im new to the world of homebrew, so I dont know all the available apps yet,
and im not even in the world of programing and whatnot, so i have no idea how impossible these suggestions may be
but the way i see it, if DS had these 2 functions, it would be perfect

1) somekind of portable wifi

i know it sounds dumb, and i have no idea if this has even been attempted, but i figured that since cell phones get internet access, maybe theres a way to use that service for ur DS to get a connection

2) (and this ones more realistic) program tabs?

not exactly tabs, but some way to have more than one app running at once
i doubnt the DS could habdle it, but it would be amazing if to be listening to some music when all of a sudden someone sends u a mesage on DSaim or contacts u some other way


forgive the ignorant fantasy, but these 2 functions would make DS rival (or in my opinion blow away) even a sidekick or pda

any thoughts?

Hmm... for it to be perfect? It still doesn't have the hardware edge or the slick form factor of the PSP. It also lacks a lot more fundamentals than memory and program tabs to rival a PDA with as well.

The DS has an official (opera-based) web browser on the way. There are already several homebrew ones in development.

As for program tabs, I donno.


btw, as a multimedia device, the DS fails miserably. It is purely and simply a gaming device--which it excels at (and is leaps and bounds more appealing to people [given the sales] than the PSP).

i think its awesome the way it is

Already released in Japan and Europe. It comes with a RAM expansion in the form of a GBA cart. Without the RAM upgrade, you cannot run it. So to those of you who got the idea of downloading the ROM... you'll need the RAM expansion, or an EZ-Flash 3-in-1 Expansion Pak, otherwise it won't run.

The DS' sales have had advantages over the PSP like the much lower price point (consider, really, which demographic is buying all those DSs), full GBA support and Nintendo's brand power in the handheld market.

These things don't make the system better than the PSP- they're just advantages that the other machine necessarily doesn't have. With that in mind, its a bit naive to say that it is a more appealing buy to people because its a great gaming device- not because its cheaper or because it plays all those games you already have.

You could make the counter-argument that DS (or even the Wii) has seen success solely on the back of people wanting to buy a handheld (or a 'next-gen' console) but not knowing or caring enough to not simply buy the cheapest one there is. Not to mention that that will be the most likely scenario amongst all the children who want games for birthdays or Christmases and leave all the decisions to the parents who have to pick up the bill anyway.

Everyone is buying them. Older people, women, children, etc. So the demographic is -- everyone. yes, it has GBA support (PSP has PSX support btw [kind of] and better [easier] homebrew support and a built-in web browser), so I think your point about that is easily mooted, and yes, nintendo has major brand power -- they know what the hell they're doing and how to make a good, solid product that stands up to customer demands, as well as how to mass market their products.

I own a single gba game (simply to fill slot-2) and most people I know that own a ds do not own any at all. I'm not saying this is always true, but from what I've experienced, it is very much true.
As for the price point, that's absolutely true. If the PSP were cheaper, it would sell much better. However, it's not, so it isn't -- there's no use focusing on "what if's", since "what if's" are simply speculation.

You could also make the argument that DS (or even the Wii) are incredibly fun and available to people of all ages and incomes. The PS3 & PSP, while I'm sure they're fun and all (not that I've gotten that from my experiences with them), simply don't have enough good games (compared to ds) and their prices are just too high.

alright, maybe not perfect, but even with fairly simple apps the DS can work wonders

dont get me worng, iv owned a DS for 2 years and have loved it with nothing more than picto chat and nintendo made games,
but iv always hoped nintendo would make the DS as usefull as homebrew makes it

opera and wifi were steps, but they never really took off with communication or uses other than game playing


my main question was if anyone knew if something like this could ever be done
the tabs, and not just a web browser but a way to get online w/o a hotspot
or some way to make your own portable hotpsot

So in short, you just want to run a bunch of crap on it that probebly the most average consumer wouldn't even care about right?

Only thing the DS needs is to be shutdownable and openable from the point that you shut it down. Like the PSP. So I can close it when I'm not playing to conserve battery then pick up from where I left.

The PSP is not overpriced. Simply because it offers alot more multimediawise than the DS can or will ever be able to offer, homebrew included. My main gripe with the DS is its minuscule screen size.

While the NDS was simply designed with gaming only in mind, the PSP was designed as a multimedia tool.

Both offer high quality enjoyment when it comes to gaming and the PSP's game library has increased substantially. The argument that its games suck is no longer valid.

I'm not a PSP fanboy. I own both a PSP and a black NDS Lite. I love them both and I'm glad I bought them. So the simple solution to internet everywhere is.. get a PSP. If you want great games, they're both good for it. Homebrew only makes it better and better. Hell, I bought them to play Final Fantasy games hehehehe!

*Is happy running custom 3.40 OE firmware on PSP and M3 lite adapter + passcard on NDS*



PS3 however is severely overpriced... and I freakin want the Emotion Engine back in the European PS3s.
It will however beat XBOX 360 when it comes to games. Homebrew ofc will make it better.

The only reason to own a 360 currently is Gears of War. Which will be released on the PC.

That whole post makes me want to commit suicide.