im not keen on the second remote idea for better gimbal control. infact i think it's kinda stupid. over 500 dollars more just so one person can move the camera up down left right? i'll pass. it's completely un-necessary and a waste of money.  here is 2 solutions.

instant quick fix
un clamp your tablet from the remote, buy a 10 foot usb exstention, hand it too your buddy and say "here, drag your fingure across the screen." 600 bucks towards inspire 2 one less thing to charge and break  your welcome.

you dont need 2 people for the best controll of flight and gimbal, its easier and maybe more fun with a buddy but the remote transmitter design is crap, it makes a second person almost a requirement for really good video. maybe it's intentional for improvements in later models, maybe it's not but it's button layout design is horrible. no customization except for the 2 on the back and a few stick layouts? laughable!

i say laughable becase im a console gamer, the military figuerd it that sony playstation nailed the perfect controller layout back in the 90's and it hasn't changed since. microsoft has copyied it and it hasn't changed either. to the un educated look up the picture of a sony playstation controller, this is what DJI needs to make for the inspire. if they copypied this layout, flight and gimbal control could be done by 1 person with no difficulty or effort.


MORE DETAILS AND SPECIFICS BELOW.
DJI needs to hand over complete un restricted access to let the owner set the button layout how ever they want, here is why. there is 4 buttons on the front sony controller, 2 triggers and 2 normal buttons that are all pressure sensitive,  as example in a racing game you could very precisely apply gass with the left or brake with the right trigger. that being said. program the left trigger for left rudder and right for right rudder. the other normal 2 buttons, as i mentioned also being pressure sensitive could control the decent or accent(throttle up throttle down commands.) there are 2 joysticks on the top. the left stick would be free for direction commands, front back left right, the right stick would be completely freed up for yup, gimbal control up down left right. and you still got 8 buttons on top that are all ,yes, pressure sensitive left over for shutter, trim flight modes what ever.

this layout may sound kinda funky but all flight based games are usually set up this way by default and it's a very natural and easy layout to adopt, in a video game the player almost always controlls a character and the camera at the same time, its very common. to the old guard using buttons for rudder and altitude and not sticks may sound horrible but believe me... when the priority is getting the best shot with the camera and flying is secondary,  it's the best layout you can have, if there was a better one the consoles would already be using it.

im sorry but he inspire controller layout looks like a joke to someone like me who plays A LOT of video games

the sony remote has a touch pad on it also and accelerometers for what ever else we could dream up. a new console controller costs less then 100 dollars.... yeah...  1 person flight design is the future,

i hope when the waypoint feature comes out this will make 1 person filming easier with the controller we use now. i think a change to the app that puts a vitural joystick for the gimbal would be a step in the right direction, that wheel thingy is a bad idea.

Your forgetting one thing...The Regulators...In Canada in order to fly Transport Canada requires that you fly VLOS only and that the pilot even though they are flying VLOS cannot fly FPV...Having a second controller with a person controlling the camera is not the pilot so there is no mention about whether they can or cannot fly FPV...It seems crazy but the fines for the pilot can hit $5000.00 and if you are flying commercially then you can be fined $20,000.00...Besides I have no problem flying with the second person..In this case my wife and we are a team...It also is a good thing having a second set of eyes....

Dragging in the app is not nearly as smooth as a second remote is.

If that's the quality you'd be happy with, then the second controller would indeed be a waste of money, and you'd be fine with your long USB solution.  I am proud to say I'm not a gamer, but grew up outside, instead.  I drove motorsports and flew rc planes. For this reason, the inspire's controls feel completely intuitive.  There are many other quads and rc helicopters that use more video-game type controllers, and I'd imagine you'd like those.  Different markets, I suppose.

This being said, when DJI open up their api, you could always get the nvidia shield +controller, and code an interface.   I'm really interested to see what surfaces with this api....

I can see where your coming from, having owned many consoles before, I too prefer a gaming controller over other types of input devices. I find that they can be intuitive and provide good control response. However, the inspire remote has many other components inside that make me believe they wouldn't be able to fit in the form factor of a PS dualshock type controller. At least not yet. And if they were able to release the API, I suspect they would still need to tether the controller to the original dji remote  or slave remote.

The inspire is my first serious RC based system that I purchased and although the remote has flaws I do think it feels good in my hands. I own the dual remote version but as I am pretty much always piloting, I haven't personally been able to mess around with camera control outside of the dial method, which of course is not ideal. My camera operators, who have also played on consoles, currently gripe more about video transmission problems on the slave remote rather than the controls. I would prefer some tweaks here and there but I take what I can get. Some other RC remotes have many more triggers, switches, and dials, but ergonomically its pretty much the same.

I have also owned the Parrot Bebop which uses an ipad based app for control input. I find it absolutely horrendous to control. All flight input is done as you suggest with an on screen virtual joystick. its is clumsy. Furthermore it uses the accelerometer to pitch forward and back. and this is not an accurate or dependable way to fly. You really need tactile controls to have a good control.