The D-pad first came to prominence on the controller for the Famicom.
A D-pad (D is short for digital) is the cross-shaped directional control found on nearly all modern video game consolegamepads and game controllers. Like early video game joysticks, D-pads are digital: they allow input of exactly 8 directions (the points of the compass), with no intermediate values. Although they provide less nuance than analog controls, they can easily be manipulated with very high accuracy using only a single thumb.
D-pads were invented in the 1980s (after traditional joysticks) by Gunpei Yokoi, and his particular design is patented. Initially intended to be a compact controller for the Game & Watch handheld games, it was realized that they would also be appropriate for regular consoles, and Nintendo made the D-pad the standard directional control for the hugely successful Famicom (NES in the rest of the world). Subsequent to this all major video game consoles have had a D-pad. Arcade games, however, have largely continued using joysticks.
A recent trend in modern consoles, beginning with the Nintendo 64, has been to provide both a D-pad and a compact analog stick; depending on the game, one type of control may be more appropriate than the other.
The Game Pad is roughly the size and shape of a Game Boy Advance, except that the vibrant color screen is part of a phone that can be removed at any time except during game play.
The directionalpad and buttons correspond directly to the phone's own controls, so when you're not in a game, you can use it to browse the Web or fiddle with settings.
The phone itself is sleek, similar in design to the Samsung V205 sold by T-Mobile.
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