From the moment I heard that there was gonna be a web browser for the DS, I knew I had to get it. I was a bit disheartened when they had it released in Japan, but had no scheduled release date in the US. But I wasn’t quite ready to pay the import price either. So I stalled. That ended up working out, since it is released in the US now.
I hesitated all of about a day before picking it up. Only to come to the discovery that I grabbed the Lite version. Lucky for me that it was returnable. This lead to a great deal of searching, only to discover that no stores carried an original version. Greatly bummered I was at this.
For those that aren’t clear to the issue here, Nintendo has two physical designs for the DS. The older, larger, original one and a newer, smaller one; the new form is the Lite version. They key here is that the second card slot in the original fits a GBA cartridge with out extra sticking out. While on the Lite version, GBA carts stick out some. So if they want to have a cartridge that doesn’t stick out on the Lite version, they need to make a smaller one. And then, to keep things different enough so you don’t get the smaller cartridges stuck in the older DS, there is a little tab off to one side. Which then means that the Lite version of a slot 2 cartridge will not got into the original DS.
So getting the right version is important. Fortunately you can get the original version from Nintendo’s web site, but I didn’t want to be that patient. Though I ended up having to be. Oh well, such as it goes I guess.
Browsing the web on the DS is similar to nearly any other small screen device; it is cramped. However it works well enough that you can poke around most of the web. It also makes you quite happy with minimalist sites like google, but with patience it will load most every site out there. No Flash though, but I haven’t decided if that is bad or not.
I remember making great plans when I first heard about this, but I no longer remember what those plans were. Probably a good thing. Its fun to play with the web on the DS, but I’m not sure it will really be useful.
Update: 2007-06-28T09:24:56-05:00: I’ve started messing around with the Link Farm to make it work better on the DS. The column thing was neat and all, but it just didn’t play well on the small screens.