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A Pricey PlayStation Controller That’s Perfect for Professional-Level Performance

The Nacon Revolution 5 Pro is expensive but offers unmatched performance tuning.

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Written by  Jason Cockerham
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The Nacon Revolution 5 Pro game controller on a white background

Nacon Revolution 5 Pro (PlayStation)

Pros

  • Lots of hard customization options
  • Solid feel in the hand
  • Granular software customizations

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Non-standard layout

One of the great things about gaming is that there are typically tons of options to choose from, both in the games you play and in the hardware you use to play those games –- that is, unless you’re a PlayStation gamer.

Sadly, Sony is quite sparing in granting licenses for third-party controllers, so your options for upgrading from Sony’s DualSense controller to a pro controller are limited. Aside from Sony’s own DualSense Edge, there aren’t many choices, which is why I jumped at the chance to try the Revolution 5 Pro from Nacon. It’s definitely one of the best, but also one of the most unique PlayStation controllers I’ve used.

Designed different

The first thing I noticed about the Revolution 5 Pro is the asymmetrical joystick layout. It’s the only official PlayStation 5 controller I’m aware of laid out like it, which could be good or bad depending on your preferences. If you’re coming from Xbox or use an Xbox controller with your PC, you’ll feel right at home. But if you’re upgrading from something with the traditional PlayStation layout, like the DualSense or DualSense Edge, it might take some getting used to.

That’s not the only difference from a standard DualSense. The Nacon’s a bit taller, with straighter sides, and the face buttons are much larger and flatter. The grip material also features a more rubberized, distinct texture, which I prefer over most other controllers I’ve used. The triggers are also longer, feeling more like Xbox triggers than DualSense,which might take some getting used to for those who’ve never used one.

It also incorporates Hall Effect joysticks and triggers with two-stage trigger stops — the latter, honestly, is a bit disappointing. The second stage only stops the trigger pull halfway, and I’d much rather it be short or long instead of long and half-short: I couldn’t get the muscle memory down of having to pull the trigger deeper to activate it and kept missing shots. You can customize it in the app, but I’d rather have the hardware option.

To be fair, shorter trigger stops can cause issues in games with draw weapons like bows, such as the Horizon series, but I’d rather have it and turn it off than not have it.

The four remappable buttons on the back are solid and feel great, but I sometimes found myself preferring paddles like on the DualSense Edge. That controller only has two back buttons, though, and I’d much rather have four buttons than two paddles any day.

Weighty grips

The Revolution 5 Pro has one novel feature that I haven’t yet seen on any other controller (it’s available in some gaming mice). Inside the grips is space to add different-size weights, depending on your gaming preference. Nacon provides a pair of 10, 14, and 16 gram weights that you can add to deliver just the right heaviness for your play style.

A platform switch on the back lets you hop between PS5, PS4 and PC, and there’s also a button for quickly switching profiles and a switch to change from Classic to Advanced mode. In Classic mode, the controller performs like a standard controller, with a few options (like remapping the buttons) that you can customize without the app. Advanced mode lets you use the PC app for some really granular customization.

The PC app deserves a callout because it has the most granular customization options I’ve seen in a controller app. In addition to the standard set of settings you’d expect, like button remapping, profile support (up to four active), as well as joystick dead zones and trigger response times. But what sets Nacon apart is that it displays a linear graph for the dead zones and trigger responses so you can fine-tune the performance. It’s great if you want to create the perfect gameplay experience for your favorite games.

Some trade-offs

Battery life on the Revolution 5 Pro has been pretty stellar for me. Nacon promises a very conservative «more than 10 hours,» but I’ve gotten significantly longer. I’ve been able to use it for about five days in a row, with about two to three hours per day, without having to recharge.  The lack of haptics and adaptive triggers certainly helps prolong battery life, but I don’t mind the tradeoff.

It comes in a few decent color choices, although the panda is my favorite, and you get some nice accessories with it, including a Bluetooth adapter for wireless headphones.

You might find $200 is a tad expensive for any controller, but I think it’s worth it, especially if you want a pro-level controller with great hardware and fine-tuning options. The asymmetrical joystick layout and lack of haptics and adaptive triggers might, understandably, be a deal breaker for some, but for me, those compromises are well worth it.

Technologies

I Tested the New Circle to Search on the Galaxy S26 and It Nailed My Outfit

Samsung’s AI-powered visual search tool on its new phones is now dangerously good at helping me shop. RIP my bank account.

As a fashion lover who’s always hunting for outfit inspo, I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit trying to track down the exact pieces from a TV scene or red carpet look. So when Samsung unveiled an upgraded version of Circle to Search at its Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco that can identify multiple items from a single image, I made a beeline for the Galaxy S26 demo area to try it myself.

Circle to Search, which first appeared on the Galaxy S24 phones and then expanded to other devices as Google Lens, felt like magic: Circle anything on your screen and get instant results. The AI-powered visual search tool can identify objects, translate text and surface contextual results without ever leaving the app you’re on. 

Now it’s gotten even smarter, and broader: Google says it’s now also on Pixel 10 devices.

Instead of just identifying a single item, it can recognize and surface information about multiple things you’ve presented it with, including an entire outfit. The feature can be used for just about everything, from identifying bird species to translating text, but Samsung says fashion and shopping are hands-down the most popular use case.

So of course I had to put it to the test by having it scan my outfit — and I was genuinely floored. In the crowded event space under harsh lighting, I was skeptical it could deliver. It did. 

First, it pulled up an AI summary describing the scene: «The look features a vibrant blue structured blazer, white top, dark fitted leggings and classic black leather boots.» Right below that, I pressed the «Find the look» button and watched it do its magic. 

