You sound short in imagination. A controller isn't portable? And being more designed like a controller does not mean it would be bigger than the DS is right now. Of course i'm not speaking about "poket size" handheld (wich are useless imo). Handhelds consoles shouldn't be smaller than a PSP imo.
have to admit that when I play meteos (using the stylus of course), the pinky finger of my left hand tends to support the DS near the GBA port. If I don't have a GBA game inserted at those times, the GBA port can be pretty painful on my tiny finger.