One of the rather divisive points that was raised at the Switch event in January was that the battery life would be technically the lowest in Nintendo's portable history, clocking in at about two and a half to six hours, depending upon the power settings and what games are being played. Now that Switch units are out in the wild and in the hands of reviewers all over the world, there's plenty of information going around regarding the device's software and hardware capabilities, and the battery life has been put through its paces. While the previous estimates appear to be on par with the battery's actual capabilities, the sleep mode has shown itself to be quite useful.
Ars Technica recently published a preview on the hardware, and one of the more interesting points raised was that the sleep mode burned through only two percent of the battery over the course of eight hours. While it may be true that this won't help a ton when it comes to active usage of the device, it's nice to know that leaving the console in a bag won't put significant drain on the remaining power.
What do you think? Is the Switch's battery life sufficient? Will you be picking up a portable power bank with yours? Drop us a comment in the section below.
[source arstechnica.co.uk]
Comments 73
Awesome! I'm getting more and more optimistic as launch day nears
The next 8 days can't pass soon enough!
That's good to hear. I've gotten so used to just closing the lid of my 3DS and leaving it in sleep mode all the time so it's nice to know I can do something similar with the Switch without draining too much battery.
I will be buying a power bank soon just in case but I doubt I'll need to use it much.
Wow, what magic that Nintendo put inside Switch ?
But what does a Sleep Mode matter when you can, you know, turn off the console? Unless there's no way of saving, I really don't see much use for me there.
Already got my Anker PowerCore 1000 External Battery, USB-C cable, and Hori Compact Playstand ordered. Will be able to play my Switch anywhere anytime without ever running out of battery power.
Probably not as efficient as the Vita's low power mode (which can retain most of a charge while in sleep mode for over a month), but still pretty nice.
That's a good two weeks of sleep mode from 100%, isn't it?
That's amazing considering my 2DS can only stay in sleep mode for a day more or less.
@Mega_Yarn_Poochy For me, definitely less than a day. I overestimated my New 3DS XL's sleep mode capabilities one time and left it closed up overnight.
I wake up 8 hours later and it's dead, and it started on a full battery.
@JubilifeRival Eternal Sleep mode
I am going to cancel my preorder! Now there is no Virtual Console? Not backwards compatible, no bluray or DVD drive, only 32 mb of storage, no game, needs a charger and pro controller, cost more than a PS4 but has weaker graphics. No Nintendo!
RIP Nintendo your glory days are over.
I think Nintendo headquarters is in sleep mode!!! 😂 No Switch for me!
@Bengals76
just trying to figure out if you are joking?
If only I could go into sleep mode and only use 2â„… of my body battery.
Unfortunately I wake feeling even more tired.
@Bengals76
well either way. I don't judge. and i'm sure your mother still loves you. all your points are valid, but there's no way i'm going to miss out on what's coming this year. even if I do have to pay through the nose for it
Great to know it has an excellent sleep mode. This console is just covering all corners
@retribution
Absolutely not. Nintendo is asleep at the wheel. This thing is nothing more than an upgraded WiiU.
@Applewithasn
They invested heavily in the sleep mode while neglecting the Virtual Console. 😂
That's pretty good. Especially after the Xbox One's sleep mode failed (already lax) energy efficiency standards, game systems need to run efficiently.
Awesome!
@Bengals76
after how popular the nes mini was I wonder if they will try doing things that way for a while rather than VC?
though I guess they could do both.
@retribution
They might. But it sure upsets me that I paid for all those virtual games and they're not going to be on the new system. Why on earth would I want to buy anything from the e-shop? I am extremely tired of the way Nintendo does things, or should I say doesn't do things.
@Bengals76
Switch has same $300 as PS4 slim.
No VC at first launch is NOT The End of the world.
Keep patience.
@Anti-Matter
PS4 with game $249.99
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Playstation-4-Call-of-Duty-Infinite-Warfare-500GB-Walmart-Exclusive-White/55467838
@GoldenGamer88
Isn't Sleep Mode what happen when you put you device down and don't touch it? I'm pretty that's stander and you would actively have to decide to turn it off on order not to use it.
@Bengals76
Even so, ps4 is not portable.
$300 Switch is including Joy Cons that practically 2 Controllers in one box.
Be patience.
Nintendo still working on.
@Anti-Matter
What does the Switch do that the WiiU can't with motion plus controllers?
Ditch the Switch!
@Ralizah Vita's sleep mode never ceases to amaze me. Rip Van Winkle mode, more like.
In fact, are their any hard figures to make real comparisons?
@Mega_Yarn_Poochy
I have owned every Nintendo system since the original NES, excluding the hand held. Do I get to voice my opinion, or can we only say good things about Nintendo here?
@Anti-Matter @Mega_Yarn_Poochy @Bengals76
Yo this dude is carpet-bombing nonsense and fallacious arguments. Just ignore him.
Pickles will prevail.
So they FINALLY remembered how to do good standby battery life? Sony completely mopped the floor with them in that regard last gen, so it's nice to see Nintendo learning how to learn again.
