The Zeemote JS1 Controller and The Mighty Nokia N82

Hi guys, my name is Alexis Garza, also known as alexismil. I'm from Reynosa México and I will be writing for The N82 Blog from now on. I'm a Symbian fanatic, and I'm here to introduce the Zeemote JS1 to you.

The Zeemote JS1 is a small bluetooth device that uses 2 AAA batteries, and that support the wide variety of nokia models, including the Nseries, Eseries, XpressMusic, Navigator and Classic series, of course, S60 devices (excluding the nokia 5800 XpressMusic and probably the N97 that are not supported at the time im writing this article). All you have to do is download the Zeekey application and you are ready to go. The Zeekey application works on plenty S60 device, as mentioned before.

The Zeemote JS1 is good for gaming, but not great. I have found that it doesn't play nice in all games, including N-Gage games. You have to create several profiles into the Zeekey application in order to play every game out there. For example, I have a "default mapping" for using it to move around the interface when connected to a tv using the tv-out cable and I have another key mappings for N-Gage games. In the game One, Bounce, Metal Gear Solid I use the default joystick configurations, but changed the A Button to 0 key and B Button to 5 key, C Button to Right Soft Key and D Button to Left Soft Key. But because the joystick is so sensitive, I have a different configuration for Asphalt 3 and 4. If I use the default joystick I end up pressing down when using a nitro so I disabled the joystick down to "No Action". In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I have the default joystick settings but i did swap the A and B buttons to 5 key and 0 key respectively.

I have come to a conclusion that the Zeemote JS1 is good but not great. I have seen plenty of interviews when they say that it is great for playing games using the tv-out feature. So why use a joystick then and a "one hand" shape? If so, they should have gone for the SNES style controller - a standard pad, no joystick, a, b, c, and d keys, and shoulder buttons. The shoulder buttons make sense when using the soft keys, this way you shouldn't have a big selection of key mappings like i do. I have 6 key mappings and i haven't even created a key map for all my N-Gage, java, and Symbian games.

I know all S60 devices have d-pads, and most of the time they are not good when playing games, but they have very good tactile feedback and performance. The Zeemote JS1 has a very sensitive joystick (they should have taken a comfortable pad instead of a joystick) so most of the time you end up doing something you did not want and end up losing a One battle, losing an Asphalt 3 or 4 race, or even dying on Platypus / Sky Force Reloaded.

I hope you like my review of the Zeemote JS1 , feel free to ask any questions related to the JS1 controller.