How long before Nintendo says "You're holding it wrong"?


  • FoxDev


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @RaceProUK My money is on really crappy 2.4 GHz radio hardware. I had this exact issue with one of my thumb-sized bluetooth headsets. Worked great, so long as the phone was on the same side of the body it was in, but lose (effectively) lone of sight, and let the connectivity issues begin!


  • Impossible Mission - B

    @Tsaukpaetra said in How long before Nintendo says "You're holding it wrong"?:

    lone of sight

    So if it can see two controllers at once, things blow up?


  • FoxDev

    @Tsaukpaetra said in How long before Nintendo says "You're holding it wrong"?:

    @RaceProUK My money is on really crappy 2.4 GHz radio hardware. I had this exact issue with one of my thumb-sized bluetooth headsets. Worked great, so long as the phone was on the same side of the body it was in, but lose (effectively) lone of sight, and let the connectivity issues begin!

    hmm.... i'm no physicist, but looking at the limitations of the controller it looks like..... yeah i think that's just bluetooth with a different hat on technology.

    that means a total range of ~4-10 meters depending on whether the joycons are class 2 or 3. That frequency range has okay penetration of things like walls, but is significantly worse at penetrating water, of which we are largely comprised. Thus i can infer that the joycons need an indirect path from the controller to the device when occluded by the body, if this bounce path is longer than the effective range (which is probably about 10 meters, assuming they are a class 2 bluetooth-esque device) you'll have issues with connection.

    If this is the case smaller rooms will have less issues with the controller desync than larger rooms as the smaller room minimizes the bounce path length when the controller can't use the direct link. Also trying to avoid occluding the controller with your body would be a good thing.

    If nintendo put a class 3 chip in there instead of a class 2 chip they might be able to fix the issue with a firmware update to increase the transmit power of the joycons. That will of course reduce the battery life, but the tradeoff may be worth it if the wireless communications chip is capable of actually controlling the output wattage in firmware (changing from 1mW class 3 output to class two 2.5mW output), though the odds of that are..... maybe 30%. If they can't do that the only way to fix the issue would be a hardware update to increase the available transmit power.

    Nota Bene: this is all conjecture based on the publically available specs for the Nintendo Switch and the observed behavior in the handful of videos describing the issue i watched. I am not a lawyer. I am not a rocket scientist. I am not associated with Nintendo in any way. I do not own a Switch. I don't plan on purchasing one until later in the lifecycle when another round of games come out (if i even do purchase) all rights reserved. this post is offered without warranty, and is not indicated as being fit for any purpose. Use at your own Discretion. Exercise caution. Your Mileage May Vary.


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