I’ve usually had very complimentary issues to say in regards to the Xbox Series X controller, which I truly desire to the PS5’s DualSense. It may be a very conservative improve, however it’s a really conservative upgrade of among the best controllers ever made.
The Xbox Series X controller is comfy, intuitive and versatile. The only destructive problem is that it makes use of wasteful, costly AA batteries — and Microsoft’s official rechargeable battery pack, bought individually for $25, would not handle this problem almost as nicely because it should.
— Read our full Xbox Series X assessment
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Just like the Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers, the Xbox Series X/S controller makes use of disposable AA batteries by default quite than internal, rechargeable battery packs, akin to those discovered in the PS3, PS4 and PS5 controllers.
Without belaboring the problem, AA batteries are each wasteful and inefficient, and I’m generally not thrilled that Microsoft has handed what is essentially a further price onto the consumer fairly than simply constructing it into the worth of the controller.
The light of my battery life
The one consolation is that Microsoft’s rechargeable battery packs have generally been pretty good up to now. My Xbox 360 battery pack lasted for about seven years before it began losing vital quantities of charge; my Xbox One battery pack continues to be going robust. Both of these battery packs additionally included a charging cable with an indicator mild.
Unlike most gaming peripherals, Xbox controllers don’t have a mild that signifies charge. (The illuminated energy button would work simply nice for this application, however I digress. The only method to test how much power you have got left is besides up your Xbox. Check the highest of the home display — or set up a dedicated app in your Pc.
Older Xbox battery-pack charging cables partly alleviated this problem. The LEDs on the cables would glow orange while the controller was charging, and either green or white once the cost was complete.
While Xbox One battery packs are compatible with Xbox Series X controllers, lithium ion battery the charging cables should not, since newer controllers use USB-C relatively than microUSB plugs. However, the Xbox Rechargeable Battery + USB-C Cable for Xbox Series X (rolls proper off the tongue, doesn’t it?) is a large step backward for one simple reason: There isn’t any indicator mild.
This will likely not seem like a big deal. In any case, you get a battery pack and charging cable, and so they work well; what extra may you need? But a charging gentle is a useful thing, particularly if you have just one controller.
It lets you understand when you can detach your controller and soar again right into a recreation; it could also prevent some cash on electricity, since Xbox consoles will provide a small trickle of energy to charging gear even when the system is turned off.
More than the rest, although, a charging indicator saves you frustration. Is the light orange? Your controller is charging. Is the sunshine white? Your controller is charged.
With this new charging cable, rechargeable battery you might have to show in your Tv and your Xbox (again — this wastes both time and energy), and examine a tiny icon at the highest of the screen. In case your controller is charging, you will see a battery with a plug icon and a slowly transferring white bar. If your controller is charged, you may see a almost identical battery with a plug icon, however this time, the bar is static.
If Microsoft could not give us an LED on the cable itself, the very least it might have executed is make the «charged» image on the Xbox residence screen a bit more distinctive.
Considering that the rechargeable battery is kind of a essential expense, the least Microsoft may have carried out was present a cable equally pretty much as good as its final-gen model. Instead, we got a much less helpful product for the very same value.
Xbox play and charge package options
Had I identified that I was basically just paying for a really long USB-C cable, I most likely would have avoided shopping for Microsoft’s rechargeable battery kit. (Again: Xbox One rechargeable battery packs nonetheless work high quality, and I have two of them. Your mileage may fluctuate on this, in fact.) After the fact, although, I found that Microsoft fans will not be with out choices in terms of charging options with indicators.
First, there’s something like the Numskull Xbox Series X LED USB-C Charge Cable (another product identify that leaves nothing to the imagination). Very simply, it’s a USB-C charging cable that lights up as a controller prices.
This is strictly what Microsoft should have included with its rechargeable battery pack. Then again, a five-foot-lengthy cable isn’t helpful for enjoying games whereas a controller charges, and it doesn’t include a battery pack.
Then there’s something like the HyperX ChargePlay Duo, just introduced at CES 2021, which makes use of proprietary battery packs and a bodily dock to charge controllers. It’s slightly cumbersome, and at $40, it is costlier than buying a single battery pack from Microsoft. (You get two batteries, so the math makes sense if you happen to personal two controllers.) It isn’t fairly so simple as just plugging in a cable, however not less than you recognize when your batteries are completed charging.
The very best resolution, although, can be for Microsoft to easily embrace an LED charging mild on the subsequent batch of Xbox Series X rechargeable battery cables. It’s an especially inconvenient oversight, but also one that seems comparatively easy to repair.