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[casey_contra]

If it can use micro USB I don't even care, I'll just bring a portable charger.

...

It won't use micro USB.

This is what I need to know.

 

[boneyjangles]

I suppose if this is just protecting margins, and if there is space so you can get a better battery (physically bigger, more expensive ) like with the Wii-U screen, it would be OK.

 

[chrisPjelly]

3 hours in general (i.e. on Standby and with low intensive apps) or 3 hours with graphicly intensive gameplay? It has to bethe latter, as that would fall in line a lot of tablets out there. Regardless, this is marketed as an on the go device, so I reallly hope Nintendo takes out a little more pocket cash and uses it for the battery.

 

[ZeroMaverick]

This is bullshit.

 

[bomblord1]

3 hours would be the current dev kit remember that.

 

[ColdDeckEd]

3 hours isn't super terrible if thats actual screen time while playing games. Could be they want to avoid a note 7 situation by going conservative with the size and technology of the battery.

 

[King Gilga]

Lmao 3 hours what is the fucking point, just make a home console.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I guess the guy traveling in the Switch video had a very short flight.

 

[Herb Alpert]

3 hours in general (i.e. on Standby and with low intensive apps) or 3 hours with graphicly intensive gameplay? It has to bethe latter, as that would fall in line a lot of tablets out there.

But it seems so many people expected at least 10 hours lol

 

[Sloane]

god those controllers look horrible

Yup. I'm getting cramps in my hands just looking at those.

 

[Zee-Row]

At least it's slightly better than the Wii U pad!

 

[Boke1879]

Had no intent of taking this thing outside anyway but 3 hours is a bummer.

 

[Oersted]

I know, I already wrote that on page 4 ;_;"

I know xD

For all we know it could get worse

 

[Branduil]

We really need a breakthrough in battery tech already. We have all this advanced mobile technology that dies immediately because of shitty battery life.

 

[Vampirolol]

How could you expect more than 3 hours is beyond me. This is the same company that made the Wii U Gamepad, and the Switch has actually an entire console inside that thing.

 

[ZeroMaverick]

Like the "extra processing" stuff has already been reported as false, so why would we even take her word for the 3-hour stuff?

 

[Moltenix]

It sucks but don't alot of phones last similarly when playing intensive games. Hopefully it's just the devkits that have a poor battery and the final product is at least comparable to 3DS.

 

[Herb Alpert]

At least it's slightly better than the Wii U pad!

Lol it's true. The gamepad battery is so shitty.

 

[Speely]

For every bit of good news (possible extra docked power YEAH!) there is something for people to switch about (omg Ubi says dev kit is 3 hours max... DOOMED.)

Almost like yin and yang.

Even if 3 hours is the max at full use, that would be doable. Most people can easily make that work, and it's a good sign in regard to the muscle of the NS. If battery life was 5+, I would assume that it was more anemic than I previously though.

Hype!

 

[fwpx]

3 Hours is exactly what I expected. Anyone claiming otherwise is completely clueless.

Everyone wants a high performing console, but everyone also wants an unreasonably high amount of battery life.

Pick one.

 

[Bold One]

3 hour batt life?

 

[cakely]

I really hope the three hours battery life estimate isn't accurate.

 

[jmdajr]

god those controllers look horrible

If you have giant hands you are hosed.

 

[modernmalady]

I know three hours is gonna upset some but I honestly can't see myself playing for more than one hour while on the move. They should shoot for 5 hours minimum though just in case someone wants to play it on the tablet while someone else is watching TV.

Also, i'm really hoping that dock power claim is true.

 

[EatinOlives]

You guys really expected more?

Absolutely.

3 hours is abysmal.

That said, I reserve final judgment until there's official confirmation.

 

[AllIsOneIsNone]

Low battery life is the bane of modern mobile technology. What was the battery life of the original Game Boy? 15 hours+? I know it's a different world now with straight up computers at our fingertips, but still, yikes.

 

[lenovox1]

For someone asking for a comparison with other mobile devices, these are GFXBench benchmarks from Anandtech's iPad Pro 9.7" review.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10286/the-97-ipad-pro-review/3

 

[Candescence]

3 hours is pretty much the norm for any device playing 3D games these days and honestly pretty impressive with the power this thing is outputting, it's obvious the Switch can be plugged into an AC outside of the docking station (the trailer even shows it being done on the plane). Anyone who expected more or thought more was actually realistic is delusional.

If you absolutely need more than 3 hours without being able to plug into any kind of power socket for whatever reason, there's always external batteries.

 

[Santar]

I really hope the dock giving more power won't result in devs getting sloppy with the "portable version" of games. Would be a real letdown if portable vers. of games runs and look noticeable worse.

