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[stuminus3]

Sounds better than my ph

 

[ClosingADoor]

Sounds about right. Constant processing needed, pretty big screen, etc. Didn't expect much more really.

 

[Machina]

It wouldn't be Nintendo without shooting themselves in the foot in at least one regard. 3 hour battery life is utter garbage and undermines the entire concept of the Switch.

If this thing becomes just a home console that nobody ever takes out anywhere because the battery is hopeless, it's yet again just another underpowered Nintendo home console.

 

[BitStyle]

I wonder if the console will have micro-usb charging. That could at least allow me to use a portable charger or something.

 

[The Boat]

Three hours sounds about right. Again, there's a reason why they're playing the home console that's also portable angle instead of handheld with hdmi out.

 

[terrible]

3 hours isn't mediocre, it's horrific. Holy hell it's near useless as a portable console.

 

[Leona Lewis]

I guess that rules out the newest Tegra architecture then.

Nintendo probably cheaping out on the SoC as usual, hence the need for active cooling, hence the shit battery life.

5 hours would be ideal, and achievable given what we knew about the Tegra X2. Now I'm thinking this is closer to the X1...

 

[Thraktor]

3 hours?! Christ... How the fuck do you even call that portable?

They don't.

It's a bit disappointing (the upper end of my expectations would have been ~5 hours, given the performance), but to be honest I never really use handhelds for more than an hour or so at a time, and so long as it's left in the dock it'll always be fully charged when I need it.

 

[wonderful103]

ITT, lots of people who aren't aware of the current state of battery tech.
Try running your phone's GPU and CPU near full blast playing a demanding game.

 

[Kouriozan]

3 hours, what the hell.
Oh yeah, that's why it's a "home console first and foremost", I get it!
...

 

[ViciousDS]

so half the battery life of a DS4 that only does input and no display.........not bad for how much power is in the handheld

 

[jonno394]

what sort of lifespan does a modern tablet get when gaming (demanding game)?

 

[sixteen-bit]

Not too thrilled about the battery life

 

[ajim]

I can deal with 3 hours.

I didnt Read the full note, but as long as theres a mini usb input to be able to charge on the fly through battery pack im fine.

 

[lenovox1]

Damn that does not sound good. One of the reasons I was kind of interested in the Switch is because I travel a lot, many times without access to a place to charge something. I'll wait till more official sources chime in but that is a bit disheartening to hear.

It may depend on the type of game that's running. A full, console like experience will run down the battery more quickly than a 3DS type of experience presumably. You may not be able to play Assassin's Creed for hours on end without a charger, but you'll probably be able to get by for a couple more hours with something like Mario vs. DK.

 

[Dimmona]

Three hours sounds about right for a Tegra based product

 

[Muzicfreq]

After my knee jerk reaction... okay I'll bite. BUT anything about charging with a much smaller charger than needing to take the brick with you everywhere.

 

[tebunker]

Problem witht he statement is the clarification of whether that is 3 hours of gaming or just 3 hours.


Of course GAF will overreact, but the clarification is important.

3 hors of gaming is fine for most people, would prefer 5.

I trust Laura but that comment is from a Ubisoft employee regarding dev kits. So we can only use it as a base

 

[tr1p1ex]

WAs expecting worse than 3ds. Better looking games, slicker device, and price as low as possible means worse battery life.

 

[firelogic]

3hrs isn't great but honestly, who games away from a power source for more than 3hrs? It's not like it goes from full to dead exactly 3hrs from when you unplugged it. It's 3hrs of use.

 

[RPGCrazied]

3 hours. lol I hope that is with wifi on, brightness on max for that time.

 

[Tambini]

3 hours on low brightness with wifi off?

 

[golem]

I think 5 would have been fine. 3 sounds a little short.

 

[Apathy]

It can be charged without the dock right. Might be OK for subway rides. I still think it'll be more than 3 hours.

 

[IvorB]

Honestly, I like the look of that portable but it just screams "battery life concerns".

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

The same people who expect PS4/Xbox One Power on portable will now be shocked that the battery life isnt +10h xD

And it's not even PS4/Xbox One power either lol.

I see your point though. If I'm honest I'll have this thing docked most of the time anyway. Dat Pro Controller.

