New Nintendo Switch saw the light of the day couple of days ago and although we know some things such as the name of the console or size, but we are in the dark regarding battery life, features and the way it operates.
First of all, the company hasn’t announced how long the battery should last. A company representative said: “We will announce more hardware details later, but we are developing Nintendo Switch so that consumers can comfortably enjoy games away from home.”
Secondly, the new device is powered by GPU. A custom-built chip, which is specially designed for this device, will be integrated into the Switch. According to the reports, Tegra X1 chip is running the console, but the X2 is also rumored. This chip is also located in the Shield and you can see its potential specifically in this device.
In addition to the Shield, Google Pixel C tables also come with the Tegra X1. The battery life of the C tablets is about 8 hours, but we cannot use this number to predict the battery life of the Switch. Rumor has it that Switch will have 1280×720 resolution, but it is yet to be confirmed by the company.
Since the Wii U and the 3DS both come with support for streaming services like Netflix, a logical assumption would be that the new device will also have this support. So the battery can last longer if you are streaming or shorter if you are playing games.
Back to the hardware specs. Tech Crunch report says that Tegra X1 chip has “265-core Maxwell GPU, an 8-core 64-bit ARM CPU and can handle 60fps 4K UHD video playback in either H.265 or VP9 coding”.
The Switch, apparently, has air vents just like Nvidia Shield. The heat is released via these vents and the device remains cool. This indicates that the device will probably get hot enough when you play games. It is expected that this new machine will be powerful, which is great news for gamers, but bad news for battery.
An estimated battery life for the Switch is four to six hours, presuming that it will run at high-performance levels. The company will, however, try to extend the battery life in several different ways. For example, when you use the Switch as a portable console it will run at 720p, but if you use is as a regular it will run at 1080p.
The Nintendo Switch will go on sale in March 2017. Stay tuned for more spec details, price, and exact release date.
