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Post by Imperial Khador on Jan 29, 2016 23:21:32 GMT
Just to start, this is anecdotal, rather than any formal testing. I think it is pretty well accepted at this point that the DS4 battery life is nowhere near as long as the DS3, despite being a higher capacity battery.
I really like the DS4, and so it has been getting a lot of use on various devices. In addition, because I noticed the short battery life early on, I picked up some higher capacity batteries for it. However, recently I'd noticed a few things.
The longest PS4 game I've played so far has been Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. When playing this game, I noticed that the DS4's battery life seemed to vary widely, taking anywhere between 4 and 8 hours to drain completely from a full charge. Previous to that, I'd been using my PS4 a lot for media, so I'd start up a show, the DS4 would shut down after 10 minutes, and then I'd activate it again to shut the system down. After 2 or 3 days, and less than an hour of total active time on the controller, it would be drained. (Note, I have my controller set to deactivate after 10 minutes of inactivity with the PS4, and I keep the light setting to low, which is still pretty bright).
Contrast this to my experience using the DS4 as a PC controller, where it may take 8-10 hours or longer over the course of two weeks before that DS4 controller needs a recharge. (I have two controllers, one of which gets use mostly for the PC). I had attributed this mostly to being able to turn the light off completely, since the touch pad, gyroscope, etc were all still functioning.
Now the past few days, I'd been using the DS4 controller I normally have connected to the PS4 in order to play the last 12 hours or so of Tales of Hearts R on my PSTV. In that time, the battery didn't even drain below 2 bars. As far as I know, the PSTV doesn't even have the option to dim the controller light, and the touch pad is enabled. Thinking about it, the PSTV probably wouldn't make use of the gyroscope or rumble functions of the controller, so maybe disables them for longer battery life.
So what does all this mean? Not sure really, aside from a lot of things probably contributing to the DS4's poor battery life with the PS4. It isn't crippling at all, since charging isn't really much of an inconvenience. I just thought the performance differences were notable.
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fsfsxii
Space Striker
What to believe...
Posts: 916 
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Post by fsfsxii on Jan 29, 2016 23:39:16 GMT
I think it was proven to last 6 to 8 hours, depending on the light's level of brightness. The DS4 itself uses a 1000mah batteries, compared to DS3's 2000mah or 2500mah(?)
DS3 actually lasts 19 hours of gameplay, which is pretty good.
Seems like every controller has something that draws it back. WiiU has a pathetic battery life for the gamepad, Xbox still uses double A batteries, and DS4 has the 1000mah stuff inside of it. DS3 is still on the top for me.
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Post by Imperial Khador on Jan 29, 2016 23:52:01 GMT
The batteries I pulled out of my DS3 when upgrading those were 300 mAh, not 2000 or 2500 mAh. (The replacements I used were 1800 mAh). As you say though, it gets some impressive life out of that battery. I'm not sure what the battery life is on the higher capacity ones I installed. I suspect I'll fine out when next I play a JRPG on my PS3  The DS4 factory batteries are 1000 mAh, and the ones I've swapped in are 2000 mAh. I did end up upgrading my Wii U Gamepad with Nyko's larger internal battery. I can get about 10 hours on that now, though it has only gone that long without charging when I have it at someone else's house for whatever reason. The Wii U pro controller has been great though. 30+ hours of battery life between charges. |
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fsfsxii
Space Striker
What to believe...
Posts: 916
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Post by fsfsxii on Jan 30, 2016 0:44:50 GMT
Hmm, could swear the DS3 are 2000 or 2500mah. I would check my controller now if the info on the downside wasn't faded from so much use xD
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lukefonfabre388
Sonic Wing
Move like a shadow, sting like a nuke.
Posts: 467
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Post by lukefonfabre388 on Jan 30, 2016 2:38:33 GMT
I had to spend $55 on a brand new ps3 controller. But the battery life seems to last for days maybe even half a week or even a whole week. It really lasts a long time even during long play sessions.
