With the 2DS now not many moons away I had some hands on time with the device. Not one to miss a chance for a bit of science, I got hold of a 3DS and 3DS XL along with three copies of Mario Kart 7 and set-up a real-time battery test.
As you can see the 2DS held its own very well, even outlasting my solid launch 3DS:
3DS: 3 hours 56 minutes
2DS: 4 hours 25 minutes
3DS XL: 4hours 58 minutes
As you can see in the video, I also put the sound to the test. The 3DS XL disappointed me compared to the launch handheld — sounding less clear and not as loud to my ear. While the 2DS didn’t improve on this, it still did well with its single speaker. I found myself reaching for headphones to get around this.
Screen-wise, again the 2DS did well, matching the 3DS XL for brightness and clarity as well as its great range of viewing angles.
Of course the killer feature here for families, apart from not having to worry about 3D, is that with no hinge this really is a very robust little unit. The rest of the design certainly plays up to this with a rugged retro feel all round that will cope better with the sort of drops and spills that family life may throw at it.
I’ll leave you with my previous battery tests for comparison:
