Nintendo DS News and Tips

What is new in the Nintends DSi handheld

The new Nintendo Dsi was met with lots of excitement when it was released in April of 2009. It can even be considered as a commercial success, though it failed to beat the record set by the first incarnation of the Nintendo DS. Nevertheless, the new Nintendo DSi has proven a point: that there is a healthy market of passionate users for an upgraded model of an existing product.

The new Nintendo DSi was packaged by the company as a handheld that even old DS owners would want to own.

Guess what?

Nintendo was right.

So, what's new with the new Nintendo DSi? Here are some features that many people believe justifies the purchase of a new Nintendo DSi:

- A sleeker, sexier and lighter design. The new Nintendo DSi is actually 12% thinner than the previous incarnation, the Nintendo DS Lite. With the new Nintendo DSi, the handheld can actually be considered a "hand" held device as it will fit anyone's hand.

- An additional level of brightness. The first Nintendo DS was heavily criticized for its ability to strain the user's eyes with dark lighting. The Nintendo DS Lite made the screen brighter, but also allowed the unit to consume more battery life at the highest brightness setting. The new Nintendo DSi adds yet another level of brightness, but this time, battery life is said to be optimized for such a feature.

- Dual cam. One camera in front, one camera at the back. Both cameras come with 0.3 megapixel resolution, nothing special, but adequate for the purposes that the new Nintendo DSi has planned for them.

- Better audio playback. The new Nintendo DSi can now compete with the best MP3 players in the market.

- Improved WiFi connectivity. Difficulties in connecting online are now things of the past. The new Nintendo DSi can immediately connect to the net whenever a connection is detected, and the player can immediately compete with other DSi users from all over the world. Additionally, because of the improved internet connectivity, digital downloads are now a critical part of the new Nintendo DSi's marketing strategy. The DSi Shop has been improved as well to accommodate the new handheld. Titles from old Nintendo consoles (and other 8bit and 16bit systems as well) can also be purchased and played on the DSi.

- External SD slot. Now you can save all the new files you can take and play with your DSi on an external storage device. You're no longer a slave to the system's limited internal memory.

Are these new features enough to make the new Nintendo DSi a "must buy?" Well, many people in the UK and the US believe it is, as evidenced by the more than 600,000 sales garnered by the system in its first two days of launch.