Switch OLED

When the Switch OLED was announced, it wasn’t the Switch Pro that people had hoped for, however, it was a nice addition to the Switch family and brought with it a few tweaks and upgrades. But the main question on everyone’s lips was, is it worth the upgrade?

What I’ll look at first is the design, now, the shape of the Switch hasn’t really changed much if at all. The key difference you will notice straight away is the bigger 7′ screen and the more discreet bezel surrounding it. This was one of my biggest gripes with the original Switch models, to me, the screen should have been this big from the start, there was no need to make a bezel that thick. There were a lot of times when I found it quite distracting when playing handheld, however, on the new OLED Switch, that is a thing of the past and it looks stunning with the thinner bezel, and to me, it really does make the difference.

The other thing when it comes to the screen on the OLED Switch is that I love how the colours just pop, it makes everything look bright, vibrant and I will say that because of the bigger screen and just how the games look on this screen I have been playing more in handheld mode. With my original Switch model, I tended to play more on the TV, but with this one, I am finding that I am playing and enjoying games more in handheld.

The next thing I want to mention is the new colour joy-cons that accompany this model, you can still go for the standard Red and Blue Neon ones, however, the new White choice was a no brainer for me! They look so clean and really make the new OLED Switch stand out.

Another annoyance that I found with the original Switch was the kickstand, to me it was a feeble stand that wasn’t very sturdy. Now, on the new Switch OLED this has been replaced with a full back kickstand that makes it a lot easier to use the Switch in tabletop mode and not fear it’s going to tumble over. The new kickstand is also adjustable, meaning that you can play your Switch OLED in tabletop mode at the perfect angle for you.

The speakers have had a bit of an upgrade too, I measured the sound from both my original and my OLED and there is far better sound quality coming from the OLED. The new speakers are positioned at the bottom, one on either side. One thing I found with the original Switch was that when I had the sound turned right up when in handheld mode, it seemed to distort a bit, so it’s nice that this has been addressed with the new model.

There has been an upgrade in the internal storage which has gone from 32GB on the original Switch to 64GB on the OLED Switch. This hasn’t really bothered me that much as I have a 256GB MicroSD card installed, but it’s a nice addition for those who don’t have a MicroSD card.

The dock has had a little bit of a makeover as well, with the OLED Switch it is the same colour as the joy-cons and it comes in a beautiful white that looks stunning. You’re getting the usual HDMI slot, AC adapter slot, and USB connections, however, what is new on the OLED dock is that there is a LAN connection port so you can hook your Switch up directly to your router. This is a nice little addition to the dock and looks a lot better than having the wired LAN adapter sticking out of the USB slots.

Now, I’ve given you an overview of what is different in the Switch OLED, the main question I am asking here though, is it worth upgrading from an original model (or even a lite for that matter)?

My answer to this is simply no. For what you’re getting in the new model, is it justifiable to spend £309 on the new model? Absolutely not. Unless you’re entirely desperate for the larger and brighter screen, there really isn’t much else different. The console isn’t any more powerful than its predecessors and even though there is a bigger screen there, the resolution hasn’t been improved on it. Now, I’m not saying things look worse on the OLED because of this, far from it, I think with the better colours, things stand out more, and I am unable to tell any difference in resolutions purely by looking at both side by side.

I think if you were going from a Lite model then the upgrade would be worth jumping to the OLED switch, but again, I would say if you’re just doing it for the upgrade in screen size from 5,5′ to 7′ it might be justifiable because you will now have the ability to play on your TV as well. 

Personally, I am very happy I upgraded, my wife is happy I upgraded (she won’t admit this) as she then had my original Switch and she sold on her Coral Switch Lite and she is enjoying having the choice now of whether to play on the TV or handheld.

I am happy as well because the OLED Switch has made me happy playing in handheld, the smaller bezel is pleasing to the eye. I think people who are buying their first Switch should definitely go for an OLED, you will not be disappointed, and I think those of us who are upgrading, you still won’t be disappointed, but I think the gulf in difference just isn’t there to justify upgrading from an original.