. It can be imported, but it's pricey.