Nokia N Gage

Nokia finding new grounds in the market

Nokia has the capability of finding new grounds and new variants of already existing devices. Mobile technology of this age is heading towards the integration of different gadgets into one. Nokia finds a huge potential in the youth market. It is a fact that young people buy phones actively as compared to aged people.

Nokia N gage concept

As we look behind in the past, Nokia introduced 5510 (music box), nokia 3300, both of them emphasized on multimedia, but they were not very successful. This time, the company is trying to get another market share i.e. the gaming console.

Nokia N gage design and features

Nokia N gage dimensions are somewhat big (133.7x69.7x20.2 mm). It weighs more than usual phone, but its weight is comparable to smartphones (137g). If you compare N-Gage with competing consoles, it will look attractively. Keyboard has a friendly design for gaming but not that much for SMS. There are also dedicated keys for mp3 player, radio etc. N gage displays up to 4096K colors and its resolution is 176x220 pixels. The screen is bright but fades in direct sunlight. Its has a built in memory of 4 MB (3.4 for user applications). Furthermore MMC card slot is there, so there is nothing to worry about memory. The battery lasts for 3 days under normal usage. But if you are a game addict, you can finish the battery within 2 hours. The console consumes more power in 2d and 3d games. N gage is made on platform 60, like 7650 and 3650. It runs a Symbian OS, hence it supports smartphone features. Bluetooth is present in connectivity options.

Conclusion

Lets discuss some negative points in the console. The battery time is not good enough for a gamer; it should be the double of the existing one. MMC card slot is present underneath the battery. Whenever you need to change the card, you have to switch the phone off, this can be a disadvantage. The set has many connectivity problems too. And there is no indication of Bluetooth on the phone. So, you don't know that whether the phone is connected or not.

Nokia N gage comparison with gaming consoles

Now let's have a look at the games. A big advantage is the multiplayer feature via Bluetooth. Up to 4 players can play simultaneously. Normally game consoles don't have such feature, so that's could become N-Gage's strength. On the other side, it is rather difficult to find a rival. Maybe it was supposed that the devices will be bought in a pair, but that's far from being real. The main rival of N-Gage is Nintendo Game Boy Advance (SP). This gaming console has more games that are available and has good sale infrastructure. The absence of communicative feature in Game Boy Advance will be fixed in the near future.

Nokia future plans regarding N gage

Nokia has big expenses for promoting N-Gage. It seems that the company understands the big competition and is ready for it. Nokia prepares N-Gage II project, which will be in stock November 2004. The changes include improved keyboard, new joystick and bigger screen. Other innovations include multiplayer through GPRS or using EDGE. Recently a new product is released from Nokia N gage QD deck. It is not N age II. Some people say it N gage 1.2. It features the same functions with a few discrepancies fixes, like swappable MMC, bumping up the battery from 850 mAh to 1070 mAh, low price. To cut the price, several features are missing which will change the scenario and reason to compare N gage and N gage QD. The screen resolution is lowered; Mp3 player and FM radio are missing too.