This is it – one of the most popular PS4 controller clones on Aliexpress. And I’ve got it right here, already fully tested and reviewed! Read on to see what I found out about this neat knockoff gamepad, and whether or not it’s worth getting as an alternative to the original PS4 controller.
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Data Frog PS4 Wireless Controller – Quick Summary
- Directly copies all of the original PS4 controller features.
- Everything works almost exactly like it does on the original (the speaker still untested).
- The buttons and triggers are highly responsive and feel very good.
- The analog sticks are pretty good overall (only 0.8% av error on the circularity test).
- While its a great clone, it doesn’t really feel the same as the original.
- In the case of my particular sample, the back triggers were giving uneven inputs with the same amount of applied pressure.
- Is a little bit lighter than the OG PS4 gamepad.
Let’s Start With The Actual Specs
Over on Aliexpress, in the official Data Frog store, the Data Frog PS4 controller clone is advertised as a wireless Bluetooth gamepad compatible with all official PS4 consoles, as well as Windows PC’s and Android devices. And without many surprises, that’s exactly what it proved to be.
Here are all the specs you might want to know, taken from the device user instruction manual which you can find inside the box:
- Input power rating: 5V, 800mA DC
- Operational voltage: 3.7V DC
- Battery: 600 mAh
- Operating temperature range: 41°F-95°F (5°C-35°C).
- Device compatibility: It supports the PS4, PS4 Slim, Pro, PCs and Android phones, as well as every other compatible device capable of Bluetooth communication. Just like the original PS4 controller.
What is quite curious is that on the product photos, the symbols on the right hand side buttons are not present – most probably due to obvious copyright issues. After all, these kind of clone devices are always balancing on the edge of the grey-market area.
On the device you’ll receive however, as you will see in a short while, the symbols will be printed on, albeit in the usual mixed up form you might know from other knockoff PlayStation controllers like these.
You can click the image above to view the current price of this controller over on Aliexpress. Now let’s move on to the unboxing.
What’s In The Box?
The box came pretty beat up as most Aliexpress packages do in my case, but luckily the controller was tightly wrapped in bubble wrap, so it survived the shipment process unscathed.
The outside of the box is covered in generic “wireless controller” branding, and the image of the device. No specs, or any other details for that matter. Pretty standard stuff as you might expect.
Inside the box, which opens in a kind of unexpected way, besides the Data Frog controller itself you will find a small instruction manual, as well as a micro USB cable, which you can use both to charge the device, and to use it in wired mode connected to your PC. We will talk about the wireless capabilities of the device in just a little bit.
First Impressions – Not Bad
Here you can see me holding the Data Frog PS4 controller clone in my hands for the very first time. The first thing I could tell, is that it’s just a little bit lighter than the original PS4 controller, quite possibly due to a smaller internal battery used in the clone.
The second thing I noticed, right after I got to the face buttons, triggers and analog sticks was that the feeling of the controls was surprisingly close to the real thing. While you can obviously still tell that this is a knockoff device, probably even with your eyes closed, this really did get my hopes up.
Other than that, the controller is pretty high quality for what it is. The plastic doesn’t give off that spicy factory smell which you can get from many Chinese knockoff devices, and the build quality is from the get-go much better than the cheapest controllers you might find in almost any given electronics store.
In terms of inputs and outputs, there is one micro USB charging port on the device, which you can use to charge its internal 600mAh battery (which by the way should last you for a few hours of gameplay on average). On the bottom of the controller we also have the EXT port alongside the audio output which I unfortunately wasn’t able to test, as I don’t really have appropriate hardware to do so.
And of course, despite the store listing not having the face button symbols on the included photos, in reality they were printed on in one of their more elegant copied forms. This device lets you know straight away that it is not the original PS4 gamepad, but when you remove the PlayStation branding from the equation, the form factor is practically identical and the overall feel is really close.
Input Controls and Buttons Quality
Having tested quite a few retro game emulator consoles here on TechTactician.com, I’m pretty used to the, to say it lightly, varying input controls quality of the Chinese knockoff devices. This controller however, was quite a nice surprise for me.
The face buttons were responsive, felt pretty close to the original, and the D-pad was very pleasant to use, without any input separation issues during gameplay. You won’t deal with any kind of mushiness or buttons getting stuck here, which for me automatically places this device in the tier of knockoff gamepads really worth considering as an alternative to the original. All of the control options of a standard PS4 controller are here, and as you will see all of them work without any trouble.
The analog sticks also were pretty tight and bounced back with just the right amount of force, and I didn’t find any flaws in that department both during my gameplay and controller testing software experiments.
