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The Morning After: Let's talk Switch 2 pricing
Nintendo’s new console has finally been revealed in full, with magnetically attaching Joy-Cons, a new chat function and a bigger higher-res 7.9-inch screen that supports 120Hz and HDR.
Then there are the new Joy-Cons. Alongside larger SL and SR buttons made of metal, the controllers can be disconnected by pressing a more pronounced release button on the back. The big upgrade, though, is using either Joy-Con like a mouse. (And even use them on your pants, if you want to.)
The Switch 2 also uses DLSS, so it’s easier for developers to port games across to the hybrid console. In a very Nintendo way, it didn’t actually talk up the hardware specifics, so NVIDIA had to fill in the gaps.
EngadgetAccording to NVIDIA, responsible for the chip inside, the Switch 2 has “ten times” the graphical performance of the original. DLSS tech means games can be rendered at a lower resolution, and trained AI models and dedicated Tensor Cores can be used to fill in extra details.
With that extra power, the Switch 2 supports up to 60 fps at 4K resolution and 120 fps at 1440p or 1080p resolutions, docked. The 1080p screen can handle variable refresh rates up to 120Hz in handheld mode, too.
Yes, catching up with the last two decades, the Switch 2 can also do video chat (and voice chat, but yawn). However, it demands a sold-separately camera, costing $50. Boo.
I think that strikes at the issue of price. The original Switch was $300 at launch, the PS5 starts at $399 now. The Switch 2 is $450. Sure, that includes the screen and (technically) two controllers, but it’s a bit of a jump.
Is Nintendo factoring in tariffs? Possibly. While some of us think $450 is an appropriate price for the console itself, the costs are creeping up in every direction. Want the new must-have Mario Kart World? That’s $80 now. Meanwhile, older games re-released on the Switch 2 also won't be cheap. Cyberpunk 2077 rings in at $70. Oof.
If you want to expand storage, well, you’d need a microSD express card, the faster, pricier version of the tiny storage card. Need another pair of Joy-Cons? That will be $90, please.
Want to pre-order a Switch 2 ahead of the June 5 launch? We’ve got all the details, but it’s worth noting Nintendo is trying to get ahead of scalpers by offering a dedicated pre-order system for existing heavy Switch users with a Switch Online subscription.
In Nintendo’s words: “Invitation emails will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis to registrants who have purchased a Nintendo Switch Online membership with a minimum of 12 months of paid membership and a minimum of 50 total gameplay hours, as of April 2, 2025.”
Read on for our hands-on impressions of the Switch 2.
— Mat Smith
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Even more Switch 2 stuffThe Switch 2’s Joy-Cons can double as mouse-like controllers
Mario Kart World hands-on: The perfect launch game for the Switch 2
While we didn’t get to try it at the early hands-on event, voice chat is an integral part of the new Nintendo console. By pressing the new C button on the right Joy-Con, players can jump into a GameChat with friends and family. Nintendo demoed the feature during its recent Switch 2 Direct, alongside a new Switch 2 Camera, enabling video chat too, with a cut-out profile. It looks a lot like a stream on Discord, with windows along the bottom of the screen for every chat participant. Up to four friends can share their screen and join with video chat if they own the Switch 2 Camera.
National Security Council adds Gmail to its list of bad decisions Signalgate was just the start.It’s not long since that Signal messaging app disaster, but US politicians continue showing off their minimal national security expertise. The Washington Post reports that members of the White House’s National Security Council have used personal Gmail accounts for official government business. National security advisor Michael Waltz and a senior aide of his both used their own accounts to discuss sensitive information with colleagues. Government departments typically use business-grade email services, while the federal government also has its own internal communications systems with additional layers of security.
Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 are back on sale You can pick up a pair for $179.Google’s latest wireless earbuds are on sale via Amazon for just $179. This is a record-low price, down from $229. As per our review, they sound great. They provide a good low end, which is tough to do with earbuds, and crunchy highs. Google says it redesigned the entire audio system, and it shows. We called out the “noticeable improvement” over the original Pixel Buds Pro earbuds.
'Careless People' author will testify on Meta at Senate hearing This will be Wynn-Williams’ first remarks since Meta took legal action against her.Sarah Wynn-Williams, the former Facebook policy director who wrote a best-selling memoir about her time at the company, will testify at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing next week. In her book, Careless People, Wynn-Williams recounts Meta executives’ interactions with world leaders and government officials as Facebook’s influence expanded globally in the early 2010s. Her account has resurfaced information about Facebook’s attempts to operate in China and revealed new details about its overtures to Chinese government officials.
Prior to her book’s publication, Wynn-Williams also filed whistleblower complaints about alleged misconduct at the company.
Meta’s attempts to curtail sales of the memoir spectacularly backfired, with the book seeing explosive sales after reports suggested Meta took legal action against the author. Now there’s a senate hearing too.
The world’s smallest pacemaker is injectable and powered by light And it dissolves when no longer needed. Northwestern UniversityEngineers at Northwestern University have developed the world’s smallest pacemaker. It’s so small that it fits in the tip of a syringe. It safely dissolves into the bloodstream after a time, so it’s a temporary solution. It’s designed for folks who need heart help short-term, like newborn babies with congenital defects. The pacemaker pairs with a wireless device mounted to a patient’s chest. When it detects an irregular heartbeat, it shines a light that activates the pacemaker.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111500071.html?src=rssMicrosoft is reportedly walking back some data center plans
After a January announcement that it would spend $80 billion on data center construction, Microsoft may already be adjusting its future plans. Sources told Bloomberg that Microsoft has delayed or slowed data center efforts in Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Illinois, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Some of the cases meant withdrawing from negotiations, while others have involved delays on planned construction projects, according to these insiders. These data centers would be central to Microsoft's efforts to develop more capabilities around artificial intelligence.
Despite the apparent shift in its approach, a Microsoft rep told Bloomberg that the company still plans to hold to its $80 billion spending budget on data centers during its 2025 fiscal year. Engadget has reached out for confirmation and will update if we receive comment from Microsoft. That was the figure laid out in a blog post attributed to Vice-Chair and President Brad Smith. The post, published days before President Trump's inauguration, included some ingratiating language for the new administration. "The country has a unique opportunity to pursue this vision and build on the foundational ideas set for AI policy during President Trump’s first term," it reads. "At Microsoft, we are excited to take part in this journey."
