Power up
The New Nintendo 3DS and XL are here, and it's pretty amazing. Boasting a massively improved 3D screen, extra buttons and a faster processor - not to mention those cover plates on the standard model if you're lucky enough to be in the right region - the system improves on its forerunners in pretty much every way imaginable - but battery life remains an issue.
Both the New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL offer a slight increase in stamina over previous editions of the console, but they still fall way short of what we'd ideally like to see. If you use your system a lot and leave it in standby mode to grab those all-important StreetPass hits, then it's not uncommon to have to charge it up every single day - and that can become something of a chore. We've lost count of the number of times we've left the house with our New Nintendo 3DS only to find that when we eventually open it up the battery is dead thanks to it being left on standby.
One solution to this irksome problem is to power-down your console when you're not using it, but another option is to invest in a Mugen Power Extended Battery. Mugen Power has been making batteries for a wide range of consumer products for years, and we've already covered the company's previous 3DS offerings. Unsurprisingly, the firm is back with two new batteries for theNew Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL - and as you'd expect, they solve the problem of dismal stamina once and for all.
In the case of the standard New Nintendo 3DS, Mugen Power's battery packs a capacity of 5000mAh - that's a big jump over the 1400mAh power cell which ships with the console by default. Mugen Power boasts that this particular battery will offer 3.57 times the stamina of the standard battery, and during our tests we found that certainly seems to be the case - we can leave the console on standby for several days before it gives up the ghost and general usage time is massively increased. With the New Nintendo 3DS XL, the Mugen Power battery offers 6250mAh capacity compared to the 1750mAh cell which comes with the console as standard. Again, Mugen Power insists that this unit offers 3.57 times the lifespan of the "out of the box" battery.
That these products drastically increase the playtime you get from your console isn't in doubt - what is slightly harder to live with is the increased bulk that they inevitably add to your machine. As you can see from the photos on this page, both of Mugen Power's batteries come with their own "battery door" as they protrude quite far from the console's casing, and the standard battery cover simply isn't going to cover them. With the New Nintendo 3DS XL battery, we were able to neatly match the colour tone of the console, but in the case of the standard model - which has those swanky customisable cover plates - you're going to have to put up with a black battery door, which creates an unsettling two-tone effect (unless you're using the boring black cover plates, of course) and doesn't look quite as nice.
In terms of ergonomics, we were surprised to find that these batteries - once fitted - actually made the consoles more comfortable to hold, primarily because there's more mass to wrap your fingers around. This could be purely down to personal preference of course, and some of you may feel that the added bulk ruins the experience. One thing isn't in doubt - both batteries make their respective console heavier and slightly less portable. In the case of the standard New Nintendo 3DS, we found that it would no longer slide effortlessly into a trouser pocket as it did before.
At the end of the day, both of these products have a valuable role to fill - once installed, they make a real difference to the stamina of your console. Whether or not you need that enough to overlook the fact that they also fatten up your system is very much down to your own personal taste, but we found that after a few days you learn to embrace that additional bulk and appreciate all those extra hours of playtime.
Both of these batteries are available for $89.50 (around £58 / €79) direct from Mugen Power.
Thanks to Mugen Power for supplying the batteries featured in this review.
[via Nintendolife]
