Bionik accessories improve Switch battery life, charging, internet access

By Jon Martindale Published June 9, 2017

Bionik has debuted a number of accessories for the Nintendo Switch that will augment and improve its battery life, charging, and internet access. Along with charge stations and battery packs, its Switch accessories also include a “Giganet,” adapter, which makes the Switch compatible with an Ethernet connection.

Previous Bionik accessories include replacement face plates for virtual reality headsets and new types of controllers for the Xbox One and PS4. Just a few months on from the Nintendo Switch’s release, Bionik has a number of new ways for fans of the new console to augment its abilities. With its dual home and portable console design, a big focus in Bionik’s new line up is in improving its charging and battery life capabilities.

Recommended Videos

The first two accessories Bionik is offering are the Power Plate and Power Plate Duo, which act as battery packs for not only the Switch itself, but both of the Joy-Con controllers. The big difference between the two is that the Duo offers twice the capacity of the former, though the Power Plate itself has enough power to recharge the Switch entirely, or the Joy-Cons more than three times.

The Power Plate and Power Plate Duo have been priced at $50 and $70, respectively.

If you don’t need something hefty enough to charge the Switch itself, and just want a charging station for the Joy-Cons, the Tetra offers just that in a tower design that can charge four Joy-Cons at once. It also comes with a reduced price tag of just $25.

Elsewhere in the Bionik range, the Lynx is a highly-durable, USB Type-A to Type-C cable designed to make charging and playing at the same time easier. At 6 feet in length, you can even do so at a reasonable distance from the charger. When it goes on sale, it will cost $15.

The Switch Rapid Charge Kit is compatible with a variety of voltage outputs and lets you charge your Switch on the modern USB standard. It comes with its own charging cable and will be priced at $25.

The final accessory Bionik announced ahead of debuting them all at E3 in the coming week is its Giganet Adapter. For $25, it adds an Ethernet port to the Switch, giving users the option of a wired internet connection for the console.

If you’re attending E3 next week, you can find these accessories and more in the West Hall at Bionik’s booth alongside other accessories for the Xbox One, PS4 and VR.

Former Evergreen writer

Jon Martindale covers how to guides, best-of lists, and explainers to help everyone understand the hottest new hardware and…

Topics

Computing

Granola’s new voice typing feature lets you ditch the keyboard

Why type when you can just say it? Granola’s new trick works in any app.

Granola voice typing feature

Granola is an AI notepad for people whose calendars are packed with meetings. It quietly captures your calls using your computer’s audio, which means no awkward bot sitting in your meetings. By the time you hang up, it has already sorted out your notes, to-dos, and follow-ups.

Now, Granola wants to help you outside your meetings too. The company has added a new voice typing feature that lets you speak instead of type in any app you use. Best of all, every Granola user gets it at no cost, and there’s no cap on how many words you can dictate.

Computing

Google Gemini can now create and edit PDFs, documents, and more right inside your chat

No more downloading, editing, and uploading files all over again.

Gemini AI on a phone.

Google has recently released many updates introducing new features to its AI suite, and the latest one could save users dealing with documents a lot of tedious work. The company has added the ability to create, preview, and edit documents, PDFs, presentations, spreadsheets, and code directly within Gemini conversations. Previously, you could generate and download files, but now you can work on them without leaving the chat.

You can now make changes without starting over

Computing

Reddit will force everyone to log in, and there’s no escape if you want to post or just lurk

The login-only experience will go into the testing phase in the coming months, starting with a few overseas markets.

reddit

Reddit is making login mandatory for all users of the platform. In a lengthy post, the Reddit chief explained that the company is moving to a permanently logged-in experience because it wants to offer users more personalization, helping them find content that’s more relevant to their interests and tastes.

The core idea, according to the company, is to nudge users into joining more communities and engaging with content through comments, votes, and more. The company, however, assures that the change won’t affect anonymity, which has long been one of the platform’s core appeals. The sign-up flow isn’t changing either. You won’t be required to submit any information beyond what’s already needed to create a Reddit account.