Reports are coming in that the 3DS has a low life of 2.5 hours if the 3D is turned completely on, and around 5 hours if it's completely off. 
 
IGN's 3DS hardware review: 

Unfortunately, those estimates are actually pretty accurate, and depending on how you use your 3DS, the built-in battery could last as few as two and a half hours or up to roughly four and a half hours per charge. Factors like 3D usage, Wi-Fi connectivity, screen brightness, and the caliber of games you're using impact the battery's lifespan, so individual experiences will vary.     

" Reports are coming in that the 3DS has a low life of 2.5 hours if the 3D is turned completely on, and around 5 hours if it's completely off. 
 
IGN's 3DS hardware review: 

Unfortunately, those estimates are actually pretty accurate, and depending on how you use your 3DS, the built-in battery could last as few as two and a half hours or up to roughly four and a half hours per charge. Factors like 3D usage, Wi-Fi connectivity, screen brightness, and the caliber of games you're using impact the battery's lifespan, so individual experiences will vary.     

Is this acceptable with the DS Lite's battery life being particularly excellent? "  

This is very old news. Yes, without the 3D, the battery life is 5-6 hours.

Its 3D on a handheld.  Shit don't run on fairy dust.

Old news, bro.

" Its 3D on a handheld.  Shit don't run on fairy dust. "

" Its 3D on a handheld.  Shit don't run on fairy dust. "

That's better than my PSP's battery life.

" Making your battery last forever. "

" NGP is going to have shit battery life then. "

My DS battery lasts for like 2 hours. It'll be fine.

This and the price is convincing me to wait until an improved model comes out. I need a minimum of 8 hours out of most of my electronics, given that's about the longest plane flight I take on a regular basis. 

To me that's the only bad thing about the system.  I will have the 3D off most of the time and have it on the least brightest setting to help the battery life.

" To me that's the only bad thing about the system.  I will have the 3D off most of the time and have it on the least brightest setting to help the battery life. "

I can imagine 3D could help in some situations, but if it's truly necessary that's just ridiculous.

Regardless of the fact that this is old news, that is still depressing life though. I fear the fact that it might not survive something as simple as a short flight on a plane. That's a bit too short in my opinion. Sure it needs more power, but I want to be able to play it a bit longer than that without the light turning red on me. =(

That's why you wait until the 3DS Lite XXXL to get one.

My DS lite only lives for 3-5 hours anyway. I don't think it will be that much of a problem, since I usually play the DS at my house anyway (I know, it defeats the purpose of a handheld, but I don't care). I'm still going to wait to get one, though, because the launch games for it don't intrigue me very much.

You can double the 3DS battery life to "18hrs" with a "Nyko 3DS Power Pak". It's the only product of this type that will be available at launch. 
 
http://www.joystiq.com/screenshots/nyko-3ds-power-pak-and-charge-base#/0

I'm currently working my way through PilotWings Resort. I'm earning points and progressing through Mission Flight Mode's various difficulty levels, all by flying in planes, gliders and rocket belts. The game isn't particularly difficult at this point, but in one mission I found myself taxed slightly more than usual. I was trying to gauge my flight path, lining up a path marker with the next major goal. Hitting both would earn me critical points, so my choice was clear – don't miss either target. My grip on the 3DS tightened, as I was almost certain I was going to miss one or the other. Determining the proper depth was so tricky… 

Wait a second. 

Up until this point, I hadn't been playing in 3D. It's late as I write this, and, as my eyes grew tired, the 3D had started to bother me a bit. Plus, with the 3D on, the smoothness of the game takes a hit. Why not ease the demand on the system, its battery and my eyes? 

As I reached for the 3D adjustment slider, I wondered if turning on 3D would make any difference. Why would it? This stuff is just a graphical gimmick, right? A cool hook to get the mass market curious about games, right? I'm the biggest defender of the Nintendo 3DS, but even I admit that gameplay isn't going to change because of a 3D effect. 

But then I turned on the 3D. Suddenly I could properly figure out some last minute adjustments to my glider's flight path. I could figure out one object's special relationship with another. I knew how far apart they were, and how much time I'd have to move until the next. This wasn't so problematic after all. I coasted through one target, earning my points, hit the next, and pulled the analog slider back to soar back into the air. It was a breeze.    

" You can double the 3DS battery life to "18hrs" with a "Nyko 3DS Power Pak". It's the only product of this type that will be available at launch. 
 
http://www.joystiq.com/screenshots/nyko-3ds-power-pak-and-charge-base#/0 "

It's a big issue for many people, I understand that. Personally it's not for me, I rarely use a DS for more then a hour at a time. I'm a casual player, as in I'll pick it up for a spell of about half an hour then put it back on charge, that's how I see me using the 3DS as well. Having said that I'm sure there will be times when it becomes a problem.  
 
Though in all seriousness, why is this such a shock? It's technically a 3D screen and if I'm not mistaken the 3DS as to create a double image so it will obviously use more power. Not a massive concern for me, it's the same as the iPhone really, you'll get use to charging it frequently. 

