Unlike the PS4 controller - which has an embedded rechargeable battery - the Xbox One sports standard AA removable batteries. While this is not a major problem as such, as you can at least swap out batteries to get your battery fix or you can save some weight on the controller if you use a USB cable, it's still a hassle to find the latter or a spare set of batteries at a moment’s notice during a gaming session!
In fact I've given up on the amount of times I've had to dash around to quickly find batteries when the controller dies suddenly! Granted Microsoft’s console has an early warning notification system in place to give you a rough idea that batteries are low, but it's still not 100% accurate and mid-game your focus is not on the batteries but on the game itself! Thus you tend to forget you need to swap them!
Of course a downside to needing batteries is the ongoing costs of replacing them. In the past i’ve used the more expensive Duracell and Pound shop variants and even dabbled with rechargeable batteries, however the life duration is not ideal.
Another alternative is the Play & Charge kits which plug into the back of the controller and charge the battery via a microUSB cable as you play.
I did dabble with a non-official Play & Charge Kit a few months back and to be honest I was really pleased with it at the start as not only was the alternative cheaper (at the time), it also seemed to do a good job.
However after 3 months of use the battery suddenly died without warning and it would simply not charge properly anymore. The 3rd party alternative also replaced the default Xbox One controller’s battery-plate and it did add another microUSB port for charging.
Official Controller
You get what you pay for is the old saying, however with the Official Play & Charge kit now available at a lower cost - from the likes of Amazon (£15) - I thought it was worth grabbing one to see how it faired!
Box & Design
From the get go the Official Play & Charge kit is designed to fit your existing Xbox One controller perfectly, so there is no separate back plate required for the battery compartment.
The battery supplied is also 1400mAh which is twice the capacity of the old Play & Charge kit I reviewed back in January.
I have to admit the Quick start guide that was supplied in the box was not really required, as installing the battery into the back of the controller only went in one way and the existing cover fits perfectly; thus setup was a piece of cake!
Note: With the battery in place it shaves weight off the controller. For example the Xbox Controller weighed 264g with the Play & Charge Battery installed and 280g with standard batteries.
However another item in the box is the USB charging cable and what’s useful is the way the cable charging led is placed at the top part of the cable - where it plugs into the back of the microUSB port.
This is easily visible from a seating position to showcase when the battery is charging and of course once it's finished. The only aspect that is a little strange is the colour of the led, as the charging led is yellow/orange (rather than red) and the indication that it's completed is white. I suppose this matches the theme of the console (Power and Xbox buttons are also white).
Despite this the only other strange design decision is the cable length. It's not quite 3m in length, rather 2.8m approx. However it manages to reach to my chair with a bit to spare and the cable has a round ferrite bead - placed near the cable end - to help reduce interference.
In Use
Another useful function of the Play & Charge kit is that when the cable is plugged in it disables the wireless function of the controller so this helps reduce interference/input lag while playing intense multiplayer style games.
In general I found the responsiveness of the controller was top draw with all the games I played (using the cable or battery), ranging from FPS to plat-formers. It even felt more responsive than a standard microUSB cable plugged in to the controller or the previous Play & Charge kit I had from a 3rd party.
Battery charging does take roughly four hours (as it says on the tin), but the above points are a positive in my mind. Plus the battery has lasted an age so far!
Granted, in my video I was going to do a mental log of how much real gaming time I had spent with the controller, but instead I just used the Xbox/Smart Glass App to help with this. So far, since I started using it on the 15th July, I have racked up approx 26 hours (give or take a few hours here or there) and the Xbox One is still showing the controller has some juice left (the battery indicator is now just above the empty mark!)
I have to point out that the controller has been used on/off during this time and taking my experience of the 3rd party controller into hand, I am a little more cautious in my final decision. This is why I’ll be keeping an eye on the battery life to see how much the battery performance diminishes over time – so keep a check on the review for more updates.
Summary
So far though I am really happy with the Official Play & Charge kit; especially as it has good performance in terms of in-game and battery life. Granted you could argue this accessory should have been supplied as standard, but at least you don't have to swap out the entire controller if the battery fails (like on the PS4). With this flexibility, plus the fact it’s now come down in price, I can certainly recommend any Xbox One owner to grab one!