| The most talked about Nintendo gadget lately, undoubtedly is the DSi. Among all the noise, no one really seems to have much knowledge on what’s in the ‘i’ that makes it tick. For today’s feature we will let you have a sneak peek inside the hardware for Nintendo DSi. Nintendo DSi Hardware Flashback to 2006: Masato Kuwahara, Development Engineer Department-Nintendo, was assigned the task of improvising on a new version of DS handheld. What made it difficult was that this third sibling from the DS family wasn’t supposed to be entirely different looking console. So Kuwahara found it frustrating to create this controlled explosion, if you like, rather than a full on blast, coming up with a whole new singing and dancing console. Kuwahara said, “I couldn’t move forward at full blast, but if I didn’t move forward, it wouldn’t feel new. It was quite a dilemma”. As it turns out, DSi does have quite a few added features as compared to its predecessor. Camera and SD Memory Slot. The first feature-what’s in the ‘eye’- it’s this!. They wanted to have just one rotating camera to begin with, but that would have posed pricing challenge. Hence what we got instead was two 3.0 megapixel cameras: One to click pictures of your surroundings and the other to cover you!Initially the team had their own reservations about the SD memory slot, as that would add bulk to the model, the idea did eventually gain grounds to give us this amazing SD memory compatible product. 2 Consoles Kuwahara had to develop a design twice. The first design which was unveiled in October 2007 to the team, did not have an appeal due to a lot bigger design. So they had to get rid of a few features that bulked the design up like two DS game slots. About the current design, Yui Ehara, the designer of its outer shell, assures the console to have a great lifespan. It could not have been made any smaller with the number of features in it. Keeping it simple, elegant, and strong, the new design unveiled in the company received a great response. Ehara describes, “When you see the final product on its own, there may not be anything immediately striking about its appearance, but a lot of work was put into keeping it simple”. DSi The Products sound output quality is what sets DSi distinctly apart from its predecessor. Codec IC upgrade (amplifying the signal and converting a digital signal into analog) plays a vital role in improving the sound quality. Even though the new console is small, the LCD size has increased from 3.0 to 3.25 inches. Also DSi has Matte finish unlike the DS, which doesnt show fingerprints on it like the black DS of yore does. My DSNinty dudes introduced The Shop function (My DS) in the DSi- the most fascinating feature besides the external design. The Shop Function, like the Apple store, lets you buy and download software. It also allows you to capture pictures and personalise the DSi further with own custom screens which according to Ninty is the most unique feature. All in all, it does much justice to Nintendo’s speak-DSi is a console which you would want to carry with you and place it on the table, not in your bag, making it kind of a conversation piece. |
