Review: iTouchDS DS Card SLOT-1 MicroSDHC

[bandit]

iTouchDS DS Card SLOT-1 MicroSDHC
Manufacturer: M3 / iTouchDS
Site: Buy from Homebrew Dev (iTouch2) / Buy from ConsoleSource / Buy from DealExtreme / Buy from VolumeRate
Price: $34.95-$36.99

Overview : iTouchDS introduce a new concept to NDS gaming. Now you will be able to launch your favorite Homebrew and games with a touch of a button. iTouchDS features a system which will allow you to create custom shortcuts pointing to any homebrews or games. These shortcuts will appear in the iFav menu from here you will be able to access, run and manage your shortcuts.

Features :

• Plug and play feature for it is easy to use.
• 100% Game compatibility.
• Automatically detect and generate game save file.
• Built in cheat engine.
• Fully customizable skin interface.
• Supports both the Micro SDHC and MicroSD. (Capacity over 4GB)
• Supports homebrew applications.
• Supports software reset function.
• Supports Multi-Language.
• Supports Download Play.
• Single-chip solution, highest level of stability & lowest power consumption..
• Support Multi-Language: English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean and Thai Language.

Quality/Usability : M3 Team has a new flash cart for you Nintendo DS users. M3's new product is called iTouchDS. Although the iTouch DS does the same as the M3DS Real, only difference is sticker on the cartridge, packaging, GUI, no RAM/Expansion pakc and quality of the cart.

I love the new packaging design even though it comes in a cardboard box. Inside the cardboard box is a plastic sleeve that holds the iTouchDS and microSD card reader. The card reader is pretty much a standard with flash carts that uses microSD's. If you have a bunch of flash carts like I do, you'll have a lot of them. The back of the box lists the features that you read above. However, no mini-CD is included. Usually the CD contains files to load onto your microSD. You can download the latest files at Simple + Easy.

The quality of the cartridge itself feels cheap and flimsy. Its similar to the M3DS Real and is the same size as the original cartridge. Instead of a screw holding the shell together, there are clips along the side holding them together. Like some flash carts on the market, the PCB chip protrudes from behind the iTouchDS sticker just slightly. At a certain angle, you can see it as well as moving your finger over the center of the sticker. On the back of the iTouchDS, the plastic guides are no longer present like the original cartridges. This can cause potential scratches if not kept and protected correctly.

The iTouchDS automatically boots into the main menu of the iTouchDS. In the main menu, you are unable to change the brightness of the Nintendo DS Lite screen. Some areas of the GUI does not utilize the touchscreen capabilities. The main menu has 3 options: iCard, iFav and iGame.

iCard is your file browser where you can view all the contents on your microSD. It also lets load homebrew files. iTouchDS auto-DLDI patches your homebrew files. All you do is load the file and let iTouchDS do all the work. You can save files as favorites to iFav by simply pressing the X button. This will than place an icon on your iFav.

As mentioned above, iFav is where all your favorites are stored. This directly links you to your games and applications. You'll mainly see icons but once an icon is highlighted, the file name and path of the file is shown at the top of the screen. This is the only menu that allows you to use the touchscreen.

iGame is where the game loading takes place. Here, only .nds files are viewable. Unfortunately, you can not load homebrew files from this menu. As mentioned above, you can only open homebrew files from the iCard menu. You will also need to place your games in a folder and not in the root of the directory. Doing so will result in an error message stating that it can not create a save file. Within the iGame menu, you can choose your cheats, adjust settings such as soft-reset, Normal or Download Play and a reset button.

In the system settings, you are able to enable/disable and choose cheats, enable/disable slow motion, slow motion level, back up save files, Normal or Download Play. The GUI is also skinnable but the icons are not moveable. You can only change the looks but not placement.

Conclusion : Overall, the iTouchDS DS Card SLOT-1 MicroSDHC did what it was suppose to do. Compatibility, auto-DLDI patching, cheats all work great. The new GUI system is very nice looking and user friendly. However, although these budget cards are a cheaper alternative and they work, I feel that the build quality is compromised. The cart feels really cheap in the hands. But those looking to upgrade their M3 Simply or R4 to a card that supports microSDHC, they may want to consider getting the iTouchDS.

Please note that none of the "upgrade" products listed in this site are endorsed by Nintendo, Sony and/or Microsoft. DCEmu Reviews and DCEmu Network does not condone piracy. The primary functions of a "modchip" and/or "flashcart" are to allow you to play imported games and homebrew software that you legally own or simply just for experimenting with hardware. We in no way endorse piracy, and encourage all users to do the right thing and support the developers/manufacturers that support them. We do not take any responsibilities for any use outside of these parameters or where the use of such a device is illegal.

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Images via comments

[davidcrew]

wow, excellent review there

yeah, thats why im always glad i picked up the r4. It does exactly what i need and its quality has been good so far.

but there are so many carts on the market that the decision is entirely up to the person buying. The R4 is the champion in my opinion because they have always been fast with their responses, updates, and compatibility, but the M3 line as well as the cyclods line are all decent in themselves.

It used to be that many carts were crap, but those three have always seemed to be the best brands. With some of the newer brand names, there seems to be too much risk involved about whether or not the development team will actually support the cart with updates.

[paul3100]

yeah, thats why im always glad i picked up the r4. It does exactly what i need and its quality has been good so far.

I also had an r4 up till about 3 weeks ago with no complaints at all, But the r4 is getting old and has hardly any features/ extra options.

The R4 is the champion

Again i thought so once but its not any more. no SDHC support for one, No real time save and doesn't support clear roms so compatibility in the future could be a problem is the r4 team stop updating.

but the M3 line as well as the cyclods line are all decent in themselves.

You missed out the supercard ! it has almost all features of the cyclone and is the card i replaced my r4 with. The cyclone is supposed to be the best card on the market with excellent build quality/features and compatibility and guess what the supercard SDHC is right behind that

Anyway as for the card being reviewed iTouchDS , bla bla bla , does what most other modern slot one solutions do but not with as much features as the top cards as i said about above, if i were (YOU) i would buy a supercard SDHC as it only costs £18 and has everything your ever going to need...

paul