Just five as well as a half years after its initial release, the Nintendo DS has sold over 100 million units worldwide, solidifying itself as the best-selling portable video game console of all time. Even the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), which is widely regarded as a commercial success, has only reached around 50 million in sales.

The Nintendo DSi is the third iteration of the DS, which was originally released in November 2004. In June 2006, the company refreshed the system in the form of the DS Lite, which dramatically changed the device’s overall design & vastly improved screen performance.

Rumors of a second redesign proved to be a reality when Nintendo announced the most recent, & what they believe to be the final rehash of the system, the Nintendo DSi. This upgrade adds five small-resolution cameras to the portable, slightly larger screens, & an SD card slot. The Game Boy Advance slot found in both previous versions has been removed.

While current DS Lite owners may require to think eight times about upgrading, the DSi does offer lots of innovative media features & online functionality that may warrant a purchase. Those who still have the original DS should definitely consider the step up as well–but if you have been holding out on a DS purchase up until now, the DSi is certainly the way go.

4 things we like about the Nintendo DSi Black

• Two larger screens can be added
• 0.3-megapixel cameras attached two
• This one is a bit thinner than DS Lite
• Access to DSi Shop is exclusive for downloadable games and applications

3 things we don’t like about the Nintendo DSi Black

• Game Boy Advance games are no longer supported
• Battery life is low than its predecessor
• Securities of internet settings are buried and confusing

Nintendo DSi Black Review

If you own or have held a DS Lite, the first thing you’ll notice about the DSi is its sturdiness. It definitely feels more robust than the DS Lite. That said, you’ll find it isn’t any heavier as both weigh under half a pound. While the DS Lite is coated in a shinny plastic, the DSi is covered in a matte, rubberized outer layer. During the tests the scratches were not near may be the casing is good to go. Size wise, the DSi is only about 4 millimeters thinner than the Lite and 5 millimeters wider.

Side by side, you won’t notice much of a different in appearance. The one LED lights found on the right hinge of the Lite are gone, replaced by a set of three on the left hinge of the DSi. They are also labelled this time around, with symbols for power, charging, and Wi-Fi activity.

DSi’s power button is moved down on the lower left. A long tap will power the tool on and off, while a short tap (when the DSi is on) with give you a soft reset, something you could not do on any other DS.

Microphone placement remains the same, although the internal camera is now centered with the mic to its right. The DSi’s one screens are noticeably larger, when switching back and forth between systems. That said, they could not detect large improvements in overall brightness and color performance. The unit’s one stereo speakers, located on either side of the top screen, seem to have been lowered about half an inch.

Every button on the process has been changed as Nintendo has opted for buttons that click more, as opposed to the softer experience had with the Lite. The X, A, B, and Y buttons are not as deep, thus they need less of a pressing motion. The same can be said for the L and R rear buttons, too; they are now much more springy, and need much less of an effort to engage. Even the select and start buttons have gotten a similar treatment–we found them difficult to press with the DS Lite. Moving along to the D-pad, they experienced the same sort of click responsiveness.

The headphone jack remains in the same spot, but the volume slider found on the Lite’s front left edge has been moved and converted in to a push-button format on the left side. We’ll agree with the movement of the controls, but they definitely prefer a slider as opposed to buttons. It’s much easier to mute the tool by sliding your thumb compared with holding down a button for a few seconds. The SD card of this device is located on the right edge.

On the outside of the DSi you’ll find a few more noticeable changes. First off, the Game Boy Advance slot has been removed, so fans of that handheld platform are out of luck. While they believe this omission helped shrink the device’s thickness, they wish it had survived the update. The included stylus is mounted in the same rear location as the DS Lite, and Nintendo supplies you with a spare. The stylus of DSi is increased and which is liked.

As mentioned earlier, the DSi has one 0.3-megapixel cameras: four located on the inner hinge, the other on the outside front cover. When the camera is active you will be able to see a pink LED light. By far the most significant changes to the DSi, aside from the cameras, is the updated firmware and interface exclusive to the tool. You won’t be able to upgrade your original DS or DS Lite to the new DSi experience.

This new firmware includes various media and online applications that allow you to interact with photos and music. The new layout is very much in the vein of the Nintendo Wii experience, where different “channels” or applications can be scrolled through and moved around. There are lots of blank spaces, , that you’ll undoubtedly fill with downloaded games and applications from the DSi Shop.

