Gadgetory

This is one of the most unique and quite possibly most useful Xbox controller I've ever seen. This box has an interesting plastic bit down here at the bottom with large loops for easy opening. In fact, everything about this controller is designed to be easy to use for people with limited mobility. From the massive oversized buttons, to the 19 headphone jacks along the top. Microsoft has designed this gaming controller to fit a wide range of gamers who might not have full range of motion with their hands or arms. The oversized buttons are much larger and easier to press than a standard controller. And the massive array of headphone jacks up along the top allow for any combination of unique exterior button arrangements. Now I don't know about you, but I want to see what these 19 headphone jacks look like from the inside. Let's get started. [Intro] So all these 3.5 millimeter jacks up at the top allow for a wide variety of additional switches, like foot controls, joy sticks, or large buttons, depending on what the game requires and the mobility level of the person using the controller. The back of the hub has the cross industry standard AMPS mounting holes to screw into a stand or wheelchair. It also has a standard tripod mount hole in the center. The same one that's used for most cameras. It's nice of Microsoft to use common non-proprietary connections like headphone jack inputs and camera mounts that can be purchased anywhere. It makes things easy. We could always just sit around and admire the outside of the controller of course, but we also got to review it from the inside. With no visible screws, I'm going to bet that Microsoft hid everything underneath these large rubber grippy pads down at the bottom. And there they are. Four screws hold the whole controller together. These little guys are torques T9H security bits. Companies use weird uncommon bits like this to try to keep people out...which is kind of exactly why we're getting in. Pulling off the massive black plastic slab reveals and itty bitty battery and quite a bit more plastic. The mounting holes are still connected with the main body, and the wires are running from the backside of the large A and B buttons and connecting to the motherboard. The battery has no adhesive holding it in. That's refreshing. I'll just unplug that. The Xbox adaptive controller is using a rechargeable 2,050 milliamp hour battery. Normal Xbox One controllers use 2 double A disposable batteries, which isn't quite ideal for the environment, so I'm glad Microsoft is switching things up and changing to rechargeable. It's cheaper for the customers in the long run too. I'll unplug the large circle buttons just for kicks and giggles. And then there are 4 more of the same screws that we saw on the outside housing holding the mid-plate into the front half of the controller. Remember how there are 19 headphone jacks along the top side? Well there is one more headphone jack for headphones chilling in the side panel – literally. The little guy just rests on top of the motherboard for it's signal and brings our grand total of headphone jacks to 20. Apple has left the chat. Pulling out the black mid-plate from the white front half shows us the motherboard. Each of the large buttons on the exterior will respond with a tiny clicky button soldered onto the motherboard, which then communicates with the Xbox. There is a USB port on the side of the controller that can connect one handed joy sticks or triggers or additional game pads that might be needed. Like a directional foot pad that can be controlled with your feet. Then a mother load of headphone jack digital inputs. Like if your left hand doesn't have full range of motion, you can attach larger external buttons for each arrow on the direction pad and use those instead. Huge thumbs up to Microsoft for making gaming more accessible to everyone. They definitely deserve it for this one. The USB-C port is for charging the hub controller itself. And the circular DC power port is only needed if you plan on powering other USB accessories while they are plugged into the controller. And we have one more USB port over here on the left side. I'm a fan. One of the coolest parts of this controller though is how the large buttons work. Check out how simple and effective this spring mechanism is for the massive circles. Each time they are pressed, the plastic spiral, made from the same chunk of black plastic, springs it back into position. Effective with minimal moving parts so it should last a long time. The other buttons are just pieces of plastic placed into their corresponding holes on the controller. These rest directly onto the motherboard switches with no cushion or rubber between the two. It's interesting to see how different the Xbox controllers are when compared with something like the Nintendo Switch. And it uses a lot more rubber inside. I'll tuck the menagerie of headphone jacks back into the front panel, along with the 4 screws holding everything together. One feature you might not know about Xbox controllers is something called co-pilot. With an Xbox, you can set up 2 controllers to work as one. Both controllers have full control of the game at any given time, so it's kind of like teamwork. One controller can manipulate game movement, and the other person can manipulate the weapons during a shooting game or scoring goals during a sports game. It's just another way that Xbox is making it easy for everyone to join in no matter what level of mobility they might have. The headphone jack and battery got plugged in, along with the massive back black plastic panel. If you currently use one of these adaptive controllers, Tweet me a picture of your setup. I want to see it. Tell me your favorite video game down in the comments. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.