5tags

Pretty much the only reason I bought a Nintendo DS Lite was to browse the web. In late July 2006 the DS web browser launched in Japan. I thought that the English version was going to be available in Canada in no time, but I was wrong. I waited nearly two months and not a single word was said about a North American release. There was, in fact, a release date announced for Europe, but the price was significantly higher and the date was just a little too far away.

I recently went to Japan so I can get around in a Japanese interface, so I thought why not, lets buy the browser. The actual price in Japan is 3,300 YEN or about $33 USD which is incredibly reasonable, especially considering games can be $45. My mind was made up but a new problem arose, how do I get the browser?

I have been watching all of the DS web broswer videos on You Tube and the photos of people browsing on Flickr and always wondered where they got it. It turned out that most of them live in Japan. Whenever you can’t find or get something where do you go? eBay. I searched around and the cheapest one I could find was $45 + $12 shipping. I actually bid on that one and realized that it was for the larger DS, therefor the memory expansion would stick out a few milimetres. With only a few minutes left in that auction I got beat, thank you. I turned my attention to the Opera forums where I found out that they were importing the browser with two websites one being Lik-Sang and the other being Play Asia. Both websites list the browser at $49.90 but Lik-Sang guarenteed instant and free shipping.

Mid day Thursday I ordered the browser for a total of around $55 CDN or $49.90 USD. Judging by feedback from the Lik-Sang Forum, it should arrive in 2-3 weeks. I guess I could have paid more and got faster shipping, but I got ripped off as it is on the product its self.

For those of you looking to purchase from Lik-Sang I actually reccamend them (as of now). My order was shipped Saturday night without any problems. I hope everything works out.

As for the browser I will show a few photos just to get you interested.