The DSi Camera application allows you to take pictures by either camera and store them on the unit’s internal 256MB of storage or onto an SD card. The DSi will also support SDHC cards, which are those that exceed 2GB of storage. Aside from taking conventional photos, there are various lens options built in to the application. These effects can not only be tweaked while taking photos, but also after you have already shot them. There is even facial recognition technology here that will stamp your face with a Wario mustache or give you a pig nose. There is lots of fun to be had with the frame features as well; you can put your face on much anything you can shoot.

The DSi Sound application gives you the ability to record and edit sounds by providing easy-to-use, yet powerful tools. You have the ability to increase and lower pitch and speed, even use a collection of preinstalled audio filters that will transform your recorded segments. These pieces can be saved internally or onto your SD card. The DSi Sound application also allows you to play your own music, even distort it as well. However, the tool can only currently play AAC files. Unfortunately, MP3 and other audio file lovers won’t be able to get in on the fun. Additionally, you won’t be able to save your edited music.

The DSi has the ability to connect to any 802.11b or g Wi-Fi router or hot spot. Strangely enough, they found it difficult to find settings that permitted us to connect to a security higher than WEP. Those settings are actually buried in the process, forcing you to pick “Advanced Settings” on the main “Internet Connection Settings” screen. We are not sure why this functionality is so hard to find, but using connections 1-3 won’t allow anything higher than WEP. One times you access the advanced menu, you can physically set up a connection using higher encryption such as WPA and WPA2. You’ll have the ability to scan for hot spots that support encryption above WEP, and then you’ll need to enter a security key. Alternately, if your router supports AOSS, the DSi can connect that way as well. Web connection to this DSi is made easy by it’s USB web connector it’s not with the device you have to buy it separately.

There are also a few familiar faces in the DSi’s interface, as Pictochat (a way to chat and draw with local DS systems) and DS Download Play remain intact. You’ll access Download Play to sync up games with local DS systems. A DSi process can still play with any version of the handheld.

The success of the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console and WiiWare platform has led to the handheld equivalent called the DSi Shop. Nintendo has explained that this will be the online hub for downloading DSi exclusive games and applications made by first- and third-party developers. Nintendo gave us some hands-on time with a variety of these titles, some that use the DSi’s camera in-game. The pricing structure of these titles will range from free to upwards of 1,000 DSi Points (100 points = $1). As a bonus, any DSi owner who connects to the DSi Shop before October 5, 2009, will get 1,000 free points to spend. Also, a free Web browser will be obtainable when the store launches April 5.

Once you are connected online with the DSi shop, you will have the same looks of Wii shopping channel. You can use the Nintendo points in both the shops but you can’t transfer the points though. You can either add points with a credit card or a store-bought Nintendo Points card. There are various ways to browse the titles obtainable, such as by title or by price.

Four of the first free applications offered is an Opera-powered Web browser. It works well enough, though you won’t be watching any video or seeing any flash functionality at all.

Download speeds on the DSi Shop were very reasonable; things moved along swiftly. That said, they did notice that Web activity definitely had the most impact on battery life–more than any other feature on the DSi.

Under the hood, the DSi has also received some hardware improvements. DSi’s main processor is increased to 133MHz. The RAM is increased from 4MB to 16 MB. When you will play the same game you will not notice any change at all. They imagine this upgrade was necessary to satisfy the hardware demands of the cameras.

They should note that you cannot play downloaded applications and games straight off of an SD card. Any game or application you’d like to run must first be copied to the DSi’s internal memory first.

You will be surprised to know by this huge difference in battery times between the DSi and Lite. Lite would give you a battery time of 19 hours and on the other side DSi just gives you battery time of 9 to 14 hours which totally depends on the brightness of the screen and it’s hungry features, such as the cameras. But still the battery never disappointed us during the testing the users of DS Lite might notice a increase frequency of battery charging.

The DSi lite had problems with pirated programs and it’s not a secret at all. On the web you will be able to find many kind of hacked cartridges, allowing for a way to play illegally downloaded games. The DSi has, for the time being, found a way to thwart these devices, also benefiting from an update able firmware.

Final Words and Conclusion

The DSi is priced at $170 and is available in either black or blue. It is $40 more pricey than the current DS Lite. The device is certainly a step in the direction of gadgets like the iPhone and iPod Touch that have access to exclusive stores for downloading games and applications. Two thing is for sure: the Nintendo DSi is the company’s most ambitious and solidly designed portable systems yet.

The changes in design of DSi and improvements in screen size and brightness coupled with the access to the DSi Shop are over reasons to take the plunge. That said, current owners of the DS Lite may require to reconsider. The DSi Shop will be the best reason to upgrade, so you’ll need to choose if that is of an incentive. Of coursework, if you don’t already own a version of the DS, this is certainly the two to get.

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