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[A Black Falcon]

Real battery life details.

Umezu: As mentioned earlier, what uses the most power in a handheld gaming device is the LCD backlight, and making one screen 3D presented the problem of even more power used by the backlight. The power save mode uses a technology called active backlight. It precisely controls the brightness of the backlight according to the brightness of the screen being displayed. When the screen as a whole is dark, the backlight itself gets darker, which saves power.

Iwata: In principle, it may not be much use in a game with lots of bright screens, but if you set the backlight to bright, the more darker screens there are in a game, the greater the effect of the power save mode.

Umezu: Right. But you can't say exactly how much of an effect the power save mode is having on game processing because of the various factors that influence power use, such as how constantly the SoC is running, whether you're using the camera or wireless, and how loud the volume is set.

Iwata: Maybe you can't be exact, but how about an approximation?

Umezu: We announced the other day that the battery duration for playing Nintendo 3DS games on it is about three to five hours. When I measured it by playing several Nintendo games, with the backlight set to the brightest level and the power save mode turned off, battery duration was about three hours. But if you use the power save mode under the same conditions, it gets about 10-20% longer. And if you set the backlight to the darkest setting, the battery lasts five hours, but the power save mode makes less of a difference then.

Iwata: In other words, the brightness of the backlight has the greatest effect on battery duration.

Umezu: Right. What's more, with the backlight set as high as it will go, battery life changes about 25% according to whether you're playing in 2D or 3D.

Iwata: Yes, 3D is a battle against power use. How about wireless use? Some players may be worried about that.

Umezu: In StreetPass mode, the system isn't always communicating, so there isn't much of a drain on the battery, but games that communicate a lot through local play and online play—with the backlight set to high—have an over 10% effect on the battery.

Iwata: So it will be necessary for this system to be charged more often than for the previous systems. For that reason, we include a special charging cradle. We recommend that when players get home, they put their system there.

Source: http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interview.html#/how-nintendo-3ds-made/1/0

Meaning, probably:

Reposted from the Iwata Asks thread:

So, we know how power save works now (it's basically the same as dynamic contrast on LCD TVs) and Streetpass isn't constantly communicating. We can roughly guess the battery life.

3D: 3-5 hours (4.2 hours with WiFi on constantly) (Highest Brightness is 4 hours with power save on)

2D: 8 hours (6.5 hours with WiFi on constantly)

Not as good as I was hoping for to be honest. I weep for the PSP 2!

3D games are awesome, so it'll probably be worth the big battery life hit adding 3D to this system caused, but it's definitely sad to see Nintendo abandon good battery life in handhelds like this. 3-5 hours isn't much... we need battery technology advances, badly.

 

[Nirolak]

Real battery life details.

I think we'll make this its own thread.

 

[_Alkaline_]

Nintendo: Yeah, we fucked up.

 

[The M.O.B]

Fine by me, but I know people who like to take bus trips/plane trips with their DS who wouldn't like this.

 

[Boney]

Nintendo: Yeah, we fucked up.

Pretty much.

I'm flabbergasted

 

[Freezie KO]

if you set the backlight to the darkest setting, the battery lasts five hours

Yuck. I'd rather have brightness than 3D. Looks like I'll need one of those attachable corded battery extenders for flights. Lame.

 

[Azure J]

Aww sheeeeit.

 

[Medalion]

Ruh roh, PSP2 wins by default?

 

[antonz]

This pretty much says the DS body was a flawed strategy for the 3DS

 

[Kafel]

I guess he obviously put WiFi off.

 

[Mush]

Mush's checklist

-Purple
-Pokemon
-Decent NZ price
-New revision with better battery life

Added

 

[Freezie KO]

Ruh roh, PSP2 wins by default?

No news is good news.

 

[Speevy]

Ruh roh, PSP2 wins by default?

It makes its own batteries.

 

[ZealousD]

Did the battery of the DS Lite improve when compared to the original DS? Or for the DSi from the Lite?

I guess I wouldn't mind one more reason to hold off on buying this thing.

 

[threenote]

That's embarrassing for a handheld.

 

[Papercuts]

WOW, didn't think 5 meant the darkest brightness setting. That is terrible.

 

[Haunted]

Way too low, imo.


I'll probably wait for the first revision.

Did the battery of the DS Lite improve when compared to the original DS? Or for the DSi from the Lite?

I guess I wouldn't mind one more reason to hold off on buying this thing.

DSL was a big improvement from the original. DSi battery is actually a bit worse than DSL's because its backlight is brighter.

 

[Jo-El]

Ouch. That's far worse than I expected

 

[Eteric Rice]

Ruh roh, PSP2 wins by default?

I'm willing to bet that thing won't be much better, if any.

 

[Durante]

Wow, I seriously expected 3-5 hours to be at full brightness, and varying depending on the game.