Microsoft's plans could have been influenced by looming tariffs, which had been threatened and were finally introduced this week by President Trump. The trade policy is likely to make large infrastructure plans more expensive and has already caused uncertainties on Wall Street. It could be that the company will still spend in the ballpark of $80 billion but will not be able to complete as many locations as it had previously calculated. Or it could be that in the months since presenting its forecast, Microsoft has already seen a reduction in expected demand.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-is-reportedly-walking-back-some-data-center-plans-210406748.html?src=rssTraeger built a smaller Flatrock griddle for smaller outdoor spaces
Traeger's only gas-powered grill is its Flatrock flat-top griddle. Besides this one model, everything else in the company's lineup runs on wood pellets. Since griddles continue to be insanely popular backyard cooking tools, Traeger is expanding its Flatrock line with a smaller, two-burner option. The Flatrock 2 Zone has all of the features from the larger version, which is now called the Flatrock 3 Zone, in a griddle that takes up less space on your deck, patio or porch.
As the name suggests, the Flatrock 2 Zone has two separate cooking areas with precise heat control for each one. U-shaped burners consistently heat the entire cooking surface and an edge-to-edge, wind-blocking design helps keep the flame running smoothly without burnouts or flare-ups. Like the Flatrock 3 Zone, there are folding side shelves for resting tools and trays, plus the Pop-And-Lock (PAL) rail system allows you to add the snap-on accessories you need to complete your griddle setup. The EZ-Clean grease keg from other recent Traeger grills is here as well, making it easy to get rid of liquids and debris after cooking.
TraegerThe main appeal of the Flatrock 2 Zone is that it's smaller than the original model. You'll still have the ability to make breakfasts, smash burgers, fajitas and more with the griddle's 468 square inches of cooking surface, but this new version will fit better in smaller outdoor spaces. It's also $200 cheaper at $700. Unfortunately, there's no word on availability just yet: Traeger says the Flatrock 2 Zone is coming "soon" to its website and retailers in the US and Canada.
If you're looking for an alternative, Weber's Slate griddles are well-built and offer various options depending on the size and features you're after. Starting at $549, you can get the three-burner, 28-inch base model that comes on a basic cart similar to the company's gas grills. Even this smallest Weber option offers more cooking area than the Flatrock 2 Zone at 504 square inches. At the top end, there's a four-burner, 36-inch version that comes with an easy-to-read digital temperature gauge and enclosed storage for $999. What's more, Weber offers a 30-inch size in between those two, with various storage configurations and an the option to include that battery-powered temperature gauge. This one is
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/traeger-built-a-smaller-flatrock-griddle-for-smaller-outdoor-spaces-210057199.html?src=rssHori's Piranha Plant Switch 2 camera is a work of art
Yesterday, we learned a lot about the Switch 2 we didn't know before, including the fact Nintendo that will offer a webcam alongside the new console. As far as accessories go, the $50 Switch 2 Camera looks boring, and judging from the footage the company shared on Wednesday, not particularly great at its intended purpose of, you know, capturing moving pictures.
The good news? Nintendo is allowing third-party manufacturers to make their own webcams for the new console. Enter the Hori Piranha Plant Camera.
HoriHori's Switch 2 camera has a couple of features you won't find on Nintendo's first-party offering. First, the pot the Piranha Plant sits in functions as both as a stand and USB extension for the device. The part of the Piranha that houses the webcam can detach from the pot, allowing you to, ahem, plant it directly on the top of the Switch 2. In that way, you can take your new buddy on the road. Want to trash talk your friends over video in GameChat while on a domestic flight? With the Piranha Plant and in-flight Wi-Fi, you can.
Second, the Piranha Plant camera has a built-in privacy shutter. You can simply close its mouth to obscure the lens. If that's not clever, functional design, I don't know what is.
HoriHori has yet to list the Piranha Plant camera on its US website, but over in Germany, retailer Media Markt has the accessory priced at €40 or €20 less than the official Switch 2 Camera from Nintendo. Practical, stylish and affordable, what's not to love?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/horis-piranha-plant-switch-2-camera-is-a-work-of-art-194430377.html?src=rssYouTube is updating the Shorts video editor to make it a better alternative to TikTok
YouTube is updating the video editor for Shorts to better compete with the likes of TikTok and Instagram Reels, and teasing some AI-powered features that are coming later this year that might make it stand out.
The new and improve editor will let users "make precise adjustments and edits to the timing of each clip with zooming and snapping," along with the usual option to rearrange and delete your footage. YouTube says you'll also be able to add music and timed text, and preview your video at any point while you're editing.
At some point in the future, the editor will gain the ability to automatically sync clips to a song. And "later this spring," YouTube says the editor will be able to create stickers from photos in your image gallery or with a built-in AI image generator. As part of this update, the process of using templates is also getting simplified. Creators of templates will now be automatically credited when anyone uses their work, and templates themselves can now include things like image overlays and filter effects.
YouTube is clearly trying to reach some kind of parity with the creative tools offered by TikTok and Instagram. TikTok's editing tools and the standalone CapCut video editor have long been the gold standard for creating videos on your phone. Given the uncertain future of TikTok in the US, making YouTube Shorts a more appealing alternative makes sense. It's also not the first time YouTube has drawn inspiration from TikTok. YouTube added a robotic, text-to-speech narration feature to Shorts, clearly inspired by TikTok's popular version, in 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/youtube-is-updating-the-shorts-video-editor-to-make-it-a-better-alternative-to-tiktok-182932945.html?src=rssNVIDIA confirms the Switch 2 has DLSS
This week's Nintendo Direct provided much more info about the Switch 2 but didn't go too deep into the nitty-gritty details of what powers the console. That left NVIDIA, the Mario maker's hardware partner on the console's processor and GPU, to fill in some blanks with a blog post published on Thursday — including the first confirmation that it uses Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) tech.
NVIDIA said the Switch 2's DLSS support helps to give the console "ten times" the graphical performance of the original Switch. The tech lets games render games in a lower resolution, then uses trained AI models and dedicated Tensor Cores to fill in detail.
Saying a system has ten times the graphics performance is likely a simplified marketing claim, and its graphical prowess could vary greatly depending on the title. The console has also yet to be scrutinized with extended real-world use. However, in Engadget's Sam Rutherford hands-on, he found that the system handled the new Switch 2 versions of Street Fighter 6, Cyberpunk 2077 and Civilization 7 well, with all running "really smooth."
Sam Rutherford for EngadgetIn docked mode, the Switch 2 supports up to 60fps at 4K resolution or 120fps at 1440p or 1080p resolutions. In handheld mode, the 7.9-inch, 1080p screen supports a variable refresh rate (via G-Sync) of up to 120Hz.
