First things first. You can change the MMC Game Cards without switching the machine off and taking the battery out. Which is something they should have had on the first version. You can take out this N-Gage and talk on it in public without looking like you have a tea plate growing out your ear. Which is something they should have had on the first version.
That phrase pretty much sums up everything about the N-Gage QD. For all the show, pomp and circumstances of this launch event, what we've got here is the N-Gage with all the really awkward bits taken out. If you look back on any review of the original N-Gage unit, you'll find three main things wrong with the unit. Two of them are fixed (MMC Game Card switching and side talking) inside a very stylish modern looking case.
The third problem (the User Interface) is something that's not going to change in the near future. The N-Gage is one of many so called Series 60 phones, and is the one that covers Nokia's 'Mobile Gaming Category.' The Series 60 interface is common to all the machines, and can't really be altered too much. But tweaking it shouldn't be too hard for Nokia - although there's been no steps in that area on N-Gage 2. One thing though, the redesign on the unit take the N-Gage out of the "Is it a Phone or a Gameboy clone" and pushes it definitely into the phone category. Which is a good thing - now we know what it is, people can get off their high horses and start writing some good games for it.
What else have we got? Well there's minimal changes to the spec. Nokia haven't upgraded the MIDP engine to 2.0 (it's running spec 1.25) which is unusual as 2.0 has the gaming API's present. It's still only a 4096 colour screen and not 65535 colours. The FM Radio and dedicated MP3 player have been removed, as has the USB connectivity. Your only option to talk to your home computer is Bluetooth. And there's a new interface into the N-Gage Arena service that you access over GPRS or GSM, which will keep the networks happy.
In short, the unit has had most of the multimedia functionality removed so it can focus on games and gamers. Which is a good thing, because Nokia have made a lot of N-Gage gamers upset in the last few months. The N-Gage launch titles back in October were a mix of poor arcade conversions and PS1 ports. December saw some nice games for Christmas, but again they were either ports (Splinter Cell and Rayman 3) or slightly dated looking re-imaginings (Red Faction). There are a batch of games coming up that everyone is looking forward to, including (finally) some N-Gage specific titles (Pathway to Glory being one of them). Still, a signature character would help the N-Gage marketing immensly. Remember what Sonic did for the Sega Megadrive crowd?
But there is one huge stumbling block for Nokia to overcome. Gamers aren't used to seeing a new unit come out six months after the first unit, and while this is something that you see in the phone market, Nokia are going to have to take some time convice the Gaming Industry that this is how they work. And existing N-Gage users are probably going to feel like they've been used as guinea pigs. There's no word on trade ins or part exchanges for existing owners, and frankly I wouldn't expect one.
The N-Gage 1 is a solid unit, with some rough edges. The N-Gage QD smooths those edges but doesn't add any new features. Expect the original N-Gage not drop into the £50-£80 zone with a Pay as You Go deal (currently Orange are offering them on this at £100). With Nokia promising that compatibility between the two units will remain, this could be a good time to pick up the original unit, and deciding on the investment on the second unit when it arrives for the public in Q3.
Nokia have fixed the bugs in the first unit, something they needed to do. Now comes the hard part. Selling it to the public.
Oh and QD? It's Latin... Quaque Die. Which means Every Day.
EXS
