@西鸽: GameSir G7 Pro Uranus Xbox Elite Controller

• Reference Price: 404 RMB

“I needed a controller like this to play Crimson Desert.”

About a week ago, I came across GameSir promoting this controller on Douyin, and honestly, it felt like they had read my mind. My impression of the company had been stuck in the era of those stretchable mobile gaming controllers. I had no idea they had already moved into making full-sized controllers, let alone an officially Xbox-licensed “elite” model with the iconic Xbox logo.

Crimson Desert hasn’t been out for very long, but after several major updates, it has somehow become more and more enjoyable. At this point, there honestly isn’t much left to complain about except the controls. As someone who loves action games, a controller is obviously the best way to play, but the control scheme in this game is genuinely painful. Especially L3 and R3.

In all my years of gaming, I honestly can’t remember another game that relies so heavily on combining those two buttons. But in Crimson Desert, entering Focus Mode requires pressing both at the same time, and canceling it means pressing them together again. Then triggering Focus Energy requires pressing R3 again. And if you want to travel quickly by climbing mountains using the triple mid-air movement technique “Cloud Ladder,” you have to jump and then rapidly press R3 three consecutive times. With controls like these, if your controller isn’t solid enough, it becomes incredibly easy to accidentally move the right analog stick while pressing down on R3, completely messing up the camera.

The reason the GameSir G7 Pro instantly felt like a must-buy for me was these two remappable custom shoulder buttons. Most controllers usually place customizable buttons on the back, but I’ve always hated those. They’re hard to reach properly, and since that area is naturally where your palms grip the controller, it’s way too easy to trigger them accidentally. I basically never use back buttons for that reason. But these new shoulder buttons are genuinely interesting.

I mapped L3 and R3 to the new shoulder buttons, and suddenly the game felt dramatically smoother and more intuitive to control. The analog sticks responsible for movement and camera control could finally go back to doing only what they were supposed to do, instead of forcing my thumbs to press them down for extra actions. Now dedicated buttons handle everything instead. Pressing the new shoulder buttons with the tips of my index fingers feels surprisingly amazing. Cliff is no longer that clumsy brute constantly making me panic during combat. Especially on the right side, where three shoulder inputs — Focus Arts, light attack, and heavy attack — can now all be controlled with a single index finger. And when RB + RT combinations are needed, I can simply bring in my middle finger as well. Everything suddenly feels much clearer and more manageable.

There are also customizable L4 and R4 buttons on the back, but this controller adds dedicated lock switches for them. These are physical mechanical switches, and once locked, the buttons become completely unpressable. I assume this was designed specifically to prevent accidental inputs while gripping the controller. The newly added shoulder buttons also have their own lock switches, though honestly there’s no reason to disable those.

Along the bottom, just like an Xbox controller, you get a voice chat button, a headphone jack, and a pairing button.

At the top of the controller there’s a detachable slot designed to secure wired connections. This detail is genuinely excellent. I personally prefer playing games over a wired connection because I hate worrying about latency spikes at critical moments. The slot keeps the cable firmly in place so you won’t accidentally bend or loosen the USB-C port by tugging on the wire during gameplay.

Aside from the LT and RT trigger buttons, all the controller inputs provide crisp and tactile feedback. The subtle clicking sound actually feels pretty interesting compared to other Xbox controllers.

Once you remove the front faceplate, you’re greeted with a beautiful transparent shell underneath, giving it a very strong “Explorer Edition” aesthetic. It really feels like GameSir plans to keep releasing additional faceplate designs and collaboration editions in the future.

Still, I do have to complain about one thing. The company also included an extra faceplate as a gift, but it was designed for the standard G7 version instead. I asked customer support how I was supposed to install it, and they replied, “Just switch back to the regular D-pad first.” But honestly, if I wanted to use a regular D-pad, I wouldn’t have bought the elite version in the first place… I genuinely have no idea why they insisted on including an incompatible faceplate as a bonus.

@老麦: Modular Lens Case and Lenses for iPhone Air

• Reference Price: 200 RMB on Xiaohongshu, 400 RMB for lenses

People are never truly satisfied, and once that happens, we inevitably start tinkering with things. After getting the ultra-thin iPhone Air, I immediately started wanting better photography performance. After all, with only a single camera, it really only covers basic needs. The moment you want to try anything more creative, external lenses become the only option. But since the iPhone Air sells in relatively low volumes, accessory manufacturers have been hesitant to jump in. After waiting for a long time, I finally came across this setup from Neewer — a small kit built around attachable camera lenses.

The entire case uses synthetic leather with a texture that feels similar to vegan leather. The hand feel is actually pretty nice. The back cover and frame are separate pieces joined together, so there are visible seams, though they aren’t especially noticeable and are still acceptable overall. Protection is excellent, making it well suited for outdoor use. The camera control button is fully covered while still perfectly supporting the official controls, although I still constantly forget to use it. Habits really are hard to change.

The real highlight is the lens ring and mounting system, which I think are genuinely well designed. The lens frame is made of aluminum alloy, so it doesn’t feel too bulky for everyday use. The case itself weighs 45 grams, roughly half the weight of a typical Kevlar case. Inside the lens frame are built-in magnets and spring-loaded positioning ball bearings, allowing the external lens attachment to smoothly snap into place with a satisfying click.

