Opera on the Nintendo DS

dxprog writes "Opera has announced that they and Nintendo are going in together to create a web browser for the DS. The browser, based on Opera's core engine, will take advantage of the system's two screens and the touchscreen to provide on-the-go portable internet access. From the article: 'Within just five seconds of turning on the system, the Nintendo DS is already fully operational. This makes it the ideal device to enable people to swiftly obtain the latest information from the internet, wherever they are.'" Update: 02/15 15:50 GMT by Z : More information about the browser and game announcements available from Gamasutra, and Iwata's aim that they'll hit 10 Million DS units sold is reported on the Next Generation site.

This truly shows the versatility of Opera.

[CyricZ (887944)]

Doing something like this truly shows the versatility of Opera. They sure have come up with a fantastic products. Not only does it work perfectly on desktop systems, rivalling Firefox, Internet Explorer, Konqueror and Safari, but it is also a gem on far less powerful systems.

With all the talk about the flexibility of Firefox, I just can't imagine seeing it run on similar hardware. Enough people complain about Firefox leaking memory that it seems almost impossible for it to remotely support such devices.

Re:This truly shows the versatility of Opera.

[masklinn (823351)]

You don't really think they're merely recompiling mainstream Opera to run it on this kind of platform are you?

Opera, Opera for Mobiles and Opera for Devices (which is DS' opera) are different products, only the core (the rendering engine) is cross-platform, just as Gecko (Firefox' rendering engine) is completely cross-platform but not necessarily the interface itself.

Re:This truly shows the versatility of Opera.

[11223 (201561)]

Um, why would you guess that? I run the full opera on a 200MHz TI OMAP processor on my Windows Mobile Smartphone. That processor is not much faster than the DS's ARM7 processor. I also use NetFront on a 132MHz Sony ARM processor in my Clie. The ARM7 in the DS can handle running a full web browser.

If they really optimize it, they can use the second, slower ARM5 to uncompress images while the first is loading the page. This is a common trick on multiprocessor systems already.

Re:This truly shows the versatility of Opera.

[Svenheim (723925)]

The DS has an ARM9 at 66 MHz, and an ARM7 at 33 MHz. There is no ARM5.

headline fails

[cycledance (812080)]

there is no such thing as a gameboy ds. its nintendo ds. the gameboy advance sp and gameboy micro are the current gameboy.

Keyboard

[rlp (11898)]

Using a soft keyboard is feasible but fairly slow and tedious (I've got a WiFi enabled PDA with both a soft and a chiclet keyboard). Also a lot of sites don't scale well to a low-res screen. I enjoyed the novelty of WiFi browsing on a PDA, but don't use it that much any more.

It could be handy for quick (read) access to Web mail, sports, weather, etc. Not a Blackberry replacement though. :-)

Re:Keyboard

[gurutc (613652)]

I use the Opera WAP Browser on my tiny cellphone. I have to say it's a vast improvement over the built-in browser. And it's usable on my cellphone which is hugely more ergonomically and visually challenged than the DS.

Re:Keyboard

[by Anonymous Coward]

Opera WAP? Opera doesn't have a WAP browser. All Opera browsers are full web browsers.

Re:Keyboard

[ILikeRed (141848)]

I really wish Nintendo would come out with a pda that could run their game carts. My Palm is getting a bit old, and I am not sure I trust them long term - and I still really dislike those WinCE devices. Simple, fun, WiFi, and a long battery life - maybe I am dreaming.

DS PDA

[metamatic (202216)]

Summitsoft were working on a PDA cartridge for the DS called Organizer Plus. If they had that for sale and it supported iSync, I'd likely ditch my Palm.

However, I haven't seen anything more than press coverage about the alleged product, so I'm not sure if it actually exists any more. Their web site doesn't even mention it.

There are also rumors that Nintendo is going to license Palm applications and sell them as V-Pocket, and Miyamoto mentioned in an interview that he sees PDA software as a way to expand the system's appeal. No official product announcements yet, though.

So, I'm sticking with my Palm until there's actual shipping product, or Sharp USA decides to start shipping the SL-C series, or someone else ships a decent Linux PDA, or Nokia fixes the handwriting recognition and speed of the 770.

How easy on the eyes will it be?

[antifoidulus (807088)]

Obviously this will not be a replacement for pdas for serious mobile internet users, but I wonder just how readable it will be. I have done a bit of web browsing on the psp, and while my eyes aren't perfect, I considered the psp's screen to be the "bare minimum" one really needs to be able to read web pages. The whole 2 screen thing to me would just seem jutting...I love the DS for games, but I don't see it being a great web browser.
Also, will the Opera cartridge contain a firmware update that will finally allow DS units to use WPA instead of the pitiful WEP? Would seem like a minimum for web browsing to me...

Pretty easy on the eyes.

[Viewsonic (584922)]

The upper screen is a zoomed in view, while the lower is a zoomed out view that you can scroll around the zoom view with the stylus. It may not be the best way to browse if you have other means, but I think this is going to be more than excellent for people stuck at airports and hotels who dont want to lug around all these crazy 17" widescreen 20 pound desktops...I mean laptops that seem to be all the rage these days.

It looks like a nice step up from cell phone browsers in both the fact that you gain more screen area, an actually decent input device, and the fact that you're not getting charged for every byte sent over the line (Depending, usually airport wifi access is free).

