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Nintendo DS Lite FCC Tested
Blackbird writes "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has tested Nintendo's upcoming Nintendo DS revision, the Nintendo DS Lite, and has released the full test report on its website. Apart from the test results, a concept version of the user manual and photo's of the casing are available for download."
Photos here. (PDF format)
It'll be released in Japan in March, so I'd assume we'll have to wait at least until May, possibly later.
Which was in an incredibly stupid place for left handers. I can't be the only one who kept accidentally turning the thing off during particularly frantic moments in Meteos and Zoo Keeper.
Comparison of the three GBA systems being sold:
SP Old (frontlit screen)
SP New (backlit screen)
Micro
-Both SPs can play Gameboy and Gameboy Color games, the Micro can't.
-The Micro has a smaller screen, but this is not a problem unless you are blind. The screen is very sharp making text easy to read. If you've got a high resolution Palm handheld, compare with that. The Micro screen is practically a 240x160 cutout.
-Cables for the SP won't work with the Micro (including the link cable and gamecube cable)
-The SP requires a seperately purchased adapter to plug in ear phones, and the adapter uses up the port used for the recharging cable.
-All models have a user replaceable battery that is cheaply available.
-The SP New and Micro have backlit screens, making them much brighter.
-The Micro has 5 brightness levels, the SP New has 2, and the SP Old lets you turn the light off completely. The lowest brightness on the SP New and Micro is still brighter then the SP Old (the brightest setting is used for signally ships)
-The SP old technically has the longest battery life, since the light can be turned off. Under normal conditions they all have about the same battery life, though cranking up the brightness will shorten the Micro and SP New's life.
-The SP New and Micro's backlit screen is great indoors, however in direct sunlight the backlit screen is washed out (like most laptops). The SP Old's frontlit screen however works just fine in sunlight (you can even turn off the backlight, with enough natural light you can't even tell if it is on or not). This is perhaps the one reason to get the older SP, as it makes a huge difference for outdoor play.
-The SP New screen runs at 50hz instead of 60hz. It has been reported that already bright colors, especially red, create a slight blur when moving quickly across the screen. This is not a major hangup (like LCD refresh rates, it depends on the person if they even notice it)
-The SP shoulder buttons work simply by pressing in. The Micro's shoulder buttons are a bit of a shock, because they only work if you press down on the inside (more like a SNES controller)
-The Micro's D-Pad and A/B buttons are more squishy, like a NES or SNES controller, while the SP has a springy digitial "click" response (you can clearly feel and even hear them making contact, and they push back up)
-All three are pocketable, however the Micro, due to being smaller both volume wise and in form factor, is better at this. The SP feels like carrying around a fat wallet, while the Micro feels like a small candybar cellphone.
Overall:
If you want to play GB or GBC games, get an SP New
If you want to play outdoors a lot, get an SP Old
If you want the best system to just pull out of your pocket and play (and put it back in and forget it's there), get a Micro