The Switch from Nintendo is fantastic. It may be used as a home console by docking it and attaching it to your TV, or it can function as a portable gaming device by snapping its Joy-Con controllers onto its sides and holding it in your hands. It can quickly convert between these modes. Half of that is done by the Nintendo Switch Lite. Since it is solely a handheld device, the “Switch” in its name might not actually be appropriate. With a little smaller form factor and a traditional direction pad in place of direction buttons, it’s nevertheless a great system that provides the same portable gaming experience as the Switch. also you will learn our article on Nintendo Switch Lite review.
Design
The Switch Lite is just so lovely that we fell in love with it as soon as we first held it. With a small 8.2 by 3.6-inch design that feels more portable than the conventional 9.4 x 4-inch Switch, Nintendo’s little Switch is one of the most cosy and beautiful handheld consoles we’ve ever touched. The Lite’s white buttons stand out beautifully against the system’s stunning colour choices; we especially love the turquoise model, but the system also looks great in coral, yellow, and gray. In comparison to the glossy, fingerprint-prone tablet on the standard model, the console’s matte finish provides some nice added grip and appears to be much less susceptible to smudges. The Switch Lite feels better manufactured than the Switch, despite being the smaller, less expensive Switch. With its detachable Joy-Cons and large tablet display, the original Switch has a lot of moving parts, and while holding it in handheld mode, you can feel them all jiggling a little. However, the Switch Lite feels more like a true handheld than a display with two controllers attached to the sides of it because it is one solid piece of plastic. When we started using the Switch Lite on our everyday commute, the advantages of its more compact design suddenly became clear. When we pulled out the smaller Switch to play some SNES games on the subway, we felt much less conspicuous than usual, and we found ourselves continuing to play it as we stood on the platform in between trains. On our old Switch, which already feels enormous after a few days with the Lite, we would never do that. Even though we wouldn’t likely throw it in there without a case, the Switch Lite fits into most of our shorts pockets. Even while the Switch Lite is clearly intended to be a handheld, it’s difficult to ignore the need to, well, Switch. This system won’t be connected to a TV, and while wireless controllers can be plugged into the Switch Lite for some tabletop multiplayer action, you’ll need to purchase a special stand to make that possible due to the system’s lack of a kickstand. Even so, we consider the Lite to be a nearly ideal personal device in terms of size and comfort, whether we are using it at home to watch TV or on the go to a bar.
Nintendo Switch Lite review: Display
The Switch Lite, which uses the same customized Tegra X1 chip from Nvidia, has more than enough CPU and GPU capability for its basic requirements. The screen’s maximum resolution is 720p, which isn’t amazing but suffices for such a small screen. There is no way to play in 1080p on the Switch Lite because it cannot be used with a dock. Although the screen on the Lite is smaller, going from 6.2 inches to 5.5 inches, we didn’t detect a significant change. The Lite’s display has 267 PPI as opposed to the original Switch’s 236 PPI, giving it more pixels per inch (PPI). The display appears clearer, but most people won’t notice much of a difference given how slight it is. When comparing the Lite to our standard Switch, we also noticed that, even at full brightness, the latter’s screen has a more yellow appearance. That happens frequently when a manufacturer changes (pardon the pun) the supplier of its LCD panel, however, to be honest, it seldom matters. In fact, some claim that bluer-tinted white light, especially at night, is significantly worse for your eyes than other types of white light. That might possibly account for the alteration.
Features
The Switch Lite lacks a kickstand at the back, making it impossible to play the console at an angle with a separate controller in addition to lacking docking and detachable Joy-Con controllers. It is possible to connect a wireless Switch Pro controller or any existing Joy-Cons, but doing so would be challenging because the Switch Lite is unable to support them. The absence of Joy-Cons prevents you from using motion controls in titles like Skyrim, and you also miss out on features like the IR Motion Camera and rumble/vibration. In fact, because the system can only be played on a handheld, you must ensure that the games you buy, like Ring Fit Adventure, can be played on the condensed console. Although there aren’t many games that aren’t supported, you won’t be able to play the majority of fitness games unless you try setting up your Joy-Cons from that tiny screen. While Joy-Cons could be used to play games that require Rumble, the setup and small screen size make this less than ideal, so it’s best to think about not using that console in this manner. The problem is that, given that they are cited as genuine selling points for the console, it seems strange to attempt to categories any of these as drawbacks. The market for the Switch Lite is people who wouldn’t use all of the features and functionality of the original Switch console but still want to play Switch games on a handheld device. More fans of the Gameboy and DS series than Wii fans make up the target audience for this. also You will check our article on Nintendo Switch Lite review. There are some features that remain from the full Switch, however, including a touch screen display, though the screen is noticeably less responsive on the Lite model, a standard headphone jack for headphones located at the top of the console, an SD card slot to expand the standard 32GB of memory, and an SD card slot. Additionally, the Switch Lite still has a gyroscope, accelerometer, and brightness sensor that will adjust the screen’s brightness based on your surroundings and allow you to use gyro controls in games like Breath of the Wild.
