Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

DS Web Browser

E

erickkoch

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 13, 2003
676
0
Kalifornia
Anybody pick up the new DS browser yet? I picked it up today but my network is WPA, which it doesn't support. I'm not going to switch it to WEP as I've heard that can be cracked. I guess I'll have to find a free hot-spot somewhere to test it. Bummer.:(

Edit: Well, I set up my old Airport Express with WEP. I now get the error message, "Unable to find a compatible access point" on my DS. Oddly enough, now my Xbox360 can connect wirelessly, I've tried to connect that thing for the past year and gave up. Go figure.
 
After so many headaches trying to connect my DS I've just given up. :(
 
I found a free, unsecured, hotspot at a fast-food place and the DS Browser worked. It's slow, like from a phone-line modem, but it works. Not great but far better than my cellphone browser.
 
It's not too quick but it's not bad and faster than say, using a phone.
It connects flawlessy to my APX.
 
Or ditch the security and add allow list only security. Add the MAC addresses of all your wireless devices and you're good to go.
 
My gf was interested in getting this for her DS... the screenshots I've seen seem ... not too bad. It does handwriting and keyboard. It's layout doesn't seem great, but it doesn't seem particularly worse than WM5 / Pocket Internet Explorer.
 
It works better than my phone browser for sure, it's cheaper and in a higher resolution. Only problem is finding a WiFi spot in the UK. Else it's great for checking messages and little bits of info (forgot the address of a gallery so I sneaked onto a known Wifi spot and checked it on Google Maps :) ).
 
Here's my mini-review of the US version I just picked up today.

As you all know, this is a web browser - and a simplistic one at that. It's not very fast, it doesn't support flash, music or PDFs, and thus will never replace your computer. I've read some reviews online where people complain that browsing the web on the DS is not as fast as it would be on a home computer.

Well duh.

The DS is a mobile device and has a very slow processor. You have to treat it as such. It is great for Email, news, message boards, Javascript games and even instant messaging via Ebuddy (www.ebuddy.com/mobile).

To really squeeze the usefulness of this product you must use mobile or PDA versions of websites in order to quickly navigate through pages. GMail, Google, BBC news, and many other sites offer mobile versions that are customized for smaller screens. However, if your webpage doesn't have a mobile version, Google has a great product called Google Mobilizer (http://www.google.com/gwt/n) which reformats any URL into a mobile friendly website. I've found that using a combination of Google Mobilizer and the SSR mode of the DS browser yielded the most satisfactory web browsing experience on the little machine.

So there you are. It's a great little product that people must respect for what it CAN do and not trash on what it can't.


PS: I leave for Europe on Monday. I'll be in Paris, Strasbourg, Budapest, Brussels, Brouge, Basingstoke (visiting me ma in case you're wondering why I'd ever visit that place), and Edinburg. Can anyone tell me the general wifi availability in these places? Do cafés or Pubs offer wifi access? I feel my DS would be perfect to bring along and check my email with once and a while.
 
In the UK a company called Cloud operate most public WiFi spots. You need to pay for them :( T-Mobile operates WiFi in airports. Theres one in Manchester outside the city hall...
I don't know about mainland Europe but it can't be any worse than England.

There was actually a giant petition to get free WiFi in cities but that had no impact.
 
raggedjimmi said:
There was actually a giant petition to get free WiFi in cities but that had no impact.
Click to expand...

I thought London had them? I think the dumbest thing about paid hotspots is that you pay T-Mobile for subscription to their hotspots, because they're the most prevalent, but then there are a ton of paid hotspots that want different subscriptions. Are you really supposed to pay for three or four $20 subscriptions to hotspots in addition to home broadband, your cell, etc?

Now I'm kind of missing having wireless data services that I could use in conjunction with my T-Mo cell and my iBook....
 
mkrishnan said:
I thought London had them? I think the dumbest thing about paid hotspots is that you pay T-Mobile for subscription to their hotspots, because they're the most prevalent, but then there are a ton of paid hotspots that want different subscriptions. Are you really supposed to pay for three or four $20 subscriptions to hotspots in addition to home broadband, your cell, etc?

Now I'm kind of missing having wireless data services that I could use in conjunction with my T-Mo cell and my iBook....
Click to expand...

No, some services like BT Openzone are partnered with the others. I have a BT Openzone account and I can use it at TMobile and The Cloud hotspots as well as a few partners abroad when roaming. And I get free minutes for Openzone because I'm with BT Broadband. Yey :D
 
Mavimao said:
PS: I leave for Europe on Monday. I'll be in Paris, Strasbourg, Budapest, Brussels, Brouge, Basingstoke (visiting me ma in case you're wondering why I'd ever visit that place), and Edinburg. Can anyone tell me the general wifi availability in these places? Do cafés or Pubs offer wifi access? I feel my DS would be perfect to bring along and check my email with once and a while.
Click to expand...

Of those places I've only been in Paris, Strasbourg and Brussels, but they all offer PLENTY of cafés and pubs with free wifi access.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back