Nintendo's Newest Portable: The Nintendo DSi

The Nintendo DSi is the latest incarnation of the Nintendo DS hand-held gaming system released back on April 5th in North America. While not much has changed with the device physically it has had a change hard-wise.

As i said, the appearance has not changed. The first change in hardware though are the LCD screens. They have been changed from three inches to three and a quarter inches. While not a massive change any change in their size makes for a upping of resolution quality. Compared to the DS Lite it is also a little skinnier and has a less glossy surface.

The biggest change are the two VGA cameras, at .3 megapixels each, built into the DSi. One is located at the center-top on the hinge facing the user and the other is on the outside of the case. Then there is the SD memory card slot behind a protective cover on the right side of the DSi. The power switch has also been replaced by a button for powering off the device. In my opinion that is a better choice for turning off the device. I also like the built-in cameras a lot since I'm into photography. While they're not the highest of quality they cameras are great for easily capturing photos for playing around using the built-in camera software.

The one downside is that the DSi doesn't support Game Boy Advance since they removed the slot for GBA cartridges and any other addons that require the port. But, in my opinion, since the DSi natively supports playback of formats such AAC and MP4 audio files it's not much of a loss. Although, it'd be better if the hand-held supported MP3 files and thus would save time on file conversions. I also like the feature of being able to adjust the pitch of the audio files.

Now supporting WPA the Nintendo DSi is able access the internet for those of us who like to keep our networks at the highest security setting. Which was a problem i had with the DS having to switch the network security temporarily down to WEP. So WPA support is a relief. Although it's said that WPA support is not available for original DS games. Then there is the DSi Shop, which is like the Playstation Store, where you can download addons, games and applications for points and some for free.

So, if you're a big fan of Nintendo's DS and DS Lite and have the money it may be worth trying out the Nintendo DSi.