This feature-packed PowerA Moga XP7-X Plus mobile controller is ideal for cloud gaming
Easy to push your buttons.
Mobile gaming continues to reach new heights, and so do mobile gaming controllers and accessories. Now PowerA, a manufacturer well known for making officially licensed third-party controllers for consoles, has improved their line of mobile gaming controllers with the Moga XP7-X Plus, which retails for £86.70/$99.99. As a disclaimer, PowerA sent me the product to review. This allowed me to get hands-on to see how this new controller fairs - but also to find out if it's worth its price tag.
When I first started testing the Moga XP7-X Plus, I wanted to jump into some mobile gaming staples including Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, and Apex Legends. Unfortunately when I tried these, the controller wasn't detected by the games when connected to my phone. This is important to state at the start: the Moga XP7-X Pluswon't work with many android mobile games. It will work with others, like Asphalt 8: Airborne and Knights of the Old Republic, and there's a nice list online of games you can play with it, but for the most popular android mobile games you'll have to keep using the touchscreen controls.
With that out of the way I can say that I really enjoyed using the XP7-X Plus for cloud gaming with cross multiple games, thanks to the controller's excellent ergonomics and its variety of features.
My time with the XP7-X Plus was mainly spent playing No Man's Sky, Forza Horizon 5, and Overcooked 2 , with some other games here and there, streamed via the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate app. I played on a Google Pixel 5, which is quite a small phone compared to most handsets nowadays. Although it fit easily in the empty space, it was a bit too small to perfectly line up with the edges, but this didn't bother me. The XP7-X Plus will fit larger phones like an S22 Ultra, but if you have a case on as well it might start to get fiddly to put the phone in the slot.
It was simple to connect my phone to the controller, just turning it on then holding the Bluetooth button to begin pairing. It was a lot of fun walking around planets in No Man's Sky in bed at night with audio from my Bluetooth ear buds and using the controller via Bluetooth as well. You can also connect it to your phone using a USB cable and switching the input using the switch on the bottom left of the controller.
The Moga XP7-X Plus is an officially licensed Xbox controller, and it feels like holding a bigger Xbox controller with a phone in the middle. You get classic Xbox-style buttons and D-pad that all have a nice firm press with reasonable travel on them, as well as an Xbox logo button that is used to power on the controller. The two thumbsticks are raised fairly high, and feature a rounded and ribbed edge with a shallow concave in the centre that is seen across PowerA controllers. The thumbsticks aren't as smooth as a standard Xbox controller and require some getting use to, but after a few minutes I really enjoyed using them.
The XP7-X Plus has two standard bumper buttons that are quite long and easy to access, with two fairly short triggers that raise up sharply. These triggers aren't the best, they feel mushy and don't have a huge length to travel, but for a mobile controller they're decent and like the thumbsticks I got used to them quickly enough. Where the XP7-X Plus begins to seperate from others is the 'advanced gaming buttons' that feature on the back of the controller, one one each side.
These extra buttons can be programmed from the controller itself by pressing the green programme button, followed by one of the standard buttons, then choosing the left or right advanced button, which will then replicate that input. This was useful in Halo Infinite, where I could use the abilities like thrust or grapple just using my middle fingers which were resting on the back of the controller.
The extra features on the XP7-X Plus don't stop there. Out of the box, the space for the phone is filled with a stand that slides out and fold open to use in 'tabletop mode'. The stand is made of plastic and doesn't feel very sturdy, but it did hold my phone just fine. I preferred just playing with my phone in the controller itself, but the stand would probably be more practical to use with a tablet.
It's also better to use the phone in the controller because the XP7-X Plus has its own power bank inside with Qi wireless charging. This was a really cool feature, just flick the power switch on the top left of the controller and your phone will charge if it has wireless charging. This can be very useful if your phone is getting low, but it does drain the 2,000mAh battery rather quickly so if you're not careful you could be without a controller before you notice.
Relatedly, the XP7-X Plus uses micro-USB for charging. More or less all android phones now use USB-C charging, but you won't be able to use those cables to charge the XP7-X Plus. It's a shame because at this £90/$100 price point the XP7-X Plus is going up against the very popular Razer Kishi V2 which does use USB-C and starts at the same $100 price. It's not a deal-breaker, but it would be nice if it had fully up-to-date connectivity.
Phones can get quite hot when playing non-streaming games, and as Qi charging isn't completely efficient, that too produces a lot of heat. So if you do play a game like Aspahlt 8: Airborne and charge your phone at the same time, you might find your fingers getting hot quickly. As I said at the start though, this controller is better suited for cloud streaming games and that makes the wireless charger a more useful feature if you stick to streaming.
Another advtantage the Kishi V2 has over the XP7-X Plus is the size of the controller when a phone isn't in it. The Kishi doesn't have a seperate stand, but does compress into a smaller size, and the original Kishi goes even smaller and can fit in a pocket if needed. The XP7-X Plus is what it says on the tin, big, and doesn't get any smaller, so you'll need to put it in a backpack to take it around with you when you're travelling. This might not be a big deal for most people, but for some the XP7-X Plus might be too cumbersome to consider.
The PowerA Moga XP7-X Plus is a real rival to the Razer Kishi, thanks to its excellent erganomics and extra features. Mobile gamers who play lots of Android games will want to look to the latter, but if you stream a lot of games to your phone the XP7-X Plus is one of the best options you have. It's even better if you're in the UK, where you can get the XP7-X Plus for £86.70 at Amazon, which is cheaper than the Kishi V2 is on the site.
If you haven't tried it yet, you can get a 1-month subscription of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just £1 and stream all the games I did to your phone.
PowerA's other console controllers provide excellent value and often go on sale, so if you're looking for a Nintendo Switch controller or Xbox controller you can find a good alternative for less. If the XP7-X Plus goes on sale in the future we'll let you know over on the Jelly Deals Twitter account as well as when other PowerA accessories have a discount.