Nintendo DS Internet Browser Review

For those that own or are about to own a Nintendo DS, you may have noticed that the original Nintendo DS and the Lite model don't come with an Internet Browser. Those who own Sony's PSP have always looked down on Nintendo DS because it didn't have an Internet Browser, but those days are over.

Working with Opera, Nintendo created an Internet Browser for the first two models of the extremely popular hand held system. Due to the systems hardware limitations the system needed a RAM upgrade to utilize the Nintendo DS Internet Browser cartridge, so Nintendo bundled it with a RAM expansion for the Game Boy Advance slot of the Nintendo DS itself.

Features

Opera's Nintendo DS Internet Browser itself was first released during July of 2006 in Japan and then was released in North America during June of 2007. In Australia and North America, the Nintendo
DS Internet Browser was released in two forms, being one for the original Nintendo DS and the Lite model.

The North American version of the Nintendo DS Internet Browser was sold much differently then other places in the world. One model was sold only on-line, and the other was sold in major retail stores only for a limited amount of time. Perfect for those on the road or just wanting to surf the Internet, the Nintendo may be slightly slow when loading pages, but it's extremely useful.

While the Nintendo DS Internet Browser cannot display Flash based programs, it can display Java-Scripts and Pictures of all sizes. Basically, pages are displayed exactly how they are on a normal computer but the two screens on the Nintendo DS gave the programmers the ability to create different options for users.

Users of the Nintendo DS Internet Browser can switch the view between screens, and even change the viewing mode itself. For example, in overview mode users can actually use the top or bottom screen as a magnifying glass for the page, and the other screen for the full scrolling view of the website.

Interestingly enough, there are also security features implemented in the Nintendo DS Internet Browser, such as a password that must be inserted at the start up. All of the normal features from Internet Browsers are also in place, such as saving websites to favorites or book marking them.

Wondering how you type in this Internet Browser? The touch screen of the Nintendo DS doubles as a fully functional keyboard that can also be used to draw special characters if needed. Also present are shortcuts for typing in the Internet address of websites, which keeps things quick and easy.

People tend to criticize the Nintendo DS Internet Browser for different reasons, one of which being that the Nintendo DS is slightly slow at loading large pages or images. However these people seem to be expecting too much and too soon from this hand held system being pushed to its limit.

Improvements

At the end of the day, the Nintendo DS Internet Browser is very close to being perfect. The only downside is sometimes the loading times aren't up to par with what people expect, and the fact that there's no way to download or save images. Take note that there's one-homebrew Internet browsers for the DS that allows users to download images or files.

At the end of the day, the Nintendo DS Internet Browser gets a nine out of ten. Currently the only way to buy this great Nintendo DS Internet browser is by purchasing it from the official on-line Nintendo store, websites like Ebay, and maybe even local pawnshops.

Final Score

9 Out of 10. - Well Above Average - (10 Being Perfect, 1 Being Horrible.)