Nintendo 3DS has three to five hours of battery life

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So, it finally happened. Some 3DS news has occurred that's suddenly made me incredibly cynical about the system. Nintendo's Japanese 3DS site has revealed that the upcoming handheld sports a pathetic three to five hours of battery life.

This is how much life it has when playing 3DS games. The battery will last for five to eight hours when playing older DS games. The specs also state that the system takes 3.5 hours to charge, so depending on how quickly you can drain your battery, the 3DS can take longer to charge than it does to die. Nice.
Nintendo fans have always been able to hold superior battery life over the heads of PSP lovers, but it would appear that the graphical demands of 3D come with a great cost.
So ... that's bloody disappointing.
Nintendo's 3DS specs [Nintendo -- thanks, Vallanthaz]



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Source - http://www.destructoid.com/3ds-has-three-to-five-hours-of-battery-life-191097.phtml
 
Not only that, the games that most people are really eager for, such as Ocarina of Time 3DS, aren't even launch titles.

So, for the launch of the system, you're getting games that most people don't want, or have never heard of, and a rather dismal battery life.
 
Wait, the 3DS can play DS games? I thought that was impossible? O_O the cartridge was shaped differently etc :hmmm:

And I guess if I ever get a 3DS now it's staying on near permanent charge...
 
Might as well wait for some newer version of the 3DS with better battery. 3DSi or whatever the fuck they want to call it. It's not like the launch titles are all that exciting, anyways. I don't see a reason to rush out and buy this thing on launch. Seems like a better plan to me to wait for an improved version of the device.
 
I think playing 3DS games on DS was the issue (thus makes sense xD)

As for the battery life, I'm still hopeful-I think if you use the system at a moderate to minimum setting, the battery should last longer. Playing at full colour, sound, and perhaps 3D effect would be causing the more dismal battery life..?

And the charge rate isn't even shocking-you don't need 100% to play the system, it's just the best thing to be doing, so putting your game aside for, what? 10 minutes to get it going again and start playing again while it's plugged in charging and playing at the same time? Who hasn't done that?
 
Wasn't this the same battery life of the last system?

If not, this system will be emulating powerful graphics for a handheld system. It can emulate the graphics from what looks like, Playstation graphics. I think the system will definitely be worth the amount it costs and I don't mind the battery life of it either.

My only question would be: If you charge it too many times, does it still break after 500+ charges? Or has that changed?

That's all I worry about...
 
If the battery is anything like most others, as long as you're careful to fully drain it as often as possible before charging it should last. After the 10+ hour life of the DS lite 3.5 to 5 is pretty disappointing. Then again, the DS lite can't exactly do full 3d, so it's not hard to imagine where that battery power is being drained to. I wonder how the battery will hold up under basic DS games. More than 5 hours, perhaps?

Ashley Riot makes a solid point about the unimpressive launch. Honestly, bringing out a new system in the same month as a Pokemon game? Will you buy the $35 game that works on the system you already have, or the $300 dollar handheld that is still waiting for solid titles to come out. If the gameboy, GBA, and DS were any indication, you're certainly better off waiting for the pocket/SP/lite.
 
Handheld devices that don't function as being good handhelds is simply a bad trend. People will overlook it with this system, but what if the downward spiral continues? Pretty soon you have systems with 2 hours, 1.5 hours...
 
I predict that when the inevitable "new" version of the 3DS is released, the battery life is one of the things they'll improve on. I think I'll be waiting to see if the 3DS-lite, or whatever they'll name it, is announced by the end of the year, if not, I'll probably still get a 3DS at New Years anyway.

Although, that being said, 3-5 hours battery life would be fine to the casual gamer; those people who use handhelds while on the bus/train to work/school... so it's not too bad.
 
Handheld devices that don't function as being good handhelds is simply a bad trend. People will overlook it with this system, but what if the downward spiral continues? Pretty soon you have systems with 2 hours, 1.5 hours...

I'm not sure what the "official" battery life is, but the PSP is already getting away with this as far as I know... I can't get more than a 2 hour session out of mine unless I'm playing off the memory card and going to sleep mode every time I stop for more that 5 seconds. Granted, I've seen some polls that have shown most people just play PSP at home instead of on the go, but if Sony can get away with it, Nintendo will be just fine.

Unless you have a 2+ hour bus ride to work followed by a 2+ hour bus ride home charging every night will keep the battery power at full. I don't know anyone that has a long enough commute that 3 hours would be inadequate for a full day of play.

My question is, would a 3 hour battery life make you reconsider the 3DS if you were already planning on buying it? I'm waiting for the lite version, so I'm not that worried about it, but I'm curious if this is a deal breaker for anyone.
 
This isn't exactly a deal breaker with me, but it has furthered my belief that the 3DS is going to be ridiculously overpriced for what it is. Shit battery life, half-arsed "3D" visuals (I've never really understood this 3D craze...it's just a trick of the eye, nothing more) and absolutely nothing that interests me in the way of launch title games. I highly doubt I'll be getting this on launch day...I'll wait for a decent game to come out (not bloody Ocarina of Time either, I'm sick of that game) and then consider buying it. I'll get it eventually...when I can be bothered.

I don't honestly think I'd notice this, though. I only tend to play games for two hours at a time at most. Once the battery level gets to one bar or lower, I put it on charge. It's pretty poor, but it's not surprising, given that Nintendo can get away with more than anyone else can when it comes to half-arsed products.
 
I guess if you turn off the volume and the 3D mode, you can perhaps squeeze a bit more time out of the battery. Other than that, it does sound rather pathetic, though not unexpected. With more powerful portable devices, they inevitably drain power extremely quickly anyway. I'll just sit out and wait for another version of the 3DS in the future. No 3DS games (certainly none at launch) are currently that exciting for me that I must buy a 3DS this year. I've still my DS. I can wait for a bit until something comes out that will get my full attention.
 
Thus adding onto laundry list of problems the original 3DS will have. Don't buy one on launch day. Wait for an upgraded version to be released (which I'm sure Nintendo have planned, because every company is full of moneygrubbers these days) in the coming months, or even years. Hell, it didn't even take two years for a DSi XL to be released to replace the DSi.
 
Surely if you turned off the 3D and adjusted the brightness, if the latter is possible, then it would make quite a big difference to battery life, and some games on the PSP you can alter the processing speed which determines battery life. 3-5 hours just seems to short, there must be some sort of way to alter it.
 
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