Open air mics on a portable are just fine.  Ever use the speakerphone function on your phone?   You're only 10-15 inches from it.  With Wii Speak you were several feet from it.

Now you are missing my point.  I never said a redesign wouldn't be forthcoming.  Just that expected a major overhaul in 1-2 years is nuts.  Note the timeline of the DS, DS Lite and DSi.  The feature packed DSi didn't arrive until almost 5 years after the original launched.   The DS Lite was released to fix design and aestehtic problems with the original.  It was released almost 2 years after the original.  So anyone hoping for a major redesign is going to be waiting longer than they think.  The 3DS doesn't need a cosmetic redesign and many major feature upgrades can be slowly added via firmware.

And yes, there is some programming to work with the parralax barrier.   Go read any interview from a developer talkign about 3DS development.

mid 2013 I'd guess at.

You cannot forget to take into account the simple process of production.

Nintendo found difficulty creating 4m 3DS units before the end of March. They have established contracts with several companies to produce certain parts for a certain amount of time. You can't just up and make a redesign without letting these parts be sold for quite a while.

That is why it makes sense, in my mind, to wait until late 2014 the earliest. The 3DS will probably be in its peak year of software and the Wii2 will be in its second year. With this much time passing after the launch of both respective units, everything is settled somewhat in terms of how the generation is going. At this point, a Nov. 2014 3DS redesign can shake things up again.

I don't even have a 3DS yet, but I do not see any glaring flaws besides a weaker battery that would even warrant a redesign.

If all people want is a better battery. the technology is not really there yet unless you want to get a bigger battery, which is already available. A better battery won't necessarilly need a new design because the 3DS batteries are replaceable. 

well then i'm not even sure we're arguing cause i never said overhaul i said redesign.

If you consider a new color a redesign, I'm fairly certain they will have a red 3DS by X-mas (perhaps even bundled with the new 2d Mario game). That would be an insanely smart move.

Well, a new color wouldn't qualify as a redesign and it's doubtful that they'll have the new 2D Mario that soon seeing as how they appear to be planning Super Mario 3DS first, but they could certainly do a red 3DS with it instead.

What would completely blow me away is a gold 3DS bundled with Ocarina for the holidays in celebration of Zelda's 25th anniversary.

I'm guessing we'll see a new model in 2013, hopefully a larger system with a slightly wider viewing angle for the 3D screen. 

For those pointing towards the battery as something that points towards an upgrade coming sooner rather than later, Nintendo can upgrade the battery without having to launch a whole new rebranded model of the system. Remember when they upgraded the GBA SP screen to a brighter one for example?

fall 2013 - fall 2014

widescreen XL with 1.5 to 2 times the batery life, new AR cards, Face Raiders 2, larger sd...

That was still a minor revision, which counts.