[Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 Accessories] drjoe1:
I purchased the SN30 Pro. Here are some observations

The SN30 Pro and SF30 Pro are functionally identical. The two differences are the color of the unit and the shape of the X/Y buttons. For the SF30 Pro, X/Y and A/B are all molded center up. For the SN30 Pro, the X/Y are dimpled center down with A/B center up. I like the color scheme for the SF30 Pro better, but went with the more monochrome SN30 Pro for the tactile difference between the X/Y and A/B buttons.

The Pro versions are USB C and Bluetooth 4.0. They are reported to have less lag than earlier models with older Bluetooth formats. I haven't seen any lag, but I'm playing NES type games, which don't require microsecond response.

The documentation is poor for 8bitdo. They tell you how to choose a profile but don't explain their differences.

My understanding of Bluetooth controllers was poor. I assumed they were plug and play.

It turns out that it is Really Complicated (tm).

A) There are no specifications for Bluetooth controllers that define which physical button corresponds to which electronic button.

B) 8bitdo has five "profiles" that you can set prior to connecting by Bluetooth.

1. Nintendo Switch (appears to be default after firmware upgrade)

2. XBox

3. Apple

4. Android

5. USB C

C) The profile you pick determines which physical buttons are active and maps the physical buttons to different electronic buttons

D) It seems like we want to be Android, Switch, or XBox, most of the online forums suggest that Android is "best". I get the impression that the Apple profile does not work with any other platform than Apple. I've had the controller in both Switch and Android profiles, and can't tell you the difference. I found some links to device config files that may enumerate the assignment differences, but haven't had a chance to look at them yet.

E) Because there is no Bluetooth standard, emulator programmers don't know what controller you are using and how they are assigning buttons. So unless they have an 8bitdo controller profile, you'll still need to go in and assign buttons manually.

These are the sites I got most of my understanding from:

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/15201/8bitdo-sf30-pro-and-sn30-pro/

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/15201/8bitdo-sf30-pro-and-sn30-pro/37

https://www.reddit.com/r/8bitdo/comments/7k9hb3/sn30_pro_windows_and_star_button/

https://buildbot.libretro.com/assets/frontend/bundle/autoconfig/udev/

I've played with this on several emulators. None seem to have 8bitdo profiles built-in. The Nintento 64 Mupen64plus emulator works great. John GBAC works pretty well, but John NESS is having more problems getting buttons mapped properly. I played with this on a few of the Atari games with Atari2600EMU, and it seems to work good on some games (Galaxian) and worse on others (Adventure).

Part of my problem is that it isn't always clear what the physical button to emulator button mapping should be. This is complicated by getting a one-size-fits-all remote that has all the right buttons, but includes extra buttons, and also has to encompass console functions and emulator functions. But I can see that if I play with it for awhile it will get better.

What I'm trying to get across is that none of this seems to be plug-and-play. But I like the controller a lot.