Nokia N-Gage Gray Console

Everyone said the Nokia N-gage 1 would be discontinued in 2 years tops. They were wrong, HAHAHA! ....erm....it was 1 actually. :(

Basically, it's 2006 now and the old N-gage is officially not sold anymore. The QD is the proud replacement that'll keep us all satisfied until something else comes along down the road. But as long as there's still ebay, everyone can always still possibly get the original for themselves. I'm here, with an updated review, having a new world of portables out there to compare to, to give you the info on the 1st N-gage and let you decide if you still want it.


Well, here is where I begin: In October of 2003, Nokia officially dove in the portable game console market for the very first time with the Nokia N-gage game deck, a product that would forever change the standards of portable mobile game devices. It's aim was to place Nokia's name in the mix as the pioneers of advanced mobile gaming. First of all, what is an N-gage?


The Nokia N-gage set out to be a mobile gaming device with great graphics, great games, an mp3 player, a movie player, and what sets our little trendsetting N-gage ahead of Sony's PSP are its cellular phone capabilities, FM radio, MMC card support, and online GPRS gaming, which can be used anywhere as long as you have service that lets you go on the internet. This is rarely expensive either, especially if you have T-mobile who offer unlimited T-zones for a measly $5.99 a month extra.

I may get heat for saying something like what I'm about to say, but the first Nokia N-gage is ....designed really well. No really, it is! If nothing else, it lives up to the high-quality standards expected from phones like the Nokia 3650, although it is getting a little outdated, being a 1st generation Series 60. Nevertheless, it features full email support (IMAP4, POP3, SMTP, MIME2), Series 60 UI enabling application multitasking, WAP over GPRS information management, an XHTML web browser, multimedia messaging as well as all normal text messaging support, series 60 platform and symbian operating system, it's a tri-band phone for international use (900/1800/1900), it features Java(tm) application support, slave USB port for PC syncronization, and features special features like Bluetooth wireless technology, and PC Suite software. It also has a delightful line of built-in Palm-like applications, both standard and special such as contacts info, a calendar, an alarm clock, a notepad, a log for all calls received, missed, and dialed, a calculator, a currency converter, a to-do checklist, a memory manager program, a 1-touch speed dial system, fixed dialing, a sim-card directory, call forwarding program, and N-gage's media features like mp3 player, RealOne video player, .jpg image player, an FM radio, a sound recorder, a personal ringtone composer, and N-gage's screenshot taker which will make the unit take a snapshot of whatever's on the screen at that very moment, so you can save those special moments in your game to show to others, or whatever else you could think of. Any shot you take is very low file and can be sent as a multimedia text message to someone else.


PHEWWWWWWWWWW!


Well, getting back to the phone itself, many will not be taking my "designed really well" comment sitting down and for a good reason too. Actually a crop of good reasons because there are a few basic flaws of the N-gage 1 unit that are impossible to ignore, but for the most part can be solved if you try.

First of all, the N-gage 1's screen is not very bright. In the daytime, it's not easy to comfortably see everything on screen because strong sunlight glares on the pixels causing them to seem even darker than usual and make games like Tomb Raider, Doom, and Red Faction seem like a dark cave without a candle.

Secondly, switching game cards is a trifle peculiar. Like most cell phones with MMC card support, the cell phone has to be powered down and the battery must be removed to remove the game card. For a game console, that's not a good design characteristic. As a matter of fact, it's an outrageous one. The only reasonable way to get around this problem is to....well....crack the games and download them all to one dedicated MMC card. Not really legal, but ....doable (not that I ever have, of course).

Thirdly, the N-gage 1 is a very smooth system to the touch. The reason this is a flaw is because the unit can slip out of the hand quite easily and drop to the ground. The N-gage is pretty sturdy, and won't really break as easily as the PSP is said to, but still, when this thing was $299, the thought of dropping it made me quiver with fear. And there are only so many times it can be dropped before something happens. Ways around this problem are supremely simple. You could just hold on to it properly. Or there are little NOKIA brand pouches for the unit, but the best one is the leather see-through pouch by MAD CATZ. You might just be able to still find one at a Gamestop or EBGames store in America if you look hard enough. Or ebay too.

Fourthly, it's pretty big. Weird. It struck me as so tiny when I first got it. Mainly because when playing with Gameboy Advance forever, the N-gage seems a bit smaller in comparison. But for a cell phone, the N-gage does anything BUT live up to the "sizeable" standards of cellular phones, especially for something made by Nokia, who I thought were so concerned with pocketability. Relax, it's still much smaller than the PSP. That's for sure!

