Short video of how the DS Opera browser will work
by Joystiq Staff 
{ Jul 19th 2006 at 5:15PM }
A YouTube video has surfaced showcasing the Opera browser in action for Nintendo's DS. Despite being in Japanese, you get a real sense for how this thing is gonna work. It appears to show just about everything we've wondered: scrolling, browsing, text input, and dual screen functionality.
Is there anyone out there who could do some loose translation of what exactly they are saying? Any interesting tidbits we might have missed because the rest of our uneducated minds couldn't read it?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Crushed @ Jul 19th 2006 5:19PM
http://www.gamerz-edge.com/e32006/media/gamerz-edge_-_nintendo_ds_browser.wmv
http://www.gamerz-edge.com/e32006/media/gamerz-edge_-_nintendo_ds_browser_writing.wmv
Those two are great as well.
.ed @ Jul 19th 2006 5:23PM
I told you guys a few times...
its all here: http://my.opera.com/DotEd
MW @ Jul 19th 2006 5:32PM
Finally a viable solution to watch/view Pr0n on the DS Lite!
cap-n-crunch @ Jul 19th 2006 5:40PM
Will someone please think of the porn!!?? err..I mean children.
SamuraiPanda @ Jul 19th 2006 5:57PM
There is no need to translate this stuff. They simply explain everything you see, so as long as you have eyes, you don't need to speak Japanese to understand it.
As a side note, did you guys ever decide who you're going to hire?
Kylara @ Jul 19th 2006 5:58PM
Here's what I'm curious about. I read hundreds and hundreds of ebooks, and wasn't swayed by Sony's gorgeous but entirely too expensive ebook reader (complete with its own proprietary format!). In any case, most of the ebooks I read are in html format . . . . so will I be able to read these on my beautiful little DS Lite with this browser? Will the GBA cart's little memory thing be able to download a, say, 700 kb book and let me read it?
Anyway, I only understood the very basics of what he was saying, but .. it was pretty basic. "With one touch, you can access links", "The Nintendo DS lets you access the internet", touching on the different viewing modes (zooming in or both panels), nothing we haven't heard before.
Eli @ Jul 19th 2006 5:59PM
intaa-neto!
Nat @ Jul 19th 2006 6:16PM
I just translated the commercial for fun- see the rest of this comment for the audio and the text translation. I tried to translate the text in the order in which it appeared on the screen. The previous posters are right, though; there's not a lot of information in here that hasn't been revealed somewhere else earlier.
Audio translation:
You can use the internet on your DS. Nintendo DS Browser. Browsing that uses the DS's functionality. In two-screen mode, both screens can be used to display "mini-mode" and "magnified mode." While looking at the entire page, you can see a magnified view of the places on that page that you want to see. You can also switch the top and bottom screens. Then, if you touch the screen once, you'll follow the link that you touched. Also, using "vertical mode," display data can be displayed across both of the DS's screens. You can also easily browse pages that contain lots of text.
Input of words that you wish to search for and other items is simple. The input mode can be selected from two choices: drawing input and keyboard input. Also, searches are not limited to only web searches- searching for text within a page is also possible.
In addition... basic browser features such as URL input, bookmarks, and history are all included. On top of this, using the added functionality of setting passwords, and excellent service to block harmful websites, anyone can enjoy the internet, worry-free! A new internet life, starting on the DS.
Nintendo DS Browser.
Text translation:
Internet on the DS! Browsing using the unique aspects of the DS.
Nintendo DS Browser
2 Screen Mode
Magnified pages and mini-pages displayed at the same time
Upper and lower screens can be switched
With one touch, goes to the link destination
Vertical mode
Vertical display across the DS's 2 screens
*Depending on a page's image data content and other factors, the page may take some time to display.
Simple Input / Search
Handwritten input
Web search
Keyboard input
Search within a page
In addition...
URL input
Basic browser features are all included
*Flash, movie files, audio files, and PDF files (and some other files) are not supported.
Bookmarks
History
Password settings
Even families can use it free of worries
A new internet life, starting on the DS.
Caution
In order to use this item, a wireless LAN access point or something similar is needed in your house, or to use it outside your home, you must have an environment with a Nintendo Wi-Fi Station, a Freespot, or something similar.
For details, please see Nintendo's homepage.
Nintendo DS Browser
Planned release date: July 24th
Manufacturer's recommended minimal retail price: 3,800 yen each
(Price without tax: 3,619 yen)
EP @ Jul 19th 2006 6:24PM
How can the PSP compete with this? Touch screen is pure genius for stuff like this.
Revolution @ Jul 19th 2006 6:38PM
Am I just retarded and missed this.....
Is this being released in the states? If so, when?