A Word About The Triggers & Shoulder Buttons
On the photo above you can see that the triggers and shoulder buttons pretty much resemble the original PS4 controller design, as you might expect. They controls feel pretty high quality, the triggers are well weighted, and they don’t wobble around much when given the classic quick and dirty build quality test using my unnaturally strong and muscular fingers.
And yes, they are pressure sensitive, meaning that you can use this controller with racing sim games and simulate the gas pedal input using this device. More about the triggers and their input quality in the testing segment below.
The Lights Are Up
One of the fun things to check when looking at a PlayStation 4 controller clone are the built-in RGB lights, both the one on the back, and in the front of the device. I was able to control their full-RGB color output using the DS4Windows software without any trouble, and the lights did respond correctly to all input values, so that test is passed with flying colors (heh).
The lights indicate when the device enters the wireless pairing mode, as well as when the controller is ready to connect to a compatible device via the Bluetooth connection. No surprises here either.
Pairing the Data Frog PS4 Controller With Your PS4 & PC
If you want to connect the controller to your PS4 in wireless mode, first you need to turn on your console and connect the gamepad to it the using the USB cable. Then, after the device registration is complete, you will be able to connect it to the console in the wireless mode just like you would do with a regular PS4 controller.
To connect the Data Frog PS4 controller to your PC, first make sure that the Bluetooth module on your computer is turned on in the system settings (if you don’t have one on board you can use an external BT dongle like any of these ones), and then press both the SHARE button and the HOME buttons together for a few seconds until the lights on the controller start to flash.
Then, simply select your gamepad from the list of available Bluetooth devices that it should appear on, and you should be all set. If you have steam installed and running on your system, you can do a quick test by pressing the HOME button. By default, it should open your Steam launcher home page.
If you want to go with the wired mode, simply connect the controller to your PC using the supplied micro USB cable, and you should be able to use it right away. This device will also work with Android phones and tablets, as well as all other compatible devices that are capable of Bluetooth communication.
I have already used the device with a few different Steam games and the Yuzu Switch emulator, and all of the inputs work well, without the need of further configuration. Now finally, comes the time for some more advanced testing.
Quick Benchmark – Data Frog PS4 Controller Clone Testing
After the first initial test with the trusty GamepadTester web app using the wireless connection mode, I’ve come to know two important things. Let’s start with the good news – all of the controls were responsive, and the controller was fully functional, which is not always the case with cheap knockoff devices. Also, the control sticks surprised me quite a bit.
The analog sticks were pretty spot on, and have passed the circularity test with sub 1% average error rate, ranging from 0.7% up to 0.8% in 4 repeated tests. This is a really good score.
Of course this is the out-of-the-box condition, and this test will have to be repeated after a few months of use for more accurate results. I’ll be sure to post the updated results here once I’ll torture the Data Frog PS4 clone for some more time!
The only place I’ve been somewhat let down were the triggers. While they were responsive, felt good under my fingers and didn’t have any trouble outputting correct values during the tests, their pressure sensitivity was uneven between the left and right trigger. The right trigger reached the 100% pressure value when it still had around 2.5mm to be fully pressed in, while the left one functioned correctly all through out the scale. While the difference was really small, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed it during normal gameplay, this is still something I have to point out.
Further tests using the DS4Windows tool that you can see below, have confirmed my suspicions. In a way this is to be expected, as the quality control of these kinda devices is oftentimes much less strict than when it comes to the originals they are based upon.
Further tests with the DS4Windows software have confirmed that all of the extra features that the original PlayStation 4 controller has, were working well on the Data Frog clone.
The only features I was not able to test, was the speaker alongside the audio output jack on the device. These however aren’t used that often in the context of PC gaming, so personally I wasn’t really bothered by my small lack of knowledge in that department.
The RGB lights, front touchpad including its click functionality, both light and hard vibrations motors, gyroscope alongside the acceleration sensor and all of the other controls passed the tests and were fully usable. The analog sticks weren’t experiencing any drift, although that was to be expected from a brand new product. I was quite content with the test results overall.
My Final Verdict? – I’m Keeping It.
I like it. And I’m keeping it. After spending not much more than $10 for a controller so close to the original PlayStation 4 gamepad, I’m more than happy to use this device more for some PC gaming and emulation.
Being used to cheapo devices from Aliexpress that oftentimes weren’t even worth using, much less writing about after the initial first contact, the Data Frog PS4 wireless controller clone has really positively surprised me. After all, there had to be a reason why it is still among the most purchased PS4 controller knockoffs on the site.
If you want to use it as your daily driver – why not. If you want it as a spare or a controller you might want to have on hand when your friend comes over, don’t even think twice. That’s really it from me. See you next time!