Here's How Long the Switch's Battery Life Will Last

It's fine by me.
I would like 4 to 8 but hey, I'm sure there will be upgrades in the future like the Wii U gamepad.
If not, oh well, I've gotten used to my gamepad being on charge as often as possible.

Wow! That's impressive! I can't wait!

That really is awful.

I'm very happy to see USB C. That will make it much easier to use the Switch with a battery pack for extended usage time.

Also, the move away from proprietary connections is never a bad thing.

I'm glad for the move to standard charging port. Battery life could be better but I'm sure there will be firmware updates that will improve it over time.

@LeRaposa That battery life doesn't seem too bad considering that this is basically a home console. It uses more power than a 3DS by a lot.

Also, with the charger being USB C, battery packs can be easily used.

2 1/2 hrs- 6hrs is good to me. 6hrs for simple games. 2 1/2 hrs for really intensive games like skyrim or BoTW I assume

Since I have tons of time I spend it with intensive playing. This is kinda bad news for me, I can already see people making fun of a Switch being tablet rather than console. Nvidia might have been wrong choice, but we will see... it's not buy day 1 for me anyway so there can still come lot of good news

I swear they said 2-3 hours, not 2-6 hours. I guess with the amount of power, it's to be expected it would be low.

That's about what I thought it would be, at least for the minimum. The max amount was a pleasant surprise.

The fact it uses USB-C is clutch, although my switch will be docked 97% of the time

@RadioShadow There was a 3 on the screen by the Japanese words, but he said 2.5-6 out loud.

@LeRaposa I agree, that battery life is terrible
At least they emphasized that it was a home console first and foremost

sigh

That was expected

Would want a better life, but I heard you can't change the batteries so...

2.5 i guess for intense games like zelda? then 1-2-switch is like a 6? not using too much power?

@JubilifeRival it said 3hrs was average play time for BoTW

Well, I guess there will be plenty of tweakings to do, and plenty of "Battery saving" options like on the 3DS.

But 2.5 hours seems a bit to low. I was expecting at least an hour more as the minimum.

As a handheld gamer, I thought this was the biggest letdown of the presentation. It somehow defeats the whole purpose of the Switch. Either make a real portable alternative to 3DS, or just let it be.

Well, we have to wait and see how bad it really is. At least it got USB-C, so smart use of a convenient and hassle-free battery pack can maybe save the day?

Not a great battery life, but the fact that I can charge it via USB while playing it makes this viable for me. Most of my day is spent next to a computer of some sort.

@dres Well the 3DS has a top-end of 5hrs when playing 3DS games, so it's mostly disappointing when seen out of context.

@Undead_terror
That would be a bummer, if you can't change that thing .

"The Switch - use it on the go from the store where you bought it, thereafter it will forever be a home-console. It can't be recharged"

@dres Butt...FOR PORTABLE REASONS!!!....and things....yee

I can work with this. I keep battery packs on me all the time anyway.

@DanteSolablood
Yeah, you probably right?

I was just hoping for at least around 4 hours game time on the go. But I hope Nintendo can come up with a clever battery pack, that doesn't feel annoying to use. One that just works and "click's" with the Switch.

@dres I'm guessing it might be able to last 4hrs for the average game if you have power-saving features on. But I agree that an easy to use battery pack would be good.

I had a great battery pack for my Game Gear. That thing was very power hungry, and the extra battery pack was just a must.

The Switch somehow brings me back to those times

Sheesh, everyone's being so negative. Are you really going to be in a place where you can't charge the Switch but play it for 3 hours?

I carry around a USB battery with me most of the time anyway. Not really happy with this, but at least there is a workaround for it these days.

You just can't please some people. The battery life is more or less the same as the 3DS family of systems, which are significantly weaker.

2.5-3 hours for console-quality games on the go sounds fantastic. Not ideal, sure. I'd be happy to pay extra for a better battery, but unfortunately the masses just aren't willing to pay up and Nintendo need to keep the Switch as affordable as possible.

Could be better, but USB C will go a long way toward softening this. Utilizing a universal standard was a good move, there'll be several instances where you can charge this in a given day and type c will make for a quick charge.

It's more or less the same as a 3DS, right ? Better than expected. (6 hours !)

It's alright, but I would have liked more.

Sheesh, it seems people can't read.

The minimun battery life probably is with wireless on, with the screen brightness at max, battery saving mode off, etc. The same stuff happens with phones or other actual portables - use it at max capacity and it won't last long.

If using it normally means it lasts around 3 to 6 hours, I'm happy, and using USB-C means I can keep a portable battery or a charger nearby. Even planes have power outlets nowadays if you ran out of battery!

Seems okay, I'll just charge it the same way I charge my phone.

Pretty much expected but it's going to be a pain to charge it all the time if you want to play it portably

The battery life is not ideal, but should be good enough, we'll have to get used to carrying the cords though.

The use of USB C makes battery life a non issue for me. If it becomes an issue, I'll just pick a battery pack eventually. It's a good enough tradeoff for me

Good, a way to play in "gamepad mode" (or handheld in english) while charging is all I needed. Though the 2.5hours duration for pushing games is light.

Because they went with the USB charger, I don't think the battery life will be an issue since there will be ways to charge nearby. However, I do think the battery life seems short. They're saying 2.5-6 but I read that as 1.5-3! Almost everything I own that runs on batteries last far less then what was advertised at the time of purchase.

Lol what?! Only 2,5-6 hours? That's ridiculous. it means it's hardly portable (not that I would need that function).
In other words: it confirms what I suspected, it has a terrible battery life.

If you go out with your phone with no way of being able to charge it when the battery gets low, you're an idiot. If you expect to game on the go for long periods without an external battery pack in your pocket/bag you're an idiot. Even with the 3DS I don't go to an event and expect my battery to last the whole time without a charge. Battery tech is getting better, yes, but tech is also being crammed into devices that drain the battery.

So, simple solution. Carry an external charger. Anker do some really decent ones. This is why they've made it USB-C.

@Baker1000 Well if they force you to use an external battery (I already have one, but that's not the point), why not just build a bigger battery into the device? Or they could've also just built in two batteries (like some tablets have). Why make the device so thin that you can only fit in such a small battery?
Who wants to constantly have the device hooked up to an external battery? It limits your movement, it means the device is not portable anymore but always bound by the external battery.

Without a power source, it won't even be enough for one Splatoon rotation (if there are any) or for a decent session of Zelda or Xenoblade. I would've expected two days battery life or at least one day. Without that, In don't get what all the fuss (people celebrating that the device is portable) is about. Low battery life kills portability.

I mean come on, only a few hours of play time? That makes the device pretty much unusable without the TV dock.
Effectively, everything they showed in the first Switch trailer was a lie. Everything they've shown there is not possible because your battery would die before you could do all the things that were shown in the trailer (and there was no external battery shown in the trailer either).

It's a shame that I was right all along, when the Switch wasn't announced yet and there were only rumours about using the Tegra platform. Back then I stated that a handheld would be a terrible idea, because you either end up having inferior performance or inferior battery life. No matter how they do it, they have to comprimise.
A way better solution would've been to make the device stationary and put in proper hardware...

2,5 doesn't sound like much. Luckily I'll play it in handheld-mode with the AC adapter connected!