Hardware
Lets be honest. The design of the original Nintendo DS is bad. The shape, size and buttons on the unit are just poor. That was what put me off buying one in the first place.

But when I saw the DS Lite for the first time…. wow!

The DS has been redesigned to be smaller, lighter and much sexier. Gone are the cheap looking silver colorings and in are the sexy stylings of an iPod. The DS no longer looks like a cheap toy. It looks sexy! I feel quite happy to pull it out in public(!) too – which I normally find a little embarrasing with some of my gadgets.

The dual screens are brighter than the original DS and the controls seem better too and more responsive. I found the buttons on the original DS to be too fiddly and they did not feel right. If I pressed A i wanted to know that Mario was going to jump – not get killed by an enemy as the button failed to work.

The DS Lite is smaller than the original but still feels the perfect size and can be held in the hand with no problems. Even my seven and four year old children are able to use the DS Lite too with no problems. Even when playing a game such as Metroid Prime Hunters which requires one hand on the DS Lite and one hand on the stylus to control it. I did’nt suffer cramps the same way as I did when playing on my friends PSP either.

The bottom screen acts as a touch screen interface and is responsive and can be used with either the supplied stylus or your finger. Some games do not really work with your finger as they require a more delicate touch, but selecting powerups in Super Mario with your finger is perfect and just seems to make sense.

Before I purchased the console I was a little sceptical of using the touchscreen interface but I am pleased that it feels natural already. The OS that boots when you first power on the console also makes use of the stylus to start games and select options. It’s almost like using a mouse.

In conclusion, the redesign of the hardware is a real bonus for Nintendo fans. It does bring the console from being a toy to being a real gadget worthy of lavishing your money on. With the upcoming version of Opera for the device, Web Browsing will also be a reality soon – but what that is really like will be seen in time. I found browsing the web on a PSP a painful task. Lets hope that Nintendo do better.

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