A Swedish company called Gametel is about to launch a new accessory for Android phone users that will let them play games using a Bluetooth gaming D-pad rather than the phone’s touchscreen.

The new Gametel controller in effect turns your Android phone, be it HTC or Samsung, into an Xperia Play allowing you to play games without the faff of on-screen controls.

The accessory, which doesn’t need to be physically connected to work, comes with a clamp that can grip around any Android phone with a screen up to 4.2 inches.

Costing around £50 and expected to be available in the UK before Christmas, the new accessory works with over 50 games in the Android Market at the moment; however it will, the company tells Pocket-lint, work with more in the future including Cordy, Asphalt 5 HD, Reckless Getaway, Guns’n’Glory, MotoX Mayhem, Happy Vikings and Zenonia.

That’s partly because the company is talking to developers to try and convince them not to ignore Bluetooth controller support in their games (it is a line of code), but also because in Google’s latest Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich, Bluetooth controller support is set as a standard.

The controller will work with any Android phone from version 2.1 and above including Honeycomb tablets.

On buying the controller, users will have to download a driver app that pairs the controller and the phone together, before running their favourite game. Once paired the Gametel automatically connects to the device every time it is powered on.

Where it gets really exciting is when phones like the Motorola RAZR or Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray offer HDMI-out allowing you to connect your phone to your TV and play from your sofa.

You will be able to connect up to four controllers to any one phone to play four-player games at the same time, although we aren’t sure there are any out there at the moment.

Nvidia has announced that its Tegra 3 powered tablets like the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime will allow you to pair Xbox 360 or PS3 controllers, however that will only work with the newer devices on the market. The Gametel controller, says the company, will work with virtually all Android phones on sale today.