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Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

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Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what made me hold off on preordering. It seems so ill-conceived, and I can't imagine how it will work. Does in-game audio get piped to your phone? If not, what are you supposed to do? Have two sets of earbuds, one from your phone and one from the device? Also, what's with the console's lack of an ethernet port? Everything I've seen suggests that Nintendo did not prioritize online play when designing the Switc…

Have Nintendo ever prioritised online play?

I would argue this is a major selling point of nintendo. I can't count the number of times i've seen people express disappointment that its so hard to have friends over and play a game these days.

modern consoles were designed seemingly to discourage single console multiplayer gaming; everything is being pushed to online. I think nintendo is smart by catering to the split screen gamers out there, since no one else seems to.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#372

Now this form factor is what Google's Project Ara should have been. It's a modest size tablet to which you can attach peripherals. Peripherals big enough that many industrial sensors would fit. If you need an airflow meter with temp/humidity/CO2 sensing (HVAC techs use these), that would fit. Or a digital voltmeter/oscilloscope. (That would be very useful, especially at a Nintendo price point.) Or an RFID tag reader.…

Can't you just get those peripherals as plug ins devices for an iPhone/Android?

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#373
post #31
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just under 3 hours of battery life for a highly demanding game like Zelda seems pretty fair to me to be honest. 6 hours for less demanding games also seems pretty fair.

For me, that's disappointing. It means that a year or two into battery wear you'll be tethered to an outlet. The situation looks even more dire after reading this quote. > ...although we’ve yet to find a battery / cable that can charge the console faster than it drains.

Other outlets were not having the same issues. I suspect a cable or device issue.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#374

Now this form factor is what Google's Project Ara should have been. It's a modest size tablet to which you can attach peripherals. Peripherals big enough that many industrial sensors would fit. If you need an airflow meter with temp/humidity/CO2 sensing (HVAC techs use these), that would fit. Or a digital voltmeter/oscilloscope. (That would be very useful, especially at a Nintendo price point.) Or an RFID tag reader.…

Can't you just get those peripherals as plug ins devices for an iPhone/Android?

Then you have dangling cables and need both hands.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really want to carry both an iPad and a switch in your bag, though?

I mean, do you really want to wear pants AND a shirt?

Yes, I need both of those. When I'm commuting, I don't want to carry both a tablet and a game console. I'll choose one that can do what I need (so in this case, an iPad).

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#376
post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really want to carry both an iPad and a switch in your bag, though?

I would much rather carry a Switch and an iPad rather than something that amounts to an iPad with awful tacked on gaming controls, with the kind of games the iPad is known for. Multipurpose portable utility computing platforms are all well and good, but in a general sense are a jack of all trades and master of none. I prefer to read on a kindle. I prefer to type on a laptop. I prefer to watch movies on an iPad. I car…

Hmmm, do you have to walk or bike to the train? If you carry that much stuff around, I guess a car would be better. I've been simplifying what I carry around, I can read better on an iPad anyways.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of a web browser is a feature if you are a parent. The easier it is to control access to content, the better.

That's what parental controls should be there for, an actual feature. Nothing would have stopped Nintendo from just adding a "disable web browser" to the parental control feature the Switch already possess. As such the lack of a web browser is not a "feature", it's merely omitting functionality.

True, that is what parental controls are for. Still, kids are clever, and I'm lazy. That makes it a feature in my book.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#378
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like it won't take much. A lot of USB-C power banks on Amazon max out at 3A/5V; at 15W, that's just about the top power consumption measured on the Switch (16W), so it ought to be enough to at least keep the battery constant as power use fluctuates during regular gameplay. I expect we'll see 5A+ power packs in the future which will handle it easily.

I can highly recommend http://www.banggood.com/ZMI-QB820-20000mAh-Quick-Charge-2_0-... , although I'm hoping someone with a thermal camera can do a proper teardown and review at some point - it gets a little warm at ~40W output. It charges my XPS 9350 just fine, so it should do the Switch no worries.

Those are extremely impressive specs for the size. Great find and thanks for the link.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#379
post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would much rather carry a Switch and an iPad rather than something that amounts to an iPad with awful tacked on gaming controls, with the kind of games the iPad is known for. Multipurpose portable utility computing platforms are all well and good, but in a general sense are a jack of all trades and master of none. I prefer to read on a kindle. I prefer to type on a laptop. I prefer to watch movies on an iPad. I car…

Hmmm, do you have to walk or bike to the train? If you carry that much stuff around, I guess a car would be better. I've been simplifying what I carry around, I can read better on an iPad anyways.

Late response, but I walk. It's roughly a 10 minute walk from my house to the train station.

I've not weighed my bag, but it usually contains:

* 6D DSLR body, 20mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4 85mm f/1.4. (About 4KG total of lens & camera.)

* Xiaomi Notebook Air 13" (About 1.2 KG.)

* iPad Pro 9.7.

* Kobo H2O.

* Nintendo DS.

And other sundries: A couple moleskines and pens, a leatherman, headphones, a 20k mAh USB battery pack and lightning cable.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#380

I wonder why they made the dock so bulky... https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MDlcmzBowKNZ425oxRfyJ1-bMBM...

Surely they made it bulky so that it doesn't fall over.

springs! not weights: https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/f1khMcJIVrO5v3Wr.h... it's so you can jam it down :)
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