 

[antonz]

I'm willing to bet that thing won't be much better, if any.

Battery life for PSP2 is identical based on reports now. Of course the PSP2 battery is probably nearly the size of the 3DS

 

[ULTROS!]

No news is good news.

Eurogamer reported it lasts 5-6 hours.

 

[spons]

Is this excusable? Especially with the PSP2 bomb that just got dropped, in terms of hardware.

 

[Daigoro]

yikes. so much for being portable.

 

[ConradCervantes]

I don't know, 3DS is looking less and less appealing to me, especially with Sony's earlier announcements. I'll have one, of course, by the time Paper Mario or Mario Kart drops, but I think Sony has my attention for now.

 

[Atomski]

In most cases I can't see actually playin games in 3D on the go anyways. If you are moving around at all it will bug your eyes.

 

[dimb]

Hmm. Hopefully the PSP2 does well, it seems like Nintendo thinks they can do whatever they want without any serious competition.

 

[The Faceless Master]

looks like i really need to wait for 3DS Lite after all... BUT I NEED DOA!

 

[Jintor]

This is really not Nintendo's day.

 

[Why would you do that?]

I remember Nintendo also saying that without the 3D, it will last 8 hours.

I know I won't use 3D when traveling.

 

[Medalion]

In most cases I can't see actually playin games in 3D on the go anyways. If you are moving around at all it will bug your eyes.

Yeah but that's not the reason why the battery drains so quickly... it's mainly the screen brightness

 

[ASIS]

So I went from "screw this" to "Okay it's not so bad". Now I'm back to "Screw this."

Seriously, WTF Nintendo?!

 

[akachan ningen]

I never though any future handheld would have a battery life shorter than the PSP. Well done.

 

[Empty]

so, so disappointing.

 

[Eteric Rice]

Battery life for PSP2 is identical based on reports now. Of course the PSP2 battery is probably nearly the size of the 3DS

So we have two portables that guzzle up large amounts of juice.

Weeeee...

 

[supermackem]

So wait 3-5 hours at full brightness and then upto 25% less if in 3D mode?. wow

 

[slaughterking]

Eurogamer reported it lasts 5-6 hours.

4-5 hours actually.

Can't say those numbers really bother me much, though. It's enough for one intense play session, so that's okay...I guess. :lol

 

[szaromir]

So, lowest brightness + 2D = a bit over 6 hours? Ugh.

 

[Azure J]

How did we go from Game Boy's "OMG too long" battery times on goddamned AA batteries (in comparison) to two portable consoles that could wind up with 5 - 6 hours tops? *Sigh*

Cheeky I know, but seriously. :|

 

[friskykillface]

wtf :/ bummer, i was never gonna take it outside my home lol but terrible news, is it possible to take out the battery and put a 3rd party battery in?
hmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[plainr_]

Jeez. That's disappointing.

 

[Foffy]

DSL was a big improvement from the original. DSi battery is actually a bit worse than DSL's because its backlight is brighter.

Wasn't the major bonus for the DSL that it actually showcased the real colors of the games? The original model showed off faded colors due to the backlight.

 

[MGrant]

I don't find myself playing my DS away from its charger for more than 3-5 hours very often. I guess if you're a frequent flyer or something you'll have to buy a USB charger or an extra battery or something, but this doesn't seem like a dealbreaker for your average play-portables-on-public-transit guy.

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

How did we go from Game Boy's "OMG too long" battery times on goddamned AA batteries (in comparison) to two portable consoles that could wind up with 5 - 6 hours tops? *Sigh*

Cheeky I know, but seriously. :|

Lots of advancements of science in one field versus minimal advancements of science in another.

 

[antonz]

wtf :/ bummer, i was never gonna take it outside my home lol but terrible news, is it possible to take out the battery and put a 3rd party battery in?
hmmmmmmmmmmm

It should be possible when a good 3rd party battery alternative is out

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Disappointing but I'm not sure exactly how much battery life people are expecting out of a system like the 3DS (or the PSP2 for that matter).

 

[VOOK]

Buy one of these and be done with it.

 

[Rated-Rsuperstar]

So wait 3-5 hours at full brightness and then upto 25% less if in 3D mode?. wow

No it's 5 hours with brightness turned all the way down.

 

[Kodiak]

I'm already trying to justify this in my head. God I'm such a Nintendo bitch.

"The shorter time will force me to take more breaks and do other things, so its positive!"

"The reality is, if the battery gets low I can just pull out my iphone and dink around"

"If I play 3 hours of 3DS before being near a charger, that's my own damn fault!"

really though... the battery of the DSL is sublime and this is a definite disappointment.

 

[Freezie KO]

So assuming no advancement in battery technology, if they release a 3DS XL and use all the extra space for a larger physical battery, what could we get for battery life?