Nintendo Browser- What’s the Fuss?
無中文版
Most of you will know that the Nintendo Browser for the DS was just released yesterday in Japan and, some of you maybe wondering what's so good about it when you can surf on your good old PC. While you can enjoy the internet at high speed and view its content on a giant monitor (or two), here's a few points to consider:
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Instant boot up.
You don't have to wait "forever" for your PC to boot up. I'm sure most of you try to find something else to do while your PC boots into Windows. Even if you use the Hibernate mode there will be times your PC will slowdown and need a restart or it crashes. You could go for PDA but you don't have to pay the premium here.
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Fewer security problems.
I'm sure everyone patches their software now and then whether it's Winamp, Firefox and especially Windows itself. However, most of the viruses, loop holes that plague the PC won't apply to the Nintendo Browser due the platform it's based on.
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Portability.
Much easier to carry than even the lightest laptop around. You can fit your DS Lite into your pockets and it'll save much luggage space when you're going away.
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Non-Eye catching.
Well OK, the DS Lite might turn a few heads but, it won't turn as many as a laptop.
Despite the advantages I outlined above however, there are quite a few heavy limitations to the Nintendo Browser mainly, you can't save files or, view streaming movies. View the Q & A here for details. Even so, I'm sure you'll appreciate being able to check your e-mail or, browse the odd forum in privacy.
Is it worth it? You might want to checkout someone's video review.
Related Links: Official Site, DS Filtering Service, YouTube Video Review.
Karawapo
I haven't tried it for more than 2 minutes yet, but I think the plain html version of Gmail works perfectly, and so do most standard-compliant forums. Although I found posting in (heavy) vBulletin based forums was a pain.
Definitely, Nintendo DS Browser is so much better than Internet Explorer on Pocket PC.
Xcomp
I would just use the browser for quick e-mail checking and browsing the odd site or forum when away on holiday. It saves lugging a laptop around.
Karawapo
about ECMAScript, sites like meebo.com won't let you login (I'd believe they can't find a particular method in the browser's DOM implementation), and the biggest problem in a site like Gmail isn't javascript but limited memory.
After you login using the 'nocheckbrowser' option so that you can try the bells and whistles, you won't even have the chance to click a mail conversation before the browser asks you to trash current browsing history, because of lack of memory. And remember chat in Gmail won't work even in the computer versions of Opera.
Otherwise, a quite nice to use browser for an embedded system mucho better than Internet Explorer for Windows CE.
Karawapo
I'm most thrilled about the ECMAScript limitation (i.e. asyncronous http request yes or no) and of course the feel of opera and atok on the ds themselves.