@ningeek185 nice avatar...
@Bengals76 Only 32 MB?Man,it'll be full after a few screenshots.
Reminds me of the original DS models. Once I found out that Streetpass was the reason for the terrible sleep battery on the 3DS I started to keep wireless turned off most times unless I was going somewhere I thought other Streetpassers might be. Though even with wireless off standby still wasn't up to the older models. It was always fun closing the DSphat and coming back to it a few days later with the green led still shining proud.
At last, something impressive about the Switch.
That will be convenient for gamers on the go who need to temporarily pause there game for several hours.
I never really used sleep mode on any of the consoles that have the option. Still great to have the feature.
Gee, when you don't have a battery draining feature on your device, your battery lasts a lot longer! Imagine that! I'm looking at you, Streetpass.
Ok, in all fairness, that's a pretty efficient sleep mode, but I imagine Spotpass will drain it a smidge faster.
I took next Friday off so I can get in line at my walmart a few hours before they open. picking up the system and Zelda and a pro controller.
This is great for when you're sneaking some Switch action at work and the boss walks in unexpectedly requiring an instapause
They haven't specified whether a game was active while the system was in sleep mode. I'd be seriously impressed if the system can retain that sort of battery life while say, Zelda is running in the background (doubtful though).
This should be standard stuff by now. The 3DS sleep mode is awful, Vita's is awesome.
That said, the Switch is packing a lot more than said examples. Good to hear it's not 3DS-like.
This is very positive, is just a shame battery technology for consumer devices hasn't improved at the same rate as the devices themselves. Most of the improvements seem to be around better power saving functions and reducing background apps from sucking power constantly.
I'll be interested to see if that 2% drain increases when the online functionality is enabled with apps phoning home and updates being pulled down.
@Bengals76 If you are gonna complain, then fine, I understand. The Switch launch is FAR from ideal.
But at least complain about stuff that isn't completely optional (the Pro controller), ludicrous (a DVD/Blu-ray player in a portable device), already available in the box (the charger), or flat out incorrect information ("32 mb of storage" lol).
" the battery life would be technically the lowest in Nintendo's portable history"
Well, my standard 3DS lasted for two hours tops at full power and when it was brand new... XD
Still, this is great news!
@Bengals76 Are you for real? No Blu-ray or DVD? Obviously not a Nintendo fan. Personally, I'm buying it for the games. Friday 03rd March can't come soon enough!
"Sleep mode in a bag"? Fire hazard right there!
@Spiders Not that I know of. And yeah, the Vita is a marvel of modern engineering. Such a pity that Sony pretty much decided to abandon the handheld market after the success of the PS4.
If it had used Android as was being rumoured at one point, that 2% would be 20%!
Hmmm, my New3DS in sleep mode has been pretty phenomenal. I've played OoT3D for a while and left it in my bag for two days with no charge, was at 75% battery when I got back. Maybe because it isnt an XL, who knows.
This sounds perfect for in-between work sessions. One week left for the hype train! Choo choo
@Spiders Was gonna say the same - the Vita is pretty amazing for its standby battery, glad to hear the Switch offers a similar level, makes a big difference when you're travelling and should mean it charges nice and quick from a battery pack in standby.
Do we know if it's with ou without Wifi on... ?
I ask because my N3DS can last very long in sleep mode if not connected to the internet... While it only last 2-3 days when connected to internet.
Ars Technica are leftist scumbags who care more about their political agenda than the tech they should be talking about.
Quoting Ars Technica is no longer a resource the smart people will accept as a decent unbiased source because it is not.
Find another source. Stop quoting these scumbags.
@Bengals76 The PS4 is kind of old now. It's been on the market going on 3 1/2 years. And It started off at $400, and that's with no mobile component. The Switch will be cheaper than the PS4 is right now, after it's done three years on the market. And I'm sure there will be more than a handful of bundles available.
Anyway, you need to quit trolling these people, and take your crabby attitude elsewhere. I've never seen a more obvious cry for attention. No one cares about your qualms with Nintendo. I know I don't. And I can't stand the pompous attitude of gamers like you who like to complain about things not going your way, as if the industry owes you something. "Why does this cost that much?" "Why can't they release this now?" "Why did they do this that way?"
You don't get it, we all have a take it or leave it relationship with these companies, and a little less than often, we get what we asked for because someone decided to listen. That's just the way it is, and there's no use in crying about it.
If you want to throw away everything the Switch meant to you to satisfy your entitlement and your lack of patience, that's your decision. But you'll never be happy with that kind of attitude.
For a portable gaming device, sleep mode battery life is every bit as, if not even slightly MORE crucial than gaming battery life. I'm still not kidding myself about 2.5-3 hours minimum not being par for the course in the 2010s in practice - my N3DSXL can get hungry after playing Dual Destinies that long, and despite its more pronounced animations, we're still talking a visual novel here! - but fitting this period into your break schedule or commute time is a separate problem to solve, and solutions can vary from day to day. It's highly important that the console stays alive inbetween all those gaming opportunities, and the ability to keep a game suspended is hard to overestimate, too.
