There’s a lot to like about the Nintendo DSi — a multi-faceted, touch-screen, hand-held gaming device. The portability factor, accompanied by the long battery life, makes it a really great gift for gamers — children and adults alike. And while DS games tend to be pricey, the built-in Camera and Sound applications will keep you (and your kids, when you finally take a break) entertained and creative. \r\n
\r\nFor a full review check out the Geek Gift Guide for 2009.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
Images by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
Images by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
Here you can see the upper and lower LCD screens. On the top half, in the lower left corner, are the indicator LEDs for wireless, charging, and power.\r\n
\r\nOn the bottom left half is the +Control Pad and Power / Reset Button. On the bottom right half is the A, B, X, and Y Buttons, plus the Start and Select Buttons. \r\n
\r\nIt’s difficult to see in this photo, but on the bottom right edge in front are the Headphone / Microphone Connectors.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
Here is a better view of the lower screen and buttons.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
When you first Power on the DSi, a Health and Safety warning displays.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
The Nintendo DSi Sound application.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
DSi Sound allows you to record and edit audio. In this photo, the dialogue bubbles that have color contain recordings. You can also alter .mp4 or .m4a music files that you’ve saved to a SD card.\r\n
\r\nTo hear a sample of the things that you can do with DSi Sound, listen to this mp3 file.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
The Nintendo DSi Camera application.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
You can take and edit photos with the DSi camera or you can modify photos that you’ve already taken and which are stored in the Album. You can also import or copy images to a SD card, as well as exchange (or send) images to another DSi that’s in wireless range.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
Some games take a photo for the user profile.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
There are eleven different lenses to choose from in the Camera application. Here is an example of one of the options in the Mischief lens.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
Here’s another example of the Mirror lens.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
When two faces have been identified, the Resemblance lens takes a photo and gives a similarity percentage and determination of whether or not the two people are related.\r\n
\r\nAs you can see in this example, my friend Jack and I are not related, which is true. \r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
In this example, my friend Jack and my son Andrew are also not related, which is true.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
The DSi Resemblance lens did detect that Andrew and I are related. Three out of three isn’t bad!\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
The Emoter lens makes a face look happy (or really old, in my case).\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
The mad Emoter face is equally scary. \r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
If you’ve seen the previous photos in this gallery, you know that Jack doesn’t normally look like this. The Distortion lens is to blame!\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
Andrew had quite a bit of fun with the Distortion lens.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
With one nostril, there would definitely be less to blow.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
I always knew my child was out of this world, but I didn’t know he was from another galaxy!\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
Even I had to check out the Distortion lens, and I laughed the entire time I was playing with it.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
Mother and son — the Distortion family.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
The cool thing about editing photos is that you can edit as little or as much of the image as you want. This particular photo pretty much portrays a typical day at my house.\r\n
\r\nImages by Sonja Thompson for \u00a9 TechRepublic.
My name is Sonja Thompson. I've worked for TechRepublic since October of 1999, starting with the enewsletter team, then with the Premium Products group (creating books and CDs), as well as programming some of the elements on the site. After leading the Tech News team on TR, I jumped at the opportunity to switch gears and try my hand at video editing, podcasts, and other forms of multimedia on the site. I'm currently the host of the Smartphones blog, plus I edit the TR Dojo video series. \ \ I graduated from the University of Louisville. Since then, I've also completed several technology related courses from SmartPlanet. My goal is to learn about the TR community, interact with members on the site, and hopefully encourage more people to participate - and more often.
