It seems only like yesterday when Nokia announced their new and imaginative gaming mobile---the Nokia N-Gage. Everyone was hit by this phenomenal storm and the statistics of the sales proved it. The amount of sales that were made within the first month and a half were way beyond what Nokia had projected and they soon realised that they could make a lot more out of it. Soon people would be getting out their wallets once again to hand their money idly to the multimillion-phone company and they would have a smile on their face too.

Although many people believe that this is the second version that had been talked about in rumours, it is not. This new model is said to be merely an extension of the original Nokia N-Gage and features many of the corrected mistakes that they had made on its predecessor. It is completely built upon the same platform but with a few new tweaks.

The most noticeable new feature of the QD is the completely new design of the game deck itself. It is no longer the shape and size of a ‘taco’, as so many people began to label it. Now it is smaller and easier to handle within the palms of your hands and firm controlled grip of your gaming fingers. A new and comfortable rubber strip runs along the edge of the gaming deck to add to the comfort of playing for long hours and to stop your palms aching from the digging of hard edges. Being rounded, curved in an oval like shape, it also is more comfortable to hold; you can wrap your fingers around it and cradle it just right. The actual D-Pad and buttons are also spaced closer together so that they are more accessible during game play, making it much easier to enjoy the games and once again for long hours without a stiff pain in your joints.

A vital and required element to gaming is the controls of the actual pad itself, or in this case, the game deck. Without it, the gaming itself would be more of a chore and a painful, mundane task. Knowing this and realising that they had made a few mistakes on the N-Gage, from the reviews written about it at the time and the all-famous ‘word of mouth’, it was noticed that the D-Stick was stiff and hard to use. With many of the games being fast moving, this proved to be a big problem that hindered the game play. Now this has all changed. Making it softer and more sensitive to the touch, it creates a great feel for the games whilst playing on the game deck and with fast new titles such as ASHEN and FIFA 2004, it is a greatly needed and appreciated modification. The button that was once accessible by pushing down the D-Pad has also been moved to just underneath it; making you less prone to pressing it by accident, whilst attempting a hard part of the game, and saving you a lot of frustration.

Coming to the buttons themselves, they are in the same format as on other phones but they are a little smaller and closer together than the original N-Gage, allowing faster responses. Some games do not require all of the buttons to be used; TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 2004 only uses two of the number buttons and the D-Pad, whilst ASHEN uses more or less the entire range from one to nine for the extensive controls. Although at times it can be very confusing at first or complicating to play the game and perform so many functions but in general the new layout of the QD has vastly improved compared to the original.

Although they are the only visible changes to the N-Gage, giving it a rather nice and much needed face-lift, there are also a few more functions that have been changed around. One of those is the swapping of games from one to the other when you get stuck on a certain level or just basically bored and wish to play another game. Before it was a very big muddle and fuss, involving you taking off the back cover, then pulling out the battery when you could finally see where you had to put the game. As one could imagine it would get very tedious. Now with the QD those terrible days of holding fiddly games between your thumb and index finger of one hand whilst juggling your N-Gage in the other are over. Placed at the bottom of the game deck is the slot to insert the games with a removable rubber seal that flips back for easy access. Its now as easy as one, two, three and there is no longer the need to turn the game deck off and fight your way through its cover and battery before you can get back into the gaming vibe.

“Why is the screen on the wrong way?” It was what a lot of people were saying when the N-Gage was first released and they are right---on most portable consoles, the screen is horizontal. The QD’s LCD is also vertical, the same as the original, and is a 4096 colour 176 x 208 pixel. Although there is not much of a change from its predecessor’s screen, there has been an enhancement of the light and sharpness of the LCD that improves the game visibility and is also suitable for the much-needed fast frame rate to play the detailed games.

The frame rates are enhanced because of the positioning of the components inside the game deck. Being different from SNT, TFT has the circuit transistors placed on the glass at the pixel location so there is no need to scan the pixel location. The response time is now greatly improved and enables fast refresh rates, which are needed for the many fast paced games available.

