Full Nintendo Switch Specs Revealed

Nintendo's UK website received an update a little while ago that revealed more technical information about the company's upcoming console-handheld hybrid, the Switch, and offered more details about the Switch's home menu as well as a couple of future upgrades.

While the new specifications mostly confirm what we already knew—the Switch uses a custom NVIDIA processor, contains 32 gigabytes of storage, and has a battery that will last between three to six hours on a full charge—the listing does offer up a few interesting bits of information. At launch, the Switch dock, which allows users to seamlessly connect the Switch to their televisions, will only support USB 2.0 connections, although a post-release patch will upgrade the ports to USB 3.0 sometime in the future.

Similarly, while the Switch's microSD slot supports microSDXC cards, owners will need to connect to the Internet and download an update in order to use them. Wired Internet connections will only be available through the use of a special adapter, sold separately.

The new information also includes details about the Switch's home menu, which looks simpler and more streamlined than its 3DS and Wii U predecessors. In addition to buttons for the settings menu, Joy-Con configuration, and powering the Switch off, the Switch home menu contains three "main features." A news button delivers updates from Nintendo about the Switch and its games, while a second button takes users to the Nintendo eShop. The final button is used to access screenshots captured in-game (and, presumably, video too, although that feature won't be available at launch). The rest of the menu space is dedicated to a list of games and software, and what looks like the ability to switch between different users' profiles.

As many others have observed before, in terms of raw power, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One dwarf Nintendo's upcoming console, which could give them a competitive edge. We'll see when the Nintendo Switch hits stores on March 3, 2017.