"The new RT Cores bring real-time ray tracing, delivering lifelike lighting, reflections and shadows for more immersive worlds," NVIDIA explained. "Tensor Cores power AI-driven features like Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), boosting resolution for sharper details without sacrificing image quality. Tensor Cores also enable AI-powered face tracking and background removal in video chat use cases, enhancing social gaming and streaming."
For more on the new system, check out Engadget's Switch 2 hands-on and deep dive into everything we know about it.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nvidia-confirms-the-switch-2-has-dlss-175033677.html?src=rss'Careless People' author Sarah Wynn-Williams will testify at a Senate hearing next week
Sarah Wynn-Williams, the former Facebook policy director behind a best-selling memoir about her time at the company, will testify at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing next week. The testimony will be Wynn-Williams’ first public remarks since Meta initiated emergency arbitration proceedings in an attempt to prevent her from promoting the book.
Wynn-Williams’ upcoming appearance at Congress was confirmed by Senator Josh Hawley, who said in a statement that she would testify about “allegations that Facebook cooperated with the Communist regime in China to build censorship tools, punish dissidents, and make American users’ data available for Chinese use.”
Big News — Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams will testify NEXT WEEK in public, under oath, before my judiciary subcommittee re: her explosive evidence of Facebook’s cooperation with the Communist regime in China, including FB’s plans to build censorship tools, punish…
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 2, 2025In her book, Careless People, Wynn-Williams recounts Meta executives’ interactions with world leaders and government officials as Facebook’s influence expanded globally in the early 2010s. Her account has resurfaced information about Facebook’s attempts to operate in China, and revealed new details about its overtures to Chinese government officials.
“We do not operate our services in China today. It is no secret we were once interested in doing so as part of Facebook’s effort to connect the world,” Meta spokesperson Dani Lever said in a statement. “This was widely reported beginning a decade ago. We ultimately opted not to go through with the ideas we'd explored, which Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019."
Prior to her book’s publication, Wynn-Williams also filed whistleblower complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice about alleged misconduct at the company. While the precise details of those complaints haven’t been made public, next week’s hearing will be a significant opportunity for her to speak publicly about what she witnessed.
The hearing, titled, “A Time for Truth: Oversight of Meta’s Foreign Relations and Representations to the United States Congress,” is scheduled for April 9, at 2:30pm ET.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/careless-people-author-sarah-wynn-williams-will-testify-at-a-senate-hearing-next-week-172509027.html?src=rssGoogle's Pixel Buds Pro 2 are back on sale for an all-time-low price
Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are on sale via Amazon for just $179. This is a record-low price, as they normally cost $229. This deal is available for multiple colorways, including black, pink, beige and green.
These little cuties easily made our list of the best wireless earbuds. We admired the comfortable and secure fit and the addition of the Tensor chip to handle audio and ANC processing. They also offer a hands-free way to initiate Gemini AI.
However, the main reason we recommend these earbuds is that they sound great. They provide a good low-end, which is tough to do with earbuds, and crunchy highs. Google says it redesigned the entire audio system and it shows. We called out the “noticeable improvement” over the original Pixel Buds Pro earbuds in our official review.
There are plenty of nifty features to set these earbuds apart from the competition. They can detect conversations and automatically adjust audio accordingly. Find My Device support is also included. They offer spatial audio with certain apps. The buds get around eight hours of use per charge, but 30 hours when considering the included charging case.
There are only two downsides here. The Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are incredibly small, which is cool, that means making adjustments on their equally tiny touch panels can be difficult. Also, the original asking price of $229 is certainly high. This sale alleviates that particular issue.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/googles-pixel-buds-pro-2-are-back-on-sale-for-an-all-time-low-price-164743950.html?src=rssTikTok reportedly faces a €500 million fine for sending private user data to China
TikTok will reportedly face a fine of over €500 million ($553 million) for transferring Europeans' private data to China. Bloomberg said on Thursday that Ireland's data protection commission, which regulates TikTok owner ByteDance's EU operations, could dish out the penalty before the end of April.
The fine results from a four-year investigation of TikTok's data handling practices. The probe reportedly concluded that ByteDance broke Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws by transferring private user data to China to be accessed by engineers. The country is known for its widespread, high-tech surveillance.
"TikTok tells us that EU data is transferred to the U.S. and not to China, however we have understood that there is possibility that maintenance and AI engineers in China may be accessing data," former Irish Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon said in March 2021 when the probe began.
Ireland is taking the lead because, under the GDPR, the country where a company's European operations are located oversees compliance and enforcement. ByteDance's European headquarters are in Dublin. Bloomberg says the decision date and amount of the fine aren't yet finalized and could still change.
Of course, this isn't even ByteDance's biggest drama unfolding this week. The fate of TikTok's US operations hangs in the balance as it approaches an April 5 deadline to find a buyer or face a ban in America. The list of likely outcomes ranges from finding a buyer (Amazon has even thrown its hat in the ring) to its US investors rolling over their stakes into a new independent global company or the deadline passing with another deadline extension.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/tiktok-reportedly-faces-a-%E2%82%AC500-million-fine-for-sending-private-user-data-to-china-162214079.html?src=rssThe world’s smallest pacemaker is injectable and powered by light
Engineers at Northwestern University have developed the world’s smallest pacemaker. It’s so small, as a matter of fact, that it fits inside the tip of a syringe. This means that it’s injectable, so patients could potentially avoid a painful surgery.
It safely dissolves into the bloodstream after a time, so it’s a temporary solution. It’s designed for folks who need heart help on a short-term basis, like newborn babies with congenital defects. However, it can work with hearts of all sizes.
It’s also powered by light, which is pretty darned cool. The pacemaker is paired with a wireless wearable device that mounts to a patient’s chest. When that small device detects an irregular heartbeat, it shines a light that activates the pacemaker. These light pulses can penetrate a patient’s skin, bones and muscles.
Even though the pacemaker is tiny, measuring one millimeter in thickness, it still delivers as much stimulation as a full-sized unit. The engineers published their findings in Nature and noted that the device works with both animal and human hearts. The team also reiterated that pediatric care is the primary use case here.
“About one percent of children are born with congenital heart defects,” said Northwestern experimental cardiologist Igor Efimov, who co-led the study. “The good news is that these children only need temporary pacing after a surgery. In about seven days or so, most patients’ hearts will self-repair. But those seven days are absolutely critical. Now, we can place this tiny pacemaker on a child’s heart and stimulate it with a soft, gentle, wearable device. And no additional surgery is necessary to remove it.”