Fifthly, the battery life of the N-gage is not good. It's a first-generation N-gage battery and only lasts 8 hours for music, a measly couple for games, and if you're using the combination of both, you may have to keep a charger handy. But there's actually a simple way around this problem too. When I replaced this phone of mine with the new and improved N-gage QD, I noticed the QD had a longer lasting battery. So, just pop it in your N-gage original. It works! You'll have to take a nail-file and rub down the layer of plastic above the contacts so that you can close the N-gage battery cover over it but a few minutes later, VOILA!! You have the awesome, hard-wearing battery life of a QD. And these batteries are sooooooooo cheap on ebay if you take even a quick look.

But quite sixthly, talking on the handset is one of the most odd formats. The user turns the taco-shaped N-gage sideways against his/her ear. This way of talking, Nokia almost proudly refers to as "unique", is very user-unfriendly. I've never met anyone who could immediately tell how to talk on the thing. I did wonder how, myself, a few moments upon first owning the unit. The simple way around this problem, obviously, is to use the headset that comes with the phone. Problem solved.

But seriously, I don't mind holding it sideways. It's not uncomfortable to me. It's not harder than holding a sandwich. .....it just looks a little funny that's all. Sheesh.




Flaws aside, however, it's sad that the N-gage still seems a bit better than the new and improved N-gage QD which features easy gameboy-style game swapping, and a much brighter screen. The reason I say this is that the N-gage QD has emitted 2 of the key features that made me buy the original in the first place which are the mp3 player and FM radio, both features which are done suprisingly well on the N-gage original. The reason it's sad is that it makes it difficult to decide whether this N-gage is the best one to buy. If the QD had just included these features, and done them well, my N-gage review would truly be one sentence: "BUY THE QD".

MP3 PLAYER: The sound quality of the mp3 player is quite great, to be honest, and has several settings for listening like "rock", "pop", "dance", "jazz", "classic", "latin", and "normal". It also has a standard bass boost switch and song-looping settings too. Just standard stuff, ya know. Mp3 players and cell phones go together like peas and carrots. The N-gage's dual headset serves as your music headphones and with it's tiny microphone, your call-making headset as well. Music automatically pauses when a call is coming in or is being made and once you're done, the music starts right back up again. Plus, wherever you can plug in a pair of headphones, you can plug the N-gage's audio cord in and record whatever you hear over the radio, off a gameboy, a record player, a tape player, a TV, VCR, DVD player, or anything else I'm faling to think of at the moment. It's cool because it allows you to record the soundtrack off of anything that's playing.

As my memory card is 1 whole Gig, there comes a time when I wish the N-gage lived up to some of the standards of mp3 players like the ipod. The N-gage only stores your tracks into one huge random list. When my playlist gets to be almost 120 songs long, I wish there was a filing system to keep different bands in their proper lists instead of having to scroll endlessly through one long list. One good feature on the n-gage, which is better than nothing, is the ability to mute which tracks you wish so that only the ones that you want are on your playlist at the main screen. But I can't even decide what order my tracks play in. It plays them in alphabetical order by song title. So I generally have to punch in a number before each track title.

The only way around this problem of having no filing folders for different bands is this: There's a free application you can download for the N-gage called FXplorer, which is basically like having "My Computer" for your N-gage. It allows you to create different folders on your card to keep entire groups of mp3's in easy to locate dedicated folders. It makes things seem more simple and you might just add it to your list of reasons to still go for this original N-gage.

One bad thing about the mp3 player is there's absolutely no feature that allows you to fast-forward or rewind mp3's. They play continuously in one direction and that's it. Oh well!

FM RADIO: The FM radio of course also sounds extraordinary with the same recording feature available. If I love something I hear on the radio, I just click record and it's like having TIVO for my radio.


REALONE PLAYER: RealOne player is a built-in feature of the original N-gage. But I wouldn't recommend it for your movie watching. The screen ratio for it is very small, the playable clips that can be watched on it are usually very grainy, hard to see, and the sound quality is dismal.

Anyone who owns an N-gage NEEDS to get their hands on SMARTMOVIE! It's an application that syncs your MMC card with your PC. It creates movies with a great framerate, full-screen playability, and better sound quality. Plus, it allows you to flip the video screen to wide. Just turn your N-gage sideways and watch your movie across it's widescreen ratio. I LOVE IT! And it's free (if you know where to look).




As for online gaming, the N-gage features The N-gage Arena. The Arena is essentially a little website that your N-gage phone can go to with any cellular service that allows internet access. Once there, you can play against other people's ghost times, high scores, upload your own, or even play online multiplayer live over a GPRS connection. GPRS connections are the future. NOT WI-FI!! With N-gage, you don't have to be near a hot-spot. It all happens wherever you are, baby! I've quite fancied a game of online Tiger Woods golf with someone named "Fuufairy". Heehee! Not every N-gage title has N-gage Arena features, and also, not every Arena-featured title has online multiplayer support. But the titles that do are quite impressive. Various ones that currently do are Pocket Kingdom, Tiger Woods Golf, Pathway to Glory, and let's hope that just one sports game (if N-gage ever gets another one) gets some online multiplayer action going.

