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Nintendo DSi Console Review

Article by on Gadget Heaven · +Mark Taylor ·

Nintendo DSi Console

Nintendo have announced the latest addition to the DS family of handheld consoles, the Nintendo DSi. The DSi is the third generation of the hugely popular DS range which include the DS, DS Lite and now the DSi.

This new, dual-screen portable games console was announced by Nintendo at a recent press conference. Nintendo have announced that whilst the DSi will launch initially in japan, it will soon follow suit in Europe. The original UK launch of the DSi was planned for Summer 2009 but we initially suspected that they would hold off until the peak Christmas sales period. Shows what we know, the UK release date is now planned for 3rd April 2009 and several gaming retailers are already taking pre-orders.

Pre-Order Nintendo DSi for £149.99 from Game

Nintendo DSi Features

Nintendo have announced some key features to be introduced with the launch of the DSi following feedback from DS customers.

Whilst the DS Lite is slim and lightweight, customer feedback was that the portability of the DS was a key factor when buying that the DSi is even slimmer. In fact, the DSi is 2.6mm or about 12% thinner than the DS Lite but with no loss on durability. However, this means that there is no slot for GameBoy Advance software.

The next development is the challenge to increase screen size, but with no weight gain. The DSi screen is 8% bigger than the 3 inch DS Lite screen, making the DSi screen 3.25 inches. Nintendo have also improved both the speaker volume and sound quality but as we haven’t tested this for ourselves yet, we’ll just have to wait until we get hold of our pre-release copy to substantiate Nintendo’s claims.

Nintendo DSi Camera

Probably the most noticeable of developments over previous DS consoles is that the DSi has a Camera and Audio Player. Nice move Nintendo. However, don’t throw your digital camera away just yet as the DSi Camera is just 0.3 megapixels.

On the other hand, the DSi Camera software includes 11 types of special camera lenses. This means DSi can take pictures by utilizing a variety of special effects including black and white, colour the portions you touch or exchange the existing colour with a new one on the area you touch, make a composite picture using preinstalled frames or make the frames for yourselves, draw a variety of graffiti on the pictures, use the technology to recognize human faces and put glasses and moustaches on them, combine two people’s faces with different portions of one’s features, and confirm to what degree two faces are resembling by utilizing the face-recognition engine.

Pre-Order Nintendo DSi for £149.99 from Game

Nintendo DSi Sound Audio Player

Another addition over the DS Lite is the DSi Sound audio player. Functionality includes the ability to change the pitch and the speed by using the touch screen. You can fast-forward a Podcast and when you use the repeat-run function with the stylus, it becomes easier to copy the music, to play a musical instrument or to practice foreign languages.

Plus, as the Nintendo DSi has a microphone, the DSi Sound function utilises this to enhance the console even further.

Nintendo DSi Memory

An SD memory card can be inserted into the DSi for use with both the Camera and the Audio Player. To make use of Nintendo DSi Sound, you will need to store sound data in the AAC format on an SD card. As for the Nintendo DSi Camera, if you have stored its pictures on an SD memory card, you can view them on the Nintendo Wii by using Wii Photo Channel.

Nintendo DSi has internal memory, just like Wii. After storing the data there, you can choose to activate this data from the menu screen. The DSi Camera and the DSi Sound will be included in this internal memory of each DSi.

Buy Nintendo DSi

The UK launch of the Nintendo DSi is set for 3rd April 2009. As you’d expect, pre-orders are already at a high level, with recent reports suggestions they’ll surpass the DS Lite launch. The pre-order price is £149.99 and the following links take you through to the pre-order pages of Argos, Game and Gamestation. The other links take you through to search pages on Amazon and Play who we expect to have pre-order facilities soon.

Nintendo DSi Photos

Nintendo DSi Console

Nintendo DSi Console

Nintendo DSi Console in White

Nintendo DSi Console in White

Nintendo DSi Console in White

Buy Nintendo DSi

Images Copyright of Nintendo®
Copyright 2009 Gadget Heaven ™
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