The development of this medical device was co-led by John Rogers, which is a familiar name in biomedical circles. Rogers has been behind a number of astounding innovations throughout the years. He’s advanced technology that could eventually give us invisibility cloaks and health-tracking tattoos. He also built a thumbnail-sized UV sensor and a circuit that dissolves in the body. That last one eventually led to this innovative pacemaker.
Rogers imagines a world in which physicians inject a number of these pacemakers simultaneously, to enable sophisticated synchronization. This could help terminate arrhythmias, as different parts of the heart could be paced at unique rhythms.
“Because it’s so small, this pacemaker can be integrated with almost any kind of implantable device,” Rogers said. “Here, the tiny pacemakers can be activated as necessary to address complications that can occur during a patient’s recovery process.”
This versatility could eventually open up a diverse array of medical possibilities. The tech could be used to help nerves heal, treat wounds and block pain.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/the-worlds-smallest-pacemaker-is-injectable-and-powered-by-light-153302491.html?src=rssBang & Olufsen's new Beosound Balance speaker model comes with a marble plinth
What do modern speakers need? Good sound quality? As little distortion as possible? Longevity? Well, yes. Plus, according to Bang & Olufsen, marble plinths. Bang & Olufsen is debuting a partnership with Italian marble and granite company Antolini at Milan Design Week. The Beosound Balance Natura speaker features a sculptural base from Antolini that the audio company says elevates the device to its optimal height. Apparently, the plinth isn't just there for aesthetic — it's a functional audio element.
Let's face it, though: You wouldn't buy a speaker with a marble stand unless you wanted that marble pedestal. And that is why they're making the model available with various Antolini stones. You can get it with natural quartz, as well as with petrified wood and fossilized wood, if you're looking for something with earthy colors. The options have different translucency and color depth, but one common feature is the anodized aluminum ring that serves as the transition between the plinth and the bottom of the speaker.
In addition to the Natura version of the Beosound Balance speaker, Bang & Olufsen is also presenting a Beovision Theatre 55-inch TV and a pair of Beolab 28 speakers customized with Antolini's Amazon quartite at Milan Design Week. All the products it's showcasing during the event are made to order with prices available upon request, which says all you need to know about its price range, especially since the basic Beosound Balance isn't cheap to begin with and will set you back $3,300.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/bang--olufsens-new-beosound-balance-speaker-model-comes-with-a-marble-plinth-131555070.html?src=rssNintendo Switch 2 hands-on: No OLED, no problem
The original Switch started a revolution when it combined the portability of handhelds with the ability to play games on your TV at home like a traditional console. But with the Switch 2, even though it's physically bigger, it feels like a sleeker, faster and more refined take on its predecessor — to the point that Nintendo should have called it the Super Switch (which apparently almost happened). And after getting a chance to try it out, I'm sold on its abilities, even with its significantly higher starting price of $450.
Design and display: No OLED, no problemThe Switch 2 has the same basic shape and layout as the original, including its signature detachable Joy-Con. But it looks more polished all around, thanks to tapered edges and slimmer bezels. Nintendo also increased the size of its joystick caps and the face buttons on the left controller, though the latter still doesn't feel quite like a traditional D-pad.
Sam Rutherford for EngadgetThat said, the biggest upgrade is its larger 7.9-inch 1080p LCD display, which now supports a 120Hz refresh rate with VRR and high dynamic range. Frankly, it's super bright and very colorful to the point where I don't really miss having an OLED screen. Now there's a fair bit of grumbling that Nintendo, despite the existence of the OLED Switch, didn't opt for a similar panel type on the Switch 2. But if you remember, that model didn't support HDR, so it's not like we're looking at a downgrade in display quality, though the super deep blacks you get from OLED screens would have been nice.
Also, the Switch 2 feels like it defies its dimensions because even though its display is larger than the 6.2-inch version on the base Switch, it doesn't feel that much bigger. It's only half an inch taller (4.5 inches) and a little over an inch wider (9.4 vs 10.7 inches). And while its weight has also increased to 1.18 pounds with its Joy-Con attached (up from 0.88 pounds), it never felt too heavy.
Sam Rutherford for EngadgetElsewhere, there are a ton of quality-of-life upgrades, including a second USB-C port (though the one on the bottom is the only one that can do video out), a built-in mic and support for microSD Express cards. That last one is a big deal, because even though the cards are more expensive, they're also significantly faster than your standard fare and they should be a major boon to download speeds and load times. I admit the lack of analog shoulder buttons is a small downer, though Nintendo says it made that choice because analog buttons would introduce a tiny bit of input lag and it wanted to go with the more responsive solution.
Joy-Con features: Expanded detachablesDuring its livestream, Nintendo spent a lot of time talking about the C button on the right Joy-Con, which feels like a first-party solution that looks to recreate everything people like about Discord. But at Nintendo's hands-on experience, there weren't any chances to test out the console's new social features, so I wasn't able to dive deeper into that.
Sam Rutherford for EngadgetThat's ok, though, because I think the Joy-Con's new magnetic mounting system is the hidden star. Not only is there a larger button around back for popping them off, they now detach simply when you pull them left or right. There's no need to slide anything up or down first. Granted, this sounds like a small change, but it makes the whole process so much simpler and the Joy-con seem to be more securely attached as well.
Then there's the Joy-Con's ability to function as a mouse (for both the left and right controllers). I thought it was pretty gimmicky, until I played Metroid Prime 4: Beyond where I suddenly found myself favoring the mouse mode over standard gamepad controls. Everything feels a bit more precise and if you're a fan of shooters on PC, it's definitely worth trying out. The obvious limitation is that while you can use the Joy-Con on your leg, you really ought to have some sort of flat surface like a table, which may not be an option if your favorite place to game is on the couch.
Performance: Nintendo's move to next-gen tech Sam Rutherford for EngadgetNintendo has kept relatively quiet regarding the Switch 2's processor and memory. But the company has said the system does support DLSS and hardware-based ray tracing. Now those features might not get used in every game, but it does seem to make it way easier for third-party developers to port their titles over to the company's upcoming console. When I played the new Switch 2 versions of Street Fighter 6, Cyberpunk 2077 and Civilization 7, they all ran really smooth. And without doing a straight-up side-by-side comparison next to a proper gaming PC, it was really hard to tell if the Switch 2 was cutting corners graphically, if it was even doing it at all. The only hiccup I noticed was rather long loading times in Civ, which isn't exactly uncommon for a Sid Meier game.
