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I spent most of last night fiddling about with the DSi, a new version of Nintendo's popular five-year-old handheld gaming system designed to bring the machine's hardware and firmware into sync with the desires of modern consumers. It's slated for release on Sunday.

I'm not going to formally review all of the new features and capabilities of the updated platform—check out Scott Colbourne's DSi coverage for a comprehensive overview of the device. Instead, I provide for your consideration 11 features that—to use contemporary web phraseology—either pass or fail.

Music player – Pass

A long overdue feature for Nintendo's handheld platforms, music playback allows game-loving music fans (or music-loving game fans) to lug around one less device as they trek about town—assuming their music is in encoded AAC format (more on that in a bit). What's more, Nintendo has tarted up the device's music player with some funky features that let users record sound and lay it over commercial tracks, alter pitch and playback speed, and apply sound effects.

No support for MP3s – Fail

Granted, 75 per cent of people who listen to music while on the go do so with an iPod, which leads one to believe that much of the music in their libraries is encoded in Apple's AAC format. However, the lack of support for MP3 tracks will be a bummer for everyone else. 

DSi Shop – Epic pass

Nintendo's new online store, available only through the DSi (the original DS and DS Lite haven't the means to access the shop or to store downloadable content), is set to become a warehouse of cheap, fun games, social networking applications, and various other fun and useful bits of software. Get started with a the free web browser, then try out Wario's new camera-based micro-game adventure, WarioWare: Snapped!, which costs just five bucks.

SD card slot – Pass

The DSi's new expandable memory is used to store both music and downloadable software from the DSi Shop. What's more, now that the platform has its own storage, game saves could potentially be kept on either the system or an SD card, which would eliminate the need for the limited flash memory currently found on DS game cartridges. Sadly, there are 100 million DS units out there that don't have onboard memory or memory card capability, which means the likelihood of this convenient, cost-saving measure ever actually happening is slim.

Larger screen – Fail

More visual real estate sounds like a plus, but the number of pixels hasn't increased. Instead, they've simply been made larger, which, depending on the keenness of your eyes and how close you are to the screen, can make images appear less crisp. Plus, bigger screens require more juice. IGN reports that, at maximum brightness, the DSi delivers only three to four hours of play time, whereas the DS Lite offered five to eight. At least the charge time has been reduced from three hours to two-and-half.

Removal of GBA slot – Fail

The DSi's lack of backwards compatibility with the Game Boy Advance isn't a big issue for me—whenever I have a craving to play Mario Golf, Golden Sun, or Fire Emblem I just pull out my terrifically tiny Game Boy Advance Micro. However, it might cause some consternation amongst gamers who haven't the desire to keep a drawer full of aging handheld systems.

Dual cameras – Pass

Like many modern phones, the DSi sports a pair of cameras; one facing the player when the device is open, the other on the back of the top shell, allowing users to snap pictures of their environment using the top screen to frame the shot. As with the DSi's music software, the picture utility offers lots of fun ways to play with your images, whether it's warping pictures, adding text, or creating a kaleidoscopic effect.

Dimensions and weight – Minor pass

The DSi may be four millimetres wider and one millimetre longer than its predecessor, but in the all-important depth department Nintendo has shrunk the device by two-point-six millimetres (it now has a girth of just 1.86 cm). What's more, they've trimmed off four grams of mass. The difference in size and weight is minimal, but I did notice it when I slipped the DSi into my jacket pocket.

OS upgrade – Pass

One of the most aggravating aspects of both the original DS and DS Lite was that users were forced to restart the system every time they changed a setting or switched applications. The new DSi operating system functions more like the Wii's, allowing users to quit out of settings menus and applications and land back at the system's main menu. It's a small improvement, but one that significally enhances the overall user experience.

Power cord – Minor fail

The DS Lite power cord is not compatible with that of the DSi, and vice versa. It would have been nice if people upgrading from Nintendo's previous handheld could keep one cord at work and one at home, eliminating the need to haul a charger back and forth during commutes. And that's to say nothing of the comfort and security inherent in the knowledge that you won't be screwed if your charger mysteriously disappears or gets chewed up by the family pet.

Cost – Minor fail 

At $200, the DSi is $60 more than the DS Lite. Put another way, it's roughly the same price as the dramatically more powerful (though decidedly less portable) Xbox 360 home console. Should consumers make that comparison, the DSi might begin to seem inordinately costly.

Final verdict: Pass

The DSi's fun new functionality easily outweighs its minor drawbacks. Indeed, the DS Shop alone ought to be enough to entice anyone who is serious about his or her handheld entertainment. As I wrote in my review of the iPod Touch's gaming capabilities, I love the notion of storing games on the hardware used to play them—it keeps software at the ready and eliminates the possibility of losing cartridges.

However, one wonders if all the new bells and whistles will be enough to entice penny-pinching parents to make the stretch, or if they'll decide instead that it's not necessary for their children to purchase games online, or that their family hasn't the need for yet another portable music player or photo capable device.

Still, if my circle of friends is any indication, there are enough DS-loving older gamers around to make the DSi a success, regardless of whether or not parents take a while to jump on the bandwagon. And that leads me to believe Nintendo's new toy is pretty much destined to become the standard for handheld gaming, probably sooner rather than later.