Nokia

A few years back you would never had expected to see Nokia as a manufacturer of portable gaming devices, but things change. The N-Gage has its problems, but the QD has fixed the biggest ones, and no system can compare to the sheer number of features in the original N-Gage.

Nokia N-Gage

Design: Nokia did some things right and some things wrong in its first portable game consul system. A look at the good: seamless blending of cell phone and gaming application buttons, a cool, exciting design, a nice size and a solid feel. A look at the bad: you’ve got to turn it sideways and hold it up to your face perpendicular (much like using a taco as a cell phone), in order to actually play a game, you’ve got to take off the back, remove the battery, and place the game inside the phone, then replace the battery and the back. Oy. Interface: Overall, the interface is good. There are buttons to get to the mp3 player and the radio right on the face of the console. However, getting back to actually playing a game, there’s no button for that. What’s worse, is that the process of switching games (removing batteries etc) inevitably shuts the system down, so then you have to turn it back on, and you know how long it takes for a cell phone to start up, and then you have to go through a big, long menu of which the “games” are at the bottom for some reason, and then wait for the game itself to load up. We’re talking a minute to a minute and a half every time you want to play a game, vs. the gameboy (stick the game in and hit go) or the PSP (stick the game in, hit go, go through a brief menu). You would think that on a “game deck” it would be a little easier to actually play them. Features: However, what it lacks in straightforwardness it makes up for in features. It’s a cell phone, it’s a game system, it plays mp3s, it plays the radio, it’s a world phone, it’s got wi-fi, it’s got blue tooth, you can download streaming music from the web and use mp3s and downloaded midis as ring tones. Wow. Graphics: The graphics are powerful, though not as good as the PSP or DS, they are better than the GBA, with full 3d capability. However, the screen is smaller than all of the above (minus the soon-to-debut GBA Micro) so all of that processing power is sometimes wasted on the relatively small resolution screen. Hardware and Support: Head set is a must for this device. You do not want to be seen with this electric taco sticking off your head. Fortunately, the thing is blue tooth ready, so there is a variety of cool headphones to choose from. For battery life, you’ve got about 3 hours of talk time, or 4 hours of game time, and about 72 hours of standby time. It’s got some good games, but nothing compared to the DS’s library, or even the PSP for that matter.

Nokia N-Gage QD

Design: The QD is vastly improved in a design capacity from the original Nokia N-Gage. The games now load in through a slot rather than the old field-stripping, battery removing N-Gage system. Also, the ear piece is now built in to the face of the console, so you no longer have to flip the thing sideways to use it as a cell phone. It’s smaller than the previous version too, and now sports a rubberized band for grip and shock absorption. The buttons on the new QD are very functional in all modes, and are easy to use tactilely. They’re backlit as well. Interface: The interface is much improved as well, mostly thanks to the new game-loading slot and the absence of a few features. Features: Speaking of features, the QD has sacrificed many in the name of form. The QD is no longer an mp3 player, no longer an FM radio, and no longer a world phone. It has mono-sound only, which is produced from the speaker/earpiece on the front of the console. However, these are only slight drawbacks, considering the N-Gage GD is a “game deck” not a multi-media deck. Gameplay has improved overall. Also, the phone is still blue tooth ready, still has multi-media messaging, and still connects to the web for email. The cell phone function is serviceable, though the volume could be better in game mode and phone mode. Graphics: The graphics are as good as ever, and were absolutely not sacrificed in the overhaul. They’re better than the GBA’s, though not as good as the DS or PSP. Hardware and Support: The battery life is good, 5 hours of talk time or 10 hours of game time. There are some pretty good games out there, but nothing exceptional. The true triumph of the N-Gage is in the melding of telephone and gaming system; however, the functionality is necessarily limited by the games that are designed for it.