New Nintendo Switch XL - What hardware improvements would you like to see?

wikoogle

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Nintendo has released a significant revision to every single handheld they have ever made within 2-3 years of the original's release. Every Nintendo console except the N64 and Wii U has seen at least one revision. So a New Nintendo Switch XL/Plus/SP/Micro/Mini/Air/Pro/Lite/Advance/Pocket/i/S/X is not a question of if but a question of when.

Below is my wishlist:

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1. A Bezel Free 7.5 inch screen that continues to support all existing Joy-Cons

Many of this year's high end smartphones offer bezel free displays even though smartphones have much much smaller bezels than the Nintendo Switch.

Large bezels do not offer any advantages for a device like the Nintendo Switch. By eliminating the Switch's bezel, you would increase the screen size from 6.2 inches to 7.5 inches and thereby provide improved immersion. Even the 1 cm bezels found on the Dell XPS laptop would be a substantial improvement over the current bezel size.

A Switch X that does away with the bezel so that it retains the same external dimensions and still supports all existing Joy-Cons, utilizing a low power 7.5 inch bezel free Samsung OLED or Sharp IGZO 1080p display, would be a glorious thing.

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2. Eight hours of battery life by shrinking the manufacturing process from 20nm down to 7nm

TSMC recently started accepting volume orders for their upcoming 7nm node for mass production in 2018. https://www.google.com/amp/wccftech.com/tsmc-starts-prototype-7nm-chips-2018/amp/ Assuming that Nintendo places a volume order now in order to release a Switch Revision built on 7nm thereby greatly improving power efficiency, the shrink from 20nm down to 7nm should provide for an additional 4-5 hours of battery life.

The current Switch gets about 3hrs of battery life and uses 20 watts at peak load. A Switch built on the 7nm process should be able to bring that power consumption down to less than 10 watts under peak load even if running at "docked mode" performance levels. Additional power savings could be achieved by switching to either Sharp's bezel free low power IGZO displays or Samsung’s bezel free low power OLED displays.

In addition to offering a longer battery life, a die shrink offers Nintendo the chance to dramatically improve the Switch’s performance in portable mode. The 20nm Tegra X1 in the current Switch has 4 A53 core that are disabled and just take up space. A redesigned 7nm Tegra X1 could forego these cores altogether and be programmed to run at 768MHz at all times. https://www.polygon.com/2016/12/19/14005792/nintendo-switch-docked-power-details

With a 7nm Tegra X1, you would achieve docked performance for all games even when the system is undocked, and at least 6-7 hours of battery life. Portable games would more consistently run at 720p 60fps. The smaller more power efficient 7nm Tegra X1 would also enable them to forego the fan altogether and include a larger battery inside the system. Ideally, with this larger battery, eight hours of battery life is achievable.

How much would you pay for a Switch X that features a larger, more immersive, bezel free 1080p display, docked level performance at all times, and eight hours of battery life? I would happily pay $400-500. Of course, these improvements only matter to players that wish to use the Switch as a handheld. Docked only players should continue to purchase the normal Switch for substantially less.

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3. Some modest improvements to the Switch's design

The built in kickstand is almost nonfunctional, the Nintendo Switch XL should incorporate a revised, wider, more stable, kickstand.

The current dock that comes with the Switch is notorious for scratching up the Switch's screen when it's docked. The Switch XL desperately needs to incorporate a more scratch resistant coating. In addition, the dock should be wider and should have felt on the inside so that it won't scratch up the screen even if rubs up against it.

The Switch should be compatible with Bluetooth Headphones such as the AirPods and with the Wii U Pro Controller. Both are bluetooth devices and there is no reason they shouldn't be compatible with the Switch. In addition, the Switch Pro Controller badly needs a built in headphone jack.

The Switch XL revision should have 128GB-256GB of on board storage, out of the box. 32GB is far too small for a device that won’t be released until at least 2019, especially when they're pushing digital so much. By then, digital Gamecube, Wii and Wii U Virtual Console releases eating up storage space is an inevitability. Today, the average consumer can go out and purchase a 128GB-256GB memory card to be shipped to their home for less than $20-30. There is no reason why it would cost Nintendo in 2019 any more than $10-15 to bulk order 128GB-256GB of storage.

The design and placement of the Home button is ugly, distracting and should be revised in the Switch XL. There is no reason for the Home button to have a white circle encircling it. Ideally, the Home button should be a single black circle (no white border) with a corresponding circular Capture button on the left Joy-Con identical in size and shape to the Home button.

The overall design of the Switch and the Joy-Cons would also improve significantly if the Capture and Home buttons were both round and perfectly centered (or at least aligned with the other buttons) on their respective Joy-Cons so that they line up directly under the Joystick and Down/B Button and act as the center button when the Joy-Con is held sideways.

To summarize, the Switch's design would look much cleaner and more symmetric if both the Home and the Capture Buttons are identical in shape (2 identical black circles without the gray/white circle around them) and centered in position, or at least aligned with the other buttons, on each respective Joy-Con.

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4. Microphone and Camera in the center for Voice Chat and AR Games

It's needlessly clunky that you need to use your phone for Voice Chat during Switch multiplayer games. There is no reason they couldn't add a microphone to enable proper Voice Chat. Even the DS had a microphone.

