Nokia N-Gage QD

Click for images of the Nokia N-Gage QD.

At the recent E3 show in Los Angeles, we witnessed a slew of handhelds announcements from industry leaders like Nintendo and Sony. With such optimism on the future of mobile gaming, it's no surprise that Nokia sees this potentially lucrative market as one to venture into. The original taco-shaped N-Gage wasn't the runaway success that the Finnish company expected. Despite being feature-laden, it was badgered by what finicky gamers saw as unforgivable design mishaps. Will the revamped N-Gage win back the crowd this time?

Design
Like the original N-Gage, the QD sports a horizontal layout indicative of its purpose as a gaming device. More rounded this time, the device is also contoured with rubberized material along the frame. Together with the sturdy build, it's easy to hold and gaming is comfortable even after prolonged usage.

The new model is more pocketable thanks to its smaller dimensions. However, the limited real estate results in a rather cramped keypad arrangement. In addition, the buttons are a tad overwhelming compared with the clean designs of other gaming devices.

As the keypad resides on the left, messaging remains a two-hand process. It didn't take long to get accustomed to the layout but texting is not as intuitive as on other phones.

A few flaws that plagued the previous N-Gage have been addressed. On the older device, it's a hassle to swap games as you need to remove the battery along with its cover. This issue is now corrected with a dedicated MMC slot situated at the bottom. Nokia opted to go with a simple implementation instead of the more handy spring-loaded mechanism commonly found in PDAs.

Sidetalking is also a thing of the past. The microphone and speaker are now relocated to the front facade so you can use the QD like most phones.

The phone
The previous N-Gage was packed with features that weren't of great significance to pure gamers. For this model, Nokia tossed out the triband capability, MP3 playback and FM receiver. Perhaps, the company felt it made more business sense to market the QD more aggressively at a lower price.

While the exclusion of triband and radio helps in cutting costs and trimming the heft, it's puzzling why the MP3 software has been removed. Running on the Series 60 platform, this dualband phone is fully capable of music playback and third-party programs can be loaded to extend its functions. We installed MP3Go and loaded a few music tracks, only to be disappointed by the mono audio output.

The operating system allows multitasking so it's possible to look up the calendar while checking your email. If you have several programs running at once, simply press and hold the menu key to bring up a list to toggle between applications quickly.

This Nokia packs in smart phone features such as calendar, to-do list, and address book. There are also a nifty conversion tool and a recorder for taking down voice notes. As expected, this unit is relatively fast, typical of most Nokias.

The game deck
As the QD sports a portrait-oriented screen, it's difficult to play platform titles like SonicN as it's hard to anticipate what's ahead in time. On FPS titles like Ashen, there isn't much lateral vision so you'll have to scroll sideways regularly for a better picture. While the screen resolution and colors remain unchanged, it's noticeably brighter than the original.

Preinstalled on this new QD is the Arena Launcher to access the N-Gage Arena online community. Unfortunately, it was unavailable for trial on our review unit. Gaming services to expect include the ability to chat with others, check out ranking stats, download exclusive contents, and more. The launcher will be made available to existing N-Gage users on www.n-gage.com soon.

In addition to online gaming, you can pit your skills against others over Bluetooth. Just for kicks, we paired the QD to a Motorola Wireless Portable Speaker HF800 and was pleasantly surprised that sound can be output wirelessly.

Reception and Battery Life
Reception is generally good and no disconnected calls were encountered during the review period. Although the earpiece volume is adequately loud, voice quality is only average with occasional hisses.

As expected, the battery life is dependent on how frequent the QD is used for gaming. However, the 1070mAh cell failed to offer good mileage. After about 2 hours of gaming, it was necessary to recharge daily. If you're an avid gamer, it's a good idea to purchase an additional battery.

Conclusion
If you aren't impressed with Java games on your phone and don't want to lug around another gaming device, this N-Gage offers a good compromise. At a recommended retail price of S$398 (US$283.21) without contract, the QD is certainly attractive especially when operator subsidies are factored in.

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