Whether you want to play some games on your smartphone or get some work done on your tablet, here are a few gadgets that can help you expand the way you use your mobile devices.

Note: All of these products were sent to me for review.

First up is the RiotPWR Cloud Gaming Controller ($69.99), available for iOS. Simply plug the controller into your iPhone (using the USB-C or Lightning cable), install the Ludu Mapp app, and get started playing some of your favorite console games on your phone! The controller works with services like Xbox Cloud Gaming, PS Remote Play, Steam Link and more—I have Xbox Game Pass, so I’ve been trying it out with the Cloud Gaming. If you’re using your phone, you can use the included clip to attach your phone directly to the controller (as seen in the photo at top). There’s a pass-through charging port at the base of the controller so you can keep charging your phone as you play, too.

The controller is compatible with various games, and the form factor (very close to the Xbox controller) means that your hand doesn’t get cramped the way it might if you play arcade games with your phone’s touch screen. And because it’s a wired connection, you don’t get the latency that sometimes plagues Bluetooth controllers. I will note, though, that if you have an older phone like mine, some games may still be too much for your phone to handle, but that’s not an issue with the controller itself.)

My favorite way to use the RiotPWR controller, though, is with my iPad for the bigger screen. Of course, in that case I can’t clip it to the controller—that’s where the HoverBar Duo ($79.99) comes in. The HoverBar Duo is a tablet/phone stand that can either be used with the base for free-standing applications, or a clamp if you want to attach it to a desk or a shelf.

I’ve primarily been using it with the base, which also has a shallow groove that’s just the right size for an Apple Pencil, and it has a good height range so that I can put the iPad at eye level (and not give myself a sore neck from staring down at the desk surface). I’ve also used it in the kitchen to stream a show while cooking, raising it to its full height so it’s comfortable to use even while standing.

The base has a “QuickSwitch Tab” so that switching from base to clamp is very easy—you just press the tab down and slide the arm off. My complaint about it, though, is that adjusting the rest of the arm is harder—each joint tightens with a hex wrench, and if you leave it loose enough to adjust easily, then it’s too loose to support the weight of an iPad and starts to tilt. Not only that, but there are two sizes of hex wrenches (included) for the middle and base joint. So this is best if you’ve got a favorite height and usually keep it at that height. (The angle and rotation is more easily adjustable, with a knob to tighten.)

The one other caveat about the HoverBar Duo is that it wiggles a little. There’s not much danger of it falling over, but if you have it on a desk and you’re typing at a keyboard, it can jiggle the whole thing just a little, which I found distracting. (Okay, so maybe I tend to pound the keyboard a little.) When playing games with the controller or watching a show, it wasn’t an issue since I wasn’t typing.

But, speaking of typing, occasionally I want to do a little bit more than just short social media posts or the quick reply to an email. Typing on the on-screen keyboard is okay for those, but if I actually want to write an article or a more substantial email, it’s nice to have a physical keyboard.

The Lofree Flow Keyboard ($159.99) is a compact keyboard that can be used either wirelessly via Bluetooth or wired (USB-C)—you can use it with your computer, of course, but I’ve found it a nice accessory for my iPad as well. It’s a low-profile keyboard but it doesn’t suffer from the “chiclet” feel of the Apple keyboards; there are three options for switches, depending on whether you want quiet or clicky, and it’s hot-swappable so you can change them out as you like. It also switches between Mac and Windows layouts with a hotkey, and you can also connect it to up to three Bluetooth devices and switch between those with an easy hotkey. (I haven’t needed that function, but I suppose if I wanted to use this for both my desktop computer and my iPad it would make it easy to jump back and forth without having to disconnect/reconnect it every time.)

It’s not as flashy as some of the other keyboards I’ve tried, but it does have some side lights for a little extra bling—it makes me smile because it makes me think of undercarriage neon on vehicles. The case is aluminum and just has a nice, classy look to it—mine has black keys and the case is a gunmetal color, but white keys with a silver case is also available. The switches are Kailh Full POM (Polyoxymethylene) Switches which is supposed to be self-lubricating and offers a smoother feel; I have to admit I don’t know much about the material itself, but I can confirm that typing on the Lofree does have a really nice feel to it—both the surface of the keys and the typing itself. The one thing I’m considering is swapping out the included Phantom switches for the Wizard switches, since those are clickier but are not currently available as a default. Lofree is currently having their Black Friday sale until November 30—at checkout you’ll get a discount of 15% on $100+, 20% on $200+, or 25% on $300+.

And now for something completely different—if you want a head-turning way to talk on the phone, consider the Banana Phone ($39.99), a Bluetooth headset shaped like a banana. Why? Well, why not? When my kids were little, we often listened to the Raffi song “Banana Phone” (look it up—it’s an earworm), so that’s immediately what I thought of when I first saw this and it had that nostalgic appeal for me.

Yes, it’s quite silly—it’s not hands-free like an earbud, and it’s probably larger than your phone so you don’t get some sort of portability bonus from it, but it is more comfortable to hold to your ear than a typical smartphone (let’s face it—just about anything is), and it’s bright yellow!

The Banana Phone is about the size of an average banana, and it’s pretty simple: a button in the middle turns it on and you connect to it via Bluetooth. The center button is also used to answer or hang up calls, and then there are two volume buttons.  The center button can also be double-clicked to activate Siri or Google Assistant to voice dial. That’s pretty much it! It charges via a MicroUSB port at the base. It’s bright yellow plastic, so it’s a bit slick, and doesn’t have any brown spots yet so it’s just the perfect ripeness. The sound quality is okay. I mean, terrific for a banana, but okay as far as Bluetooth speakers go. Aside from bringing a smile to your face when you answer the phone, the Banana Phone also helps to save gorillas. 2% of sales go to Gearing Up 4 Gorillas, a conservation group that focuses on efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Finally, here’s one more fun gadget that turns your phone or tablet into a karaoke machine! The Minioke LED Go ($69.99) from Sway is a portable Bluetooth speaker with a wireless microphone, allowing you to play music to the speaker and sing over it. Fire up a karaoke app like KaraFun and you’ll be on your way to hosting a karaoke party wherever you are. The speaker lights up up and cycles through a rainbow of colors with a few different lighting modes, or you can turn the lighting off if you’re using the speaker for other purposes.

The microphone has a number of different sound effects, like raising or lowering the pitch of your voice, adding reverb, and so on. (One note is that there’s a voice that announces the current sound mode, and it sounds from both the accent and the verbiage that it was not originally in English, so it uses awkward terms like “male-to-female” and “male-to-female” for the pitch adjustment effects.)

The speaker and microphone were surprisingly loud, so this could also be a really useful device just whenever you need a bit of a volume boost but don’t have access to a full mic setup—you can just carry this with you and amplify your voice pretty nicely.

That wraps up this gadget round-up! Hope you have some fun with these accessories.