Thanks guys.
Thanatos @ Jul 19th 2006 6:48PM
This looks great, actually might justify using my DS for browsing at university when the computer labs are too full. Seeing as we have WiFi hotspots in the campus cafe and the library and they are expanding over the entire university, I will also be able to check the gaming news sites between Mariokart and Metroid sessions before and after lectures/studio classes. Good stuff nintendo.
Josh* @ Jul 19th 2006 7:12PM
This is being released in Europe in October... no word on the US yet.
idioteraser @ Jul 19th 2006 7:49PM
The US may come before the Europe or after. It may not come at all but you should be able to use the European version without any problems.
Xizer @ Jul 19th 2006 7:50PM
The PSP can compete with this because this crappy, half-assed browser cannot support PDF files, any kind of movie file, any kind of sound file, and there is no flash or shockwave support.
Do you know what that means? You're going to be seeing a bunch of red X's and download flash warnings. You're not going to be able to watch anything moving (except an animated GIF if we're lucky). All this browser can do is display images and text. You can't download anything either. FOR 35 DOLLARS. And if you can't wait, it'll cost you $50 to import it. What a rip-off.
idioteraser @ Jul 19th 2006 7:51PM
Hard to say about those ebooks. If you can browse them on old email cellphones you shouldn't have an issue browsing them with the DS.
Chronogears @ Jul 19th 2006 8:15PM
Uh, the PSP can compete with this because.. it can display multimedia, can't it? Oh and its browser is built-in, right? And it can save things to as large of a memory stick as you can purchase, I think. I'm not too familiar with the PSP since I don't own one, but even I am able to see how it is comparable in functionality to this DS browser. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Now take that last sentence and apply it to all PSP vs DS debates. Sigh, sigh, sigh, Internet.
Doomstalk @ Jul 19th 2006 9:01PM
You're not going to be able to watch anything moving (except an animated GIF if we're lucky)
That's a disadvantage? Sounds like heaven to me.
Jay @ Jul 19th 2006 9:10PM
The PSP can't compete because you're spending £200 for a portable internet browser with a failing film system and unpopular games. For the same price you could get a fully featured and much more flexible (no clamping down on homebrew) Pocket PC.
The PSP couldn't compete before the DS browser, how on earth will it going to compete after it?
Nat @ Jul 19th 2006 9:17PM
Small translation correction to above translation: "excellent service" should be replaced by "a paid service." That's what I get for rushing through...
Amos @ Jul 19th 2006 9:20PM
Neat. I wish you could up-resolution the top screen, though. I have glasses, I'd like to use them please, thank you...also, I didn't know they were having two different versions - Phat & Lite. Huh.
will @ Jul 19th 2006 10:23PM
phat one works on phat but the GBA cart sticks out on lite
lite one only works on lite
is there goin to be stupid pop up on there?
adware? or is that only IE?
what langauge does it display?
Jamesology @ Jul 19th 2006 10:39PM
I know how Sony's browser can compete!
1)Sony is Flash compatible!
2)Wanna save a file?? Sorry you can't!
3)I know, I won't lose my web browser! -playing game, presses Home, scrolls to web-browser, surfing!
4)$30???? what? Okay at least it's only $30,.... but what's this Nintendo upgraded again it with Flash, wait is that another $30???
5)NO Touch screen?? O wait, my cellphone does not have one too, and it didn't really affect me unless I'm trying to be that fastest web surfer. (Watches TV at Starbucks, while girlfriend talks to her other girlfriends)
Lee @ Jul 19th 2006 11:24PM
Jay, the PSP is competing well enough in the US and EU, may not be ahead, but still more than profitable. It's only in Japan that it sells less than half of DS sales.
Besides, none of that is relevent when we're comparing browsers. It's funny how you did the usual "You're paying 200 for a web browser with crappy ..."
I see that with "200 for an emulation machine with crappy..." or "200 for a lumines playing machine ..."
The titles are increasing, and the library has come a long way. Maybe not as much as the DS, but there is a market for this console, and far more viable uses if you do love the homebrew. The emulation is excellent, video playback using pmp brilliant, better titles, decent web-browsing, wide selection of homebrew games, media streaming, PSPradio. Though I agree, UMD-video is a disaster, and if you choose not to use homebrew (with firmware emulation and the recent downgrader's it's a must) it pales. Trust me, defending the PSP is getting easier by the day. =P
Anyhoo, though lacking features, I'd get this browser for it's ease of use if I didn't have to spend however much and remember to take the cart around with me. As well as either choosing a version that doesn't work with my brothers, or one that will stick out of my Lite.
