Nintendo Switch boasts capacitive touch-screen, gyro controls, up to 6.5 hours of battery life

At the Nintendo Switch unveiling today in Tokyo, it was revealed that the Switch’s handheld battery life will vary between 2.5 to 6.5 hours, depending on what game — and presumably how much graphical grunt — the system is using.

Nintendo didn’t reveal anything about what was under the shell of the Switch, instead focussing on showier features. The event confirmed that the Switch’s 6.2 inch screen is a capacitive touch-screen, a step-up from the resistive touch-screens seen on the 3DS and Wii U, and generally acknowledged to be more accurate and a better bit of kit. Sadly, the move to capacitive does mean no more stylus, as they don’t work with capacitive screens.

The Joy-con controllers will have gyro controls and a "HD Rumble" feature that will supposedly provides solid feedback. Nintendo describe it like ice cubes shaking in a glass, honestly not a sensation I’d liken to a rumble pack, but should have some power to it. The Joy-con’s are bundled into pairs, and each left-side Joy-con also has a dedicated Capture button, similar in function to the one seen on the DualShock 4 controller, which can be used to grab screenshots during play. Nintendo state that this will be able to capture video footage at some point after launch. On the right side, the Joy-con has NFC and a read/write wireless sensor, for reading and writing Amiibo data.

Finally, an image sensor is included that will be included and this can be used to detect simple hand gestures. This was shown to accept rock, paper, scissors or a thumbs up, but there’s no saying whether enterprising developers might be able to get the device to recognise other hand gestures, too.

The console will not be region locked.