Ruff!
(translation: yes)
Last night a friend got a new DS and I played around with it. He just got it so he had no DS games other than the Metroid demo, which I played extensively
Anyway, I played a bunch of GBA games (my own and my friend's) on both the DS and my new SP. To my surprise the DS screen is not as good. In comparison the DS top screen is less bright, and the colours are more faded (white-ish). The bottom touch screen is the same way but a little bit worse.
For example I played SMB3. In the World 5 screen (my current progress) there is a lot of green land. After playing that on the DS and SP back to back, you can clearly see that the green is much stronger on the SP, and more pale on the DS. That's just a specific example; the effects translate to an overall white haze on the whole picture.
So now I am not sure if Nintendo will upgrade the DS screens eventually. Considering how new it is, it's hard to say. But if they do it, it will surely be a welcome improvement. I would definitely like to see Metroid Prime Hunters with a more colourful presentation. The threat from the PSP is also a consideration for Nintendo. If they can use better screens to show off a new colourful game (New SMB...) it might just be enough to persuade a few more purchases.
Unfortunately me and my friend didn't have two copies of the same game (I just started to get them; my friend had a library for his all-scratched-up original GBA), otherwise I would have taken a picture with both machines showing the same image.
__________________
Latest toy: Sharp LCD TV Monitor LL-M17W1U