Nintendo 3DS XL: Nintendo should take notes from one of Sony’s Android tablets.
Could a 3DS XL look like this?
UPDATE: Nintendo revealed the 3DS XL like we expected and you can see how it compares to our mock up right here. We’ve already reported to rumors of the Nintendo 3DS Lite, and we’ve told you what we wish to see in the eventual 3DS redesign. We stumbled upon something we couldn’t forget, the Sony Tablet P. The Sony Tablet P is the latest Android tablet from Sony. It marries two 5.5 inch screens in a clam shell design not unlike the Nintendo 3DS.
What we’re getting at is Satoru Iwata should lock the current Nintendo 3DS and the Sony Tablet P in a hotel room with a bunch of alcohol and soft jazz mix CD’s until they spawn a product that is a mix of both devices. Oh, and force all Nintendo of America employees to watch the water birth of this new device as punishment for not localizing The Last Story in a timely manner.
While everyone may be wondering how Nintendo will make the Nintendo 3DS smaller in a future redesign, we can’t help but speculate at how awesome it would be to get a remodeled 3DS that is similar in size and shape to the Sony Tablet P. Not only would it give us bigger screens, possibly in the 5 inch range, but it would increase battery life.
The Sony Tablet P features a 3,080mAH battery netting users about 6 hours of continuous video playback. Of course this is rocking a dual core 1Ghz CPU and 1GB RAM and the screen resolution is much higher. Combine that larger battery with bigger screens but the less battery intensive hardware found in the Nintendo 3DS and you could be gaming nearly as long as you once did on your DS Lite before ever reaching for the AC adaptor.
Another advantage of marrying these two devices together is the ability to add the Circle Pad Pro into this theoretical 3DS XL. You could have all four shoulder buttons and place the second Circle Pad under the A/B/X/Y buttons and not have to worry about space.
The trade off with this is portability, something we don’t want to lose. The lure of a bigger screened 3DS is very tempting though. Nintendo wouldn’t have to slap 5.5 inch screens on it like the Sony Tablet P has, but 4.5 or 4.75 would be ideal and cut down on size.
We think this is a terrific idea, especially if Nintendo dubbed it the Nintendo 3DS Pro and kept as a separate SKU than the normal, smaller 3DS model. Perhaps the current 3DS stays on shelves at $149 and this mammothing redesign arrives at a premium price of $199? We’re all for it.
Check out Engadet’s review of the Sony Tablet P right here, and think about the possibilities
