It's clear Nokia wants a piece of the video gaming industry. Despite plunging millions into marketing its N-Gage gaming platform, the Finnish company failed to overturn competitors like Sony and Nintendo. Undeterred by the lackluster response, Nokia went back to the drawing board. The result: A second generation N-Gage QD game deck. From the improvements, it's not hard to conclude that the company has been listening to consumers.
The design of the previous N-Gage gaming handset caused quite a stir when it first debuted and didn't appeal to the masses as a phone; no thanks to its oddly placed earpiece and microphone. In fact, some found it so amusing, they even started a Web site called Sidetalking. So the question on everyone's mind must be: "Are we still sidetalking?" What a relief that it's back to "classic talking" this time round and the attention of curious bystanders will be a thing of the past.
Another critical flaw corrected is the location of the MMC slot. In the older device, you're forced to take off the back cover and battery when changing games. This poses a big hassle for gamers. The improved game deck now has hot-swap capability with its dedicated MMC slot conveniently located at the bottom of the unit. To make the QD appealing to gamers, games now auto-start when a card is inserted.
Personally, I find the button placement a tad overwhelming compared with the clean design of Nintendo's handheld GameBoy Advance SP. However, it's understandable considering the QD is a phone-cum-game device. Plus, it didn't take me long before I was fragging monsters in Ashen--Nokia's First Person Shooter. The graphics and sounds are quite impressive for a handheld while I wished the screen resolution could be more comparable with Nintendo's offering.
New to the QD is a dedicated N-Gage Arena Launcher to access the N-Gage Arena online community right on their phones. Gaming services include the ability to chat with others, check out ranking stats, download exclusive contents, and more. Existing N-Gage users can join the fun, too, so watch out for the launcher when it's available from www.n-gage.com in May.
Gaming shouldn't be a lone affair, and like the previous N-Gage, multiplayer game play can be done over GPRS or Bluetooth. Included is a Screenshot utility that lets you to capture that high score for boasting rights to your friends. No more squabbling over who's a better player now.
It'll be a tough sell if game titles aren't available. Here, Nokia shows its continued commitment by announcing that a minimum of 30 new games will be available by end 2004. Another bonus is the backward compatibility as titles created for the previous model will work fine on this upcoming N-Gage. Good news indeed if you look forward to upgrading to the QD.
From the game-oriented design, it's not hard to see that Nokia intended the QD more as a gaming device. However, this N-Gage is just as capable voice-wise. With the sidetalking issue out of the way, this handset now comes in a more pocketable package, though it's slightly thicker. The QD supports Java and polyphonic ringing tones. Improvements include a brighter 4,096-color screen and longer battery life. Nokia has, however, replaced the triband support with dualband and tossed out the FM radio as well.
Running on Symbian OS 6.1, this Nokia packs in smart phone features such as calendar, to-do list, and address book. There are also a nifty conversion tool and a recorder for taking down voice notes. During the hands-on, I found the unit to be relatively fast, typical of most Nokias. Due to the horizontal layout, messaging will be a little awkward, especially when you have only your right hand to do so.
If you're thinking of using this N-Gage as a music player, you'll need to purchase a third-party application as MP3 playback is not supported out of the box. The supplied dual mono headset may be a big turnoff, too.The N-Gage QD is expected to be available this coming May. We were unable to confirm local pricing at press time. However, if the US planned retail price of US$199 is any indication, we can expect this new baby to be priced very competitively.
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