The flipside to this is if you told me that some of Nintendo's new first-party games like Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World were actually being run on an original Switch, I wouldn't have blinked. In some ways, Nintendo's ability to wring every last bit of performance out of its hardware and its habit of eschewing hyperrealism in favor of more stylized graphics has almost put a ceiling on the company's ability to really show off its chops. But when you pay attention, you'll really appreciate how delightfully satiny Mario Kart looks when it's running at 120 fps.
I still have questions about what's going on inside the Switch 2's new dock and how it's leveraging its increased performance to deliver 4K resolutions when connected to a TV. I also think it's a travesty that Nintendo is charging money for the Switch 2 Welcome Tour. It's barely a game, but it is a genuinely useful way to introduce the console's features to new owners and it really should be pre-installed on every system for free. It also remains to be seen how the Switch 2's battery life holds up. Nintendo says it has a larger power pack than the original Switch, but it also has increased performance and a larger screen, while the company claims runtimes may vary between two and six and half hours depending on the title.
But all told, the Switch 2 is exactly what you want from a successor to Nintendo's legendary hybrid console. Aside from the price, that is, because in addition to the console starting at $450, almost all of its standard accessories cost more than before, too. From the Pro Controller, which now goes for $80 ($10 more than for the original Switch) or additional pairs of Joy-Con that cost $90 (another $10 hike). And that's before you factor in the cost of games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza that start at $80 and $70 as digital downloads (or $90 and $80 if you want physical carts).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-hands-on-no-oled-no-problem-130002712.html?src=rss
Mario Kart World hands-on: The perfect launch game for the Switch 2
Mario Kart 8 and its Deluxe update have been around so long it's easy to forget that the game actually predates the Switch and can trace its origins way back to the Wii U. But every good run must come to an end, and with the forthcoming arrival of the Switch 2 on June 5, Mario Kart World is looking like the ideal launch partner.
Now there hasn't really ever been a bad Mario Kart game, but World feels like Nintendo has jammed nitrous into every corner and crevice. Even during my demo session where not all the characters were unlocked, I got the sense that its roster is massive. All the big names are there like Peach and Yoshi, but you also have baby versions of many of them alongside Toadette, Pauline, Nabbit and so much more. This feeling extends to a range of vehicles too, which includes standard karts in addition to stuff like jet skis and scooters.
Sam Rutherford for EngadgetBut more importantly, the world feels huge. Not only can you freely roam around tracks as they seamlessly connect from one to another, there are also little details like weather effects and day/night shifts that make things feel more alive. And there's also a seemingly huge range of tracks to choose from, organized into several Grand Prix circuits.
The most fun I had, though, was when I got a chance to play the Knockout Tour mode, which is like Mario Kart meets F-Zero 99. In this setting, you have 24 people in a single race that progresses across multiple tracks. Every few laps, the last four places get eliminated, so it's your job to dodge shells and use every last mushroom boost, shortcut and power slide to stay at the front of the pack. It's a non-stop frenzy that just keeps going and, though I don't have the same reaction speed I did when I was younger, this old-head still got first place. And even after a win, I just wanted more. (For the record, Nintendo's photography policy required me to have a person in the frame, so a friendly staff member stood in my place, but here's my receipt.)
Sam Rutherford for EngadgetI also need to call out that Mario Kart World has a 120 fps mode and it's damn good. Racing has never looked this smooth on any Nintendo console and this game might be the best first-party showcase of the Switch 2's upgraded display and performance.
That said, the best part is that I'm sure I missed some features because I didn't even have a chance to try out the outfit customization Nintendo teased in World's trailer. And I was so focused on winning that I didn't fully explore the expanded list of tricks like grinding on rails and hopping off vertical walls.
Granted, it's a bummer that Nintendo has raised the price of many Switch 2 games, particularly with Mario Kart World coming in at $80 for a digital copy or $90 for a physical cart. But that can be largely avoided by purchasing the Switch 2 bundle that comes with the game, which effectively brings its price back down to $50. So if you are planning on getting a Switch 2 at launch, opting for this combo feels like a no-brainer.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/mario-kart-world-hands-on-the-perfect-launch-game-for-the-switch-2-130003924.html?src=rssAmazon will start launching its Project Kuiper Starlink rival next week
Following recent tests, Amazon is finally ready to launch its Project Kuiper space internet project in a bid to rival Elon Musk's Starlink, the company announced. The first batch of 27 satellites on the KA-01 (Kuiper Atlas 1) mission are set to launch into low earth orbit (LEO) aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on April 9th next week from Cape Canaveral if conditions allow. Amazon hopes to start offering the high-speed internet service "later this year," it said.
Amazon's network will eventually comprise 3,200 satellites launched from partners including ULA, Arianespace, Blue Origin and even SpaceX. Much like that company's Starlink, Project Kuiper's service will cover the entire planet when completed. It will work with a dish as small as seven inches that will deliver speeds up to 100Mbps, smaller than Starlink's Mini, or up to 1Gbps with larger dishes. The company said the cost of terminals will be under $400.
The satellites will cruise at 17,000 mph at 392 miles above earth, circling the planet in about 90 minutes. They'll use a dialectic mirror film coating that's supposed to scatter light and make them less visible to ground-based astronomers, Amazon said. SpaceX's constellation currently uses over 7,000 satellites, so the Project Kuiper and Starlink fleet will use over 10,000 LEO satellites once Amazon's network is complete.
AmazonAmazon launched two test satellites in October 2023 and proclaimed its early tests a success, with the pair sending and retrieving data at speeds of up to 100 gigabits per second. Later in December, it bolstered the network with a network of high-speed laser cross-links that promise further speed boosts. The company claims its mesh network can move data about 30 percent faster than terrestrial fiber optic cables.
Project Kuiper’s first launch will be the heaviest payload yet for the Atlas V, which will fly in its most powerful configuration. The rocket will include five solid rocket boosters in addition to the main booster, and a payload fairing 77 feet high and 16.4 feet wide.
