Opera on the Nintendo DS 283
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. (Score:5, Informative)
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.
headline fails (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This truly shows the versatility of Opera. (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Pretty easy on the eyes. (Score:5, Informative)
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:This truly shows the versatility of Opera. (Score:2, Informative)
and while, yes, opera is absolutely awesome, I can imagine firefox running on a gameboy ds.
Re:Keyboard (Score:5, Informative)
More DS announcements (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How easy on the eyes will it be? (Score:2, Informative)
I have a Zire 31 which I use to view web pages offline, among other things. My eyesight is far from perfect, but I don't find reading the 160x160 screen a big strain. The only thing that sucks is that the screen doesn't hold much information (13 lines of text in my current setup).
I don't think this thing will be a replacement for PDAs, since it lacks the extra features these devices offer out of the box. But it will be good for quick browsing of e-mail, checking the weather or sports headlines.
Re:only in japan? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Pretty easy on the eyes. (Score:3, Informative)
I've tried.
(It works in IE, I haven't tried in Firefox.)
Re:This truly shows the versatility of Opera. (Score:3, Informative)
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:How easy on the eyes will it be? (Score:3, Informative)
-Erwos
two viewing modes will be available (Score:5, Informative)
"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."
Re:This truly shows the versatility of Opera. (Score:3, Informative)
On a related note, I think, the Gecko-based browser for mobile devices is called Minimo [mozilla.org], and is currently under development. I don't think this would work out-of-the-box on a DS, but maybe with a few alterations it could.
Re:This truly shows the versatility of Opera. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Pretty easy on the eyes. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:How easy on the eyes will it be? (Score:3, Informative)
To be able to read web pages using the layout that the designers originally created from, that being a 1024x768 computer screen, perhaps. If you just want access to the contents of a page and don't care if the layout is compromised, screens the size and resolution of the DS's ought to be fine for anybody.
Also, will the Opera cartridge contain a firmware update that will finally allow DS units to use WPA instead of the pitiful WEP?
AFAIK, DS tiles implement all WiFi encryption methods in software, not in firmware. A game like Mario Kart DS, where multiplayer gameplay requires very precise timing, might not have CPU cycles to spare to do WPA encryption/decryption. On a browser title like Opera, where synchronization with other DS users is not an issue, WPA could be a more likely feature.
Re:Where to us it? (Score:2, Informative)
That was a bit of FUD running around from PSP fanboys trying to diss the system that outsells it 2 to 1 and you can buy games for it for far less than the cheap PSP games. (plus it has games for it that people want to play unlike the PSP.
Re:Where to us it? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Where to us it? (Score:2, Informative)