There’s a moment in every heated Overwatch match when the urge to type “Group up!” surges, but you’re caught, literally, with your hands full. Or maybe you’re in the middle of a high-stakes raid, your squad is teetering on chaos, and you need to send a strategic message, except you’re fumbling for the right key, squinting at the screen, or worse, you’ve just been ambushed mid-sentence. The reality is that multiplayer gaming is as much about communication as it is about reflexes, and yet, our hardware hasn’t caught up with our social needs. That’s where the Fintin Xpander comes crashing through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man of tactile tech.
Let’s talk about the most criminally overlooked gap in gaming: frictionless, in-the-moment typing. Voice chat is great if you want your entire household to hear your trash talk, but sometimes, text is the only way to strategize on the fly, especially for those who game in shared spaces (or just value a little privacy). The Xpander is a pocket-sized marvel built by ONECOM, and it’s not a keyboard in the traditional sense. It’s a structured mini QWERTY system that condenses 36 keys onto just 6 tactile buttons, each designed for blind operation. You don’t need to see it; you just need to feel it, which makes it a godsend for visually impaired gamers, but also for anyone who’s ever tried to type “gg” on a controller and ended up sending “ggrrrr.”
Designer: MGMC Design for ONECOM
The Xpander is small, but it’s no toy. Using a multi-layered input system, it allows full QWERTY text entry with a thumb-sized footprint. The innovation is in the “Structured Mini QWERTY” layout, which, once learned, feels like unlocking a cheat code for communication. Each tactile button serves as a gateway to multiple characters, and the learning curve is refreshingly short; in demos, users were able to blind-type familiar phrases after less than half an hour. This isn’t just a boon for accessibility; it’s a genuine productivity hack for anyone who’s ever felt the social lag between thought and typed word.
Here’s the kicker: the Xpander isn’t chained to a single platform. It plays nicely with DualSense-enabled PCs, iPhones, iPads, and most Bluetooth devices, instantly expanding its utility beyond gaming. Messaging in Discord while streaming? Done. Quick in-game translation for that global squad? The Xpander has built-in AI-powered transcription and translation on tap, and it’s genuinely fast. Latency is kept to under 20 milliseconds, which puts it in the same ballpark as pro gaming peripherals, and the battery is rated for 30 hours of continuous use, enough for even the most dedicated marathons.
The Xpander essentially plugs a hole in the social fabric of gaming. Text chat is often the first casualty in a controller-based setup, relegated to clunky on-screen keyboards or ignored altogether. That’s not good enough for modern multiplayer. Whether you’re rallying a team, sending a meme, or just trying to type “brb” before your coffee gets cold, the Xpander lets you keep up with the conversation without breaking flow. It’s tactile, it’s nerdy, and it’s the kind of gadget that makes you wonder why nobody did this sooner.
If you care about the experience of co-op play (the actual back-and-forth, the banter, the shared jokes, and the quick-fire strategies,) the Fintin Xpander is genuinely a clever modular add-on to your setup. It’s proof that thoughtful hardware can turn a simple, overlooked interaction into a competitive advantage and a richer, more connected gaming world. And yes, it’s CES-validated, so it’s not vaporware; it’s a tool for anyone who believes games are better when you’re truly part of the conversation. Suddenly, typing while gaming feels less like a compromise and more like a superpower.
The post Mini keyboard snaps onto your PS5 DualSense to give you QWERTY accessibility first appeared on Yanko Design.