For an in-depth look at all the standard features of the controller see Part 1 - (Premium Bluetooth) of this series. I’ll give you a brief rundown here.
Motion sensing in 6 axes, vibration, turbo functionality, multiple controllers simultaneously, rechargeable Li-Ion batteries (in Premium Bluetooth and Wireless), 3m USB cable for charging (same length on wired version).
The major difference between the controllers is how they connect to the PS3. Yes, they all use a USB port and the Wireless uses a 2.4Ghz USB dongle. The dongle and controller are said to have a 10m range, but really, I had no way to test that and who would game from 10m away unless you were using a movie screen for display.
What I can tell you is that even though this controller is heavier than the standard PS3 Dual Shock 3 Sixaxis, you barely notice and the response time is superb. The buttons and sticks are very responsive and the longer handles give you more grip when you need it. The rubberized buttons for Turbo, Clear, Select, Start and Home are strange and seem to require more pressure (like the Bluetooth ones did) or to be held down for a longer time to activate.
As stated in Part 1, the sticks have slightly larger pads on them most likely to offset the fact that they are slightly closer together than the standard controller. This controller, like all in the series offers Xbox 360 style triggers as opposed to the large convex PS3 ones.
Now the gameplay time is listed as up to 20 hours on a full charge. Well 20 hours operating time. I’ve charged this controller once and played through 80 levels of Hyperballoid HD, some Echoes and Blast Off and some messing about with the media server and watching a video. It certainly seems like that 20 hour estimate is spot on. The controller also manages to shut itself down in a timely fashion to help conserve battery power as well. Again, even with the 3m cable, many could still play and have it plugged in and charging.
While the Premium Bluetooth unit I received would not hold a charge, this one obviously does and holds it quite well. 20 hours on a charge is a pretty good lifetime especially with the holidays here and loads of gaming needing to be done in the next week or two.
This unit is priced at 29.99 Euro and comes with a 3m USB charging cable and large snap-on concave triggers for your original PS3 controller.
A quick note about those triggers - I dropped my controller and the triggers went shooting off in various directions. It seems they don’t have a firm purchase on the triggers and you might find yourself (like me), one concave trigger short when it flies off into the abyss (I think it’s under the bed). The moral of the story is, don’t drop your controller with snap-on triggers I guess.