Performance
It’s time to talk about the Switch Lite’s lack of video output before we continue with how the device works. If you’re the social type who frequently plays couch co-op games on the TV, you won’t be able to do this with the Switch Lite. This isn’t a problem for someone like me who only ever uses the Switch in handheld mode. This obviously means that the Switch Lite is the first Switch model to never, well, switch. The USB Type-C port on your console can be used to charge it, but there is no way to successfully connect it to your TV. The Switch Lite only supports a small selection of games. Motion-based games like Mario Party and 1-2-Switch aren’t supported on the base device because you can’t unmount the controllers, but you can work around this by pairing an additional set of regular Joy-Con controllers if you’d like. Let’s talk about what the Switch Lite can accomplish now that we’ve covered what it can’t do. To begin with, the Switch Lite still has an accelerometer and gyroscope, allowing you to fine-tune your aim in games like Breath of the Wild. Additionally, you can use a microSD card to expand the system’s 32GB of built-in storage by an additional 400GB. The Tegra X1 processor from Nvidia, code-named “Mariko,” which debuted earlier this year in the updated version of the original Switch, powers the Switch Lite. Instead of the original 20nm architecture, this new chip is constructed using a smaller 16nm fabrication process, making it more power-efficient. The Switch Lite’s battery life is slightly better despite having a 20% smaller battery, even though the gaming performance appears to be the same on both consoles (Doom 2016 and Astral Chain were both played at a fairly stable 30 frames per second on both). Depending on the game, Nintendo claims that you should be able to get up to seven hours of playtime from a single charge, which is an improvement over the original Switch’s 6.5-hour battery life. This sounds a lot like our own Switch Lite experiences, where the battery dropped to 72% from full after a two-hour flight spent killing annoying Bokoblins in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening at maximum screen brightness. That’s a lot for such a tiny device, but this Switch isn’t the one with the longest battery life. In addition to using the upgraded Tegra X1 chip, the new Nintendo Switch, starting with model number HAD, can play for up to nine hours on a single charge. This is the model to buy if you don’t mind spending an additional £80.
Nintendo Switch Lite review: Battery Life
The battery life of the Switch Lite is rated at 3 to 7 hours, which is slightly longer than that of the original Switch but falls short of the up to 9 hours that the 2019 Nintendo Switch update promises. The Lite lasted a reliable 3 hours and 50 minutes when we put it through our Super Smash Bros. Ultimate battery test, which entails continuous 8-player CPU Smash with all items turned to the maximum. That is over an hour longer than the 2017 Switch’s output (2:45), but it is also under the 4:50 that the 2019 Switch delivered. During a few days of intermittent play, we hardly ever needed to plug the system in for day-to-day use.
Pricing and Availability
Compared to the Nintendo Switch’s official retail price of $299.99/£259, the Nintendo Switch Lite costs $199/£199.99. However, since the Lite model is incompatible with the normal console dock, all you get for that price is a console. Other advantages include the Lite version’s more appealing color palette, which includes shades of yellow, turquoise, grey, blue, and coral pink. Additionally, there are Special Edition versions available, such as the “Zacian and Zamazenta Edition” (opens in new tab), but these are typically limited editions, so you’ll need to act quickly to buy one when it’s on the shelf or pay a pretty penny to buy one used.
Nintendo Switch Lite review: Conclusion
For those who prefer cozy handheld gaming and have never been convinced by the Nintendo Switch’s docked mode, the Nintendo Switch Lite is the ideal system. The smaller, lighter device has a significantly better feel than its predecessor and is less awkward. The Switch Lite is more convenient to transport, requires less elbow room during commutes, and fits in your hands more snugly when it comes to portable gaming. Although it isn’t quite as comfortable as the 3DS, it offers the same performance as the Switch, so we can overlook that.
