3DS Battery Lasts About 5 Hours for 3D Games

Fine with me as long as you can somehow keep playing while it's charging up...otherwise I'm gonna have a problem because I'm doing that with my DS Lite all the time.

I'm sure you'e able to play and charge - pretty much a given in most devices.

As for the battery itself, around 4/5 hours (probably) isn't too bad I guess, though would be great if it could last up to 7/8 with screen settings and wireless connectivity off.

I think it's a terrible battery life to be honest, worse even than the PSP's, and it'll probably mean I'll end up buying an upgrade afterall. =_=

Eh, thats PSP level. A bit dangerous Nintendo. Not horrible I guess, but getting pretty close to the line. I was hoping they'd manage five hours as a baseline, not a best case scenario.

Question. How will we be able to play and charge at the same time with the charge station/ cradle thing? That looks extremely inconvenient.

Is Nintendo making it hard to play & charge at the same time so that we will take breaks?

Well this is only to be expected, still the psp lasts roughly as long & I'll be keeping my Lite & XL so I'll know to play this more at home or near a power outlet.

Wow, geez really? Was hoping for at least seven hours with 3D on and possible wireless play to boot... Hope this sucker can charge while you play it then. Sheesh...

mmmmmh that's not much but not too bad either. Hopefully better batteries will come out from 3rd parties someday ?

Not that great. My DSi goes for ages.

SuperLink said:
I think it's a terrible battery life to be honest, worse even than the PSP's, and it'll probably mean I'll end up buying an upgrade afterall. =_=

Why not just not buy this first model, and wait for the upgrade? It's rather silly of you to waste hundreds of pounds like this when you're not happy with the product.

Another reason to add to why I'll be waiting for the next model.

More than enough time for me, I don't play handheld games for more than a couple of hours at a time (at most) anyway, and it's not going to change for the 3DS.

5 hours isn't bad, that's probably with wi-fi on and maximum screen brightness

Very dissapointing, especialy as it will get worse with time.
Anyone buying a 3DS at launch should also probably buy a spare battery, as in a few years that 5 hours will probably half.
Hopefully, like the DS, spare batterys will be dirt cheap. (I got 2 for $20)

Pretty much identical to the PSP. (tend to get 3-4 hours on PSP-3000)

James (guest) said:
5 hours isn't bad, that's probably with wi-fi on and maximum screen brightness

I'm really disappointed by this. Didn't Nintendo tout the battery life when the DS was released?

They didn't mention anything about how long it lasts in standby mode, did they?

Well, tbh I don't mind. 5 hours is enough for me, I mean.. I hardly even play my handhelds while I'm out and about.

I'm pretty sure there'll be some sort of normal charger as well as the charging dock. Even if it is 3rd party.

Mush123 said:
Well, tbh I don't mind. 5 hours is enough for me, I mean.. I hardly even play my handhelds while I'm out and about.

I'm pretty sure there'll be some sort of normal charger as well as the charging dock. Even if it is 3rd party.

Same here. I don't think I've ever taken my DS with me when I was going somewhere. The games I play aren't really suitable for that. I usually play while watching TV or something.

3-5 hours seems fine. Most of the time I'm gonna be playing it with it plugged in. Same goes for my laptop. It's battery life is around 1.5 hours, so it pretty much is plugged in all the time.

My DSi goes for an even shorter amount of time with max brightness and wifi-enabled, I'm betting this is same case scenario and it'll run for at least double that with some features disabled.

SirLink said:

Mush123 said:
Well, tbh I don't mind. 5 hours is enough for me, I mean.. I hardly even play my handhelds while I'm out and about.

I'm pretty sure there'll be some sort of normal charger as well as the charging dock. Even if it is 3rd party.

Same here. I don't think I've ever taken my DS with me when I was going somewhere. The games I play aren't really suitable for that. I usually play while watching TV or something.

Martin_ said:

Why not just not buy this first model, and wait for the upgrade? It's rather silly of you to waste hundreds of pounds like this when you're not happy with the product.

..However I've got plenty of spare cash anyway. If it means getting to play Professor Layton Vs Ace Attorney on launch then yeah I don't really care x-X

SuperLink said:
..However I've got plenty of spare cash anyway. If it means getting to play Professor Layton Vs Ace Attorney on launch then yeah I don't really care x-X

Enough spare cash to essentially waste hundreds of pounds? All for the ability to play a few games earlier than you might otherwise? Realistically, there'll be a better model in a year or so. If it was me, I'd put the money towards something better and wait for the next model. You know this 3DS will become "the fat model" in no time at all, right?

This is, assuming, any new model would have better battery life.
That is not necessarily the case.

Martin_ said:
Enough spare cash to essentially waste hundreds of pounds? All for the ability to play a few games earlier than you might otherwise? Realistically, there'll be a better model in a year or so. If it was me, I'd put the money towards something better and wait for the next model. You know this 3DS will become "the fat model" in no time at all, right?

I don't really have anything else to buy anyway! ¦3

If the most common complaint about this first model is it's short battery life, it would make sense for Nintendo to improve it, no?