Today, the Big N (do people still call them that?) announced that electronics vendors will be able to vend you a Nintendo DSi come April 5 for $169.99. Personally, I think the DSi is one of the most significant and worthy updates to a piece of hardware ever.

Hit the jump to find out why.

As someone who carries a lot of sports apparatus around in a hiking rucksack (not to play with, I just want to convince my father to let me sleep in the dog shed again), I am often short of space. Often, the rucksack is so swollen with equipment, that I can’t fit my chunky 21.5 mm wide Nintendo DS Lite handheld gaming device into the sole remaining, 18.9 mm wide, pocket. This is why feverish excitement is instilled in me every time I hear about the new Nintendo DSi: it’s 2.6 mm thinner than it’s predecessor (that’s a 12% decrease for percentage fans). How marvelously practical Nintendo’s device has become!

A recent problem I’ve had is not being able to capture images of my thrilling escapades in the British countryside. I consulted my entire friend base (both of them!), and they suggested taking still photographs through use of a camera enabled mobile telephone. No, no, no, I said, that won’t do at all.

You see, I don’t currently own a phone (I favour semaphore communication) so a camera-phone is not a viable option. I went back to my trusty companions and they recommended procuring  a compact portable camera. The impudence of it all! Cameras often take high quality photos (most have over 0.5 mega-pixels!), and consequently the photos pick up every repugnant detail of a person’s face. Each individual pore is visible and every imperfection on a face has attention drawn to it.

If only there was something which would let me take blurry, lo-res photos on a device much larger than modern cameras. Wait! There is! Once again the DSi comes to the rescue like a gallant knight. With it’s very convenient shape and 0.3 mega-pixel cameras, I won’t be able to differentiate a persons face from the background. I’ll look beautiful once more!

I’m a sucker for good internet browsers, which is why I’m writing this post on my PSP, but I wanted something that would take me to the next level of e-surfing. Enter the DSi Browser. With the enlarged 3.25 inch screens, I’ll be the envy of all my friends. Finally, a convenient way to type out emails on the go.

I’ve always found buying games with notes and coins really hard, which is why I’m so pleased that the DSi let’s you buy games with Nintendo Points! One Nintendo point will set you back 0.8, so now everything is so easy to buy! Gone are the days where I have to fumble around in my pocket for loose change, now I just spend my real money on virtual money! Simplicity at last!

The DS Lite had four brightness settings, but I could never get the right level of glare. Levels one and two left me squinting in the dark to catch a faint glimpse of the actions on screen, while levels three and four dazzled me beyond belief, causing me to topple over into a nearby watermelon stall. The new Nintendo DSi boasts a glorious array of brightness levels (five, to be exact), so I can find a simple compromise between INSANE brightness, and unplayable dimness.

The final feature that makes the DSi so fantastic is the lack of GBA cartridge. Now I don’t have to succumb to the temptations of Guitar Hero: On Tour or the features built into Pokémon Pearl and Diamond that allow me to access saved data on GBA cartridges! The best thing though is that I can’t play GBA games. I think I’ll just burn my entire collection! For those people who complain about the loss of backwards compatibility, remember this: it’s a small price to pay for the ability to sync 0.3 mega-pixel photos to the Wii Photo Channel!

I haven’t even mentioned the newly designed power button or the reduced battery life (both of which are great new features by the way), but I think you can see just how useful and necessary this upgrade is. I’ll see you in the queue on April 5!

Source: Nintendo Via Joystiq