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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