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A high resolution centered rear camera would enable lots of fun AR games (The Machines, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Snap, Face Raiders, and Minecraft AR Edition) that are simply not possible without a centered rear camera. Playing Face Raiders on 3DS thanks to the built in camera was a blast. Pokemon Go is the most played Nintendo game at the moment and The Machines and the AR edition of Minecraft look to blow AR Games wide open.

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5. Improved Joy-Con Controllers

The Joy-Con controllers are overall decent and any future revision should retain backwards compatibility with all existing Joy-Con Controllers. However, there are some revisions and minor adjustments that would significantly improve their design and functionality.

The Joy-Cons should have bigger buttons, the current buttons are uncomfortably small.

Many gamers would prefer analog buttons and triggers for the revised Joy-Cons, as well as an optional sensor bar, stylus and IR functionality so that the Switch XL gains perfect compatibility with future Virtual Console Wii, Wii U and Gamecube releases.

The Joy-Cons would benefit from improved triggers so that they can be used sideways even without a Joy-Con strap attached. The strap is somewhat inconvenient to always have to carry around and affix to the Joy-Con each time, so the ability to comfortably use the Joy-Con sideways even without a strap, would be welcome. I dislike the feel of the thin "L" & "R" triggers. Larger, more comfortable analog sticks would be nice as well.

The revised Joy-Cons should have slightly improved range and more resiliency to wireless interference in order to fix the desyncing issues the current Joy-Cons suffer from.

The buttons and joysticks should be slightly further spaced apart and vertically centered so that the Right Joy-Con can be used comfortably when sideways. With the current design, the Left Joy-Con is far more comfortable to hold and use than the Right Joy-Con. Perhaps move the Home and Capture buttons to the center and space the buttons and joysticks farther apart to achieve this.

To this end, the Joy-Con's would be far more comfortable to use sideways and the Switch's design would look much cleaner and more symmetric if both the Home and the Capture Buttons are centered in position on each respective Joy-Con and identical in shape (2 identical black circles without the gray/white circle around them).

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6. Optional Pro Joy-Cons intended primarily for when the Switch is being used as a portable

It would be ideal if the Pro Joy-Cons utilized something closer to a D-Pad for at least the left Joy-Con (the PS Vita's D-Pad is a perfect compromise between split buttons and D-Pad functionality).

These Pro Joy-Cons should feature substantially improved ergonomics and maybe even a new finish. Some players report disliking the finish used on the Switch and it's Joy-Cons, because it soaks up sweat and grease.

It goes without saying that any Pro Joy-Cons should feature large, curved, fully Analog Triggers, large buttons and improved Analog Sticks.

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7. An Optional Standalone Dock with Improved Graphical Fidelity facilitating Wii U Virtual Console releases
 
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So far no home console has gotten a lite or pro version or other versions of the console. The switch is a hybrid of a home console and a portable console. Therefore we cannot assume it will get a revision, and if it does it will be a major redo or esit of the console which at most based on past home consoles will support old controllers and have backward compatibly. I'd love of Nintendo did make a revision to the switch but didn't make you have to upgrade as was done with the 3DS and the new 3DS were most games were for the new 3DS and didn't support the old 3DS. I'd like to see the revision not kill support of the original switch but rather cause support to last longer by supporting both and making all games for the switch run on both until the new switch finally is killed after multiple years by Nintendo, as has been done with the xbox and it's later versions the Xbox one and Xbox one s
 
Why haven't third parties created there own Joy Cons? So far there has only been different Joy Con skins, colors and designs, but no new Joy Con types such as the gamecube controller seen in an above image in the main/first post of this topic by the topics creator, that uses different buttons and arrow buttons from the current Nintendo Joy Cons. Is there some thing in the Switch that blocks use of third party joy con versions? I know the iPhone has been set up to not accept third party parts for there phones, which are mainly used on iPhones during phone repairs when a part is removed and replaced with a third party item and not an official Apple part. Is there anything like that which causes any non Nintendo joy con style joy cons to no work on the Switch? If not, then there should be by now, hundreds of Joy Con designs either in the works, planned by companies and some out by now. I know the pro controllers have been made into many different styles such as non Nintendo brand wired controllers that don't even have hd rumble or the company which most of there Nintendo products have Nintendo licensing to be made known as Hori which has made pro controllers that have the same buttons and joysticks as the Nintendo bran pro controllers but Horis version adds a button near the capture tool and home buttons on the Nintendo pro controllers. Hori also edited the arrow buttons of Nintendos pro controllers, keeping them in the same spot, but making those arrow buttons slightly larger and of a slightly different design. Seeing that many nin Nintendo thrid party Pro controllers that are fr different from the Nintendo brand Pro Controllers exist, I assume Joy Cons can be edited largely as well by non Nintendo third party companies as well, and if that is the case, I am shocked at how there is no non Nintendo Joy Con versions outside of different colors, skins and designs. Also many designs have been very popular compared to the Nintendo Switches popularity since the Switch released, and considering that, I'd assume one company would know there is a demand for other joy con versions outside of the one design currently being made into different colors, skins and designs that is the Nintendo brand design that is not altered with what goes inside the joycons and how the joycons look and there buttons, etc.
 

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