DS Opera - Functionality Hole Leaves Japanese Unsure

That's entirely the kind of useless, smug, arrogant post I have come to expect from you, Stef.

All opinion, no facts to back it up, and a frank admission that the reason for the inadequacy is your own laziness.

I find browsing the internet on my laptop to be a chore with the little mouse-nub dealy. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that all my portable internet browsing has been a bit of a chore. I've owned multiple iterations of PDAs, both the Palm and Windows variety. It's hard enough to manage with a touch screen the size of my four fingers.

I tried it on the PSP once, and so has since ended my foray into portable internet browsing as it is far too tedious for what I get out of it. I can wait to check my e-mail until I get home.

"flash- to my surprise I really didn't miss it, you get a lot less adverts for example
sound isn't important, I can't think of any sites that are better because they have sound
"

Flash is missing ok then.. how are we going to play our favorite shockwave/flash games?
and is only flash missing?

streaming quicktime might be missing? wmv support too???
or not..

are we not to watch movie trailers then? ... and how are we supposed to take our daily youtube dose if sound and flash don't work???

sound not important? how about streaming radio stations? streaming everything. you must be joking.

I'm a huge nintendo fan and this is preposterous :)
they also want money for this? they better do an online firmware update and include it ASAP or i can see this initiative going down in flames.Perhaps then they might as well blame it on immature market factors :)

That's the kind of needlessly aggressive post I've come to expect from you.



Or I had work to do... :/ Also, using someone's real name over the forum name is bad form. You should know better!

If you want to know:

There are more connection points for DS
Lite is better-looking (IMO) smaller (fact)
It's going to be quicker to use the touch-pad than entering characters using the PSP's interface
Opera *should* offer enhanced compatibility with more pages
The battery lasts longer
The screen is miles brighter
It affords a higher level of privacy
There's also the fact that it's just a browser, not part of sub-trojan plot to sell you music, games and movies. Though given how much Nintendo likes money, this'll likely change. Depends if they offer upgradable memory via the GBA port.

S**t that it has no sound, however. I always remember Tyrion looking very, VERY serious and saying "The Internet should be silent!"

YOU think it's needless, but it kind of riles me when people who are paid to write for this publication make smug uninformative posts, and then brag about how they are too lazy to justify them.



In which case you should have said "I'm too busy" instead of, "I can't be arsed", but clarity and accuracy are rarely an objective of your writing.



No, REVEALING someone's true ID on a forum is bad form. When their true identity is already well known on the forum, since they themselves revealed it many times - it's not.

Falling back on netiquette is invariably the sign of a post that is on shaky ground though.



Oh, I do!



Notionally. Though the infrastructure providers who are partnering with Nintendo do not prevent other devices from using them on a subscription basis.



It is as good looking, not better (IMO). It's not as small as I expected it to be. The usable browsing screen is much smaller.



Agreed. Though the web is a hypertext medium. You can click through most of it, and put up your own list of bookmarks on your free webspace. So unless you plan to use the DS for your forum posts, this is a negligible advantage.



And you *should* verify your position *before* posting it here.



Agreed.



And miles smaller. But the PSP' is bright enough. I want to see it not suntan my retina.



Careful, you'll break your fingernails on the bottom of that barrel. Are you suggesting that because it's got a little flap, it's more private? Because that is clearly a fallacy. If the unit is open so that you can see the screen, it is just as visible to snoopers as a PSP. Or is it just because it's screen is so small you have to be 20cm away to be able to tell that you're browsing kiddie porn?



Tyrion is a guy, with an opinion, one you were disagreeing with at the time, yet one that you feel it appropriate to call on now it supports your platform-of-choice's inadequacies. The Internet should not be silent any more than it should be black-and-white, or devoid of animation (Oh, it is on DS!).

Tyrion is a purist and at times a fundamentalist.

And in the other corner.

