It depends on the device. For controllers I think having to connect them to charge them is as silly as having to connect a tv remote control to charge it. It makes zero sense to me. Controllers are a zero down time device, they always need to be functional and ready to go, ready at all times. They have the room for standard replaceable batteries, so use standard replaceable batteries and presto no down time ever! They are not supposed to be docked and connected while waiting to be usable again, they are always supposed to be usable just like tv remotes. Phones would be the same way if the battery tech existed to make it happen. Just like you can swap a micro sd card on a phone because they made them small enough to be supported on a phone, if batteries that small were possible then you can be sure there would be phones that support that because phones, like tv remotes and game controllers are zero down time devices, they always have to ready to use and not tethered to the wall because they are low on power. There are no suitable replaceable batteries for phones to do that though so they are still stuck with the old world limitation of being connected to an outlet while people wait to be able to use them again. Some use external batteries to get around that mind you.
Aside from thin for factor devices like phone and ultrabook, I don't think we have anything at all that we plug in to charge. Hell even my lawn mower and power tools use replaceable batteries!
I guess we have differing view points then. An IR remote (which is, I just realized, the only device that still relies on AA batteries in my household) is perhaps the exception for me where AA batteries are tolerated. It's tolerated because the IR remote will survive for about a month with fully charged batteries, until I will have to worry about finding a new spare.
Any device I use that has a life span of less than a day or a week would be pretty much an annoyance to keep track with an additional charger. Under this category for me fall devices such as pretty much any CE device in my household (laptops, tablets, smartphone, and yes, including gaming controllers as well). If all of them relied on AA batteries, I would have to keep track of AA batteries and at least a spare to keep them going when one of them dies due to an empty battery. Given the unlikely hood that all of these devices use the same batteries or amount, I would need a few spares for each device.
Charging via cable, or USB, has made life easy in that sense. My smartphone is charged on a regular basis over night (because it just about gets through a day), so it's always fully charged in the morning. The other devices I mentioned, can be run with a cable plugged in, if needs be, where using and charging at the same time is not a problem. The same applies to the DS3 or DS4 controller. When I don't use it, it's not a big inconvinience to just plug it in, so that technically, it's always ready to go. Or, in my case, having a spare controller eliminates the need to have one plugged in during not-usage.
No need to buy batteries and no need to use an additional universal charger.
I'm quite frankly baffled at the amount of people who prefer the Xbox solution over this. It makes me wonder how people reacted when the first devices started appearing that did not use generic AA batteries but relied on accumulators and were chargable via cable (doesn't really matter if it's a USB or a power cable).
There might be an argument that most of these devices offer the possibility to swap the battery and technically, charge outside the device by buying an additional optional charger, but really - how many people have done this? Probably less than < 3% and the people who do probably have a good reason to.
Same applies to the prospect of having the possibility that if a battery fails/breaks, that you could swap it out with a new one. Sure. But how many times has this happened to even make it a consideration? From the phones I've had in the last 15 years that had a lifespan between 1-3 years, it never happend. Controllers? The same - my DS3 (which is now aged 7 years) is still going strong. Even if the life span on a full charge might be reduced by 30%, it's lasts way over 10 hours, so it's not even a factor.
DS4 might only last 10 hours (I think) on a full charge in its new state and in a couple of years, that might be reduced considerably depending on usage, but the chances are that once you do reach the point it becomes an issue, the general wear and tear might make you consider buying a new controller instead of simply wanting to exchange a worn out battery.
So even if the batteries in a DS4 were replacable (the best of both worlds scenario) - I'm highly doubtful that in reality, people would actually charge the batteries outside the controller through a seperate purchased charger or replace the batteries. They might tout it as an advantage, a nice feature, but one that in reality would get close to zero usage.
On the Xbox, people might be more inclined to do this, since you are used to nothing else. On the PS, which I see as a personal benefit, you don't.