 

[Anth0ny]

3 hours?! Christ... How the fuck do you even call that portable?

Hopefully 3rd party batteries will be able to save us

almost like they're avoiding doing just that in all of their marketing and advertising

 

[Toxi]

Sega was ahead of its time with the Game Gear.

 

[Plinko]

People do need to remember that devkit battery life can increase with different internals/optimization.

Remember--verified reports were that the devkits were running with noisy and actively cooled Tegra X1s. Implementing the new custom chips could help to reduce the need for the cooling/internals and, as a result, increase battery life.

 

[NurseRedHeart]

3 hours running max brightness, high volume, wifi online play, multiple wireless controllers?

 

[Mpl90]

Mmh, most of what said in that article sounds good. But I hope, between different options, it can have a 4-5 hours max battery life. 3 hours is indeed on the low end.

 

[March of the Crabs]

I would be astonished if the battery life that an Ubisoft dev is getting with a devkit is the actual battery life of the retail product. I'm expecting 3-5 hours gaming realistically, similar to the 3DS.

 

[outunderthestars]

Three hours sounds about right for a Tegra based product

I can only play a demanding game for maybe 2-3 hours on my Samsung S6 before it is dead.

 

[Oregano]

I doubt the additional processing in in the dock, but rather just using either upclocking on the Tegra, or ARM's big.LITTLE architecture and switching to the faster processors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_big.LITTLE

It's been pointed out before but the Shield Tablet has a console mode which switches the screen off and renders at a higher resolution.

Considering Nvidia's level of involvement with Switch they could easily be implementing that feature.

The screen definitely looks like it off when docked.

 

[wonderful103]

Problem witht he statement is the clarification of whether that is 3 hours of gaming or just 3 hours.


Of course GAF will overreact, but the clarification is important.

3 hors of gaming is fine for most people, would prefer 5.

I trust Laura but that comment is from a Ubisoft employee regarding dev kits. So we can only use it as a base

3 hours of gaming. Standby time is obviously a lot more. Less demanding games mean less drain as well.

 

[cyba89]

How much battery life do you get out of a NVidia Shield tablet while playing graphically demanding games?

 

[munchie64]

Without sounding overly optimistic, I'd say a real possibility the devkit not being as good as the final product. Now that doesn't mean I'd expect too much of an increase, but I could see it being 5 hours max. Maybe. Hopefully.

 

[humansarehorses]

As all Nintendo Switch games need to be playable with the handheld in the console dock, all Switch games will be playable without touch.

Thankfully, garbage control schemes can go the way of the dodo.

 

[kyser73]

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

Tablets are like phones, they have really tight power management for apps. Gaming power profiles are generally very different from regular apps.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Why? Just curious. She was pretty accurate with her reports in the months leading up to the reveal.

Because she said something I don't like

 

[Deadpool_X]

3 hours is about what OG 3DS and Vita had. Anyone who was truly expecting this to have a lone battery life was kidding themselves. If it's as powerful as they are implying, 3 hours is about right. Try playing Skyrim on your ipad and see how long it lasts. Oh, wait, the ipad doesn't play games as powerful as Skyrim.

 

[Tavernacle12]

3 to 5 hours for the original Nintendo 3DS.

Ah, that's why this doesn't bother me. I'm still using my launch 3DS so it seems normalish to me.

 

[Oersted]

She also explained that (and took blame) in detail in the article.

Am I blind? Where?

 

[Pastry]

I understand why he battery life is so short but it's a pretty big bummer.

 

[Guymelef]

Out of power before even take off.

 

[Breads]

If it is as powerful as I think it is 3 hours is fine.

 

[Elginer]

3h

. Ouch that's muy malo

 

[Chezzymann]

So it's a crappy handheld and an underpowered console if this is true. Hopefully not. It needs to be good at one of those things to succeed.

 

[Reversed]

Are they taking the "new" model route so you can have extended battery life?

Hopefully you can charge it without the need of a dock. I really want to play a long match of Splatoon or Smash on a Saturday afternoon with coworkers.

 

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

Have people played 3D games on a phone? It's going to kill your battery fast. Battery technology isn't advancing as fast as processing powers go.