Despite past successful tests, the mission isn't without risk. "We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time we’ve flown our final satellite design and the first time we’ve deployed so many satellites at once," Project Kuiper vice president Rajeev Badyal wrote. "No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the start of our journey, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt as we prepare to launch again and again over the coming years."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/amazon-will-start-launching-its-project-kuiper-starlink-rival-next-week-123011012.html?src=rssNikon's Z5 II is the cheapest full-frame camera yet with internal RAW video
After years of lagging behind rivals when it comes to video capture (and then suddenly buying cinema camera manufacturer RED), Nikon is pushing new boundaries in that area. Its latest salvo is the $1,699 24-megapixel full-frame Z5 II, perhaps the cheapest mirrorless camera so far to support internal RAW video. It also offers improved autofocus with new AI powers, cleaner images and enhanced image stabilization.
The Z5 II is a wholesale remake of the original Z5 and that starts with video. While still limited to 4K 30 fps and cropped 4K 60 fps, it can now capture those formats internally using the company's 12-bit N-RAW format with N-log, along with 10-bit H.265 and 8-bit H.264. Interestingly, it will record in N-RAW to SDXC UHS-II cards, since the camera lacks high-speed CFexpress slots. That likely means you'll need to buy very fast (and expensive) cards and that the N-RAW video will be highly compressed. Still, it's a feature available on no other camera in this price range.
NikonNikon is also promising much-improved autofocus bolstered by a new image-processing engine and tech borrowed from its high-end Z9 and Z8 models. The Z5 II can now lock onto subjects more quickly, particularly human eyes, faces and bodies, and works in lower light down to -10 EV, compared to -3 EV before. Meanwhile, the AI system can detect up to nine subject types ranging from animals (including a Bird Detection mode) to bicycles. When working in Auto-Area AF, these subjects can be detected, focused on, and tracked automatically.
Native ISOs have been boosted to 100-64000 (50-204,800 in expanded modes), up from a maximum 51,200 before. That should improve noise levels across the ISO ranges, the company said. However, resolution is still limited to 24 megapixels.
NikonIn-body stabilization has been boosted to 7.5 stops with supported lenses, way up from five stops on the Z5. That's paired with electronic stabilization designed to keep handheld video steady.
The Z5 II's viewfinder still offers a decent 3.69-million dots of resolution, but brightness has been boosted to 3,000 nits with 13 levels of brightness control. And it now comes with a 1.7-million-dot vari-angle display that's a big improvement from the previous model's tilt-only screen. The body now has a deeper grip to improve handling and comes with a one-touch Picture Control button for previewing and switching between color profiles in real time, matching a recent trend started by Fujifilm's X100 VI.
Other features including dual SD UHS-II card slots, 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks, camera to cloud connectivity via Nikon's Imaging Cloud and a new weather-proof build "on par with the Z6 III," according to Nikon.
The Z5 II looks to be an impressive hybrid full-frame camera for the money and rivals Sony and Canon don't really have anything in the same price range that can match it. However, it also comes at a price $300 higher than the Z5 was at launch. Still, it could tempt filmmakers and others away from similarly priced crop sensor cameras from the likes of Fujifilm and Sony. The Z5 II is now on pre-order for $1,699 (body only) or $1,999 with a 24-50mm f/4-6.3 kit lens.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/nikons-z5-ii-is-the-cheapest-full-frame-camera-yet-with-internal-raw-video-113041486.html?src=rss
The Switch 2's battery life is shorter than the current Switch
The Switch 2 is bigger, more powerful and more expensive than the original Switch, but the tech specs for the new console reveal at least one key way it's worse: The Switch 2's battery life is shorter.
Nintendo says that battery life on the Switch 2 varies depending on the game you play, but that it estimates the console should last approximately "2 – 6.5 hours." That's notably shorter than the battery life you'll get out of a current Switch or Switch OLED, based on the company's support page. Nintendo estimates that a Switch OLED "with a serial number that starts with 'XT'" should last around "4.5 to 9 hours." Non-OLED Switch consoles "with a serial number that starts with 'XK'" are expected to last the same amount of time. Even the original Switch, which has "a serial number that starts with 'XA'," gets a minimum of 2.5 hours of battery life. Apparently, the extra power of the Switch 2 comes with a price.
Nintendo's tech specs confirm a few other notable details. The Switch 2 supports Wi-Fi 6, which should mean you'll get faster internet speeds when the console isn't docked and connected over ethernet. Based on Nintendo's guarantee that the console "supports 120 fps when 1920x1080/2560x1440 resolutions are selected," it seems like the Switch 2 won't support HDMI 2.1.
As far as controllers are concerned, Amiibo support remains, but if you have special place in your heart for the Wii-esque motion controls you could use on the original Switch, it looks like you're out of luck on the Switch 2. Neither the left or right Joy-Con 2 controllers have an IR sensor, one of the ways Nintendo tracked motion on the Wii and Switch. That doesn't mean you can't use motion controls on the Switch 2, just that Nintendo isn't using IR to make them work. (At least in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, it seems like "mouse control" fills the role motion controls used to on older games.)
Do any of these changes dramatically alter the calculus on whether the Switch 2 is worth buying? Maybe not, but it is interesting to see some of the compromises and decisions Nintendo made to offer what is effectively "the Switch, but better."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-switch-2s-battery-life-is-shorter-than-the-current-switch-211753028.html?src=rssGameChat is decades late and looks pretty janky
In 2002, Microsoft launched Xbox Live with built-in voice chat as one of the main selling points of the then new service. Now, nearly 25 years later, Nintendo is finally giving its fans an easy way to talk to their friends online over a friendly match of Mario Kart World.
Considering some of the solutions Nintendo has offered in the past, GameChat is surprisingly elegant. A tap of the Switch 2's new C button, conveniently located below the Home button on the right Joy-Con, brings up a dedicated interface that allows you to quickly start screensharing, mute and unmute your mic and, if you decide to buy the optional Switch 2 Camera, enable video.
What's more, the Switch 2 has a built-in mic. We'll need to test the handheld to see how well the microphone performs in a noisy environment; Nintendo touted its noise-reduction features in today's introduction. But if nothing else, kudos to Nintendo for realizing it couldn't release a new console in 2025 without voice chat built-in and making that feature standard on all models.
However, if the demo Nintendo showed off today is any indication of the final product, the company has some work to do. Voice chat looks like it works well enough, with users allowed to invite up to 11 other people to join their conversation. That said, screen sharing and video chat look very rough.
When everyone in the video started streaming their gameplay, it looked like the games were running at less than 30 frames per second, making it difficult to see how it would be possible to use the feature to guide a friend through a tricky section, like Nintendo suggested in the demo. Video chat was equally janky, with the footage from the Switch 2 Camera looking like something captured by a webcam from the mid-aughts. Moreover, if you want to see your friend's screen, there's an additional tradeoff.
