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.

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.

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

Re:This truly shows the versatility of Opera.

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.

It's about time!

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to make a web browser for the DS. I think it's much better suited for it than the PSP.

With Opera working on it, I'm hoping for some good results.

headline fails

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

Keyboard

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

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

Re:Keyboard

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

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?

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.

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.

Pedantic, but...

Forgive the pedantry, but it's the "Nintendo DS", not the Gameboy DS.

Hairsplitting, perhaps, but on a site as big as Slashdot, I imagine Nintendo would appreciate their product's name being correct in the headline.

Wow

You will know this deal is over when the fat lady sings....
(Rimshot, because it requires a couple connections, and some knowledge of Opera as a cultural event and certain sereotypes about female Opera singers, to be funny)

Anywhere?

"Anywhere" now apparently means "anywhere where you already have a wifi network you can access." Woo?

Dualscreen Browsing?

I wonder if they'll use one screen for input exclusively or will "spread" content over two pages. The 256x192 pixel resolution of the DS is very limited, even for a mobile device..

How much will it cost?

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.

Operational

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.

nice potentially unintentional pun

D'oh

I read this at first thinking that Oprah had a web browser Nintendo was going to work with...

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/09/ 2057205 [slashdot.org]

only in japan?

Oslo, Norway - February 15, 2006: Opera Software today announced that it will deliver the World Wide Web to Nintendo DS users in Japan.

i'm wondering if that's ONLY in japan....

on a side note, how cool would it be to include skype on that opera cart? or an IM client?

Gotta have that CRUCIAL info!

This makes it the ideal device to enable people to swiftly obtain the latest information from the internet, wherever they are.

Does everyone walk around thinking they are head of CTU - Los Angeles, and need constant data dumps on developing situations?

Controlling Audio /Video Devices With the DS

This is great news! I'm currently working on integrating my Denon AVR-2805 [denon.com] stereo receiver into my home computer network and am interested in using the Nintendo DS as a control device. Being able to use a full-featured browser will really help in this pursuit.

The AVR-2805 supports an RS-232 interface [denon.com] which is currently connected to the serial port on a FreeBSD server in my living room; my audio and video cards are also connected to the receiver. I've copied almost all of my music CDs and am in the process of copying my DVDs to this server. As it stands today, I can output different audio and video sources and can control the receiver itself by using a combination of kermit [columbia.edu] and vlc [videolan.org].

The next step is to add an HTTP based interface so that I can access this setup from anywhere in on the Net. My server has a wireless nic installed, and the DS has wireless support, so I've really wanted to use the DS to control everything. While I could also use my PSP, I'm more interested in the DS since it has a touch-screen interface. I think this will suit the application much better than having to use a keypad.

Wi-Fi MP3?

It would be cool if it had a way to listen to MP3s from my server the way my Palm TX can.

More DS announcements

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.

ABC-6 Action News was right

Oh noes! now the pedophiles can get to our children through their nintendos!!!! Won't someone please think of the children! /reactionary alarmist In other news, I might have to finally get around to buying a DS

Interesting... but...

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

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.

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

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.

why bother?

browsing the web and watching video (there's also a TV tuner coming for the DS) on freakishly small screens is how I like to spend my geeking days. NOT.

Seriously, what is up with manufacturers? I don't want TV on my mobile. I don't want to watch video on an iPod. I do not want to surf the web on my DS (yes, I have a DS, and its GREAT... for games)

Does anyone think this is really cool, and something they'll use every day? Is this what you have been waiting for all these years? Especially in this time of small ultra-portable full-featured sub-notebooks?

Oh dear...

...my first thought, on reading the headline: "Cool - beat the PSP at its own game, but with something easily animated and a bit of culture too!"

And then the other shoe dropped...

I guess..

I guess it will be another way for kids to look at porn at free MC Donalds/Nintendo hotspots as for me, I already have a treo 650 where I can accesss the internet from anywhere at anytime with a nice keyboard and high res screen.

two viewing modes will be available

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?

And I was so looking forward to watching "Fiddler on the Roof" on my DS. Way to go Slashdot, with your misleading headlines. You suck!

It's time for me to hand in my geek card

Reading that headline, I seriously expected a platform game based on La Nozze di Figaro or Don Giovanni That would actually be fitting, considering 2006 is Mozart year.

