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[axisofweevils]

This is great news. We won't have another gen of chargergate.

According to our source at Nintendo, as well as a source close to the production of the reveal trailer for the Switch, the hardware model shown in the reveal featured a USB-C port for power, situated in the centre of the bottom edge of the tablet. This port will be able to be used to charge the handheld while away from the Switch Dock.

Additionally, both sources have made it clear that the position of the USB-C port on the handheld means you will not be able to charge it while the system is propped up on its kickstand.

This seems like a weird omission, but will hopefully be fixed by launch - if not, I'll continue to use the Kid Icarus Uprising stand.

http://letsplayvideogames.com/2016/...by-usb-c-cannot-be-charged-in-kickstand-mode/

 

[sanstesy]

Very good news.

 

[Durante]

This is the one thing they absolutely need to get right on the final model too.

Good news that they got it right on the dev kit / prototypes.

 

[LewieP]

They're dragging out these headlines, huh?

A simple but incredibly important detail, it will be so much more usable as a portable if it uses a standard charging port, and USB-C is going to become more and more ubiquitous going forward.

 

[Aostia]

Hopefully this will stay in the final model

 

[Poketune]

Excellent.

 

[GulAtiCa]

Awesome. My Phone is now USB-C and charges so fast now

 

[Zalman]

Great news. Battery life should be less of an issue.

 

[Deku89]

One of my biggest worries if they get it wrong. Very good new if correct.

 

[Plinko]

Gamechanger. Absolute gamechanger if this stays.

 

[what-ok]

What about the kick stand?
Will there be allowances under it for the plug/cord?

 

[Exuro]

Not being able to be charged in kickstand mode is annoying. Wonder if that will change for the final model.

Though I'm guessing the dock uses it for video so that's why its on the bottom rather than the top.

 

[dampflokfreund]

Great news.

 

[Dystify]

What about the kick stand?

It doesn't need charging as it's just a piece of plastic. Joking aside, I kinda wonder about this too. If the unit is on the stand you can't really plug the cable in, can you?

 

[ThatsMytrunks]

I just bought a Pixel, so I'm ready for a USB-C future.

And when the thing gets inevitably cracked open, maybe they can USB-C OTG cables for unnecessary homebrew stuff like gamecube controllers.

 

[what-ok]

It doesn't need charging as it's just a piece of plastic.

I see what you did there (=

 

[wesleyshark]

This is fantastic. I just bought some USB C cables this week for my new phone.

 

[Da-Kid]

Pretty much makes 3 hour charge irrelevant.

 

[georly]

USB-C is brilliant for a variety of reasons, not just because it's a very consumer friendly move, as well.

It's reversible (no need to make sure it's being plugged in the right way)
It's really good at data transfer
It's really good at video transfer

This allows the system to connect to the dock with one port and do a variety of things, like displaying video to the TV. It also means they're not hardware constrained and can eventually support more peripherals via the USB ports on the dock via updates.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Good news - first time in a while that it feels like a Nintendo device is checking the right boxes.

 

[OricWindstar]

Great news. Seems like the possible storage issues might be the big "Nintendo" annoyance this time around. Glad that battery life and charging won't be an issue.

 

[valkillmore]

You fucking keep that shit in there for retail, Ninty.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Fantastic.

 

[Thraktor]

This makes a lot of sense, and it's nice that they're not going proprietary. It's a single connector that, when undocked, allows fast charging via soon-to-be ubiquitous USB-C chargers, and while docked allows power delivery, video output and USB passthrough all through a single standardised connector.

 

[nikatapi]

That is great news, no more proprietary chargers. Hopefully this stays true on the final product.

I still wonder how easy it will be to dock the tablet, without scratching or trying too much to get it aligned to the port.

 

[Baroquemantic]

Pretty much makes 3 hour charge irrelevant.

No, it really doesn't, but it is good to know they are using a standard.

 

[J@hranimo]

Yooooooooo

This lessens the blow of the poor battery life a bit.

