Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

One of the growing markets within the tech world at the moment is the e-reader, a futuristic answer to the book.  Lots of manufacturers are getting in on the act following in the footsteps of the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Readers, it was only a matter of time till portable consoles caught up with this trend.  It would appear that Nintendo is ready to go the e-reader route with their first eBook software allowing you read books on your DS.

The DS would seem like a good solution: it is small, it has a touch screen, it can connect to the Internet and many people have them which translates to a large user base. 

Nintendo’s offering is miles behind Amazon and Sony on so many levels.  Firstly, you are limited to a choice of the 100 books that come on the card which instantly puts you behind the thousands of novels, magazines, and newspapers that the e-readers have.  Secondly, and most crucially, the only reason that these books are available is because they are out of copyright, so don’t expect anything written in this century.

Look at the size difference between a DS screen and a book and you will see that the DS is tiny in comparison which will make reading harder on the eye.  This is something that is perhaps easy to overlook now, but when you have to “turn the page” every sentence it is not so good.  Also the Wi-Fi function is utterly awful, merely allowing you download 10 different books which are probably classics as well (so why didn’t they just put them on the software?) and rate the books.

Now, it’s not all bad.  If you already have a DS then this is a great way to get to know some classic novels made especially easy by the search function that allows you to look for specific phrases.  This, coupled with the ability to zoom and turn pages with the stylus, makes it fun for children as well, and the $27 price tag isn’t bad either.

Source [ElectricPig]