The original N-Gage has the enabled feature of MP3 and built in FM-Radio. This has nothing to do with gaming itself but it is where its predecessor, in one respect, outclasses the QD. Because of these two features not being present with the new model, there is no support for stereo output in the game deck and so the games lack the audio quality present with the N-Gage.

Many have been disappointed to find out that these two features were stripped from the new model; opening up the box, setting it all up, going to their PC and then thinking to themselves “So where is the music?”. There was a very good reason for this and the main concern was the high price that came with the original, putting potential customers off and sending them off in search of another mobile entertainment. It is a major factor for the gaming fanatics who were excited of the new model’s arrival and could not wait to get their hands on it and start gaming. To many people such features as the use of MP3’s are important but to others, gaming is the key and if listening to music is a function that they do not care for, then why pay an extra £30 for something you are not going to need or use?

Getting down to business. The actual gaming on the QD has always been a very big issue and even now there is an ongoing struggle to further its presence within the gaming industry to encourage developers to create games for the game deck. At present there are less than twenty games available on the market and although there are a few more in the making, including POCKET KINGDOMS and WORMS WORLD PARTY, more are needed. This is a concern that needs to be addressed quickly otherwise it will not last long in the struggle against famous names such as Nintendo and their GAMEBOY ADVANCE SP.

The obvious main aim of the N-Gage industry is the multiplayer playability. A lot of games featuring this are known as ‘Massive Multiplayer Online’ (MMO) and accompanying the wireless capabilities of the QD, it allows players to go up against anyone in the world. This is a very important attribute and gives it an edge over the other mobile gaming units that it is up against. There are only a couple of games that have MMO for the moment but there are more on the way that will make good use of the online Nokia Arena and wireless connectivity.

Along with the cartridge games that can be bought, the QD and original N-Gage both support Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME). This allows games to be downloaded from the WAP Internet or from the PC and store them on the phone, either by the use of its internal memory or a card. Because they are not too highly detailed, because of having to download them and it would take weeks to install a game of such high memory, they still offer good gaming experience. There is a wide variety to choose from, more than hundreds, to entertain you on the go.

The QD also comes with the Bluetooth Wireless technology to connect to other N-Gages or QDs with a 10m radius. Up to a maximum of four players can connect up with one another to challenge each other at the multiplayer games. Nokia have also created an online battle zone called the ‘Nokia Arena’ where people can link up online to challenge people all over the country. Once logged on, there are many things available; you can access rankings statistics, receive updates and news, participate in events and activities, download exclusive content and much more. This feature is already installed with the QD unlike the N-Gage but it can be downloaded for the earlier model. Not using InfraRed, it makes the connectivity and downloading of information much faster.

Time for the crunch and Nokia have done us proud. All in all they pleased their customers and gave them exactly what they wanted and were looking for. They listened and changed the game deck to the taste of those who would bring in the money and further the growth of their enterprise. The changes that have taken place with the QD are such simple and basic things but all are needed to make that gaming experience one to not only remember but also one to want to experience again and again. It’s shape and size, design and layout, LCD and lighting all work together to show this. The model in itself is a good example to the other gaming phones or portable consoles around it, showing excellent improvement and potential. Unnecessary features have been removed to lower the high price that had scared away the potential buyers from the first model, dropping it down from a high price of £299. Its difficult and fiddly process of game changing has been replaced with the game slot and as a whole it is a very demandable product.

Out of the many good points that the QD has proven, there is one major problem that fights against it selling and that is the lack of games. Compared to the vast range of games for portable consoles such as the SP, the QD needs many more to compete with it. An attraction needs to be there to pull other developers in, to show them all what this great machine is capable of in the way of portable gaming and more importantly, its strong point, multiplayer gaming. At present there are little more than twenty or so games available but by the end of the year Nokia hopes to have fifty titles released and then more within the first quarter of 2005.

Being such a unique and addictive gaming deck with such connectivity possibilities this is definitely worth its money and with more titles being released it will soon hook the nation and many a tournament will be held within the N-Gage Arena. TR