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.
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.
The N-Gage Qd CAN play mp3s!!!!! all you need to do is to put a any size memery card into the aviadble slot and download some mp3 playing software!!! its soooo simple i dont know why everwon says you carnt