Nintendo showed off three different interface options, with two of them devoting a fair amount of screen space to tiles for your friends. I imagine this won't be a problem if you're playing on a TV, but even on the Switch 2's large 7.9-inch screen, the interface looks like it could get cramped fast.
To Nintendo's credit, the company has thought a lot about parental controls, with features that allow parents and guardians to decide who their kids can chat with online and if they can join a session with video. But the thing is none of GameChat’s capabilities are new. They've existed in apps like Discord for years, which begs the question why some of them look so rough this close to launch.
Nintendo has time between now and June 5 to polish GameChat, but in 2025, making a technically competent chat app shouldn't be so hard. Of course, I imagine most of the Switch 2's audience won't care if some of GameChat's features are half-baked. For the rest of us, the company plans to offer the feature for free until the end of March 2026. One would hope that's enough time for the company to catch up on two decades worth of progress in online gaming.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/gamechat-is-decades-late-and-looks-pretty-janky-202309823.html?src=rssSonos cut retail prices for its Era 100 speaker and Ray soundbar
Sonos has given two of its audio products price cuts. The Era 100 smart speaker and Ray soundbar now retail for $199. The change offers new customers a $50 savings for the Era 100 and $80 on the Ray. Both speakers would frequently show up on sale, but Sonos has confirmed that this is a permanent pricing change for the products.
These items have been available for a few years, so the price drop might signal that a refresh is in store for both. When it debuted in 2023, the Era 100 was an upgrade on the Sonos One, bringing overhauled touch controls and even better audio quality to the same cylindrical form factor. At $200, it's now selling for what the Sonos One cost, making it a solid choice for a home speaker. The Ray came out in 2022, offering a solid home theater performance without the most high-end audio or accompanying high-end price tag.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/sonos-cut-retail-prices-for-its-era-100-speaker-and-ray-soundbar-201049055.html?src=rss
Is the $450 Nintendo Switch 2 too expensive?
It seems fitting that Nintendo didn’t reveal the Switch 2’s $450 price during its Direct stream this morning — it would have just bummed everyone out. After spending an hour hearing about how the Switch 2 practically fixes almost every problem we had with the original console, and seeing teasers for exciting games like Mario Kart World, why spoil the good vibes with the harsh reality of market economics? Instead, Nintendo revealed the console’s price in the lowliest of media communications: A simple press release.
My first reaction was shock. $450 for a mostly portable console? That’s the same retail price as the PlayStation 5, a system that’s also currently on sale for $400 together with Astro-Bot. Sure, the Switch 2 is vastly superior to the original Switch, but it likely doesn’t have PS5-level hardware. The price jump is also surprising since the original Switch launched at $300 in 2017. Can you imagine we thought the $350 Switch OLED was too high-priced?
Unfortunately, it’s not 2017. NVIDIA now has mid-range GPUs selling for upwards of $600, the cost of almost every product has gone up, and massive companies like Nintendo are bracing for the potential impact of the Trump administration’s long-threatened tariffs.
A $450 Switch 2 is expensive, I’m not denying that. But in the current economic landscape, I would hesitate to call it too expensive.
NintendoConsider this: The Switch 2 is just $50 more than the cheapest Steam Deck, a portable PC gaming handheld with significantly slower hardware, a smaller and lower quality (7-inch, 1280 by 800, 60Hz) screen, and a much bulkier frame. The Switch 2, meanwhile, is just as thin as the original model, it has a 7.9-inch 1080p screen that can run up to 120fps with HDR, and it’s powerful enough to play games at up to 4K/60fps while docked. Based on the games we’ve seen so far, the Switch 2 seems surprisingly powerful for its size.
The Switch 2 also improves on its controls with the Joy-Con 2, which now magnetically attach to the consoles, feature larger analog sticks and can also work as mice across a variety of services. You won’t be removing the Steam Deck’s controls without the use of a small saw. And I’ve yet to see a handheld PC maker deliver removable controls that are as comfortable and easy to use as the original Switch (that means you, Lenovo). Nintendo’s original Joy-Con were far from perfect, but they did the job, and I’d wager the company has learned enough to make the Joy-Con 2f even better.
NintendoAnd while you can technically dock other PC gaming handhelds, they won’t see the performance upgrade Nintendo is claiming with the Switch 2. The company says its new console can reach up to 4K/60fps for some titles, thanks to an additional fan in the dock. We don’t know exactly what’s powering the Switch 2 yet, so Nintendo could be drastically overselling its capabilities. But given how seamless docking worked on the first Switch (where it also delivered a bit of a performance upgrade, sans an additional fan), it’s also something I think Nintendo has optimized more than PC companies, who are only just now dipping their toes into portable gaming.
Maybe I’m just trying to justify my own purchases (I just realized I’ll probably need a second Switch 2 for my kid), but I just can’t get too angry about a $450 Switch 2. If we see many more $80 games like Mario Kart World, though, we should absolutely riot in the streets.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/is-the-450-nintendo-switch-2-too-expensive-195750206.html?src=rssThe Nintendo Switch 2 promises major storage upgrades, but it'll cost you
The Nintendo Switch 2 had its big debut on Wednesday, and the new console looks to be a sizable, if mostly straightforward, upgrade over its mega-popular predecessor. Tucked between the new Donkey Kong and (pricier) Mario Kart games, mouse mode and overhauled party chat features, though, was another significant update: The device supports faster microSD Express cards. This may not be the sexiest feature, but it should bring quicker load times and generally improved storage performance to the upcoming handheld. The company briefly showed new 256GB cards from Samsung and SanDisk during its presentation, complete with Mario logos printed on.
However, the news came with a major caveat: The console is only compatible with microSD Express. The cards most people use today — which are based on the older UHS-I bus interface — will only work for loading videos and screenshots from an original Switch, not playing games, according to Nintendo’s support site. Nintendo says this restriction is necessary to preserve the Switch 2’s performance upgrades, and it’s worth noting that the console itself comes with a much more generous 256GB of space by default. But if you ever need to expand the device’s storage, this change will likely make doing so cost extra, while drastically shrinking the options you have to choose from.