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,460
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Post by stratogustav on Jan 30, 2016 13:09:10 GMT
Yeah, that light kills it, I wish it lasted as much as the DS3. I love my DS3 and it feels nice to play with it, but the DS4 20th Anniversary Edition has really touched me, and it is hard to like anything else more. However I hate it too because I use it for my PS3 and it doesn't work in all the games, not only that, there is no rumble, the D-Pad only works as a 4-Way D-Pad on the PS3, and the PS button doesn't do anything. It is a shame because it is an special controller.
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Post by Imperial Khador on Nov 6, 2016 14:22:24 GMT
Just bumping this up with a further observation.
The battery on my main DS3 controller died earlier in the month (possibly anyway, as the controller works but the battery doesn't charge). While waiting for a replacement battery to come in the mail, I've been using one of my DS4 controllers with the higher capacity battery.
With the PS3, it functions as a normal bluetooth controller, so that light is on, but no rumble, no touch pad, etc. I think I've gotten more than 20 hours of use between charges.
So that's the odd sort of thing. When used with a PS3, PSTV or PC, where some of the features are not in use, the battery life is pretty impressive. It is just with the PS4, where the light, the gyrosensors, the rumble, the touchpad, etc. are all in use, the battery drains quickly. It isn't just that light by itself that deserves the blame.
Makes me wish we had the option to disable controller features somewhere in the PS4 menu.
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,460
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Post by stratogustav on Nov 6, 2016 14:52:42 GMT
I usually don't play for that long so when it starts telling me is low I move onto something else while it charges.
If I forget to charge it then I use my second DS4 while the first one charges. I have a black one that came with the system, and the 20th Anniversary one as well. If I have someone over to play I give them the black one, and the battery is usually long enough for a good gaming session. I haven't really measure it myself.
But probably it doesn't affect me as much because for fighters, and shoot 'em ups I just use my arcade stick. However I remember when I didn't have a nice arcade stick I always felt the battery was very bad when comparing it to the PS3 controller that lasted what it felt like weeks.
Honestly I rather have a short life battery than a long lasting one that is going to affect my health and could become hazardous. I remember how the PS2 third party wireless controllers used to give me headaches so I decided not to use them, you never know what kind of cancer they are throwing at you.
I also have to say that I like so much the DS4 that when I play my PS3 I only use the DS3 for the games where I absolutely have to, since not all the games are supported, and the d-pad is only a 4 way when used on a PS3, which I guess is good for Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+, but that's about it.
I also dislike the lack of rumble on the PS3, and the lack of the home menu button. Sony was clever not to make it 100% compatible, otherwise I would probably won't even touch my PS4 since the PS3 library is so much better because it has been around for exactly 10 years.
I do enjoy my PS4 though, there are enough games to play, even more than what I can handle, but nothing in comparison with the huge library on the PS3.
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Post by Imperial Khador on Nov 6, 2016 21:07:14 GMT
I'd still definitely prefer to be using my DS3 at the moment of course, but I just thought I'd add to the observations about the battery life since I'm using the DS4 as a substitute. The limitation on the D-Pad for DS4 on PS3 would certainly be frustrating for some games, but for Tales of Xillia 2, it is working out just fine |
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scipioafricanus
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Sega Does What Nintendon't... except the 32X
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Post by scipioafricanus on Nov 6, 2016 23:59:52 GMT
Curious: Why do you prefer the PS3 one?
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Post by Imperial Khador on Nov 7, 2016 15:28:44 GMT
Well, I should clarify that I prefer the Dualshock 3 controller as a PS3 controller, not in general. As for preferring it over the Dualshock 4, it would be mostly the rumble feature working and a properly functioning home button. I don't play many fighting games, so the d-pad isn't as important to me as to stratogustav, but it does factor in there. For the PC or PSTV, I vastly prefer the Dualshock 4 to the Dualshock 3, and indeed the DS4 is currently my favourite PC controller. If Sony had worked out better compatibility for using the DS4 controller with the PS3, rather than having it read as just a generic bluetooth controller, I'd probably prefer it there as well |
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Nov 14, 2016 21:11:47 GMT
Without use of the rumble device, I'm sure it would be much longer. Rumble is such a useless gimmick. But I prefer wired controllers over wireless any day regardless.
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