 

[MuchoMalo]

Apparently the "max 3 hours" comes from a source within Ubisoft, so maybe it's 3 hours with particularly intensive games.

Oddly enough, nobody is giving two shits about the fact that apparently the console has better performances when docked.

It's because people want everything. They want PS4 graphics on the go with 15-hour battery life in a small, sleek, fanless formfactor with 1TB of flash storage for $250.

The question is, are fans expecting too much or is this simply a device which can't be made to satisfy enough people? Either way, Switch won't be a smash hit.

 

[Zee-Row]

Lol it's true. The gamepad battery is so shitty.

Hopefully you can change the internal battery out or put some kind of battery life extender on it.

 

[SafeinSound]

Wasn't really expecting it to be high. Surprised it's that low though.

 

[Woffls]

3 hours is probably based on dev kits, right? Is it reasonable to expect an improvement from retail versions?

 

[Protome]

Hopefully it has better performance on standby than the 3DS, even if the screen-use time is similar.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

the dock having additional processing power could be the difference between me buying or not buying this system

 

[Tratorn]

That OG 3DS battery, lol

It is even worse. My OG 3DS lasted 3.5h.
And she is even saying "max 3h"... Hopefully that's the case for most games and not only the smaller eshop ones.

 

[Eternal Gamer]

The first model if Vita had around 4 hours of battery life a bit more or less depending on the game.

 

[wiibomb]

My point is that making a comparison to the 3DS battery life is disingenuous. A maximum battery life of 3 hours is not comparable to a battery life of 3-5 hours.

Yes, the rumor might be wrong. Yes, it's a devkit so things might change. But people are reacting to the rumor. Saying the battery life is the same as the 3DS is a poor defense.

people are making this rumor on a dev kit a 100% true info disregarding anything.

yes it can very well be true, but it is unfair to give the system breath. May be the "doomed" cycle needs to happens again, like in every other system.

it is similar.

3 hours is similar to 3-5, why is it so hard to understand?

 

[Oersted]

3 hours is probably based on dev kits, right? Is it reasonable to expect an improvement from retail versions?

Yes.

Who knows.

 

[ar4757]

sigh. I don't even take my 3ds around much, but 3 hours is still so annoying on it (OG 3ds). I have to charge it all the time. Meanwhile my DS Lite is like once every few weeks, depending on if i'm using it a lot

 

[thatJohann]

Can you plug in the tablet to an AC adapter for long plane rides? Or does it only plug in to the tv docking station?

 

[lenovox1]

3 hours?! DOA. this thing needs to be able to survive a 5-6 hr flight at the least.

gonna have to walk around with the tablet plugged into a battery backpack

No modern tablet can do that under the heaviest load.

 

[Wildean]

Didn't expect more, not running something like BotW.

 

[Sloane]

For someone asking for a comparison with other mobile devices, these are GFXBench benchmarks from Anandtech's iPad Pro 9.7" review.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10286/the-97-ipad-pro-review/3

So 3 hours is pretty much what's to be expected, for games like Zelda at least.

 

[MaverickHunterX]

I was going to say I could have sworn that zeldas frame rate slowed down when the model took it on the go

Guess that makes sense now

 

[Portugeezer]

3 hours at full brightness and max volume?

 

[Rootbeer]

I've become very occustomed to just carrying around a power bank with me to charge various devices. So I always have several hours of extra power for my phone, tablet, or other portables.

I know it's not perfect, but it's pretty normal these days. I can easily expand the battery life to double or more just by keeping a $20 power bank in my bag.

I hope the "docked mode = more power" stuff is true. Doesn't it make sense that the Switch would be underclocking or otherwise limiting its power consumption (thus affecting its performance) while in battery mode? Why WOULDN'T the docked mode allow for more processing power? That's even assuming that the dock adds no additional cpu/gpu functions on its own, which I honestly have doubts about.

 

[Mufausa The 3rd]

Battery life.. Nintendo. I'm ready

 

[big_erk]

tablets have way better battery life than 3 hrs, so I have a hard time believing this

My Galaxy Tab S2 will drain a battery in around this time frame running gaphics heavy games, so no, tablets don't get much better battery life than this. If all you are doing is browsing the web, then maybe.

 

[MuchoMalo]

For someone asking for a comparison with other mobile devices, these are GFXBench benchmarks from Anandtech's iPad Pro 9.7" review.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10286/the-97-ipad-pro-review/3

Yeah, it's perfectly fine put into perspective, but I don't think that anyone here actually realizes just how powerful this thing is relative to size. Hell, half of GAF still believes that it's most likely weaker than Wii U.