I believe the PS5 DualSense controller is the greatest gamepad Sony has ever made. Symmetrical analog stick placement apart, the PlayStation 5's intelligent controller continues to thrill me with its modern adaptive triggers and haptic suggestions, even practically a 12 months after launch.
However, one sticking level that I've with the DualSense controller is its mediocre battery life. It's by no means been capable of rival the likes of the Xbox Series X controller, which may use AA batteries or a 'play and cost' pack. But, I'm involved that it might need gotten worse.
During SociallyKeeda's PS5 evaluation in November 2020, I carried out an unscientific take a look at to watch the DualSense controller's battery life. Using my cellphone's stopwatch, I'd punch begin when taking part in a sport and proceeded to cease the clock at any time when I turned the PS5 off.
Using this admittedly fairly crude methodology, I recorded the PS5 DualSense controller lasting a powerful 12 hours when flicking between Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the distinctive Astro's Playroom, which was a welcome shock after the pitiful battery life of the DualShock 4 controller.
However, in the previous few months, I've seen the 'Wireless Controller battery is low' immediate popping up much more often – to such an extent that the thought of hitting these heady heights of ten plus hours of battery life seems like an impossibility now.
Arkane Studios' fabulous Deathloop – a sport that makes use of the DualSense controller's adaptive triggers and haptic suggestions fairly liberally – has solely served to extend this concern. My play periods have been rudely interrupted by the now all-too-acquainted battery stage immediate on quite a few events, though I've solely hit six hours of playtime at most.
So has the DualSense controller's battery gotten worse over time? Well, the controller has acquired a number of updates since launch, however nothing important of be aware.
The easiest rationalization, then, is that the video games I initially examined possible do not drain the battery life as a lot as newer PS5 titles may. But that also would not clarify the huge disparity between hitting six hours of battery life and the earlier double figures I recorded.
Returning to the previous stopwatch methodology, I made a decision to time the DualSense's battery life as soon as once more. I flicked forwards and backwards between The Medium, Deathloop, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure all through a weekend and did another non-gaming duties, too: watched YouTube, browsed the PlayStation Store, and left the controller idle.
It's price noting that my settings on the controller have remained unchanged since launch – the haptic suggestions and the lightbar are all on 'Standard' – and I often alternate between utilizing the PS5 Pulse 3D Wireless Headset plugged into the controller and wirelessly.
It took lower than an hour for the first bar of the DualSense's three-bar indicator to vanish – round 53 minutes, to be precise, which was worrying. By the time I'd reached the 5-hour mark, solely a single battery bar was displaying, and by the time six hours had handed, the immediate to cost my controller appeared.
Now, as somebody who usually tends to hearken to the recommendation of their units (absolutely they know greatest in any case?), I often swap to a brand new gamepad at any time when this immediate seems.
However, the repercussions of this now commonplace state of affairs have led me to consider that my PS5 DualSense controllers have 50% much less battery life than I beforehand recorded, which is fairly dire. The actuality, although, is loads completely different.
What I found throughout my second spherical of testing is that, whereas sure, some video games do drain the DualSense faster than others, it is Sony's low battery life immediate that's making issues appear worse than they're.
I've discovered that the low battery life indicator will seem round the six-hour mark, however you comfortably get to 9 to 10 hours of playtime earlier than the controller dies. In my e-book, that is an extremely early warning from Sony, particularly as Microsoft's controller tends to warn you when you might have round quarter-hour of juice left.
So what's the resolution? The most blatant repair, it appears, is for Sony to vary the low-stage battery alerts to be extra reflective of when the controller is about to expire of cost. And if you wish to squeeze out some extra battery life from the DualSense controller total, you may all the time flip down the depth of the haptic suggestions, adaptive triggers, and the controller's gentle bar.
To make life simpler, I'd additionally advocate choosing up the PS5 DualSense Charging Station Dock, which helps you to swap pads at a second's discover when you have a spare at hand. It's additionally a way more enticing resolution than having a USB cable trailing from the entrance of your console.
Though the DualSense controller's battery will inevitably degrade slowly over time – as all constructed-in lithium-ion batteries do – evidently my preliminary fears could have been overblown. At least, for now.
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