N506iS + Nintendo DS = Nintendo DS SP?
This week at CES Engadget scoped the sexy new N506iS - DoCoMo’s new phone with no speaker. How is this accomplished? A new technology permits the LCD screen itself to be used as a speaker.
This technology could dissolve the need for side-mounted speakers on the Nintendo DS slimming it down considerably - and paired with conservative advances in miniaturization this might be just the ticket for squeezing the guts of the Nintendo DS into a smaller form factor for it's eventual second incarnation. This would be in the same spirit that Nintendo created the beloved Nintendo SP form factor even though SP still only played GBA games of it's bigger, uglier sister. Such a plan hasn't been announced, or even rumored - only silently desired by every beating heart.
Would you buy a DS that looked like an SP? With your last dollar? Instead of feeding your family? Of course, yes. You wouldn't be human inside if you answered "no."
/all
22 Comments:
This site really is beginning to plumb the depths for news.
You wouldn't be able to get [left-right] stereo sound.
Ever since the post of the completely stupid DS "joystick" on December 31, this site has gone completely downhill. Do everyone a favor, give us good news or give us none. I think most of us care about tunneling and modding much more than speculation of what the DS' second model might look like.
Yeah... The thigs like the sock for the DS and this are real stupid.....
BTW, is there a speaker behind the screen or something? I don't get how that works...
I like the stuff posted
im all into the modding/hacking seen
but thats been really slow that last few weeks
in my mind "something" is better than "nothing"
so please
keep up the good work
JaXs
I agree. Useless but interesting news is better than no news at all.
Theo and I occassionally differ as to how this site should be run so he posts the things that he sees and I post the things that I see and we both trust that we won't embarass the other. This post is mine and represents my views.
Dissenters,
Sorry you don't like it. I don't write anything that I wouldn't like to read myself - and despite the occasional slow week - I write something almost every day. When there's news, you'll get it - until then you get a heartbeat. Something interesting, or unique or just somebody putting effort into something new.
Supporters,
Thanks, fellas. Even when I'm rolling my eyes about some comment i don't agree with I'm still secretly hoping for the next one to get my back.
I wouldn't want one. As someone mentioned there would be no stereo sound. I also think that it would distort the image when sounds play. If you turn up the volume all the way on your ds, and look real hard, you can see distortion in the top LCD from sounds. A wavy pattern is created.
It probably works like a soundbug does.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-860746.html
Yeah CNet sucks..but you can find more info with google.
There might be more to why the DS is wide than having stereo speakers.
8|
Don't trouble yourself for nothing.
This surely won't happen as we see on the picture anyway. But its interesting to see what the future could bring us. We don't have to think that this will actually be used, but more about HOW it could be used at some time.
Stereo sound would be a problem, that's for sure, but in a year, maybe they will have found something about it too, like putting two LCDs screens that will act as two speakers, but you won't be able to tell that there is two.
Everything is getting smaller and smaller nowadays. Look at the huge things that Atari was almost 20 years ago. Now they managed to fit everything into the size of their controller, and they could have made it even smaller if they wanted. For more recent consoles, look at the PS2. What next, an X-Box you can slide into your back pocket? The GBA itself had better-than-SNES power, while being about 1/10th the size of it, and it even had a built in screen to boot.
Being able to turn an LCD screen into a speaker is really interesting. Might not be practical as it is right now for the GBA/DS, but if they keep developping it, who knows?
It's not the speakers that hold it back from being smaller, IMO. I wouldn't be comfortable at all if you use it like a SP.
Typical nerd whingers. Ever wondered why no one likes you? Perhaps it's because you whine about everything. If you can't be bothered to read a non-mod article, then don't. Or create a superior website. No? Then shut your stupid greasy faces.
^^nice... I agree - too much whining. Anyway, the LCD/speaker combo isn't that new. They have been developing laptops with that feature since May I think. It doesn't distort the image as someone said, and the audio quality is actually pretty impressive. I never thought about using the technology for portable gaming - looks interesting.
It uses technology licensed from the British company NXT quoted on the London market under the ticker NTX.It is capable of doing stereo!The technology is to be used in all aspects of audio and is used in computers, music systems, cars,tv,s,phones ,etc.The latest use is by Lufthansa Technic in jets.It is the future of audio!
It uses technology licensed from the British company NXT quoted on the London market under the ticker NTX.It is capable of doing stereo!The technology is to be used in all aspects of audio and is used in computers, music systems, cars,tv,s,phones ,etc.The latest use is by Lufthansa Technic in jets.It is the future of audio!
The NXT technology is called SoundVu. It has been used in the NEC ValueStar range of computers in Japan. It is absolutely USELESS. The DoCoMo phone will fail.
www.nxtsound.com
At the cinema most of the sound comes from behind the screen- do you worry about stereo there? The theory is the same here.
Amazing the number of peole on this site with no idea of the possible.
NXT soundvu is being used NOW in laptops. It works. Its in a phone It works. Its in TV's and Hifi. It works
The technology works. Its in stereo and portable game devices are simply an extension of what has already been proven.
Rakesh
Typically british attidude,everybody talking out of their ar*es, how you lot can comment on NXT technology wihout doing some reserch first I don't know,so I suggest you go to nxtsound.com and get yourself educated,and you will notice how many companies are turning to nxt speakers,go to stores and listen to nxt speakers and compare them with other speakers,then you just might be in a position to make a comment.
Yep - This technology works and works well. It works in stereo already - it has been developed over the last decade or so, and is now all ready to roll (already popular in Japan, NEC mentioned it specifically as one of the advances that helped them back to the No. 1 spot in the Japanese PC market.)
Gives good quality sound with either a smaller device, or allows the same sized device to incorporate a bigger screen.
eerm, I'm British. Not sure what a 'typical british attitude is' but I've been following NXT for a few years now. Seen and heard the TV's, HiFi's and surround sound systems using NXT. I'm pretty certain I know what I'm talking about and to put my money where my confidence in the company is, I've invested several thousand pounds of my money in NXT shared. They are doing very nicely. Don't know who the other chap was but he sounds pretty sore about british people to make such a generalisation.
Piezoelectric transducer
promises better mobile sound
As cell phones and other handheld devices compete for the attention of increasingly sophisticated users, audio quality as well as new functionality becomes critical to the devices' success. Needing less power and producing higher-quality sound than traditional micro speakers, the second-generation Distributed Mode Actuator (DMA) piezoelectric audio transducer turns flat surfaces into speakers, opening new design possibilities.
NXT's second-generation Distributed Mode Actuator
Twenty percent smaller than the first generation DMA, the 22 x 7 x 3.5-mm device can directly replace current micro speakers. Since it is up to five times more energy efficient than a micro speaker, the component frees up power for other functions, such as photo flash; it provides better sound reproduction to boot.
The DMA consists of one or more small piezo-crystal beams attached to a single stub; the stub acts to drive a flat surface, say an LCD's transparent protective cover or a flat keypad. Operating the piezo material in its resonant region turns it into a modal velocity transducer.
Using a cell phone's entire display as the speaker does a way with the micro speaker's hot-spot effect while eliminating the need for a grill. The hemispherical radiation pattern of the sound produced by the system also makes for better hands-free operation. (From $0.50 to $1.50 ea, depending on quantity, application, and design—available now.)
NXT, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, U. K.
Andy Bank 650-996-5798
[email protected]
http://www.nxtsound.com
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