The DualSense Edge was announced a few months ago as PlayStation's answer to Microsoft's Elite Series 2 controller. It'll have replaceable thumbsticks, new stick caps, removable rear paddles, adjustable triggers, joystick sensitivity options, remappable controls, rubberized and textured grips, new dedicated function keys for button profiles, and toolless quick-swap stick modules that'll let you replace everything in under 30 seconds.
Or, as a new hands-on report from The Verge calls it, "this will be the best PS5 controller you can buy for $200."
However, not everything about the DualSense Edge will be a strict improvement over the original. PlayStation was curiously reluctant to discuss the Edge's battery life and only offered The Verge a carefully worded statement, which we'll reproduce in full here:
"The DualSense Edge wireless controller’s operating time is moderately shorter than the original DualSense wireless controller because we’ve included many more features within the same form factor and ergonomic design as the original DualSense controller. We wanted to strike a good balance between wireless operating time and delivering robust, high-performance features. Additionally, the longer USB braided cable is also great for competitive players who prefer playing with a wired connection to avoid wireless interference – this option preserves battery life."
It sure sounds like "moderately shorter" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that paragraph. Sony says that the original DualSense can last around 12 hours (sometimes more, depending on the game), and moderately shorter likely means a reduction of at least a few hours. That’s probably not a dealbreaker to most gamers, and as Sony said, the new braided USB cable is long enough and sturdy enough to let you play wired should the battery ever die mid-action.
Of course, you could always forego PlayStation's new controller in favor of the Razer Wolverine V2 Pro, which will likely have phenomenal battery life. But it'll cost $50 more and it'll have the button layout of the Xbox controller, which some die-hard PlayStation fans will likely abhor. On the plus side, both will be supported on PC for compatible games.