Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6789 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Nintendo
• Released on: 2006-10-05
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Platform: Nintendo DS

Amazon.co.uk Review:
In a nutshell:
The DS finally gets its very own Web browser, as Nintendo firmly embraces the Internet age and finds some clever new uses for the touch screen and stylus.

The lowdown:
The DS Browser comes on both its own DS cartridge and a memory pack that fits into the GBA slot of your DS (there are two version of the Browser, with memory packs to fit either the original DS or the DS Lite). The obvious benefit of surfing the Web on a DS is the large screen area afforded by two screens and the stylus – which also makes typing in Web addresses a lot easier. The problems though are a low screen resolution and the fact that the browser doesn’t support Flash files, movie files, sound files, PDFs or anything else that needs a plug-in to work. As long as you recognise the limitations though, this is still a cheap and easy way to access the Internet when on the move.

Most exciting moment:
The big problem with accessing the Web outside of PC monitor is that it doesn’t all fit on screen at once. The DS overcomes this problem in perhaps the most elegant manner yet, with an option to put an overview of the whole page on the top screen while letting you scroll around on a zoomed in version on the touch screen.

Since you ask:
The DS Browser is based on a PC application called Opera, developed by Opera Software. The same company is also creating a version of the browser for use with the Wii console, which will be free for the first six months of the console’s life.

The bottom line:
Surf the Web on the move, but don’t expect an entirely smooth ride. -HARRISON DENT

Manufacturer's Description
Opera Software will deliver the World Wide Web to Nintendo DS users via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. In Opera's agreement with Nintendo, Nintendo DS users will now be able to surf the full Internet from their systems using the Opera browser. The Opera browser for Nintendo DS will be sold as a separate DS card. Users simply insert the card into the Wi- Fi enabled Nintendo DS, connect to a network, and begin browsing on two screens

The Opera browser for Nintendo DS is based on the same core as the Opera desktop browser, delivering superior speed and rendering of web pages on the Nintendo DS. Using the DS card, users can connect the internet with the WiFi-enabled Nintendo DS via a HotSpot or wireless router, and begin browsing absolutely free.

With an on-screen keypad and stylus, users can easily navigate the Web from their Nintendo DS with PDA-like functionality. The two screens are used for multifunction purposes -- both can show one web page together, or one can show a zoomed-in view of the page, and when typing, the bottom screen shows the text being entered while the top shows the webpage you are on.

Customer Reviews

Does the job.
If I didn't have any real use for this browser and just bought it on a whim, I would probably be writing about how below average this is, and like many other people, touting that it's no way a replacement for it's PC counter-part.

However, the DS browser is something that's come in useful for me. Whilst away in France; it was my main way of communicating with those back home. I was able to email friends and family and keep in touch with people that I needed to. It was also a good way for us to find activities and services local to our destination.

Also, this is good entertainment whilst wasting time in train stations. I can often find myself sitting around, waiting for a train, and having the opportunity to check my emails and surf my favourite websites.

Technically, the browser has it's flaws. For starters, and most notably, it's very slow; though this can be somewhat forgiven, since it renders pages really well, and can display them how they look on your large PC screen. Also, the browser fails to support plug-ins such as flash, and other media types - but this is down to the console itself, and not the software.

I like this bit of kit. It does what it needs to, and though it has some flaws, can come in really useful. Think hard about whether you'd actually use it though. It's not a toy, it's a tool.

The DS isnt a PC
I am very happy with this browser. I was not foolish enough to expect it to be as fast as a PC and as a result im happy with it. The DS is a games console and was not made to surf the net. But in my opinion it is far better than the PSP browser. The touch screen allows fast typing for forum and email text, making the PSP obsolete. The DS Browser has an SSR Mode to allow browsing in a similar form to that on a mobile to speed surfing time. This mode is normally what i use to surf. It uses both bottom and top screen giving u a lot of visual space in this mode. Some sites are best seen in overview mode tho, which is similar to how the site would appear on PC but with the ability to look closely at certain parts.

TXT size is not a problem as someone mentioned. there is a Zoom feature that can make the text very large if needed. You may not view Flash files on this browser or stream video. But ive yet to see that possible on a PSP anyways.

The real advantage of this is that your DS has free access to BT Openzone while Sony have yet to settle an arrangement for free surfing with anyone other than Mc Donalds and other free Hot Spots.

Dont think of the DS browser as something to replace you PC but look at it as a very small practical, on the go method of surfing the net to check your Mail, Forums and general surfing. I enjoy using it while waiting at train stations and Airports.

It also comes with a Advanced Cart for extra memory needed for some features of the browser. Make sure you try to buy the correct browser package for your DS. The DS Lite Pack will not work in an old DS as it wont fit in.

Useful and Usable
I had reservations about buying this, since I had so many bad experiences with similar products in the past (creating a good web browser with restrictions on screen size and memory is non-trivial). When I was nudged into the purchase by necessity however, I was pleasantly surprised.

Two solutions have been adopted to solve the low screen resolution problem, both of which work well and can be switched between fairly quickly to suit the page you're viewing. The default viewing mode is called SSR and involves the software intelligently moving things on the page around so you don't have to scroll to the right. The other mode is called Overview, which uses the top screen for viewing a zoomed in section of the bottom screen. The zoomed in area is selected with the stylus on the bottom screen.

Pages load fairly quickly for a mobile device with such little memory (obviously the included memory pack helps here). digg.com, which is a moderately heavy site, loads in about 38 seconds. You're free to view the already loaded elements of the page as the rest are loading. Certainly, I couldn't say that loading times are painful.

Flash/multimedia content does not work, as that would require a lot more processing power and memory than the DS has. Some images seem to be downgraded. For example, Penny Arcade comics are unreadable. Though this could be unique to Penny Arcade (since I haven't noticed it on any other sites) I thought it was worth mentioning anyway.

The question you probably most want answered is that of Gmail, and yes, it works. Though chatting is disabled (as in Safari).

Text entry is also available in two flavours; traditional touch keyboard, or character recognition. I found the character recognition route to be a little slower than using the keyboard, but it's at least as accurate as other character recognition software I've used. Typing out URLs is helped by shortcut buttons you can assign to things like ".com" and "www.".

It's definitely a usable browser, and handy to have with you, even at home. I use it at night when I'm reading in bed to look up words on dictionary.com. As far as browsers for mobile devices (with small screens) go, this is most likely the best you'll get.