Close And Personal With The DSi

[Doodle]

You may or may not know or already, but I bought a DSi on Monday. Maybe you want it and aren't sure if it's worth it? If you're on the fence of deciding whether or not buy Nintendo's new handheld, I'll show you what it has so far.

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What's it like compared to the DS?
The DSi is considerably smaller than the DS. It also feels a lot lighter when holding it.





What's it play like?
The DSi has an interface like the Wii's. You can use the Control Pad or the Stylus to move between icons that represent different features and games, like the Wii's channels. You can also move the icons around to wherever you please.



The black icon with the wrench is where you edit system information, which is also set up in a way that is similar to the Wii.
You can see the Game Card icon to its right.
The icon with the camera is the DSi Camera.
To its right is the DSi Sound.
You can see a glimpse of the DSi Shop.
After that, I have the DSi Web Browser, and the DSiWare game Bird & Beans.
On the top of the Top Screen, you have what the volume is, your nickname, the date and time, and how much battery you have left.

DSi Camera
The DSi Camera is a feature that allows you to take pictures using two cameras. One on the inside of the system takes a picture of things in your direction. One on the outside of the system takes a picture of things in the direction you're looking, like a normal camera. You don't have to be on the DSi Camera app to take pictures, though. You can take pictures from the DSi Menu.



Shown in the picture, you have the option of viewing and editing pictures saved onto the system or pictures saved onto an SD Card. On the top screen is a calendar.
The camera icon will let you take pictures. You can also use added effects that you can't use when taking pictures from the DSi Menu. You can distort pictures, draw on them, and even change the emotion of the person in the picture. Though it doesn't always detect faces when there are faces in view.
The album lets you see what pictures you have taken, and is organized in dates in which you took the pictures. There you can view the pictures and edit them.

DSi Sound
DSi Sound allows you to listen to music or sounds and add weird and crazy effects to them. You can do this with recorded sound(which can't be longer than 10 seconds) or listen to files from an SD Card. It can only play AAC files, however.



You can change the pitch and speed of sounds.



Or you can give it effects. Like making it sound like various animals, other effects, changing the harmony, or making it sound like instruments.
I've been recording parts of songs and changing the pitch to sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. :P

DSi Shop
The DSi Shop is basically like the Wii Shop Channel, only simpler. You can add points using "P" Icon. Looking for DSiWares will bring you to a screen allowing you to look for titles that are Free, 200 Points, 500 Points, or 800 Points.



The Top Screen.



The Bottom Screen.

DSi Browser
The DSi Browser can be downloaded from the DSi Shop for free. When compared to the PSP's browser, loading times are a lot faster. You drag your stylus around to browse the web page. You have two modes of view. The default view or column view. In the default view, which I personally like the best, on one of the screens is a zoomed out version of what you're viewing. On the other screen is a zoomed in version, allowing you to see everything clearly. You can pick which view shows up on which screen.I like this version the best, because you can see where you're at with the zoomed out screen, and be able to know where you're clicking with the zoomed in screen.



Yes, I'm browsing NSFCD with the browser. :P

In column view, both screens are zoomed in. They combine to give you a larger zoomed in view.
Like the Wii's browser, there are bookmarks. There's a search icon that will make a search on a search engine you choose, either Google or Yahoo.

Starting Out With The DSi
When you buy your DSi, you will have to fill in the system information. Afterward, you will be given 1,000 Nintendo Points to start off with. Speaking of 1,000, that's how many blocks you have of system memory.

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So, that covers most of it. Hopefully this helped sway your opinion a bit on whether to get the DSi.