On the eve of the release of the DSi XL in the United States, I have found that there are many people out there that believe that the DSi (although newer) is inferior to the DSLite. Since I am a sucker, I am going to be picking up the DSi XL in several hours and adding it to the original DSi in my ever growing collection of consoles. In the meantime, I would like to offer the following reasons why the DSi and DSi XL are better than the DSLite.
First and foremost, the most obvious reason for upgrading from the DSLite to the DSi is the larger screens. The DSi XL takes this to the next level by increasing the viewing area to 4.2 inches per screen over the DSLite’s 3 inch screens. As a result the DSi and DSi XL are larger overall and in the case of the DSi XL, portability comes into question as you will need some good size pockets to carry it around. The DSi however is not much larger than the DSLite and this is not an issue.
The next item on the list is the sound. The speakers on the DSi are much better than the DSLite. The speakers and sound quality on the DSi can only be achieved on the DSLite by plugging in headphones. This is one of the major upgrades for the DSi as the background sounds and music can be heard much more clearly on the DSi. Also, the controls for volume are much better on the DSi. The DSi has up/down buttons for the volume controls while the DSLite has knob that slides from left to right. It is not hard to figure out after using both, which one has the superior sound quality and the best way to control the volume coming out of the speakers.
Now that you have fired up the DSi and have seen the bigger screens and heard the upgrade in sound quality, the next thing you will notice is the upgrade to the interface. The DSi has a very similar interface to what Wii users are familiar with. This is needed for the next item that the DSi has over the DSLite: access to the DSiWare download service. While the DSiWare service has not been opened to its full potential in my opinion due to the lack of downloads for NES, SNES, Genesis ETC, there is still a lot or original content and games that can be downloaded and accessed only on the DSi. Other than the DSiWare download service, the overall interface has been improved greatly and is much more user friendly. It is also upgradeable so new features can been added at any time.
Other hardware upgrades include the addition of 2 cameras and an SD card slot. One of the cameras is located on the outside and the other on the inside next to the microphone. They do not take very good pictures and are not even high enough on the quality scale to be listed in mega pixels. That being said, they still do well enough to accomplish what they need to do and upcoming games like “Photo Dojo” make them worth having around just in case. The SD card can be used for storing the pictures that you have taken or storing extra downloads from DSiWare. You can also upload songs but the DSi only supports AAC files so you will need to convert your MP3’s.
While the DSLite and DSi both use WiFi for online gaming, the DSi (like the Wii) adds an Opera based web browser. If you are looking for a fully functional web browser you will not find it here. My expectations were not met for the speed and abilities of the browser but the DSi is capable of loading any mobile site just as fast as you would expect your IPod or cell phone to load. While the screens on the DSi are not as crispy as those on most cell phones, you can get what you need to get done on the Wifi from your home network. However, at the end of the day, the web browser on DSi is something that the DSLite does not have.
The last and most important thing in my opinion that was upgraded on the DSi over the DSLite was the controls. The DPad on the DSLite is very loose. The DSi returned to the tight controls of the original DS. This is especially noticeable on a game like Mario Kart where you are using the DPad to control your cart for the entire game. It is much easier to get a turbo boost when you have that feedback of the DPad clicking when you get to the limit instead of just guessing on the DSLite.
At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide of the sum of the above upgrades is worth the extra $40 bucks to upgrade to the DSi instead of the DSLite. Sure the DSi had to get rid of the Gameboy Advance slot to accommodate the larger screens and SD card slot but if you are new to the DS altogether, this should not be that big of a deal. Unless you have a huge library of GBA cartridges or plan on buying one, this is not that big of a deal and my opinion, is far outweighed by the other benefits of the DSi. Me, I’ll be picking up a Bronze DSi XL at 10 AM on 3/28/2010. Don’t ask me about the recently announced 3DS which will hopefully put all of 4 iterations of the DS to shame…