With the advent of cloud gaming, a new focus on game controllers for smartphones has emerged, and there have been some unique ideas. From fans to compact sizes, there is something for everyone. For the Xbox Game Pass player, the Moga XP7-X Plus may be the ultimate gaming controller, but one element leaves it in the dust.
Moga XP7-X Plus: The Good
Convenient control
The biggest advantages of the Moga XP7-X Plus are without a doubt its controls and ergonomics. The controller feels like a super wide Xbox controller in your hand and the layout is comfortable! The buttons are easy to click and have tactile feedback, while the trigger and shoulder buttons are quiet.
Especially the triggers are unique in this room. In general, this split design means forgoing true, resistive triggers for glorified buttons. But here you get triggers that actually press in. I found the resistance here a bit too stiff for my liking, but it was still solid for the various games I’ve played through Stadia and Xbox Game Pass. My wife also seemed to enjoy them overall while playing Dreamlight Valley on Game Pass.
Elsewhere, the D-Pad and joysticks are pretty solid too, with the former having quiet presses with solid travel and the latter with no sign of drift but responsive movements. This is far from the best setup I’ve ever felt, but it’s certainly one of the better mobile options I’ve tried lately.
Perhaps my only issue with the controls is that some of the power options are hard to follow. On the top and bottom of the controller are a power button, a bluetooth button, a green button and a switch for bluetooth and USB – you can use this controller wired to a PC by flipping this switch. But, somewhat annoyingly, none of these actually turn on the controller. The Xbox button on the front takes care of that. It defies logic a little in my opinion, but that’s something that’s easy to overlook. What does that green button do? It can be programmed as you wish with an app, but out of the box it does nothing. There are also remappable buttons on the back of the controller – always nice to see.
After pairing, I found that the Moga XP7-X Plus performs just as well as any other Bluetooth controller. Input lag is kept to a minimum, barely noticeable when using the controller wirelessly. Battery life is manageable, and I’ve never killed it in a single gaming session, but there’s a slight catch.
Wireless charging is a nice perk of dubious value
This last feature fits into the “pro” column for me, but could easily be seen as a “con” as well. With the juice from the internal 2,000 mAh battery, you can enable wireless charging using the Qi standard on this controller. Your phone starts charging immediately, no cables are required.
In practice, this works pretty well. On a Pixel 6 Pro and a Pixel 5, charging was detected instantly, and both devices got a decent boost from that internal charger. However, I did notice that my Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Fold 4 both had trouble aligning with this charging pad, making the feature more of a headache than an added value.
This is a great addition for cloud gaming, but wireless charging seems like a bad idea for local gaming. Even mobile gaming can quickly heat up a smartphone, and the extra heat from Qi charging is a recipe for thermal throttling or even overheating. I would have liked to see a fan added to combat this, but such an option is not available. If you’re planning on buying this controller for local gaming, I wouldn’t recommend using Qi.
The biggest issue I had with this feature was the impact on battery life. Simply put, it can easily kill the controller if you’re not careful. Qi is inefficient, so charging uses more power than a direct USB connection. But beyond that, the “power bank” works independently from the rest of the controller. When you disconnect the controller, the power bank stays on even if there is nothing on the controller. In theory this is a cool idea to use the controller as a portable power bank, but mostly it just resulted in me sitting down to play games and realizing the Moga was dead. Also, the hardware here is far too bulky to be a convenient travel option.
Broadly speaking, wireless charging is something that I I really liked this controller, but it could have been implemented better and is definitely not for everyone.
Moga XP7-X Plus: The Bad
Big phones and cases fit tightly together
Despite being a large and bulky mobile controller, the XP7-X Plus still pairs well with modern flagship phones. The Pixel 6 Pro barely fits into the controller’s smartphone slot once it has the relatively thin official case installed. The Galaxy S22 Ultra also fits into this space, both in width and thickness. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is thicker, but it’s the absolute maximum width this controller can handle.
That’s a bit of a shame, because 2022 most Phones are pretty big. Also, bigger phones make for a better mobile gaming experience. It really feels like PowerA didn’t have modern phones in mind when designing this controller.
Speaking of…
It’s 2022 and this uses Micro-USB
The thing I just can’t look past this controller is that it charges via Micro-USB. This $100 product, launched in 2022, uses a charging standard that smartphones largely abandoned five to six years ago.
Micro-USB charging would have been a nuisance a few years ago, but in 2022 it’s an active obstacle for the customer this controller is pursuing. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that most people looking to buy a $100 controller also own mostly USB-C devices, so they don’t have micro-USB cables lying around anymore. The Moga XP7-X Plus does include a cable for charging, but it’s of questionable quality and too short to be useful in many cases.
The logic behind this choice just confuses me. Almost every smartphone, regardless of price, currently uses a USB-C connector – unless it’s an iPhone, of course. But even with that in mind, I’d argue that someone with an iPhone is still more likely to have a USB-C charger than a micro-USB one, if only because of the iPad, MacBook, and aforementioned plethora of smartphone accessories on the market today also use USB-C almost exclusively.
There’s just no excuse for that.
There’s a lot to love about the XP7-X Plus, but personally I just can’t overlook its charging method. Battery life isn’t good enough to be an afterthought, and smartphones in 2022 just don’t use that archaic standard. Despite the solid controls, clever charging, and fairly reasonable price of $99, micro-USB makes this product just an inconvenience.
If you’re still interested in the Moga XP7-X Plus despite the charging method, you can pick it up on Amazon for $99.
More on cloud gaming:
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Visit 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:
#Review #Moga #XP7X #ultimate #cloud #gaming #controller #wasnt #living
Leave a Comment