Nintendo's latest console may be attracting eyes to its flashy 3D screen, but that same technology has had an important casualty: The console's battery life.
Nintendo estimates the
R4 3DS's battery while playing 3DS at three to five hours, a large drop from your 10-hour battery life of your original DS. DS games fare slightly better, giving the
R4 3DS card a 5-8 battery, Nintendo says. Both numbers, however, are estimates, and the company freely admits that actual numbers could end up slightly lower dependant upon usage patterns.
Inside an entry in Nintendo's Iwata Asks series,
AK3 system designer Ryuji Umezu says that the cause for the 3DS's drop in life of the battery lies in the capability had to run the 3DS's three-dimensional display. "What eats more electricity than anything inside of a handheld gaming device would be the LCD backlight," he said.
But it it not just the backlight, which would be an issue for almost any handheld. The 3DS's 3D display have their group of problems, Umezu says.
The 3D screen essentially splits the graphic into two images - one for each eye - the number of light entering each eye is cut in two. "In order to make it look as bright as usual, it's important to add to the brightness on the backlight, which adds to the power made use of by much more," he explained.
For this reason, Nintendo included a special charging cradle intended to encourage
3DS flash card keepers to constantly charge their consoles. The corporation sets the device's charging time for 3 hours and A half hour. "As for your battery, it is inevitable that Nintendo 3DS might be a device which requires more frequent recharging than Ds lite," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.
But where Nintendo has failed, others have stepped in. Nyko has evolved a battery placement named the Power Pak , that your company says doubles the 3DS's battery life. Released alongside the 3DS, the ability Pak will retail for $19.99.
Similar to Nintendo's previous consoles, the corporation is likely to fix the 3DS's most glaring difficulties with future redesigns.
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