I recently bought the Nintendo 3DS XL Zelda Limited Edition
which comes with A Link Between Worlds (but as a Digital Download, not a physical game card, which I'm not too happy about.) I wanted to test out the web browser and see how it compared to the one for the Nintendo DS Lite.
First of all, I wanted to see what the make of the browser was. If Nintendo was still using Opera or something else, and what version. I found that the browser in the 3DS XL is based on NetFront, which uses WebKit unlike Opera which used Nitro. Though WebKit is the same thing both Apple Safari and Google Chrome use, I did run into a few notifications on some sites run by Google that asked me to "use a modern browser such as Google Chrome." Another interesting point is that the 3DS XL browser identifies as a Nintendo product (it didn't on the Lite). The two User-Agent Strings are below:
Nintendo DS Lite
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Nitro) Opera 8.50 [en]
Nintendo 3DS XL
Mozilla/5.0 (Nintendo 3DS; U; ; en) Version/1.7552.US
One big problem I had with the DS Lite version was the constant running out of memory what I tried to use site like gmail.com to check my email. Using the 3DS XL proved no problem at all. I was able to log in just fine. The only issue was again, being asked to use a "modern browser" by Google. Overall the web browsing experience on the 3DS XL was quite good, though I'll stick to an iPad for my mobile Internet sessions. Not just for the larger screen, but also because some websites just rendered better on the iPad. On a side note: If you do have an iPad, I would recommend trying out Coast. It's a pretty snazzy web browser by Opera that's designed to take advantage of touch gestures.
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Now you may be reading this and wondering why I'm comparing the 3DS XL browser to the DS Lite, and not the DSi. There's a good reason for that, I don't own a DSi or the original 3DS for that matter. I bought the original Nintendo DS, and then got the DS Lite when it came out for two main reasons.
- It was easier at the time to get my hands on the DS Lite version of the Web Browser (DS and DS Lite used two different versions. Both required an expansion card that went into the GBA port, and the DS Lite was shorter and had an extra tab on it that meant you couldn't put it in an original DS without modifications. And even then, you could never get it back out, since the slot on the original was deeper than the DS Lite).
- The original DS was awkward to hold on its side, which was a requirement for certain functions of the game Crosswords DS. Also the build quality of the original DS was just horrible, and I wanted something that didn't look like it would break from just staring at it.
I skipped the DSi because it was basically just a DS that had a built-in web browser, whereas the DS and DS Lite had a game card with the browser on it. Also the DSi added a store for downloaded games and a camera, but those were not compelling reasons to buy it. Then Nintendo tried to make more sales by making the DSi larger with the DSi XL. Also not interested. Next the 3DS, a DS that plays games in 3D. I've explained in previous posts what I think of 3D, it's just a stupid gimmick. So again, not interested. Then came a new Zelda game that was only for the 3DS called A Link Between Worlds. And with that, a limited edition 3DS XL with a Zelda paint job. I wanted to play the game, and thus Nintendo finally compelled me to buy a 3DS (XL). So now I'm the owner of a Nintendo 3DS XL and I decided to test out the web browser and write this long post. More backstory than I usually add to posts, but I didn't want you to wonder why I didn't mention the DSi web browser in my comparison. And just for the heck of it, here's a picture of the three DS units I own. The original, the Lite, and the 3DS XL.
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