Nintendo DSi XL as an e-Reader?
The Nintendo DSi, Nintendo's ultra popular portable gaming unit, is getting a big brother called the DSi XL on March 28th, 2010, which will retail for $190.00 US.
The Nintendo DSi XL has a 4.2 inch screen display that will be at least an inch larger than the DSi at 3.25 inch and the DS at 3 inch. It has 256 MB of onboard memory and will also take SD cards too, a function the old DS does not have. The screen is still a back-lit screen with a resolution of 256x192 and a battery life of 4-6 hours or 9-14 hours (low brightness) so it does not compare to the battery life of e-ink devices.
So what's a gaming device doing on a e-Reader site? Nintendo will be releasing a "100 Classic Books" cartridge this June which will turn your DSi & DS XL into e-Book Readers. In fact, Nintendo’s device could be the most book-like, with two displays that you can hold up side-by-side. you just hold the handheld like a book, flipping pages with your stylus and zooming text should you need to need to read in larger text size.
The “100 Classic Books” collection, which includes classic public domain works from William Shakespeare, Mark Twain and others was already released as a books-on-a-cartridge in the United Kingdom in December 2008. This cartridge for the Nintendo DS turns everyone's favourite brain trainer into a portable library. And like all free libraries (almost, it costs $20.00 US), all the books date from well over 100 years back. So expect Jane Austen and Charles Dickens rather than J.K. Rowling or John Grisham.
While the Nintendo DSi & DS XL will not be full e-Readers, some parents will appreciate giving their children a break from the gaming with some quick reads.
