A neat application for the DS, but it missed on a lot of key features that would have made it a must buy.
User Rating: 6.1 | Nintendo DS Web Browser DS
The Nintendo DS Browser is exactly what its name implies, it is a web browser for the Nintendo DS. The browser has its advantages and disadvantages which makes it a toss up about justifying its purchase. Lets start with the advantages of the DS browser. It uses the DS's WiFi capabilities which means you can use it form anywhere in your home. You can check email, post messages on message boards, look up things on Wikipedia, check movie times, weather, etc... It works best on sites that are optimized for mobile devices. It has a couple views such as overview and SSR mode, and makes great use of the touch screen. You can save your favorite site thanks to its expandable memory that is included with the DS browser and you insert the memory unit into the GBA slot. I have been able to check movie times, weather, and email which is great since my computer is either being used, or I simply don't feel like getting up and walking to the other room where my computer is. Now it is time to discuss the browser's disadvantages. The browser does not support video, sound, flash, or PDF. That means no listening to music or watching videos especially YouTube content. If you need to view a PDF file, you are basically out of luck. The WiFi works well, but I will tell you it is kind of slow. Don't expect blazing fast speeds in viewing webpages. It is quick on websites optimized for mobile devices, but can be slow (maybe a minute or two) to view regular webpages especially those with lots of images. What is bad about the wait time for pages to load, is that the browser becomes unresponsive for a few moments, until more content is on screen. You can't download plug-ins like flash or anything else and it does not save cookie history. If you want to just do basic internet searches, check email, movie times, weather, post on message boards, and any other basic internet use that does not require viewing movies or sound or you have no other way to access the internet, the DS browser is worth the $30 price tag. If you are into viewing movies and listening to audio content and want fast speed you might want to pass on buying this browser. This is a neat application for the DS, but it missed on a lot of key features that would have made it a must buy. Hopefully some other third parties might release another DS browser maybe Netscape, Mozilla, or even another browser by Opera with audio, video, flash, and PDF support.
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