" @MordeaniisChaos said:

" Making your battery last forever. "

It's not magic. There are limits to the capabilities of current batteries and they can't simply aim to make it last longer just cause. 
 
@MordeaniisChaos said:

" NGP is going to have shit battery life then. "

It's probably going to have a battery life comparable to the 3DS with 3D on. "

That's why I'm waiting for the next revision for the 3DS before I buy one. It's bound to have a longer battery life, be lighter, cheaper and all that good stuff.

" Its 3D on a handheld.  Shit don't run on fairy dust. "

The problem with that low of a battery life means that you will have to constantly charge it so you know it can last when you take it out. The nice thing about a long battery life is you can use a device for like a half hour to an hour car-ride, put it away then pull it out again later knowing it will still have plenty of battery life left for over more uses without having to constantly charge it or have it die mid use or mid trip on you. Sure you can say that you will just have to charge it more often but lets think about this here for a minute, the more times you charge a battery the quicker it deteriorates in terms of how much charge it will actually holds until it eventual dies and can no longer hold a charge. The DS's battery could only be charged 500 times before it would start to deteriorate. Now the battery may hold a charge for 2.5 but what after the battery starts to deteriorate? It could drop to an hour, then a half hour and then nothing. If it only lasts for two and a half hours and you travel quite a bit or just enjoy playing games on the system at home you will need to charge this thing quite frequently and the battery will probably not even last a year before you have to replace it, and probably in the later months of the year the battery life will probably be even less than 2.5 hours. It just simply isn't enough battery life for me.

" @Andorski said:

" Its 3D on a handheld.  Shit don't run on fairy dust. "

Boom! Who really has that much free time in a day to play more than 4 hours on a handheld?   "

" @wickedsc3 said:

" @Andorski said:

" Its 3D on a handheld.  Shit don't run on fairy dust. "

Boom! Who really has that much free time in a day to play more than 4 hours on a handheld?   "

I don't know about that - if I want to see my gf at the moment, I have to sit on a train for 7 hours (where the regular old DS is fantastic). So when I make the inevitable jump to the 3DS in a few months, the low battery life is going to suck major balls. "

" @babblinmule said:

" @wickedsc3 said:

" @Andorski said:

" Its 3D on a handheld.  Shit don't run on fairy dust. "

Boom! Who really has that much free time in a day to play more than 4 hours on a handheld?   "

I don't know about that - if I want to see my gf at the moment, I have to sit on a train for 7 hours (where the regular old DS is fantastic). So when I make the inevitable jump to the 3DS in a few months, the low battery life is going to suck major balls. "

A somewhat related scenario, the train I'd need to take to see my girlfriend (If I don't drive)  has electrical outlets. "

It's not the biggest deal for me, because I don't fly very often or find myself in a situation where I'm using a handheld outside of my house for more than a couple of hours, but this still sucks. I'm really thinking hard on whether I want to pre-order this or just wait until the 3DS Lite.

" You got an issue? Plug it the fuck into a wall! Seriously. The only battery usage figure I wanna hear is how long the thing lasts in sleep mode with spot pass and street pass on. Then I will know whether its worth doing that shit to sacrifice play time.  
 
Plus if it really is an issue I'm sure there will be a 3rd Party battery pack thing soon. 
 
@Contro said: 

" You can double the 3DS battery life to "18hrs" with a "Nyko 3DS Power Pak". It's the only product of this type that will be available at launch. 
 
http://www.joystiq.com/screenshots/nyko-3ds-power-pak-and-charge-base#/0 "

Ah there we go! Exactly what I was talking about. Also 20 bucks? Thats a steal! I hope they release that in the UK, it looks damn sexy.  "

" @project343: While I can see small downloadable games on the eShop making the 3D imperative to it's gameplay, I can't see full retail games doing the same.  You have to develop for the largest common denominator in order to sell, and publishers have to know that there will be a subset of 3DS owners who will play on the system with the 3D turned off. "

" There's no word on it being available here, but most of Nyko's products do turn up at Gamestation behind the counter. I doubt it'll be able to pick up at at launch over here, but a few weeks after and you should be fine. Alternatively, Amazon.com (not UK) will surely be selling it in a week or so.  Nintendo have supplied a charge cradle so users can avoid battery hassle as much as possible. The 3DS battery life isn't great, but then it is a system that requires substantially more power than the DS range does. "

It's acceptable for me.... since I don't actually take any of my portable systems out of my house (too worried they'd get lost, and I get motion sick if I try to play it on the Bus). It would be nice if it lasted longer, but seriously, are you really going to play your DS for 5 hours straight without being near a charging station? I guess if you were on a train or on a plane or on a really long car trip, it would be nice to have a long-battery life, but I am not one of those people. 
 
I'm pretty sure you could buy a third-party extra battery that you can charge separately and then plug into the 3DS.