Within seconds, I was staring at the exact same in-your-face cerulean blazer I was wearing, with a link to the online store I’d bought it from, along with a slew of strikingly similar shopping options ranging from upscale alternatives to budget-friendly picks. This level of stalking would’ve taken me at least 20 minutes to lock down. 

Scrolling down revealed the same for my glossy black leggings. Despite being from many seasons ago and not available anymore, it returned convincing dupes from different retailers. It did the same for my decade-old knee-high boots and even pulled up a used pair from Postmark; a nod at the fact that mine are old AF. The only thing it failed to surface was the shirt I was wearing under the blazer that was clearly visible in the shot. Maybe layers is the next frontier for Circle to Search. 

Surprisingly, the hardest part of the process was figuring out how to use the feature. I had to ask a Samsung employee to take a full-body picture of me. Once I had it on the screen, I long-pressed on the home button at the bottom of the screen, which triggered a Google overlay. I then had to circle myself from head to toe. It’s the kind of feature I’d program on an action button if I could — although my wallet would likely suffer the consequences.  

In doing this, Samsung and Google have virtually removed the friction between liking someone’s outfit, and pressing the trigger on buying it. It wasn’t that long ago that the closest alternative involved screenshotting a look, posting it to Pinterest and attempting to track down similar pieces. This is faster, cleaner and almost dangerously good for fashion lovers like me. 

If this gets any better, Samsung may need to add a few guardrails for those of us prone to a little too much impulse shopping.

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Technologies

A New Mini Game Boy Collectible That Just Plays Pokemon Music? What a Tease

A surprise collectible on Pokemon Day looks just like a tiny Game Boy and plays music on swappable cartridges. Give us the real Game Boy again, come on.

Nintendo sure does love teasing us with Game Boy things. First, a collectible Lego Game Boy model last year that almost looked like a real Game Boy (but wasn’t). Now, for the 30th anniversary of Pokemon, Nintendo and the Pokemon Group are selling a collectible music player that looks like a tiny Game Boy and plays authentic original Pokemon Red/Blue songs on swappable cartridges, one per song. The Game Boy Jukebox is being sold on the Pokemon Center site later today, for a price that hasn’t yet been listed.

This level of absurdity is standard issue for Nintendo: Just in the last 18 months we’ve had Alarmo, a talking Super Mario flower and a Virtual Boy recreation. This new collectible is so tempting precisely because it looks like a little, even more pocketable Game Boy. Except it isn’t a Game Boy at all. It’s just a music player. Even the dot-matrix «screen» is fake — it’s just an overlay that the cartridges display when they’re slotted in.

The music this thing plays is Game Boy-accurate, down to the little boot-up ping. It just makes my skin itch for a new Game Boy (that isn’t one already made by several other companies).

But come on. Make a real Game Boy collectible, with actual preloaded games on it. You know you want to, Nintendo. It’s only a matter of time. 

In the meantime, if you’re desperate for all 45 Pokemon Red and Blue songs on a little Game Boy music player, now’s your chance.

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Technologies

Pokemon Winds and Waves: First Mainline Games for the Switch 2 Are Coming in 2027

Following the recent release of Pokemon Legends: Z-A, The Pokemon Company announced its first mainline games exclusively for the latest Nintendo console.

Pokemon Winds and Waves, the first mainline games in the series to come to the Nintendo Switch 2, were launched on Friday, the franchise’s 30th anniversary, on a special Pokemon Presents livestream. They will be released in 2027 exclusively on the Switch 2.

Following the precedent set by Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the new games seem to be set in a fully explorable open world. The new playable region is scattered across multiple islands, with wide swaths of ocean between them.

The distinct split between water and land harkens back to cherished gameplay mechanics from generation-3 Pokemon games Ruby and Sapphire, which were released in 2002.

As tradition dictates, we got our first look at the three new starter Pokemon, which are powerful pals that serve as the player’s first partner in an unfamiliar new place.

The grass-type starter, Browt, is a chickadee with a head that’s bulbous enough to invoke the Brain. The water-type, Gecqua, is a quadrupedal gecko with a cool attitude. And the fire-type starter, Pombon, is a super cute orange kitty with a mane that eclipses its body. (I suspect Pombon will quickly become a fan favorite.)

Fan-favorite Pokemon from previous games were also shown off. So far, we can confirm that Pikachu, Tympole, Wailord, Tropius, Carnivine and Frillish are in the cast of monsters to be caught in the next mainline Pokemon games, among other older creatures. Many of the returning Pokemon seem to fit into the island theme, residing in volcanic caves, marshy swamps and underwater coves.

It’s been four years since the last mainline Pokemon games — Pokemon Scarlet and Violet — were released for the Nintendo Switch.

While those games were lauded by some fans for their open world and more freeform approach to telling a Pokemon story, they were held back by poor performance and game-breaking bugs on Nintendo’s first hybrid console. Nintendo will hope that Pokemon Winds and Waves — games built for, and exclusive to, the more powerful Switch 2 hardware — will fare better when it comes to in-game performance. 

Pokemon Winds and Waves may be the first traditional Pokemon games for the Switch 2, but they aren’t the first ventures into the world of pocket monsters in recent years.

The recently released Pokemon Legends: Z-A introduced a whole new battling system, moving away from the turn-based mechanics the franchise has been known for since 1996. Pokemon Pokopia, an Animal Crossing-style game that will be released next month, is also primed to bring pocket monsters to cozy gaming spaces.

Both games will tide fans over until they can dive into the watery world of Pokemon Winds and Waves next year.

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