So, it's been over a week, almost 2 weeks I think that I've had my 3DS. I've written a few blog posts about first impressions, good and bad and so forth. This time I thought I'd just list all the cons to the 3DS. I may do a pros list later, but most of that stuff is either covered in other posts or can be found easy enough on the 3DS website in features. Few little things not mentioned are not that important really either. The cons however is what most people would likely be curious about. What parts about it suck after having used it for awhile. Not that anyone actually reads this blog but me lmao. I'm pretty sure I'm writing this like the rest of my posts for no reason at all. But none the less, here it is...
3DS THE CONS
Not in any order, just as they pop into my head.
The new placement of the onboard stylus is crappy. Yes, I can see why they did this but I don't like it. The stylus now stores from the top next to the game cart. If you're left handed this is probably a welcome change. If you're me (right handed) then this is annoying. I mean granted, you can still get it in and out fairly easy. But compared to the DS Lite which was stored on the right, directly below where you hand already was from holding it, this new position sucks. The old way you could grab it much faster if a game suddenly called for you to have one and you weren't expecting it or something.
There's no microphone jack. Not a lot I can do to elaborate on this one. It's not there. I believe the 3DS has the capability to have wireless devices maybe accessories added via it's wifi or other means (I hear it has infrared receiver and maybe an rf receiver but that might be forum rumors). Currently there is no way to attach an external microphone. Which means you're stuck with the built in one.
The battery dies FAST. From a full charge, with brightness at 4 out of 5, sound at max but with a 3DS game so not as loud as an old DS game, wireless link enabled, playing LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 3D the battery went to critical level in 3 hours. THREE HOURS! By comparison my DS Lite has been known to go 10 to 14 hours on one charge. This is a HUGE difference. And seeing as how there are no USB chargers available for it yet and the car chargers never arrived in the U.S. due to the disasters in Japan, this is an issue. And even if I had more chargers this is still an issue. Not one that I can do anything about though. I have hopes that like the DS and Gameboy systems of the past, some third party Japanese companies will make some add on more power battery packs that you can click onto the back or replace default with or something, anything. Maybe a solar panel? Seriously, with a battery this week they should've made the entire back part of the top panel, around the 3D cameras, a solar panel to charge itself... Why don't they ever hire people like me... /sigh
The cameras, both the 2 outside 3D cameras and the 1 inside 2D camera SUCK. Ok, before I go any further, lemme say it's still cool to see pics of your family or pets in 3D. BUT, it's like 0.3 megapixels. It reminds me of watching TV as a child in the 70's. With the giant outdoor antenna that one person would turn while the other was inside shouting better or worse lol. You have the dots. Big pixels from low resolution. In English that means you can see the dots. With all this technology it has why in the world does it not have at least a 10 megapixel lens? At least on the 2D camera. You can use up to 32gig memory cards so what would be the problem with having a camera that doesn't suck? I don't get why this is so 15 years ago in resolution. And the screens are both so high res and clear, completely confuses me.
No hole for a lanyard. Why have all electronics stopped adding the little lanyard hole? Did the pinpoint size hole really take up that much space or something? I liked having a lanyard for decoration and to help prevent accidentally dropping it.
Charing cradle is retarded. It serves no purpose whatsoever. All it does is go between the a/c adapter and the 3DS. You can plug the same cord directly into the 3DS. I don't get the point of this thing at all. I guess this is less of a con and more of a wtf.
Oh, this is a big one, but one what will be fixed soon. Most of the software that is or was supposed to be built in is not there yet. All of this is supposed to be added with the update at the end of May via wifi. But, in the meantime it doesn't even have a web browser yet. And the entire old wifi channel site is gone so I'm not sure what they're planning here. The 3DS online store is also not up yet. Have a crapload of points or coins or whatever they're called in my club nintendo account from registering all my old nintendo systems and handhelds and games. Just waiting to spend them to download old gameboy games. I hope when they say that they mean the original ones too and not the GBA ones. Not that I wouldn't like those too. But, I would love to play Super Mario Land 3 and stuff. I never got to play the 3rd one lol.
