After we reviewed the Nintendo 3DS ( both times ) there have been some things we liked and others we didn’t, but some thing stood out as a real flaw: the battery life. Three to four hours on a charge just doesn’t cut it when portable game systems are traditionally known for shrugging off entire international flights. The 3DS would struggle with a puddle-jumper. Now, Nyko says it has a fix , and feature released a battery backpack that promises twice the lifetime of the stock console. Does it deliver? Not quite.
Hardware and installation
Lest you get confused, Nyko actually has two distinct products here: the battery itself and the Charge Base that you plug it into. For $19.99 you will get yourself just the facility Pack+ (the battery), but using it sadly will prevent you from using Nintendo’s standard charging base, with its trick, flip-out charging contacts. So, Nyko also offers the Charging Base in addition, that is $29.99 and includes the battery pack. So, $10 more for the complete package, then.
This charging base is very bulkier than the stock one, and rather blingier too. It includes a glowing power light and, whenever you set the system down, LEDs at the side illuminate your desk to signify whether it’s charging (red) or charged (green). It’s somewhat excessively loud, but is definitely easier than squinting to work out the tiny orange LED Nintendo placed on the 3DS itself.
Installation of the pack requires the removal of some screws at the back, pulling off the backplate, and the extrication of the stock 3DS battery. This technique completely replaces it. Overall the method takes only a few minutes in the event you don’t lose any of these tiny screws — or the tiny screwdriver Nyko includes.
Once at the system is roughly one-third thicker than before, though Nyko did thoughtfully contour the back and threw a rubberized coating on there as well. Naturally this adds some weight, too, as much as 280 grams from the stock console’s 240. Not a whole lot, nevertheless it’s a noticeable difference.
Testing
We cycled the battery pack once or twice to let things get comfortable before testing, as Nyko indicated that, for the primary time at the least, you ought to charge by plugging the stock Nintendo power adapter straight into the 3DS itself. Afterward you may plug that adapter into the bottom and leave it alone. We needed to peer a second power adapter included here, and it is going to were even nicer if Nyko had moved far from the proprietary plug and gone with a microUSB. Alas, you could’t have everything.
We ran quite a few tests, anytime using Pilotwings as our demo game with the brightness and 3D slider max’d — how we figure most gamers can be playing it. Consistently we scored four hours of battery life with WiFi enabled. Turned off the system managed just below five hours. The stock 3DS inside the same configuration, meanwhile, managed two hours thirty minutes with WiFi enabled, about 2:45 with it disabled.
We should always also mention that the 1st charging base we received would consistently cause the official Nintendo adapter to short out. Put the console in, hit the ability button, and the arena would go dark — well, the Charge Base would, anyway. To get it to work again we’d ought to unplug the adapter from the wall and let it calm down for a couple of minutes. Nyko shipped us a replacement, which worked just fine. Hopefully it really is an isolated incident, but given our pals at Joystiq 0 had a question 0 of their first batch too, you need to ensure you get yours tested long before your return period expires.
Wrap-up
So we didn’t see quite double the battery life, but we’ll call it close enough. That said, the additional bulk is definitely noticeable, and whether you are able to live with it’s, for sure, as much as you — and the confines of your pockets.
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