PowerA’s new MOGA XP-Ultra is a Frankenstein’s monster of mobile and Xbox hybrid controller

PowerA’s gone and made one of the strangest-looking controllers I’ve ever seen, and but, this factor that appears prefer it ought to have by no means made it previous the idea stage is the primary non-Microsoft gamepad to be wirelessly appropriate on Xbox consoles. The PowerA MOGA XP-Ultra doesn’t simply have a title solely a mom or Elon Musk might love; it additionally needs to attempt and bridge the hole between mobile recreation streaming on companies like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and console and PC play with only one kind issue. And it does this by providing a convertible kind issue, reworking from a small-ish mobile gamepad to a full-size controller — all for $129.99.

We’ve seen one thing like this earlier than with the Turtle Beach Recon Cloud controller, however that try at cross-platform compatibility was hindered by a restriction to wired USB-C on Xbox. PowerA went the additional mile with the MOGA XP-Ultra by licensing Microsoft’s proprietary wi-fi protocol to permit wi-fi play, and then, it went many extra additional miles to supply 4 totally different reworking controller setups: compact mini-pad mode, full-size mode with the connected grip, and then both of these with the included mobile telephone clip connected.

And what’s all of it for? Ideally, it’s to provide the finest of all worlds. The MOGA XP-Ultra does form of have all of it: wi-fi for Xbox in addition to PC (when you use an Xbox Wireless USB adapter on PC), wired USB-C on Xbox and PC, and Bluetooth 4.2 LE wi-fi connectivity for PC and Android telephones. But regardless that it has full Xbox compatibility, the controller doesn’t work with iPhones or iPads.

Outside of all of the connectivity stuff, the XP-Ultra sports activities a built-in rechargeable battery, full-size sticks, buttons, and triggers — the latter being impulse triggers with their very own tiny vibration motors. The core mini-pad itself has its personal rumble motors, and when it’s locked into the full-size hand grip, it syncs up with bigger rumblers that really feel extra like a commonplace Xbox controller. (Rumble on the mini-pad alone is a little tinny and annoyingly noisy at instances.) Like many different PowerA controllers, there are two programmable buttons on the rear of the attachable grip. The included telephone clip is a lot like the usual MOGA telephone clip, utilizing a stress clamp to carry your telephone in place — although it’s a little simpler to connect and barely extra secure than the common one because the XP-Ultra and its clip are designed for each other. The Recon Cloud from Turtle Beach might have this beat in phrases of rigidity and solidness (its telephone clip strongly screws into the controller, in any case), however the MOGA clamp affords extra articulation that helps to raised steadiness a telephone above your arms.

In my temporary hands-on time with the PowerA MOGA XP-Ultra, I discovered it to be a blended bag of ergonomics. The high quality feels there, however my average-size arms felt a little too massive and overbearing in mini-pad mode but additionally a contact too small and missing my regular, snug attain of the buttons and sticks in full-size mode. It wasn’t sufficient to make issues unplayable, however I might really feel that I used to be barely out of my consolation zone. And when you mount a heavy plus-size Android telephone to the highest of it, particularly utilizing simply the mini-pad, I concern it might turn into Hand Cramp City as you awkwardly seize it in a bizarre claw-like grip.

What’s that saying about a jack-of-all-trades? As cliche as it could be, the XP-Ultra is certainly that grasp of none. The sticks, buttons, and triggers are on par with different PowerA controllers — some of which I like for his or her wonderful combine of high quality and worth proposition — however I can’t assist feeling most individuals shopping for this controller might settle into utilizing it in only one or two kind elements. And at that time, chances are you’ll be higher served with a devoted mobile controller to your recreation streaming wants in tandem with a regular-ass controller for console and PC use. Perhaps the XP-Ultra might make extra sense as soon as there are some inevitable offers (as we regularly see on PowerA equipment), however at $130, you will get an Xbox Elite Series 2 Core and a primary PowerA MOGA telephone clip and have a higher expertise.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge