The 3DS will supposedly only last between 3-5 hours on a full charge with the 3D effect turned on. 3DS system designer Ryuji Umeza when discussing his testing of the 3DS battery noted “when I measured it by playing several Nintendo games with the backlight set to the brightest level and the power save mode turned off, battery duration was about three hours. But if you use the power save mode under the same conditions, it gets about 10-20% longer.”
“And if you set the backlight to the darkest setting, the battery lasts five hours, but the power save mode makes less of a difference then.” Iwata corroborates saying “in other words, the brightness of the backlight has the greatest effect on battery duration.”
Umeza also added that “what’s more, with the backlight set as high as it will go, battery life changes about 25% according to whether you’re playing in 2D or 3D.” When discussing the streetpass wireless communication Umeza stated that “in StreetPass mode, the system isn’t always communicating, so there isn’t much of a drain on the battery, but games that communicate a lot through local play and online play – with the backlight set to high – have an over 10% effect on the battery.”
Nintendo will supposedly include a charging cradle with the 3DS at retail and Iwata confirms this saying that “it will be necessary for this system to be charged more often than for the previous systems. For that reason, we include a special charging cradle. We recommend that when players get home, they put their system there.”
Will the low battery life effect the 3DS’ reception? Check back with us in March when the 3DS launches for the full scoop.
Thanks to CVG for the info.