The PSP browser is a free addition to the console.
There are as many WAPs for PSP as for DS, just you may have to pay for access.
PSP supports WEP and WPA - dunno about the DS.
PSP is more comfortable to hold (IMHO) due to its size.
The looks of the console have nothing to do with the browser, but I still prefer the PSP.
PSP browser displays flash and supports sound.
The screen is miles wider meaning less sideways scrolling.
If you need privacy for your browsing you should be wanking over porn at home, not on the tube.
Then there's the fact that it's just a browser and not a trojan thing like he said above. There is no effort to guide you to a Sony-sponsored homepage at all, never mind one that tempts you into buying music. In fact, there are movies, music, images and game downloads provided, for free, from the yourpsp.com site.


The internet should be silent, except for when sound is needed, like for movies or music. There should be no clicks, beeps or whistles from buttons on webpages, true, but I'd like to be able to hear the soundtrack to my youtube movies.

I'd be willing to bet the overall experience is roughly the same for both browsers, but I didn't have to pay any extra to get the browser on my PSP.

Hey! I resemble that remark!

Except, of course, for the DS's FAR smaller screen. When it comes to browsing, IMO and up to a reasonable limit like 800 (or 1024) wide, the more pixels the better.

Avoiding your over-personal, entirely inappropriate quagmire, a line of debate-manipulation wholly ironic given your barrel-scraping, netiquette-complaint debunking high-ground... Let's just leave that and get back to the matter at hand. You are right, I should have been less callous with my post. Noted.



Yes. So the DS is better in this respect.



Okay, yeah, aesthetically, they're about on par. The DS offers the Internet in your pocket though, the PSP does not. This is an advantage becuase to take a PSP around, you're going to need a manbag.

As for usable browsing screen, it's more about shape that raw pixel count. The DS offers a more sensible shape for browsing, given the nature and shape of web pages. I think this is just a fact.

It's going to be quicker to use the touch-pad than entering characters using the PSP's interface



So you're saying that as long as you only want to read stuff, they are equal. Even that's totally wrong. Answer this: Would you rather just tap a link with a stylus or cycle through a slew of hyperlinks to get what you want? Rubbish argument that highlights a key weakness when the two platforms' browser capabilities are compared. I do believe Sony's latest update adds enhances analogue nub navigation though I've not spent time with it in any meaningful way.



Opera is a great browser. It was your Browser from Jesus. After you heralded Safari. After Firefox. I'm just trying to keep up. ;) Like I said, it should do. The PSP browser is a ball-ache, if you use it for ten minutes, you know why. When you sue it, you wish it were touch-screen.





I'm glad you agree the battery life is a clear winner for the DS. However, your claim that a the DS Lite's screen is too bright is disingenuous in the extreme. You say"I want to see it not suntan my retina." Funny, because if you go outside and it's even a remotely sunny day, you *cannot* see your PSP. Meanwhile, DS users can browse away and their eyeballs are in no way impacted. Come on...



To claim barrel-scraping, just before your third mention of screen size is more unfortunate irony, especially as you ignored the pixel-count vs usable shape issue as outlined above. Also, I think you misrepresent the way in which each machine is used, another example of a disingenuous, not to mention selectively-quoted post and ignoring the fingernail-snapping kiddie-porn reference.

Hold a DS in your in your hand, stylus in the other, and imagine being in public, not wanting the person next to you to read what you're doing. You could imagine this to be an email you are writing to a loved one, something you'd actually be able to to do with ease and speed on the Nintendo platform. Because the positioning on the console is reliant on just one arm, the input on the other, a far greater level of flexibility, resulting in privacy is afforded.

The PSP requires both arms to be used in a single configuration. Your only option is how close you hold it to your face.

Just try it with both machines. If you don't agree, you're lying.





No, I wasn't calling on it for anything other than the nostalgia it offers. It's something I remember vividly for some reason, probably because I disagreed with it. As I said, having no sound sucks.

You never know, perhaps Nintendo will release an update. You know, like the ones you have to download every three days for the desperately rushed and buggy PSP browser...