Will this mean free internet browsing at MaccyD's?

Will this mean free internet browsing at Nintendo's many free wi-fi hot-spots? If so, that's a rather nice give-away from the big N.

Where to us it?

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but doesn't the DS use a Wifi protocol that is incompatible with regular access points? Where are you actually going to be able to use this new functionality? Am I missing some key news here? If the only place I can use it at is a Nintendo wireless-enabled McDonalds, I don't see this as being very useful. However, if they make it talk to regular wifi points, it might be worth a shot.

So how long...

...Until we see a virus targetting the DS? You just know that someone, somewhere is just rubbing their hands together while arching an eyebrow with this announcement.

The "Ideal Device"??

"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,"

Ideal? I kind of doubt it... Of course, people misuse the word "ideal" all the time, but still..

First, how about that "five seconds" figure? I get similar times from my Palm if I reset it. If it's just in its normal "off" state, power-on is nearly instantaneous. And I don't have to tap-through any obnoxious "health and safety" screen.

Then there's the limitations of the DS: in terms of form factor it's a lot bigger than the typical handheld (though the Lite version improves the situation somewhat). In terms of storage space it's pretty weak: 4MB RAM total, and the program has to be loaded into that RAM. So unless their game card has some writable storage, their browser has no cache. In terms of screen resolution, across the two screens it's marginally better than QVGA. Palm's Tungsten C and the Treo 650 both have slightly better resolution (102,000 pixels vs. 98,000 pixels split between two screens). Contemporary devices like the Tungsten T5, Lifedrive, or modern WinCE devices have even higher resolution.

Having a web browser on the DS is a good thing, of course - it's one more piece of capability I'll have access to when I have my DS with me for gaming and happen upon a wi-fi spot. But there are certainly devices out there better suited to the job.

Nintendo = Opera

Nintendo and Opera have many similarities. They're both underdogs in respective markets, and they're both innovators in their markets and create features that the competitors copy. And probably other similarities as well, I dunno.

The important announcement is Tetris DS

Come on, we all know the important announcement is that of Tetris DS! I wouldn't buy the DS before now because the DS won't play the original Tetris for Game Boy. Just imagine the gameplay possibilities for a Tetris DS! Hey, it'll even be cheaper than a standard DS cart ($31 vs. $42)...

Ok, I mostly am joking, but still, it'll be cool. Also, can you imagine how cool Tetris Revolution will be? Whipping the stick to the left or right to move the pieces just seems awesome.

lalala

Awesome

I've been considering getting a DS for a while, and now this just makes me want one even more. :)

Opera is nice software

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..

A little too late for some of us...

Like many with a DS, I thought it would make an awesome little web browser that I could fit into my pocket, but with the time it took them to get something like this even announced, I have already purchased a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet and it fills that hole.

A great idea, but it was too obvious to have taken this long. I dont think I would be able to surf the net on the DS after experiencing the huge screen of the 770. I'll just stick to games, it still works perfectly for that =]

You might not guess it from the Next Gen link

But that is 10 million DSs in Japan by year's end.

While reading this slashdot article

.. on my PSP, I keep hearing this little voice trying to tell me something in the back of my mind... nope, can't quite place it...

RHAPSODY!

Oh please allow my Rhapsody web plug-in to work on this!! I don't know if it has the resources to support something like that but having Rhapsody streaming on a portable would be way too cool... all it has to do is support the plug-in from the website. That would ROCK!!

PLS make it a GBA cart

Wow.. Opera for the DS, that's great! I just hope they'll put the app into a GBA cart instead of a DS cart for the simple reason that I can leave it in all the time. No need to switch cartridges just to muck around a bit on the web.

Weak Wifi

The only problem I can see with this is the really weak wifi output from the DS

We have two DS's in my house and the range to my centrally located WAP54G is incredibly weak - The kids need to huddle around the access point in order to play Mario Kart on the net.

IMHO - I can't see this as a practical way to surf the web

Opera on the release date:

Hi David, Right now Nintendo plans on launching Opera for the DS in Japan this June. Nintendo is still deciding on its prospective global launch. That is all we know. But yes, this is very exciting, so stay tuned! Best, Michelle

So i'll be looking for the rom up on BitTorrent in about 4 months.