I'm looking forward to it. Especially now that Google Chat is integrated into their gmail, I can have full IM access with my DS on the go as well. Slick.

Re:Pretty easy on the eyes.

[bhtooefr (649901)]

GTalk in GMail doesn't work in Opera Desktop, FWIW.

I've tried.

(It works in IE, I haven't tried in Firefox.)

Re:How easy on the eyes will it be?

[Erwos (553607)]

You're totally missing the point. The issue is not protecting your http traffic - rather, it's to protect your LAN. Without a good wireless security protocol, your internal network is _wide open_ for anyone to attack. WEP is NOT a good security protocol, and if DS doesn't support WPA, you can't use the thing at home for wireless browsing.

-Erwos

How much will it cost?

[dalmiroy2k (768278)]

I would pay up to $35 (like a game) but not more. Let's hope the browser is not crippled and support secure pages and some kind of web based IM.

More DS announcements

[rayde (738949)]

for more pictures, check this article with pictures of the Opera browser [advancedmn.com] and also the newly announced Nintendo DS TV Tuner. Other announcements are a new Super Mario Brothers being released in May in Japan, and a budget priced Tetris DS.

Interesting... but...

[J_Meller (667240)]

I'm assuming that they are going to distribute this browser in the traditional cart form but what about future DS versions such as the DS Lite? Do they plan to integrate it with the built in UI? Also since the cartridges are read/write, will it be possible to upgrade the browser through the net if they discover any potentially harmful security risks (buffer overflows) or new features? I wonder if they plan to market this in traditional gaming stores, personally I would love to see this, but I'm afraid that many consumers that buy the DS for it's simplicity and pick-up and play style may shy away from the technology.

Give me productivity

[shoptroll (544006)]

If they could provide a limited productivity suite (Calendar, Contacts, maybe a lightweight e-mail IMAP client) this could be a good alternative to a Palm, especially for a younger generation who doesn't need to have full synchronization with a pc. Although, I wonder if the PC Lan connection for non-WiFi enabled lans could be jerry-rigged to allow synchronization of a productivity suite with a PC... But I don't think Nintendo has interest in programming apps for a PC.

DS browser could be awsome.

[_Pablo (126574)]

With the lower touch sensitive screen showing the scaled page and the top showing the page at 100% it would be quite comfortable to scroll around using the pen. Use the shoulder buttons to swap screens when you want to use forms or click links it could be pretty usable. I guess it's not going to be that powerful however considering the memory limitations (4MB RAM although I guess code and resources can be run inplace from the cart). I just hope I can put the browser on the M3 (with Passkey2) for convenience.

I've got to admit that I am a convert to the DS after intially being sceptical (but simply being unable to resist the allure of Mario Kart DS). Since then the DS has done nothing but impress, from the limited but flexible hardware to some of the most innovative games I have played in a long time (Trauma Center, Pac Pix, Nintendogs etc all make excellent use of the touch screen).

The one thing I'd like to see

[Dark Paladin (116525)]

Well, other than "Chrono Trigger" on the GBA? A Palm card. The Nintendo DS uses the same kind of chips found in Palm Pilots, and it would be interesting to see Palm OS 5 running on the sucker - if for no other reason than I could have my ebooks on it.

two viewing modes will be available

[Lawmune (260527)]

According to brianj [opera.com] (Opera employee) on the Opera forums:

"Opera will have two modes: fit-to-width mode (similar to what mobile users are already familiar with their mobile phones using the Opera Mobile browser). This mode will use Small Screen Rendering to fit the page across both screens. Alternatively, there is a DS mode which displays an overall page view on the lower screen (where you may use the touch screen to navigate around a sort of "mini map") and read the text on the top screen in full-sized view."

Don't know about small screen rendering? See here: http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/smallscreen/ [opera.com]

Still not convinced? See what your website looks like on a small screen using the Opera Mini Simulator [opera.com] (which probably isn't exactly how it will look on the DS, but it's an approximation. The DS certainly has more screen real estate than my pathetic cell phone, anyway.)

Also, according to DS Advanced [advancedmn.com]:

"The Opera software is currently slated to release in Japan during the month of June at the price of 3800 yen, roughly $30, and will include ATOK Kanji conversion software."

Opera is nice software

[goldcd (587052)]

but it's their back-end squashing that makes their 'reduced-platform' offering so nice. For example if you're viewing on your phone having the jpgs squashed by the Opera proxy server cuts your bandwidth cost, dramatically speeds up the browser and reduces the amount of memory required on the client.

My main complaint with the PSP is the damn thing keeps on running out of memory if you load up a single bulky page.

I think it should be very nice on the DS - prefer using it on my SE phone than IE on my PocketPC and I can only see it being nicer with the better screen(s) and a touchscreen.

Seems a bit cheaky charging users for it though - maybe the cart will have some local cache on it..

Re:Wow

[Burb (620144)]

Your page isn't loaded until the thin browser pings.

Only in China!

[mwvdlee (775178)]

I'm announcing a browser for the Chinese market!

Well, actually it's more like a flash animation showing a "this page is censorred" all the time, but who can tell the difference?

Re:only in japan?

[mausmalone (594185)]

The DS is not locked for regions (i.e. You can play Japanese games on American-released systems with no modification). And it will definitely require some sort of English (or at least Latin) text input and display in order for it to be useful on this English-dominated web of ours. So as long as you're willing to learn the menus through trial and error, buying the Japanese version should be just as good as waiting for a NA or EU release.