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Forums - Nintendo - 3DS battery life is 3-to-5 hours for 3DS games

alfredofroylan on 09 January 2011
thismeintiel said:

What?  What's the difference between how you long you can play and battery life?  Are you speaking of how long the battery lasts until it can no longer be charged again?  If so, that statement has nothing to do with that.

I mess up my ideas, sorry about that. But now that I think about Iwata's statement remainds me Capcom's conference about the street mode, wich requieres to turn on the WiFi so if the idea is to use the device as a everyday's gadget it'll requiere to be charged constantly, but a more moderate use won't probably need that. We need to wait and see the final specs about that.



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thismeintiel on 09 January 2011
RolStoppable said:
thismeintiel said:
Acevil said:

The person below you stated you would get a normal adapter....but if you really want to try on the cradle...be my guess.

While it does say there is an AC adapter in the box, I would guess that's for the stand, not the 3DS itself.  Otherwise, there would need to be 2 AC adapters.  In fact, what would be the reason for the charging stand if you can just plug an AC adapter directly into your 3DS?

Style. Same as the stand that comes with every Wii. You don't need it to position the Wii vertically, but it certainly looks nicer that way.

My guess is that the charger stand actually doesn't have its own charger, so there's really only one AC adapter in the box. The stand is really only there to make the handheld look cooler while not being in use.

Yes, but the Wii stand actually serves a purpose (to keep the Wii from getting knocked over/broken), while this one wouldn't.  The 3DS would just be sitting flat whether it's on an AC adapter or the charging stand.  Of course, I could be wrong.  Just have to wait for unboxing vids or more info, I suppose.



 

thismeintiel on 09 January 2011
alfredofroylan said:
thismeintiel said:

What?  What's the difference between how you long you can play and battery life?  Are you speaking of how long the battery lasts until it can no longer be charged again?  If so, that statement has nothing to do with that.

I mess up my ideas, sorry about that. But now that I think about Iwata's statement remainds me Capcom's conference about the street mode, wich requieres to turn on the WiFi so if the idea is to use the device as a everyday's gadget it'll requiere to be charged constantly, but a more moderate use won't probably need that. We need to wait and see the final specs about that.

Lol, it's ok.  I do that crap all the time.  You are right, we will have to wait for more info and/or reviews of the HW.  Still, the statment that Iwata made about charging it "as soon as you get home" doesn't quite sit right with me.



 

LordTheNightKnight on 09 January 2011
thismeintiel said:
LordTheNightKnight said:
thismeintiel said:

Exactly.  While someone did clarify that "soft" actually meant software, the last two sentences of the translation also point to the 3-5 hrs not being the worst case scenario.

"The approximate battery life. May be less depending on operating conditions."

Now think about playing in 3-D mode.  Do you want it to be on the lowest brightness setting?  I know I wouldn't.  The 3-D wouldn't really look good.  It would have to be on a higher setting for it to really "pop."  Now, think about everyone who buys the 3DS for 3-D gaming.  I mean that's what its major appeal is.  Now, think how mad those people are going to be if they can only get 1-2 hrs out of the 3-D feature on a higher brightness setting.  Battery life is the same reason the Game Gear failed.  And I'm not going to claim the 3DS will fail, cause I don't think it will.  But, it will hurt sales.  Especially if Sony can release the PSP2 later this year superior graphics, and it can get 5-8 hrs of life with only a 1-2 hr charge.


Although with the rumored specs, that doesn't look that likely, as Sony is still on the "graphics is what sells" kick.

They just need a larger capacity battery.  Yes it would cost Sony a little more, but if they see low battery life is hurting sales of the 3DS, I doubt they will make the same mistake.  And there are always ways to cut battery use, just as the PS3 Slim pumps the same graphics as a fat PS3, but uses much less power.

That is the key. It's not that they can't do it, but too often won't.



A flashy-first game is awesome when it comes out. A great-first game is awesome forever.

Plus, just for the hell of it: Kelly Brook at the 2008 BAFTAs

thismeintiel on 09 January 2011
LordTheNightKnight said:
thismeintiel said:
LordTheNightKnight said:
thismeintiel said:

Exactly.  While someone did clarify that "soft" actually meant software, the last two sentences of the translation also point to the 3-5 hrs not being the worst case scenario.

"The approximate battery life. May be less depending on operating conditions."

Now think about playing in 3-D mode.  Do you want it to be on the lowest brightness setting?  I know I wouldn't.  The 3-D wouldn't really look good.  It would have to be on a higher setting for it to really "pop."  Now, think about everyone who buys the 3DS for 3-D gaming.  I mean that's what its major appeal is.  Now, think how mad those people are going to be if they can only get 1-2 hrs out of the 3-D feature on a higher brightness setting.  Battery life is the same reason the Game Gear failed.  And I'm not going to claim the 3DS will fail, cause I don't think it will.  But, it will hurt sales.  Especially if Sony can release the PSP2 later this year superior graphics, and it can get 5-8 hrs of life with only a 1-2 hr charge.


Although with the rumored specs, that doesn't look that likely, as Sony is still on the "graphics is what sells" kick.

They just need a larger capacity battery.  Yes it would cost Sony a little more, but if they see low battery life is hurting sales of the 3DS, I doubt they will make the same mistake.  And there are always ways to cut battery use, just as the PS3 Slim pumps the same graphics as a fat PS3, but uses much less power.

That is the key. It's not that they can't do it, but too often won't.

That is very true.  But I would expect PSP2 to at the very least to have a Wifi on/off switch like on the PSP.



 

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LordTheNightKnight on 09 January 2011
thismeintiel said:
LordTheNightKnight said:

That is the key. It's not that they can't do it, but too often won't.

That is very true.  But I would expect PSP2 to at the very least to have a Wifi on/off switch like on the PSP.


Man, I keep forgetting to turn that off when I don't go online. How much can that extend the battery life to play offline most of the time?



A flashy-first game is awesome when it comes out. A great-first game is awesome forever.

Plus, just for the hell of it: Kelly Brook at the 2008 BAFTAs

thismeintiel on 09 January 2011
LordTheNightKnight said:
thismeintiel said:
LordTheNightKnight said:

That is the key. It's not that they can't do it, but too often won't.

That is very true.  But I would expect PSP2 to at the very least to have a Wifi on/off switch like on the PSP.


Man, I keep forgetting to turn that off when I don't go online. How much can that extend the battery life to play offline most of the time?

Lol, honestly, I have no clue.  Never really timed it.  Half the time I turn it off by accident and don't realize till I go to get online.  Of course, I have a phat battery in my slim, so that gives me around 10 hrs, I believe.



 

alfredofroylan on 09 January 2011
LordTheNightKnight said:
Man, I keep forgetting to turn that off when I don't go online. How much can that extend the battery life to play offline most of the time?

Quite long. Some users reports an extension of almost a  hour with the WiFi off



kber81 on 09 January 2011

Similar to psp -more than enough. With all these fancy tech inside it isn't all that disappointing...



Rainbird on 09 January 2011
Acevil said:
Rainbird said:
Acevil said:
Rainbird said:

Damn, that's not a lot. Now we just need to know how at what settings it's running at...

EDIT: By the way, can you play on it when it's charging? I mean, with the cradle it might not be all that fun.

With the DS you can, so you should be able to. 

Also Nyang, like people said before, people see what they want to see. 

I meant with regards to the cradle and whether you can really control the 3DS when it's in it. Will it still be a good experience playing on the 3DS when it's in the cradle?

The person below you stated you would get a normal adapter....but if you really want to try on the cradle...be my guess.

Yeah, just saw that. I thought the cradle would be the only way of charging it, but apparently not.