Unlike traditional UHS-I cards, a microSD Express card like the SanDisk model on the right comes with a second row of pins on the back. Jeff Dunn for Engadget What are microSD Express cards?SD Express is a relatively recent but seldom-used standard that lets SD cards take advantage of the NVMe protocol and PCIe interface, which is the underlying tech used by SSDs. A microSD Express card has a second row of “pins” on its back and can utilize a single lane’s worth of PCIe bandwidth. As a result, it can produce dramatically faster read and write speeds than its UHS-I counterparts. Whereas the latter advertise sequential transfer rates up to 104 megabytes per second (MB/s), microSD Express cards have a theoretical maximum of 985 MB/s.
That’s far behind the NVMe SSDs used by the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but in theory, it makes Express cards faster than some older SATA-based SSDs when it comes to loading game levels, retrieving saves or copying games to the external storage. It’s worth noting that many UHS-I microSD cards can exceed the 104 MB/s limit with proprietary card readers, but they still fall well short of microSD Express levels even with those. The same goes for speedier UHS-II cards, which are mostly used by professional types with select cameras and PCs and max out at 312 MB/s. (There’s also a UHS-III interface, but nobody uses it. Getting all of this?)
Prior to Wednesday, the only reliably available microSD Express card we could find was this model from SanDisk. We recently tested it for our microSD card buying guide, and the upgrade was pretty dramatic. In the synthetic benchmark CrystalDiskMark, the SanDisk card achieved sequential reads up to 899.12 MB/s and sequential writes up to 650.41 MB/s. For comparison, the absolute fastest UHS-I card we’ve tested (Lexar’s Professional Silver Plus) topped out at 209.25 MB/s for reads and 193.93 MB/s for writes — so, three to four times slower.
In one of our “real-world” tests, the SanDisk Express card took an average of 20 seconds to move a 12GB folder containing various file types and subfolders to a PC and 52 seconds to write the folder back to the card. The Lexar card averaged 67 and 76 seconds, respectively. The gulf in random speeds — which measure how quickly a card can read and write small bits of data scattered throughout a device and tend to be particularly important for gaming — was similarly large, and in some benchmarks even greater.
SanDisk's microSD Express card is one of the (very) few options you can actually buy today. Jeff Dunn for EngadgetNintendo has not provided any official transfer speed ratings for the new console just yet, but all of this suggests that the Switch 2’s storage should be much faster than before, even if it’s not on par with the speeds of a PS5 or Xbox Series X. It’s also possible that, like those other consoles, the Switch 2 has hardware dedicated to decompressing files, which could make the real-world improvements over the original Switch’s storage performance even greater. (We’ve reached out to Nintendo and will update this post if we receive any further details.)
The original SD Express standard was released in 2018, but the tech has mostly gone nowhere in the years since. There’s been the SanDisk card noted above, a full-size SD card from ADATA and not much else. Previously, Samsung and Lexar announced microSD Express cards that wound up missing their original release windows — though Samsung’s card may just be the same one unveiled today, and Lexar did release a new “Play Pro” microSD Express card on Wednesday.
Host devices that support the standard, which are required to even see any improved speeds, have been highly uncommon over the same time frame. (If you put a microSD Express card in a device that doesn’t support the underlying tech, such as the original Switch, it’ll be limited to standard UHS-I speeds.) And while compatible card readers can deliver the faster transfer rates on certain PCs, they aren’t cheap, so at that point most people have been better off buying a faster external SSD.
The SD Association pointed us to a LinkedIn page (!) with other compatible devices when reached for comment, but the pickings are still slim, and very few of those support microSD Express cards specifically. The Switch 2 is by far the highest-profile device to embrace the standard, so it could be the thing that finally takes these cards from “cool idea” to “useful niche.”
The Samsung and SanDisk microSD Express cards Nintendo quickly teased during its Switch 2 unveiling on Wednesday. Nintendo Questions of price and heatThat said, there are multiple reasons why SD Express has failed to take off before this week, and it remains to be seen whether the Switch 2 will truly fix them. First and foremost is price. We’ve reached out to SanDisk and Samsung for confirmation, but for now we don’t know how much the microSD Express cards that Nintendo has teased will cost. If the couple other Express models available today are any indication, though, they’re likely to be much more expensive than the conventional cards you may have bought for the previous Switch.
SanDisk’s Express card, for instance, costs $45 for a 128GB model and $60 for the 256GB version. The 256GB Lexar Play Pro is $10 cheaper, but its 512GB and 1TB versions cost a whopping $100 and $200, respectively. For reference, Samsung’s Pro Plus — another UHS-I card we recommend in our buying guide — costs $17 for 128GB, $23 for 256GB, $38 for 512GB and $80 for 1TB as of this writing. That’s a huge difference.
What’s more, the Play Pro is the only purchasable microSD Express card we’ve seen thus far that even supports capacities greater than 256GB. Nintendo says the console can support up to 2TB of external storage, but no Express card with that capacity appears to exist yet. The Switch 2 will be one of the first mainstream devices to truly push SD Express in earnest, so we’d expect it’ll drive prices down and increase competition over time. But how quickly, and by how much, remains up in the air.
NintendoThe other concern relates to thermal management. MicroSD Express cards can pump out significantly faster transfer speeds, but they’re still working with tiny little frames that don’t leave much room to dissipate heat. When we tested SanDisk’s microSD Express model for our guide, we noticed that it slowed down under longer, more sustained loads — not enough to fall behind than UHS-I cards, but still below its peak by a few hundred MB/s.
The SD Express spec does have mechanisms for keeping heat in check, and manufacturers like SanDisk advertise similar protections. Nintendo presumably has come up with ways to further avoid severe throttling with the Switch 2. (We already know that the new dock comes with a cooling fan built in, for instance.) But it’ll be something to keep an eye on once we can move large game files around the device.
In a developer Q&A posted to Nintendo’s website on Wednesday, Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto notes that the move to microSD Express will help the console’s performance hold up better in the long-term. With the new Mario Kart World, for instance, he says the faster transfer speeds will help make far-off destinations in the game’s open world visible faster. He also notes that Switch 2 games will have larger file sizes, but that he “doubt[s] most people will need a microSD Express card immediately after buying the system” thanks to the Switch 2’s larger built-in capacity.
Hopefully that’s the case. It’d be unfair to call this a PlayStation Vita situation, as that portable console relied solely on proprietary memory cards, and the Switch 2 will support options from several third-party manufacturers. But as it stands now, storage upgrades for the new console look like they’ll be much pricier and more limited to start. And just how much of an advantage the new tech provides is something we won’t know until the console arrives in June.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-nintendo-switch-2-promises-major-storage-upgrades-but-itll-cost-you-193758964.html?src=rss
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