Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi
I have to say I like the Nintendo DS. The popular gaming platform is a clever mix of form, function and fashion not to mention my initials. I wonder if Nintendo was thinking of me…Getting back to reality for a second (at least my version), the DS is worthy of more than my monogram…certainly the 100M unit sales mark that it recently surpassed. Although it was released last year in Japan, Nintendo appeared to time its launch of an upgraded version of the DS in North America dubbed DSi to coincide with the 100M sales mark.
Nintendo has been going for a different crowd along with the grade schoolers like my daughter. A cooking title was available for the DS, and as much as we might hope this was designed to get all those teens out there preparing meals for the whole family, Nintendo was obviously looking to expand its market to include young adults and perhaps even the parents who are shelling out for the consoles and games. You bought one for your kid, why be left out of the fun? Nintendo appears to be pushing the DSi with the young adult demographic, and this is evident on the “meet the DSi” site where you see college kids using it at a party in a high-tech game of “telephone.”
Since I haven’t enlisted any help from any part of the under 40 crowd, this post is not going to be very deep on game review. We need to get to the teardown and the chips inside the DSi.
Semiconductor Insights has torn both the Japanese and North American versions of the DSi. Here’s a quick run down of the devices that were uncovered:
Nintendo CPU (ARM9 + ARM11)
NEC 128Mbit 1T SRAM (North American Model)
Fujitsu 128Mbit FCRAM (Japanese Model)
Samsung moviNAND (2Gbit NAND + Controller die)
Atheros AR6002G Dual Band WiFi (2.4GHz + 5GHz)
Mitsumi MM3218 Single Band WiFi (2.4GHz)
ST Micro (Numonyx) Serial Flash (Code Storage)
Micron (Aptina) CMOS Image Sensor (VGA resolution)
The DSi sports two VGA camera modules. That will boost Aptina’s unit volumes in the months and years ahead, but will do little to showcase their image quality achievements. The DSi camera applications are clearly targeted to the youngest consumers. 640 by 480 images likely to get printed and sent to Grandma. The camera application is made for play – with distortion and some other cheesy effects most enjoyed by the pre-teen crowd. In fact the resolution and the type of “stamping” and graffiti effects mimic what’s inside my four-year-old’s toy V-tech camera.
I measured the imaging array size and calculated that the Aptina VGA sensor was built on a 2.2 micron pixel pitch technology – at least a generation behind the leading edge in production. This was confirmed after delayering the device and imaging in the SEM. It also revealed a pixel design and arrangement not previously seen in any Aptina or Micron Imaging device. I hope to dig up some more information about the new pixel for a future post. Stay tuned.