Come on! DS Lite is only a few mills smaller than PSP.


Not at all. horizontal scrolling on a web page is just awful, so a wider screen that fits more on horizontally, but leaves you scrolling more often vertically is prefereable to a tall screen that requires gorinzontal AND vertical scrolling.


Completely agree here. Tabbing around links just sucks.


Perhaps Sony should just license Firefox instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. Maybe they could come up with somesort of motion sensing wand tpye pointer for PSP, that would be *really* innovative!

What kind of sound? Background music on badly designed homepages? :)


Opera was the first browser to support full 128-bit encryption, so obviously it will support secure pages.

Contrary to popular belief, TANSTAAFL.

Sony paid a browser company to port the browser to the PSP. That money was PSP customers' money.

In the end, the customer pays for everything.

That the browser is included on the device doesn't mean that it is free. Someone always has to pay, and when it comes to mass-market products, you, the consumer, will ultimately pay the cost.


People are interested, and at least Nintendo aren't forcing the browser on people who just want to play games. Only those who buy the browser will pay for it, unlike the PSP where every single PSP customer pays for the browser, whether he uses it or not.

Oh for god's sake...

Ah, so NOT ACTUALLY avoiding it at all then.



If you can remember, your original post said nothing about quality, it was predicated entirely on QUANTITY. You said that the DS had MORE access points. It does not.



They are really quite similar in size. I didn't think it... didn't expect it. But when we got our Lite, we laid it on, and next to, our PSP, and the difference is nothing to shout about. Neither are pocket sized unless you have big pockets. The pocket that will accomodate the DS Lite will - in most cases - accept the PSP too.



The DS screen is 256x192. PSP is 420x272. The simple fact is the PSP can show more width AND more height of any given page. Aspect ratio is irrelevant.



Sorry. What else do you want to do on the web. Play Flash games (oh, you can't on your DS).



Please have SOME facts before you start ascribing a position to me. I have NEVER, EVER favoured Opera as a browser. To me it has always been an also-run, popular primarily with Linux users because it supported them best. You have NEVER heard me take any other position.

Also, you are not trying to "keep up" you are trying to put words into my mouth. I have never changed position on browsers (least not in the way you suggest). I favour Mozilla Firfox on PC, and Linux, and Safari on Mac.



If I go outselde and it's even a remotely sunny day, I won't be playing games or browsing the web.



OMG. We PAY YOU MONEY to write for us. Disingenuity (or disingenuousness).



That's how quoting works. You quote the part you are responding to , and it is taken that you do not have an issue with the rest. If, on the other hand, you are accusing me of taking you out of context, please back that up.



With both consoles you use one hand to hold the console, the other to handle input. With both consoles, you pretty much have the same protection from people reading your letter to your mum apologising about forgetting mothers day.



Nice argument. "If you don't agree with me you're lying." At least I stick with "If you don't agree with me you are wrong".

This is true, a wider screen, as config points out, is better for viewing web pages than a tall one.

Well they must have known about their intention to add a browser since before they launched the PSP, the price hasn't gone up to cover the costs of developing or porting the browser.

Does your Mac make a noise when you hover over a button or every time you press a key on the keyboard or open a window or close a window or confirm a dialogue?

If not, then why should a web page?

Depends which Mac you mean.

The Mac USED to, and Apple saw fit to remove it in OS X, at which point a haxie immediately appeared to re-instate it. This haxie IS on one of my home machines. It's not on my office machine.


As with so much else today. I simply disgree with you on a basic level about this.

I can't browse the Web with the sound on. The clicking sound drives me crazy.

Thank God my laptop has mute button in easy reach!

Not necessarily. The PSP could have been cheaper, or there are other places that "suffer".

The bottom line is that the browser isn't free to anyone. Sony paid Access to port the browser, and Sony's bill is paid for by its customers.

Not that that's a bad thing, but just because the PSP browser seems to be "free" doesn't mean that it actually is, and that no one is paying for it.