 

[Hatty]

That's amazing

 

[purseowner]

Nintendo's charger for use away from the dock has been leaked too:

 

[valkillmore]

I'll be playing at home mostly, always near an outlet but not necessarily near a TV, so this really is a straight-up portable console. Holy shit, this really is exciting!

 

[James Scott]

Smart move, also considerably more modern than Nintendo usually is.
They could leave out the charger and not have it be terrible like with the 3DS

Gamecharger. Absolute gamecharger if this stays.

Fixed that for you

 

[BronzeWolf]

Great.

How big will the battery be? 3900 mAh? With a fast charger, battery life shouldn't be as much of an issue

 

[DownGrader]

I was afraid that, if Nintendo decides to use non-proprietary connector this time around, they would use aging microUSB or almost ancient miniUSB. (They used one for Wii U Pro Controller!) Not only that wouldn't be a very forward-looking decision, it would only create more confusion about what current does Switch require to be charged - something I despise about modern implementations of USB.

So, great news if true!

 

[[Agent]ZeroNine]

Logical move. Also, no, this is not a way of softening a 3 hour battery, regardless of what the diehards say.

 

[Anth0ny]

THANK YOU GOD

now sell me electric type pokemon themed battery packs

 

[Zalusithix]

About time they adopted an actual standard for charging.

Edit:

I was afraid that, if Nintendo decides to use non-proprietary connector this time around, they would use aging microUSB or almost ancient miniUSB. (They used one for Wii U Pro Controller!) Not only that wouldn't be a very forward-looking decision, it would only create more confusion about what current does Switch require to be charged - something I despise about modern implementations of USB.

So, great news if true!

And that still would have been infinitely preferable to going their own.

 

[KingSnake]

That's great. I can put my mobile chargers to good use.

 

[Business]

We can only hope they stick to that for the final hardware.

 

[Skittzo0413]

Good to hear about USB-C, but I'm a little upset that they designed it in such a way that the kickstand cannot be used when charging. That also means you won't be able to (comfortably) prop the console up on your stomach when playing in bed or on a couch.

Considering how creatively engineered the rest of this thing is, that particular design hiccup is kinda surprising to me.

 

[Neoxon]

We kinda deduced this by analyzing the trailer, but it's nice to have someone back up our suspicions.

 

[FyreWulff]

Wonder if the pro controller will use it too?

 

[LewieP]

Hang on.

If the charging port is on the base, does that mean you can't charge it whilst using it with the kickstand?

Edit: Yeah article says this.

 

[georly]

No, it really doesn't, but it is good to know they are using a standard.

It doesn't reduce it to 0 problem, but it reduces the inconvenience of it by quite a bit. Most people don't frequently go 3+ hours without access to a power outlet for the majority of their normal day. For those that do, 3 hours is a pain, but there are other power solutions to that, like USB power banks. Still hopeful this is better than 3 hours under 'normal circumstances' (not max brightness, power saving modes, etc).

Hang on.

If the charging port is on the base, does that mean you can't charge it whilst using it with the kickstand?

Very likely to be true, unfortunately, but I'm sure there will be 3rd party solutions to this.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

Hopefully they take an apple approach and provide a charge stand on the go also.

 

[OricWindstar]

Hang on.

If the charging port is on the base, does that mean you can't charge it whilst using it with the kickstand?

Seems that way, unfortunately.

 

[J-Skee]

This is great news, but you can't charge with the kickstand up? Hopefully that changes in the final product.

 

[Moltenix]

Good news but not being able to charge in kickstand mode kinda sucks if they go with that in the final product.

 

[JCX]

Nice, just started using a 5X so I won't need multiple charges when traveling now.

 

[Da-Kid]

I don't see why they'd put it in then take it out.

 

[Zedark]

Okay, nice. This solves the potential short battery life problem completely for me.

Not being able to be charged in kickstand mode is annoying. Wonder if that will change for the final model.

I'd say it's a minor annoyance at best, I certainly would prefer to play the system as a handheld rather than as a screen with separate controller, especially for a duration of 3 hours. Still, it'd have been best if they could have put it on the top so it would always be accessible, but maybe that just wasn't feasible (it definitely would have looked rather strange).