The external lens kit comes with three mounting adapters by default: a T-mount, a threaded mount, and a standard camera filter mount. That means it’s compatible with most external lenses, though apparently not lenses from Huawei or vivo. Everything is made from aluminum alloy, and honestly the materials feel surprisingly generous for the price.

I ended up buying two lenses to experiment with. The first was Neewer’s official 85mm lens, mainly intended for portrait photography, offering roughly 2.2x magnification. But the thing is absolutely huge and heavy. Realistically, it’s very difficult to carry around casually.

The results are honestly hard to judge. The photo on the left was taken with the lens attached, while the one on the right uses the native 2x camera mode. It kind of feels like a failed experiment. Subject sharpness actually looks worse than the native camera, though the background blur does seem slightly nicer. Overall, I wouldn’t really recommend this lens.

Then I bought the Retro Telephoto 135 lens from Jiying Camera, which supports the T-mount system. The manual zoom functionality feels much more practical. It works reasonably well for creating that telephoto compression look and can also handle close-up shots. I’m definitely not a professional photographer though, so I’ll just throw in a few sample shots as casual reference.

After some testing, I feel like the results are fairly decent in good lighting conditions. Combined with the built-in film filters inside the Jiying Camera app, it can definitely add some extra photographic texture and shooting possibilities. But I also tried using it at a product launch event, and honestly it completely fell apart there. Without the official optical stabilization and computational compensation that native telephoto systems provide, low-light shots become blurry almost immediately, and the keeper rate drops dramatically.

Of course, once you have this case, you can also experiment with all kinds of fisheye, wide-angle, and cinematic-format lenses. Whether it’s worth the money is honestly hard to say. It’s mostly just about tinkering and giving the iPhone Air a tiny bit of a modular-camera feeling. Rumor has it the next generation Air model may add another camera, which is definitely something to look forward to.

@北鸮: PHDesign PH60SC V2 Wireless Low-Profile Mechanical Keyboard

• Reference Price: 199 RMB

It’s been quite a while since I last bought a new keyboard. Recently, I went through my existing collection, reorganized everything, and sold off the boards that either lacked character or simply weren’t distinctive enough. After clearing things out, I realized I still had a bunch of unused low-profile switches lying around. Coincidentally, I had come across a pretty interesting project not long ago, so I decided to pick one up and give it a try.

PHDesign has created quite a few open-source keyboard projects, and the PH60SC V2 is an open-source keyboard specifically designed for Kailh Choc low-profile switches (“SC” stands for Slim Choc). If you really wanted to, you could even fabricate the PCB and build one yourself. They also designed 3D-printed low-profile keycaps, though I just bought the finished version directly from Taobao. The keyboard PCB supports both wired and Bluetooth connectivity, includes hot-swappable switches, runs ZMK-based firmware with an nRF52840 controller, and even features RGB underglow. There’s honestly nothing to worry about in terms of functionality or performance. The previous-generation PH60SC claimed to be the thinnest low-profile keyboard on the market. The V2 version is slightly less extreme due to manufacturing cost and yield considerations, but it still retains its lightweight and ultra-thin design advantages. It also uses an ultra-thin battery, with battery life reportedly reaching up to three months with lighting turned off.

What I bought was the barebones kit version, meaning I had to provide my own switches and keycaps. The keyboard body itself is fully 3D-printed. Functionally and dimensionally, there are no real issues — switches insert and remove smoothly enough — though the shell obviously can’t compete with injection molding or CNC machining when it comes to refinement. But that’s simply the reality of the cost difference. On the other hand, the 3D-printed construction makes the board incredibly lightweight, which I actually think is a worthwhile tradeoff. The layout is a standard 60%, and it happens to fit perfectly on top of a laptop keyboard using small feet underneath.

The biggest strength of this kit is its extremely low front height. I’ve used quite a few low-profile keyboards before, and many of them, despite using low-profile switches, only end up slightly lower than regular keyboards — probably due to manufacturing limitations or simply design habits. In practice, they often land in this awkward middle ground where a wrist rest feels too low, but using the keyboard without one feels slightly too high. With the PH60SC sitting flat on the desk, my hands basically rest naturally against the tabletop, and my wrists barely need to angle upward at all while typing. Even compared to the ROG Falchion RX Low Profile — a low-profile board I’ve always really liked — the PH60SC still has a slight advantage in front height. The rear of the ROG keyboard is noticeably taller, while the PH60SC is almost completely flat. And if you install the dust-cover bottom shell on the ROG, it becomes even taller.

Other than the somewhat rough appearance caused by the 3D-printed shell itself, I honestly haven’t found any major flaws with it as a keyboard so far. Some people might not be comfortable with the ZMK firmware ecosystem, and another small quirk is that the USB port is located on the left side. The package includes a 90-degree angled cable, which actually feels pretty convenient for people using it on top of a laptop, and charging is also fairly easy that way. But when using it on a regular desktop setup, it inevitably feels a little unusual. Overall though, after spending some time with it, I think it’s a genuinely solid little keyboard. If you care about lightweight portability, wrist comfort, laptop compatibility, and Bluetooth connectivity, I’d say it’s definitely worth trying out.