Chronogears seems the most rational here. But it seems to appreciate the advantages of both consoles one needs to own both or neither.
digg it @ Jul 19th 2006 11:54PM
if im correct the psp was beating the ds b4 dslite came out.........so we'll see wen sony redesigns the psp
and for the record i own a ds lite and a psp and i like both of them the same
Josh* @ Jul 20th 2006 3:14AM
DS Lite was just another nail for Sony, what with UMD movies already flopping and every update restricting the homebrewer that little bit more.
The PSP wasn't "beating" anyone.
Merus @ Jul 20th 2006 3:52AM
Guys, guys, guys, stop bashing the PSP. It's a perfectly fine system.
Like the N64.
ChaosInTheSnow @ Jul 20th 2006 7:29AM
In terms of competition between the PSP and DS web browsers, I think it's a bit of a pointless argument, neither compare to using a PC/Mac to accomplish such a task. I think very few people are actually going to weigh up each systems in terms of web browsing strengths and weaknesses, since casual gamers wouldn't research such things in depth, they simply look at presence/absence data on features, and hardcore gamers should mainly be considering the games. Also, Jamesology, your last statement implied that you are in fact your girlfriend's girlfriend. How's that working out for you?
Clint @ Jul 20th 2006 9:49AM
Doesn't the PSP already have a browser? If it's all about the games, why are they still trying to play catch up to the PSP?
Lee @ Jul 20th 2006 10:20AM
Josh, if you're aware of the homebrew scene at all, the latest firmware can be fully emulated. i.e. there's absolutely nothing you can't do with a homebrew PSP. Homebrew and RSS feeds/flash browsing on the same machine with little effort.
There's no 'nail'. Just because a system isn't the best in the market in terms of sales says nothing for it's success. You brand Creative mp3 players dead because they're not outselling iPods? That's just not how markets work. The PSP is still very profitable. The awful UMD movies is hardly a problem with the considerably better video playback from the memory stick.
digg-it, is the PSP really being redesigned? I thought that wasn't happening anymore. I mean, personally I don't see the need, it's pretty enough, and whacking a camera or shaving off some millimetre's doesn't really seem neccessary.
Clint, I know what you mean, but it's not gonna hurt them to release some applications that make the DS a little less game dedicated. As hard as it is for many to believe, the companies in the game industry feed off eachother, and Nintendo's no exception (though obviously less than MS and Sony).
idioteraser @ Jul 20th 2006 11:22AM
Clint all Nintendo is doing is offering an optional web browser for people that want to check email, message boards, news sites on the go. These people don't care about videos, flash, or adware. Btw adware protection is built in. Lots of adware and malware is by way of those things you claim people want in web browsing. DS opera owners won't get spamed with click ads or other garbage like the psp owners are.
The psp forces you to pay for stuff that is substandard and most people don't even want. The psp is not profitable for Sony they lose several hundred bucks each one sold. The games coming out? Locoroco was though to be the savior of the psp and it's sales are in the toilet. I fully expect it to show up on the ps2 or even the DS next year.
Sony makes money from game sales and psp game sales are in the toilet. Sony is losing money hand over fist on the psp.
Nintendo on the other hand is printing money on the DS.
Lee @ Jul 20th 2006 12:55PM
Again, idiot, where are these numbers? Give me some sources. Several hundred bucks per each one sold? Stop speculating and give us something real.
Unimpressed PSP users are uninformed PSP users. Video playback is excellent if you do it properly, regardless of sales there are several decent titles. Compared with what you gain, pop-ups are a minor nuisance.
Many care about the features you touted, but opted for the cheaper game-oriented DS. There IS a market for both, and the US and EU sales prove this (although there is a loss per console, at the very least in terms of market share outside of Japan, it's hardly a flop). Just browse Joystiq for some numbers on this.
They can (and are) living together in this market. Deal with it.
Zdog88 @ Jul 20th 2006 2:41PM
A few questions:
- Will there be tabed browsing like the psp?
- Is there a feature that can let you switch between display sizes?
- Finaly, How fast will the display speed compared to the PSP?
I own both and the PSP browser get a lot of use because I am never at home very often to check my e-mail. Oh and I am posting this with my PSP (not the smartest thing..) It does need a keybord to make this much more simplified.
Jamesology @ Jul 21st 2006 2:43AM
So... what's the next cartridge to come out?? It's pretty funny how all of the DS upgrades will be in Cartridges.
X06 @ Oct 2nd 2006 1:12PM
No Video Files, or audio Files, So Basically your saying DS is a Rip off? I was excited for the Browser for this system but now I feel like I've waisting time waiting for the DS Browser. Sorry DS Chumps but I getting me a PSP. Oh, and another thing, Addition to the nice one Screen System, PSP Games are in Flawless 3D. Take that to the Bank DS users