Don't Touch the Touch Screen
October 08, 2006
I finally broke down and bought myself a Nintendo DS Lite. As you know, the DS stands for "dual screen", as the the system has two screens, one of which is a touch screen.
Now, being an electronic device, it comes with instructions detailing exactly what you shouldn't do with it. And some of these points are unreasonably restrictive, so you just know that the device is expected to be used in a manner contrary to these instructions, and they're just covering themselves for legal purposes so no one can blame Nintendo when their device malfunctions due to normal use. For example, regarding the touch screen, the instructions state "...operate the screen by using the included stylus." and "Use only a Nintendo-licensed stylus on the Touch Screen." Yeah, like the stylus from my Palm PDA isn't safe for the oh-so-fragile touch screen on a device expected to be used by school kids.
Not only am I skeptical of the idea that only Nintendo-approved styli1 are appropriate, I question the idea that one is expected by Nintendo themselves to never use anything other than a stylus to operate the screen. Exhibit A: New Super Mario Brothers. In New Super Mario Brothers, if you get a power-up item while you already have one, this second power-up item goes into a reserve box which is displayed on the touch screen. If you want to use the reserve item, all you have to do is touch it on the screen, and it will appear near Mario, where he can then grab it. I want to point out two things here:
Here's what Nintendo's instructions have to say about screen protectors:
First of all, it came with two protectors, one for the touch screen and one for the regular screen. Now, this contradicts the instructions from Nintendo quoted above. But that's okay, I had no intention of protecting the top screen anyway, since it's never going to be touched except for the occasional cleaning2. So, I proceeded to apply the touch screen protector, and found two problems. The first was that the sticker was exactly the same size as the screen itself, rather than being slightly smaller as I'm used to. This means that, due to the screen being recessed into its frame, it would be impossible to ever remove, since there's no margin in which to stick a fingernail. The second was that this screen protector was made of a rigid plastic, unlike the PDA protectors I'm used to which are very soft and flexible. Due to these two problems, I had a hard time getting it down onto the screen without getting air bubbles trapped underneath, or having the edges pop back up due to imprecise alignment. I never succeeded in getting it applied properly, and I'm actually glad, because I don't like the idea of never being able to remove it. So, I tossed it out. Boy, that was a waste of four dollars. Actually, it wasn't a complete waste, because the package also included a lint-free cloth for wiping the screens with. I'm keeping that.
I then went out to Staples and bought a pack of Belkin brand screen protectors for Palm PDAs, cut one to the correct size for the DS touch screen, and applied it. I'm happy with this solution, though despite the fact that I tried to be careful, and cleaned the screen before doing this, I managed to get a fairly noticable piece of dust trapped under the sticker near the bottom of the screen. But at least I can always peel it off and try another one; the package inclued 12 of them.
1. Yes, it's a word, look it up.
2. Using the fog-it-up-with-my-breath-then-wipe-it-with-a-tissue method.
Now, being an electronic device, it comes with instructions detailing exactly what you shouldn't do with it. And some of these points are unreasonably restrictive, so you just know that the device is expected to be used in a manner contrary to these instructions, and they're just covering themselves for legal purposes so no one can blame Nintendo when their device malfunctions due to normal use. For example, regarding the touch screen, the instructions state "...operate the screen by using the included stylus." and "Use only a Nintendo-licensed stylus on the Touch Screen." Yeah, like the stylus from my Palm PDA isn't safe for the oh-so-fragile touch screen on a device expected to be used by school kids.
Not only am I skeptical of the idea that only Nintendo-approved styli1 are appropriate, I question the idea that one is expected by Nintendo themselves to never use anything other than a stylus to operate the screen. Exhibit A: New Super Mario Brothers. In New Super Mario Brothers, if you get a power-up item while you already have one, this second power-up item goes into a reserve box which is displayed on the touch screen. If you want to use the reserve item, all you have to do is touch it on the screen, and it will appear near Mario, where he can then grab it. I want to point out two things here:
- This is an action game. Sometimes you need the reserve power-up item right now, in the heat of the action. Pulling out the stylus from the holder just to perform a single tap would be mighty inconvenient.
- The power-up item on the screen is just the right size to be pressed with your fingertip. It just beckons you to do so.
Here's what Nintendo's instructions have to say about screen protectors:
If you use a screen protector on your Nintendo DS, use only a Nintendo-Licensed screen protector, and use it only on the Touch Screen.Again, aparently not just any plastic sticker intended for touch screens will do. Anyhow, I went to my local Best Buy, where they didn't have any PDA screen protectors, but they did in fact have ones made for the Nintendo DS, made by Pelican. So I bought these.
First of all, it came with two protectors, one for the touch screen and one for the regular screen. Now, this contradicts the instructions from Nintendo quoted above. But that's okay, I had no intention of protecting the top screen anyway, since it's never going to be touched except for the occasional cleaning2. So, I proceeded to apply the touch screen protector, and found two problems. The first was that the sticker was exactly the same size as the screen itself, rather than being slightly smaller as I'm used to. This means that, due to the screen being recessed into its frame, it would be impossible to ever remove, since there's no margin in which to stick a fingernail. The second was that this screen protector was made of a rigid plastic, unlike the PDA protectors I'm used to which are very soft and flexible. Due to these two problems, I had a hard time getting it down onto the screen without getting air bubbles trapped underneath, or having the edges pop back up due to imprecise alignment. I never succeeded in getting it applied properly, and I'm actually glad, because I don't like the idea of never being able to remove it. So, I tossed it out. Boy, that was a waste of four dollars. Actually, it wasn't a complete waste, because the package also included a lint-free cloth for wiping the screens with. I'm keeping that.
I then went out to Staples and bought a pack of Belkin brand screen protectors for Palm PDAs, cut one to the correct size for the DS touch screen, and applied it. I'm happy with this solution, though despite the fact that I tried to be careful, and cleaned the screen before doing this, I managed to get a fairly noticable piece of dust trapped under the sticker near the bottom of the screen. But at least I can always peel it off and try another one; the package inclued 12 of them.
1. Yes, it's a word, look it up.
2. Using the fog-it-up-with-my-breath-then-wipe-it-with-a-tissue method.
Posted by Karl von Laudermann at 7:30 PM
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