No rumble pak. Again, like the microphone, one "could" probably be added via wireless somehow and then clipped on or some such thing. But currently there is no support for rumble pak options in any games that actually had it which wasn't a whole lot but yes I did have one lol.
The new built in gyro and motions sensors are NOT compatible with old DS games that used the motion pak inserted into the slot 2 GBA slot that also no longer exists (but was removed last version with the DSi not with the 3DS).
It's wifi seems to have a very limited range. Not sure what else to add there.
You can't customize the menu other than to change it from one line to two lines. Can't rearrange icons or change colors or fonts or add wallpapers or anything you would expect to be able to do. This I am pretty sure will be changed in the future. I have not read anything verifying that it will be but it seems highly likely that they will add basic wallpaper and color customization like everything else from pc's to phones to individual programs.
You can only view pictures on the 3DS that are taken with the 3DS. You can not copy pics from your pc or elsewhere and view them on the 3DS system. Nor does it seem possible to copy the pics you have on your 3DS to anywhere else. This is just stupid. Why, why the heck would they not add this? It plays music you add to your SDHC card, why not view pictures and texts for that matter?
No organizer, calendar, text program, address book, nothing you'd expect to have with a handheld device. AGAIN! This annoyed me 3 versions ago with the DS Lite and they still don't have it?!? Are they hoping companies will make game paks to do this? Cause I'm not going to carry around a game pak just for that. Or maybe it will be downloadable software? Or maybe, just maybe, though I'm doubting it, but maybe it will be in this big May update I keep reading about that no one really knows what will be happening.
The Select, Start, and Home buttons are VERY hard to press correctly. They are flat and smooth and you have to press them in a very small section of the button to work and no tactile guide like a bump or raised key to guide you to the right spot to press. The old systems keys buttons for these were far superior. And as a side note, they moved the power button from the outside to the inside of the DS exactly where the Star and Select keys use to be. So if you had an old DS for a long time, like me, then expect to be accidentally shutting your system down and losing your game data when you are actually trying to pause or in fact save your game data, kinda ironic.
With the top and bottom screens being different sizes I noticed something. When you close your DS if there's any dirt or oil from your hands on the touch screen, specifically the left and right raised edges of the touch screen, then it will leave a line on the top screen after you close the 3DS. Since the left and right edges of the bottom screen are closer together than that of the top screen they now touch the viewable area of the top screen when the 3DS is shut and hence leave a mark. Of course with screen protectors and a cleaning cloth this is not the end of the world, but you will have two lines to clean from time to time.
The built in pedometer does not count steps right no matter if you carry it on your back in a bag, in a shirt pocket, pants pocket, wouldn't matter if you stuck it in your shoe. I walk 100 steps it says I walked 10. I walk 40 it says I walked 6. There's no rhyme or reason to what it's counting.
The D-pad is hard to use now. I love the analog pad, and use it for mostly everything. However, in some older DS games you either move too fast through a menu or can't change direction fast enough using the analog compared to the D-pad. In these cases, you use the D-pad obviously. Problem is, that it's lower, quite a bit so. When you hold the 3DS the placement of the new D-pad is so far down and not lined up with the buttons on the right anymore making it hard to actually use it and hold the 3DS right. Keep finding myself tilting the whole thing right about 15 degrees and then tilting my head to compensate lol. Also, it seems either smaller or flatter. It just feels much harder to press and use than my old DS lite.
The high gloss shiny design while being very pretty gets fingerprinted up super easily. Find myself cleaning it with the cloth several times a day.
Last thing I can think of is the fact that you have to hold it a certain way to see the 3D effect properly. Granted, the way you hold it normally is pretty much the right way. Just need to keep it a certain distance and such. When done correctly the effect is very, very clear and truly, truly amazing, truly, truly, truly amazing.
That's all I can think of at this time. If I think of something else later I may stick it in this post but doubt it. Like I said before, not as if anyone but me reads this shit so basically I'm talking to myself like the crazy person that I am.
I would like to add as one last note, that despite there being this many cons, there's at least 3 to 4 times as many pros. Overall this is the best handheld gaming system ever and a great device with amazing features.
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