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[Peltz]

Maybe this is why they stressed that it's a home console first and foremost.

That's pretty weak for a portable unit and goes against what made the Gameboy and their pre-3DS handheld line so successful in part.

 

[Fox Mulder]

So it's a weak home console and a poor portable.

Makes sense.

 

[platocplx]

3 hours. yeah portability will be very limited. I See it could work in outside of home scenarios but pretty much gotta have it connected to a power source or have a battery to charge it.

3 hours would make a lot of sense like using the wii u controller off screen in home vs hogging the tv for example.

Makes sense why nintendo is saying its a home console first limited portability second. Still I think its a step in the right direction.

 

[Newtype-001]

3rd parties save us

Spoiler

New Nintendo Switch when?

 

[Boney]

I take a bus across the country every weekend, the trip takes about 4 hours with a 15min break in between, I know I'm part of the minority but I was hoping to 4-5 hours to get me through the whole trip.

8 hours of commute daily? Damn I thought my 3 hours were bad.

 

[LuuKyK]

Well that really sucks.

Is there a way to charge it through a cable or the only way to do so is by placing it on the dock?

 

[Guymelef]

This is important. We don't have the final product guys.

Of course, and also could be worse on final product since devkits can be big and ugly.

 

[guek]

BUT DOES IT HAVE MICRO USB CHARGING

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

3 hours is really disappointing, but I'll just buy some whatever third-party accessory will inevitably be released to negate that.

 

[rockman zx]

Minimum should 6 to 8 hours to make it acceptable for my gaming habits when it comes to portable gaming.

 

[OCD Guy]

Really want these leaks to keep coming.

If Nintendo isn't going to market their console for the next two months, leakers can do the job for them.

The thing is shit like this can hurt them.

The internet are waiting to jump on something here, we live in a world where people prefer to focus on negatives.

Let's hope Nintendo give clarification at the end of the week as the leakers suggest.

Although I'd be interested to know how many hours battery life people were expecting. 10 hours? It's obviously going to depend on the game no? Skyrim will use more battery than a small 2d indie game.

 

[IvorB]

3hrs isn't great but honestly, who games away from a power source for more than 3hrs?

Many flights or occasions where the power outlet is not conveniently within reach.

 

[Mirk]

3 hours is fine for my uses AS LONG as it charges with usb. After pokemon GO I have few battery banks.

 

[JosephManderley]

If you can charge it off USB or a separate charger apart from the Dock then 3 hours isn't a biggie. I'm rarely 3 hours without access to electricity!

 

[WaffleTaco]

I mean does this mean standby or of use? Cause if it's standby, that's really bad. However 3 hours of battery use is prettty good I would think.

 

[family_guy]

Well of course the battery life is low. Got to get the double dip sales on the New Nintendo Switch.

 

[AntMurda]

3 hours is really disappointing, but I'll just buy some whatever third-party accessory will inevitably be released to negate that.

Are the batteries swappable for stronger ones?

 

[lenovox1]

- 3 hrs. max. battery life
- dock provides extra power

These 2 points together don't make much sense.
If you are able to provide extra power through the dock, why aren't you designing the hand-held in a way that you can actually use it as a hand-held?

Because it still has to run big console game and big console engines. The processor will scale as intelligent as programmed, but there's only so much room possible to give using current techniques.

 

[oti]

BUT DOES IT HAVE MICRO USB CHARGING

Go with the times. Give me USB-C.

 

[Chessr]

Why 3 hours isnt enough. I dont understand. Do u take 3+ hour trip everyday? Because Where else would u use the portable part?

 

[pastrami]

Battery is always going to be a concern for a high end mobile device. If this rumor is true though, 3 hours max would be pretty disappointing. I can deal with 3-5 hours. Not sure about 2-3.

 

[Orakio Rob]

I honestly expected two hours.

