Are you a Nintendo Switch docker or hander?
The upcoming Nintendo Switch Lite is forcing gamers to choose between handheld-only and TV-compatible versions of the console.
- Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
With the announcement of not just one, but two new Nintendo Switch consoles, there's bound to be some confusion about what the Switch concept actually means. On Sept. 20, Nintendo will be releasing a new Switch game system called the Switch Lite, while in mid-August, the original Switch design is getting a version 1.5 revamp, offering better battery life and a few other small tweaks.
The biggest head-scratcher is that the Switch Lite won't offer any way to connect to a TV, and is purely a handheld device. You can only use its built-in screen, and the Joy-Con controls are now built right into the body and no longer detachable. In other words, it's a Switch that doesn't, you know, switch. That ability to connect via a dock to your TV and also go with you as a portable is why it was called the Switch in the first place.
What surprised me more than anything else was the sheer number of people who came out of the woodwork and said the Switch Lite was the answer to their dreams, because they only ever used the current Nintendo Switch in its handheld mode and never docked it with their TVs . I apparently, was in the minority, in almost never using the Switch without connecting it to a TV.
But just because the loudest voices in the room said a nonswitching Switch was the best version of the product, was that actually what most gamers thought? I went right to the least scientific public sentiment measurement method I know -- a Twitter poll.
Nintendo Switch Lite thoughts: Half the people tell me they only use their Switch handheld, never connected to a TV, while the other half say they only use it docked to a TV. So, what kind of Switch owner are you? A "docker" or a "hander?" Poll results to be reported on @CNET!
— Dan Ackerman (@danackerman) July 16, 2019
The question I asked was whether people would consider their Nintendo Switch primarily a docked TV-connected set-top box, or a handheld device. Essentially, were you a "docker" or a "hander"?
Apparently this was a question on many minds, as the poll received more than 1,700 responses as well as many (sometimes ranty) replies. Even more surprising, the dockers won, collecting 53% of the vote, versus 47% for the handers.
Some representative Twitter replies are below, and if you missed your chance to vote, please leave your opinion in the comments section below.
I do both but mostly docked, the handheld only people are missing out! The games run and look better docked.
— JuanGrande386 (@JuanGrande386) July 16, 2019
Mostly handheld thanks to this... pic.twitter.com/ysRNK59WRS
— Satisfye (@SatisfyeGaming) July 18, 2019
im a docker. Because i grew up always on a tv playing and now have kids who play with me. Our switch is rarely played by just one person in our house. But thats the beauty of this thing my kids can also play a round of SMash Bros in the back of our minivan on cartrips to grandmas
— Joseph Horner (@JosephHorner) July 16, 2019
hander until it runs out of battery, then docker.
— echosixtyfour 🇨🇦 (@Ech064) July 17, 2019
Nintendo should probably make a Nintendo Switch "Heavy" which is meant only for docked play
— Michael Roque (@mumu_mike) July 17, 2019
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