Two things

First: if they do this, I feel like I'd want to be able to click links and scroll using the stylus on the touch screen, but that's also where I'd like to be able to pop up a keyboard to do user input. So I'm not really sure what the top screen would be for, other than pushing the web page up there when using the pop-up keyboard.

Second: I have a DS, and I love it, but the wireless connectivity has a big, gaping hole: no WPA support. I'm not going to render my home network less secure by moving it back to WEP just to get access for my DS, and running two wireless routers just seems ludicrous.

Opera should have done that a long time ago...

I love Opera's small screen rendering for my phone, but Opera has notbeen responding to the growing wealth of portable internet capable devices as fast as they should have. It took Opera a couple of years to finally release a browser for the normal version of Windows Mobile (AKA PocketPC). They only offerred it for Windows Mobile Smartphone. Granted, WMSP runs at such a pathetic resolution that even the version of Internet Explorer that comes with Windows Mobile is useless. The truth is, Internet Explorer for Windows Mobile is so awful that there are at least three other commercial browsers for the platform. Opera will make a killing off Opera Mobile after it's out of BETA. While I have a very expensive iPAQ with a beautiful 4" SVGA LCD, I have always thought the DS would make a great platform for a mobile web browser. It is so inexpensive that you can carry it around with you anywhere you want carefree. My PDA, however, is treated with the same panache as a million dollar fabriche egg; ironically, I usually use my more expensive beat up laptop to browse the web when I am away from home ;)

I only wonder how Opera intends to manage cache on the DS. Non-volatile memory is pretty slow, as Windows Mobile 5.0 made painfully obvious when applications stopped being stored in RAM. Opera might be able to use the GBA cartridge slot to add RAM with a battery backup to store the cache. Cache is extremely important on a mobile device and it is particularly painful when a brain-dead browser spends most of its time writing the cache to unbearably slow flash memory (naturally, the stupid browser does this in blocking mode... *cough*NetFront*cough*) or letting it eat up the memory that is required just to draw the page.

Opera for WinCE.NET

What I'd really like to see is version of Opera that I can download for free and run on my WinCE 4.1 webpad. I hate being stuck with IE 5.5 and having phishers steal my essence or whatever.

Possible turf war a-coming?

Opera appears to be stepping into Access Systems' turf with this offering. Access Systems is of course the maker of NetFront which is the WAP browser on Sanyo's mobile phones and Sony's now-defunct Clie PDA line. Could Opera be trying to improve on their 'mini' broweser by putting it on the DS?

Nintendo needs to diversify their market.

Honestly, it's stupid that us North and South Americans and Europeans are getting second guessed and left out in the sun and not being allowed to enjoy such things without import. http://www.petitiononline.com/q19512/petition.html [petitiononline.com] A petition has been created (if one has not been created already) to petition Nintendo and Opera to release it in all the areas that they conduct buisness in.

Re:A deal between Sony and Apple?

Erm, doesn't the PSP have a web browser already?

Re:"Gameboy" DS?

Actually, there is or have been:

Gameboy
Gameboy Pocket
Gameboy Color
Gameboy Advance
Gameboy SP (and a version 2... with a brighter backlight!!!!1)
Gameboy Micro
Nintendo DS

... and I've purchased every iteration with the exception of the last two (because a micro doesn't offer anything new like the pocket did, which was a better screen, and because I'm going to buy a DS sooner or later anyway. Nintendo owns me. ):

It's easy to get the finer details mixed up - in fact, the DS *is* a Gameboy, contrary to what Nintendo says. :P

Re:A deal between Sony and Apple?

I don't see what would stop Sony from partnering with Opera for the PSP, if they wished. Opera seems to have gotten a good foothold in the portable browsing department, with rival companies using their technology. Just because Nintendo uses them, it doesn't mean that Sony has to do something different. Sometimes two different companies can recognize the same thing as a good thing.

Re:There is no "Gameboy DS"

Actually, it's supposed to be a "third family" - not a home console, not a Game Boy, but something entirely different. At least, that's Nintendo's line.

Re:The Corpse Floats

You obviously haven't tried opera mini...