HowTo Network emblem How To: Gaming THE HOW TO CO. — EDITION 10
A small handheld console propped in a stand on a shelf, grips and shoulder buttons in relief.

SLOT 04 · CONSOLES · THE DOCK

The one that leaves the room.

A handheld lives a harder life than anything else in here. It travels, it gets dropped, and it charges from whatever is nearest.

The contact, and the battery behind it.

THE DETAIL

Everything that shortens a handheld’s life happens at the bottom edge. The dock contact takes the strain every time it goes in and out, the port beside it collects pocket lint, and the charging habit you have — topping up constantly, or running flat and filling to a hundred — is quietly deciding how many years the battery has.

20–80 01 THE CONTACT Takes the strain every time 02 THE PORT Pocket lint lives in here 03 THE HAPPY BAND Where a battery ages slowest

What we are writing.

5 PIECES · IN THE WORKSHOP

Five pieces on keeping a machine alive that spends half its life in a bag.

01

How to charge a handheld so the battery lasts

What actually shortens a lithium cell, and the habit worth adopting.

★★☆ · 6 MIN

02

How to pick a memory card that is fast enough

The speed class that matters and the marketing number that does not.

★☆☆ · 5 MIN

03

How to move a handheld library to a new machine

What transfers, what re-downloads, and what is simply gone.

★★☆ · 7 MIN

04

How to fix drift on a small thumbstick

The same failure as a full-size pad, in a much tighter space.

★★★ · 8 MIN

05

How to choose a case that earns its bulk

What actually protects a screen, and what just adds weight.

★☆☆ · 4 MIN

A handheld console lying on a desk beside a travel case and a short charging cable.

Every scratch on this thing happened between two rooms.

SLOT 04 · CONSOLES · THE DOCK
A shelf at night: a handheld, its dock, a memory card and a cleaning cloth.

FROM THE CURATOR

Stop topping it up

The instinct to put it back in the dock every time you stand up is the thing wearing the battery out. Cells age fastest sitting at a full charge and warm, which is exactly what a dock does. Play it down to a third, charge it to about eighty, take it out. It is a small change and it is worth a genuinely surprising number of extra months.

BY POPPY — CLASS: CURATOR · THEPINKPIPER.GG

THE REST OF THIS STATION

PlayStation THE UPRIGHT BAY →Xbox THE FLAT BAY →

BACK TO CONSOLES →

You are here.

SLOT 04 / 08 · CONSOLES

01 PC BUILDING 02 KEYBOARDS & MICE 03 CONTROLLERS 04 CONSOLES 05 MONITORS & DISPLAYS 06 AUDIO 07 DESKS & CHAIRS 08 STREAMING

Every station in this room has its own chapter. This one is 04. Back to the room to walk to another.