 

[Genio88]

Haters gonna hate...3 hours is fine, and also we should still take this reports lightly since the retail version isn't ready yet...but going back to 3 hours, of course i think they refer to 3 hours of gaming, of course if you play Zelda BOTW in 3 hours Switch battery will be done, my Surface Pro 4 when uses all the CPU power on heavy softwares lasts even less than 3 hours, and same we can say for smartphones and tablets in general, even actual 3DS don't really last that much more than 3 hours of gaming, and we are talking about a way weaker device

 

[Herb Alpert]

I got shaken reading 3 hours.

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

Hopefully 3rd party batteries will be able to save us

3 HOURS?

Holy shit that is horrendous!

Three hours LUL

3 hours?

That'sounds about right

3 hours is pathetic.

3 hours is ouch lol

3 hours lol that can't be right

Come on. Did you expect more? Lol

This is like OG 3DS. I always have my AC adapter with me.

Now how many time did you expect? Let me
Laugh.

 

[Stilton Disco]

3 hours running stuff like Breath of the Wild and Skyrim Remastered actually sounds better than I'd expected. People really seem to be overestimating battery life when it comes to pushing decent 3D graphics.

 

[outunderthestars]

BUT DOES IT HAVE MICRO USB CHARGING

I would hope so.

 

[Cosmozone]

For a portable with the power of a home console, that sounds pretty realistic, sadly. I'm not sure how you could get much more as well.

 

[MadFerIt]

As others have stated, THIS IS not a portable gaming system first and foremost, it is a console that can be portable (ie switched) when you need it to be.

Because of this they can throw a lot more power into the unit in "portable" mode while sacrificing battery, and also make the dimensions of the unit larger (as it can be played on a surface with your detachable wireless controllers).

If the system delivers satisfying visuals on a great screen and still manages to give around 3 hours of battery life, I would say that's fantastic. You cannot compare this to a 3DS / Vita or even modern cell phones and tablets, especially if this is running on a custom Tegra processor on crack (this still remains to be seen, all we have are the devkit specs which is just an X1 SoC).

 

[Lumination]

Given a hypothetical choice of everything being true or nothing, I'll take everything.

Low battery life can be remedied with portable battery packs like phones use. Lower specs can't be fixed.

 

[Menitta]

Eh. Considering how supposedly powerful it is, I expected this much. No doubt a bigger battery will be available.

 

[Athreous]

Just use power banks and you are fine

It's stupid, I know, but at least you can play!

Also, by it's size, it's not really that portable anyway...

Imo, i'll look like a slim wii u pad

 

[Chezzymann]

I wonder if it gets hot or a fan starts going when you're playing intensive games

 

[The_Lump]

Well I guess this answers my question:

Trying to get my head round why that dock is so chunky at the back. Far too fat for just a few ports.

Options so far:

Contains psu?
Contains storage?
Contains other hardware?
Contains additional cooling?

Storage seems most likely I guess.

Additional hardware it is

3 hours battery life is likely taken from a devkit, which may not have final battery configuration and certainly will not be optimised towards portable use (devs aren't going to be taking this thing out on the go...)

Besides, if the retail unit can even push to 4-5 hours then thats pretty great imo. My smartphone can barely hit 5 hours of solid gaming. Not really sure what people expect from a big screen and actively cooled hardware....

 

[Newtype-001]

I hope it isnt terrible on standby aswell.
Something like the Vita would make it gold.

 

[Twenty7KVN]

As a working adult, 3 hours sounds fine to me considering the specs. I wouldn't use it in that mode outside of a commute anyway. Maybe on a plane?

Pretty much how i feel. I'm hoping for god like sleep mode like the vita, and fast charging.

 

[dreamlongdead]

That is very disappointing, but I don't play for long periods outside of my house.

I'll have to charge this even more often than my N3DSXL, and I thought battery life was somewhat underwhelming for that device.

 

[DecoReturns]

Man I find it hard to have time to play games more then 2 hours.

