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Nintendo

Nintendo Unveils New Switch Model With Better Battery Life (kotaku.com) 48

This August, Nintendo is releasing a new Switch model with a longer battery life. It will be priced the same as the current model and, aside from the improved battery, feature the same specs. From a report: The new model's battery life will last between 4.5 and 9 hours, depending on the game. For Breath of the Wild, for example, the battery life will last for an estimated 5.5 hours. In comparison, the current model has a battery life that's between 2.5 and 6.5 hours, depending on the game. Once again, for Breath of the Wild, the battery life is 3 hours.
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Nintendo Unveils New Switch Model With Better Battery Life

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  • by HalAtWork ( 926717 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2019 @12:17PM (#58940034)

    Is it an improved fab process making the CPU more efficient?

    More battery life isn't an issue for this larger Switch model since I don't take it out of the house. I'd like a version that would feature more powerful hardware that could be an upgrade to this home model.

    However, with Nintendo's history, they have only updated this aspect late into the life of the hardware, with very little software taking advantage of the improvements. The DSi, New 3DS, N64 4MB RAM add-on are examples of this.

    • by Z80a ( 971949 )

      They switched from 20nm to 16.
      A "new nintendo switch" have the potential to deliver a lot of improved games (while undocked) by just tricking the games into thinking they're docked, but the docked mode would indeed be on this same situation you pointed out.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Nintendo won the handheld war with Sony. Making the switch a hybrid handheld/console made sense considering the failure of their last console (wiiU), or well they did the hybridization right (unlike the wiiU).

    I read somewhere that Nintendo tracks docked vs undocked usage of the switch, and had about a 50/50 split. Having a cheaper switch geared towards undocked play, should help their sales.

    Time will tell how Nintendo fares vs competition from phones and tablets. I think consolidating their platform has str

    • I have a Switch and I have never yet taken the dock out of it's packaging. We don't have a tee vee set anywhere in the house to even plug it into. I am a PC gamer who took a liking to Nintendo handhelds. Couch/teevee gaming I have never gotten into.

      • by fringd ( 120235 )

        If you only ever play mobile, the new switch lite is probably right up your alley. $200 and mobile-only

    • The only problem with this cheaper Switch is that the games are still the same price. It's only $100 cheaper, which might be a lot for some people, but really doesn't make the whole system that much more affordable. It's not like with the 3/2DS where they had a version you could get for $80 with a game. Spending $200 vs $300 isn't a big deal and you're probably better off getting the $300 version with all the increased functionality it offers. Assuming games cost $60, by the time you've bout 5 games, the

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      I also wonder if they might abandon the console type market, or what their plan forward is, or should be. A higher resolution switch, console mode only? A docking station for their handheld only switch? I don't see a bright path forward in that direction.

      I think the switch makes it obvious - the handheld market. The console market is tied up between Sony and Microsoft, and Nintendo historically has not made anything really competitive in the arena (they really just got lucky with the Wii).

      Nintendo's only ar

  • by sad_ ( 7868 ) on Thursday July 18, 2019 @07:13AM (#58944742) Homepage

    they should fix the drift issue with the joycon.
    the switch lite doesn't even have removable joycons, if these have the drift issue too, there's going to be fun times ahead.

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