Full Ars review of the 3DS
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/03/a-beautiful-screen-a-weak-battery-a-door-to-the-future-ars-reviews-the-nintendo-3ds.arsCamera is awful, the screen is nice but kind of ugly for DS playing, and of course the battery is still awful. Charge time is about 3 hours from empty and you'll get just shy of 5 with everything (wifi/3d/etc) off.
I like the new Friend Code/Mii system. It still uses the dumb numbers, but you can autogenerate QR codes and point the 3DS camera at it and it'll read them. It sounds kind of silly for people like you and me but remember the 3DS is aimed at kids and something like this would be perfect for them.
The low resolution of the screen really harms purely 3D games (you can see some CRAZY aliasing in the screenshots) but I imagine 2D games will look fine on it. Pilotwings takes full advantage of the 3D effects and according to the Ars guys the added depth actually makes maneuvering easier. I still contend the 3D will still end up being nothing more than a gimmick and we'll see far more non 3D games than 3D games.
The biggest issue is how messy and rushed this launch is. There's no games out that scream MUST BUY, a huge misstep from a company known for legendary launch selections. NONE of the online components work, there's no store, no wifi connect, no browser, that's all coming "soon".
So if you're really really really interested in the 3DS, warts and all, at least wait until more games come out if you're not interested in online. Or wait for online if you are. If you can hold off, definitely wait until the inevitable 3DSLite comes out or an aftermarket extended battery. The battery life and the lack of software and online components really hampers what is otherwise a servicable upgrade to the aging DS.
I'm disappointed that it merely catches up to the bar its chief competition, Sony, set with their last generation handheld. The Nintendo of now isn't the Nintendo that gave us the NES and SNES and N64. They're not interested in pushing pixels anymore, just pushing margins. How terrible this launch is combined with how many obvious corners they cut on the hardware itself shows that either Nintendo is desperate, or just interested in the get rich quick of being the first to market.
That being said, I fully expect great things to come to it. This is Nintendo and at the very least have the best first party support in the industry. And given that it's Nintendo, games will come out on it. I just don't think it's worth it in its current form, and definitely not given the current selection of games and other features available.