Can Nokia's redesigned N-Gage hit the sweet spot with gamers? We take an early look.

The N-Gage QD is the follow-up to Nokia's original gaming mobile phone that debuted last autumn to decidedly mixed reviews. The new version of the gaming mobile phone still packs many of the basic features of its predecessor; it's a GSM (900/1800) smart phone using the same Symbian 6.0 OS found on many other Nokia units and with Bluetooth connectivity. But the company has overhauled the N-Gage's design to offer improved usability. Local pricing has yet to be announced, but based on the US pricing model, we expect the N-Gage QD to be significantly cheaper than its predecessor.

	Answering the call  Mobile phone reviews :  LG G7100  Motorola MPx200  NEC e313  NEC e616  Nokia 6230  Nokia 6600  Nokia 6820  Nokia 7200  Nokia N-Gage QD  Panasonic G50  Panasonic GD55  Panasonic X70  Sharp GX30  Siemens SX1  Sony Ericsson P900

Upside: Like its predecessor, the Nokia N-Gage QD's focus on gaming is evident from its horizontal layout, its colour screen, and its thumbpad controls. But the company took special care to fix some of the glaring flaws found on the original. For example, rather than having to remove the battery first, you can now slip game cards into a dedicated external slot. Furthermore, the phone can be held flat against your face when making calls, instead of the perpendicular positioning that prompted so much ridicule the first time 'round. The QD is also 20 percent smaller than the original N-Gage, with a more affordable debut price.

Downside: The unit's display, while brighter, is not as spacious as that of the Game Boy Advance SP. The price of being smaller and cheaper is that several features peripheral to game playing have been removed. Music fans are particularly hard done by -- the MP3 playback facility and radio are gone. Also missing is tri-band GSM support; Nokia will be selling two different kinds of N-Gage QD depending on your worldwide location. That means that global travellers wanting to travel to the US, for example, won't be able to use an Australian N-Gage QD on US networks, as they could with the original unit. Although Nokia is touting its N-Gage Arena for future titles, multiplayer support currently remains limited to face-to-face encounters via Bluetooth.

Outlook: The Nokia N-Gage QD appears to have corrected many of the flaws of its predecessor, but only time will tell whether the redesigned model can win over hard-to-please gamers already ogling future portable products from Nintendo and Sony.

ZDNet Australia's Alex Kidman contributed to this report.