I'm fine with this battery life for myself.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

I'd expect the CPU to run at a higher clock and the fan at a higher speed when it's docked, but I don't expect there to be a secondary processor or anything like that in the dock itself.

 

[StayDead]

I want to see the receipts. Nobody has their hands on a final version, there's no way of judging this right?

 

[Nibel]

Japan won't be happy with this, and I'm not sure if Nintendo realizes what they are doing (especially after the OG 3DS backlash)

 

[longdi]

If you seen the preview video yesterday, Nintendo presented the switch as more of a portable console(tv) than a handheld. So 3hrs sounds about right for the type of uses shown in the video.

 

[Forsaken82]

95% of you are going to be using this on the shitter, so unless you take 3 hour shits, I don't see how you can complain.

 

[Zedark]

Hmm, 3 hours does sound a little low. I would be fine with 1-2 hours more, but I think 3 hours can be a little tight during long travel days. Does GAF know any ways in which they might improve this after launch (an external charger or something) that has been available for handhelds before?

She doesn't seem certain about the dock power boost. I would be fine with a few seconds transition if that means the docked mode would provide more power, personally. Still, I believe the power bit won't be such a problem for me, as most games I want to play on it (Nintendo IPs) have never really required current gen power to be beautiful and functional.

Edit:

Just use power banks and you are fine

I haven't followed any handheld since the PSP, do new handhelds generally use the same powerbanks as mobile phones?

 

[Steeped in a Sea of Games]

Honestly, my galaxy S6 only lasts about 2 hours when playing something graphically intensive like Mobius. My gaming laptop makes it 3 hours max when running a game. We've really hit the wall when it comes to battery tech.

I'm not sure why this surprises people, even if it sucks.

 

[Head.spawn]

Wouldnt it make more sense that the unit simply runs in a normal mode when docked and operates in a lower power mode when on the go?

 

[ZdkDzk]

3 hours isn't too bad as long as it's possible to charge the pad directly without the dock (and ideally keep playing). You would be tethered, but a lot of places have outlets for portable devices nowadays.

 

[BRocknRolla]

Haven't Nintendo/Famitsu already debunked this about the processing power?

The comments are such that they say the main console is the handheld. If they want to make it clear that this isn't like the Wii U, that's exactly what they have to be saying. It doesn't muddy the waters in that regard.

The general theory is that the additional processing power would come from upclocking/bringing the clock to the standard level from a handheld downclock when it is in docked form. Now, is that "adding additional processing power?" Maybe not, but if people aren't particularly versed in the tech they're looking at, it would certainly appear to "add power."

Wouldnt it make more sense that the unit simply runs in a normal mode when docked and operates in a lower power mode when on the go?

I think that's a fairly common theory.

95% of you are going to be using this on the shitter, so unless you take 3 hour shits, I don't see how you can complain.

I work for a tech company, and I think people here might be approaching this mark at work.

 

[metalslimer]

I actually think pushing this as a there home console first and foremost is a bad idea. I hope the marketing is more this is a full hybrid rather than this is a console that if you need to can be taken around places. I just think that doing such a small thing yesterday and then going dead silent is a bad idea.

 

[Sephzilla]

3 hours max is just about a deal breaker

 

[EVH]

I'm quite ok with the 3 hours lenght. Enough for a gaming session outside home. 3DS had those 4-5 hours people are demanding and this is a lot more powerful.

It looks the thing will also get motion sensor, but I expect it to lack pointing device. At first I thought that the tablet would have the sensor bar a la Wii behind that black frame, so when you leave it on the dock, the upper frame that stays "outside of the sandwich" acts as the sensor bar for the Joycons. This would be a neat solution for both things: sensor bar and just being able to take it out easier.

Then I realized that the way the Joycons are built, it is impossible for this machine to get a pointing feature, but I guess we also got the touchscreen for that. Still, the motion sensors in Wii didnt use too much the pointing feature during games, specially after the WiiMotion+.

I'm really intrigued by that force feedback that is talked about in one of the reports.