@Anti-Matter 4310 mAh of magic, AFAIK.
@Bengals76 and how much would it have cost with a game as a 2017 console with its own more powerful incarnation just released?
Can you go into sleep mode in the middle of a game, if put on pause?
If so, it's an excellent feature.
@Bengals76
"Absolutely not. Nintendo is asleep at the wheel. This thing is nothing more than an upgraded WiiU."
You haven't ever touched a Wii U, have you? This is nothing like a Wii U, at all. And it's certainly not a Wii U upgrade, as the Switch can't do everything the Wii U can, but the Switch also has features the Wii U do not have.
@westman98
"But at least complain about stuff that isn't completely optional (the Pro controller), ludicrous (a DVD/Blu-ray player in a portable device), already available in the box (the charger), or flat out incorrect information ("32 mb of storage" lol)."
I also noticed his 32 milli bit (32 mb "fact"). 32 thousands of a bit? Really? Haha!
@setezerocinco Haha thanks! I saw your profile pic in the comment section the other day...I like it!
It's 2 1/2 hours for Zelda with all of the settings on its maximum output. We should hAve plenty of game time when we adjust the settings a bit. I know I will.
That's great to hear. I leave my Vita on sleep mode for entire weeks without charging it, and I never notice any battery loss.
Meanwhile, my New 3DS XL dies if I leave it in sleep mode overnight.
3DS sleep mode is awful. Glad Switch is correcting that.
Glad to hear confirmation it even HAS a sleep mode. Remember when we had no information on that?
IMO real sleep mode is the biggest asset to a gamer that has ever existed. I take it for granted on 3DS until I use another console, and while PS4 has suspend, it's so slow to recover it's only a pseudo-suspend. I love keeping my games running indefinitely and just poking at that difficult boss "one more time" (ok, 10 more times) right before bed. I can usually make it through something I couldn't get through before that way
@GoldenGamer88
I understand that view point. Personally there were several times in he middle of gaming on my 3ds, I would head into class or work and just put it in sleep mode. It's nice to know that the power won't suffer when I do.
@Bengals76
People aren't jumping on you just because you're being negative. They're jumping on you for being unreasonable, and even the few things that are reasonable complaints, your response is unproportional.
For example, all consoles are "upgrades". PS4 is an upgraded PS3, which is an upgraded PS2, etc. Yet ironically, Nintendo is the one which least falls into that category of simple upgrades (given Switch is a hybrid console and Wii U was not, it's more than a simple upgrade- but even if it wasn't, there's nothing wrong with being an upgrade anyways).
The bluray complaint is silly given it's a portable, hybrid console. Virtual console will be on the console. Not being there at launch seems a trivial complaint given we know it's coming. BC would have been an asset, but it also would have ensured ancient, dated architecture and PowerPC needed to go. Besides, PS4 isn't BC, and it doesn't seem to stop you from praising it. Also, It comes with a charger so that's just incorrect, and it also comes with two controllers that do everything a Pro Controller can and more. You're acting like it doesn't come with a controller at all. And it costs $100 less than PS4 did at its launch. You have to compare apples to apples if you're gonna criticize properly. But yes, it has weaker graphics, given that it's a hybrid console that's understandable. Unless you expected a PS4 in a handheld for the same price? The fact it's even in the ballpark is utterly astounding. And yes, 32gb is not much, no arguing there. But I don't think it's worth spazzing about given the system takes normal SD cards (unlike Vita which came with zero storage and was limited to 32gb proprietary expansion in the west... for $100) It's not like a normal system where they can just toss in a $20 moving disk hard drive.
And to be honest, their retro glory days have been over for years, so that's not anything new. But I'm looking at Zelda Breath of the Wild, and the coolest console I've ever seen, and Im beginning to think we may have a brand-new era of glory days ahead of us.
@JaxonH
Your points have been well made. I enjoyed reading your reply. Here's to a new era of glory days! Thank You.
@Mega_Yarn_Poochy You're basically saying that people who don't like the Switch should not contribute to discussion on this website.
Expressing an unpopular, but valid, opinion is not "trolling."
There are people on NLife who love the Switch, and there are people (albeit not many) on here who don't love the Switch. You can't speak for the entire website ("us") as if you represent the opinions of the community.
@JubilifeRival You bring up a solid point.
In the screenshot for this article what is that long thing sticking out of the ground? It looks disturbing
@NEStalgia — Yup yup yup. I am so glad to hear about the sleep mode. I have a 3-year-old and I can only squeeze in gaming between his naps or when he's playing by himself (which can end at any moment, nearby save point be damned).
I'm much more likely to play 3DS, Vita, or PSP because I can instantly put the system in sleep mode and come back a few days later without losing my spot. I rarely play console games because I never know when I'll get stopped and can't find a save point (and I can't leave the Wii U on pause for days).
@Bengals76 the price comparison to PS4 is getting tired. No one includes the price of the tv the PS4 requires that the Switch does not...
And you did not include the price of the BluRay player that the Switch does not have. Oh, and the PS4 comes with a game! lol.
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