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Nintendo fixes the Switch Joycon problem with a new revision.

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Nintendo fixes the Joycon sync issue with new Joycon revision design. Replacement available under warranty of you are affected.

They fixed the problem by improving the antenna.

 

CNET, writer Sean Hollister has sent under warranty to Nintendo his Joycon which face the infamous connection issue, and noted  "just about the best electronics customer service I've ever experienced. ". He got a replacement joycons the next business day with free overnight shipping from Nintendo, and his problem was solved. Curious to see what changed, he opened it, and saw the improvement.

 

fixedjoycon-800x354.jpg

 

The inside looks identical to the Joycons that people have bought except for the black foam found on the right at the bottom (bellow the silver box on the picture above).

This foam is actually metallic, and he said that when he removed it, the Joycon sync issue problem returned. Put it back, and the problem is completely fixed. This foam is over the Bluetooth antenna portion of the Joycon.

 

Ars says:

Quote

Over at CNET, writer Sean Hollister recounts his experience with Nintendo customer service, which he calls "just about the best electronics customer service I've ever experienced." After getting a free overnight shipping label for his controller after a weekend call, Hollister received his controller back in the mail just five days after sending it.

 

Opening up the fixed controller showed that Nintendo didn't have to do much to correct the connection issue. The only apparent difference is a small piece of black foam sitting on top of the corner of the controller board that houses the Bluetooth antenna trace.

 

Hollister and his colleagues at TechRepublic presume that this is a piece of metal-coated conductive foam, designed to lessen interference from outside sources (including the big metal joystick housing that sits right next to the antenna on the left Joy-Con). Hollister says the controller stops working when the foam is removed, suggesting the tiny fix is all that was really needed.

 

Nintendo hasn't mentioned anything on the issue being solved, other than: "the total number of repair or replacement requests for Nintendo Switch, including for Joy-Con, is consistent with what we’ve seen for any new hardware Nintendo has launched." after Ars Technica requested for comments.

 

Source: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/03/report-nintendo-is-fixing-disconnecting-joy-cons-with-conductive-foam/

 

 

So, if you have Joycons with the connection issue, give Nintendo a call for a warranty replacement to ensure you have the latest model with the issue solved. If you didn't get a Switch, and you really want to be sure that you don't have the problem, than simply wait a month or so. I mean the Switch do sale fast, so you should get units with the fix fairly quickly. So maybe not that much, and  we have to keep in mind that we don't know officially when the fix was made available. People might have already got their hands on already. We don't know. But glad to see the issue fixed.

 

Now the dock issue.

 

[UPDATE]

Nintendo spokesperson said:

Quote

A manufacturing variation has resulted in wireless interference with a small number of the left Joy-Con. Moving forward this will not be an issue, as the manufacturing variation has been addressed and corrected at the factory level.

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/22/15026954/nintendo-left-joy-con-wireless-issues-fixed-repairs

 

So, it is confirmed that the fix will placed or has been placed already on the Joycons

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Good to see Nintendo being responsive on finding a quick fix for this issue.  Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else find the name Joycon kinda weird?  Hearing it makes me remember all those old Joystick jokes from when I was a kid, except for maybe a bit worse...  

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Gonna be frank and say this is likely to do with how far americans play from their tv vs Japanese. If you recall nintendo has always had significantly shorter cables on the controllers in the japanese market, sometimes 3ft+ shorter. 

Seems like yet another oversight on the switch. 

CPU: Amd 7800X3D | GPU: AMD 7900XTX

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6 minutes ago, goodtofufriday said:

Gonna be frank and say this is likely to do with how far americans play from their tv vs Japanese. If you recall nintendo has always had significantly shorter cables on the controllers in the japanese market, sometimes 3ft+ shorter. 

Seems like yet another oversight on the switch. 

I seem to only recall this with the Famicom and Super Famicom. After that they were the same as the international ones.

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2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I seem to only recall this with the Famicom and Super Famicom. After that they were the same as the international ones.

The japan only release controllers were a little shorter on the N64. On the gamecube they were all the same length. 

 

The Wii controllers also had issues when far way from the tv, or on rather large tv screens. 

 

It just plays into that in japan smaller living rooms, tvs, and just sitting closer to the tv are the norm. 

CPU: Amd 7800X3D | GPU: AMD 7900XTX

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1 minute ago, goodtofufriday said:

The japan only release controllers were a little shorter on the N64. On the gamecube they were all the same length. 

 

The Wii controllers also had issues when far way from the tv, or on rather large tv screens. 

 

It just plays into that in japan smaller living rooms, tvs, and just sitting closer to the tv are the norm. 

Define "far away", because supposedly the maximum range is 30 feet on wireless only, while it's about 15 feet if you need to use the sensor bar.

 

Also you should be sitting closer to the TV anyway to maximize the potential of the resolution. Anything beyond 8 feet or so is not recommended for 1080p 50" screens.

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6 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Define "far away", because supposedly the maximum range is 30 feet on wireless only, while it's about 15 feet if you need to use the sensor bar.

 

Also you should be sitting closer to the TV anyway to maximize the potential of the resolution. Anything beyond 8 feet or so is not recommended for 1080p 50" screens.

Sensor bar. And early reports were simply that it wasnt accurate. 

 

The average consumer, which is definitly most of Nintendos core player base is, doesnt know or care for optimal situations on tvs.

 

Irrigardless, bluetooth even at its lowest spec should perform up to 9 meters or about 27 feet. Its clear that Nintendo did not make the controllers to this spec, and instead went for a situation where you are close to the tv. 

CPU: Amd 7800X3D | GPU: AMD 7900XTX

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Nintendo's always fixed their crap, this isn't too surprising for me. Now can I live for a week without Zelda is the question

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