As far as connection, it can take a few moments to get saddled up and ready to go, and there have been a few buggy moments where a problem with my service arose. But ultimately N-gage's online experience is quite enjoyable...for a cell phone.

Getting yourself fixed up with an internet service will vary depending on whether you have cingular or T-mobile, but I should once again remind you that T-mobile offers the incredible price of $5.99 for unlimited T-zones. T-zones is the only service you will need to use the N-gage Arena.

THE GAMES! WHAT ABOUT THE GAMES??: Yes, yes, the N-gage is a gaming system, is it not? Here's the fact: DON'T BELIEVE THE HATE SPEECHES! N-GAGE'S GAMES ARE NOT THE SAME QUALITY AS CRUMMY DOWNLOADABLE ONES. These are huge impressive games.

I will concede, however, the opening library of N-gage games started off very badly. The problem was not the device. The problem was timing. N-gage was being rushed to stores for the 2003 Fall season and the release games were almost all rushed, sloppily made games with low replay-value and bad graphics. But those days are over. Read my lips: OVER! NOKIA have gotten the point. The games are getting to be incredible! Some have really shocked me and proven the N-gage is capable of great things.

The N-gage graphically performs much like a pocket-sized PSone with it's 32-bit graphics. Some games have even proven that the little N-gage can outperform the Nintendo DS!! Old-school fans of cult playstation hits like Tomb Raider, Pandemonium, Tony Hawk, King of Fighters, Colin McRae, etc. should not go without N-gage. Each game performs and looks amazing.

Also, the N-gage is proud to be a Symbian series 60 cellular phone with a really nice screen. That means there is also an extremely vast world of Java games that will be supported on N-gage.

And here's one secret that some companies don't really want you to know (especially NINTENDO!). There are extremely talented individuals out there who have developed emulators for N-gage that allow the system to play virtually any classic console game such as Sega Master, Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, and even programs that play Nintendo games, most gameboy/color games, and even popular Atari and classic PC games as well. As far as retro gaming goes, the possibilites are limitless. And since classic games are so low-file by nature, you can fit unheard of amounts of games on one inexpensive MMC card. Think about it: Wherever I go with my N-gage phone, I literally have my entire collection of Gameboy games, Gameboy Color games, Sega Game Gear games, Sega Master games, and a few Genesis and NES games all on my 256MB card within my phone!!! One second you can be playing Super Mario Bros. 2 and with the push of a couple buttons, immediately be playing Legend of Zelda. And they're all FREE to download! Understand that you have a vast world of fun and addictive FREEBIES that you can immediately start having fun with on your N-gage.

But it's the exclusives that make the N-gage so irresistable. Sega's Pocket Kingdom, featuring worldwide online RPG-style battle, Ashen, Nokia's first-person horror-themed shooter, Pathway to Glory, the insanely fun online multiplaying turn-based wartime extraveganza, Warhammer 40,000, n-gage's newest and hottest turn-based fantasy game, System Rush, n-gage's most impressive space racer. The list goes on and on.

As for the controls, they're a little questionable, since they've not changed in design since the QD. The button layout is a phone keypad like any other phone. The 5 and 7 buttons are raised up so they can easily be found. They are primarily the action buttons of every game. And the keys click silently I might add, and I kinda like it better than the QD personally. When you want to be very quiet, the buttons on the N-gage QD click and clack a little loudly. Not on the original.

On the original n-gage, however, the only cumbersome problem is that to select applications, the directional pad is also a button that you have to press. When playing fighting games, it's hard to wail on that pad without accidentally hitting it as a button. The newer N-gage QD has an action button placed next to the directional so there's two buttons for two functions.


N-gage games are purchased seperately on MMC card and you won't be broke after buying N-gage games (at least not anymore). NOKIA will continue to sell new N-gage releases at their sister website www.n-gage.letstalk.com (with a download system coming soon) for prices that range from $14.99 to $24.99 That's half of what PSP games cost! And if you hurry, you may still find a Gamestop store (hoping you live in the U.S) that sells N-gage games because they're being liquidated at $6.99 each!

I often get bombarded with questions like, "Is it possible to download the games for free? Does anyone do that out there???" I'll just say that the answer is "yes". But I'll leave it at that. ;)


Well, ultimately am I telling you that you should buy this phone or not? Hard to say. Most everyone would like you to think that getting an N-gage is pointless since the system is near its death. That is technically true, but there has yet to be produced a phone that can do quite as much as the original N-gage and quite so well. A lot of ignorant reviewers say that the N-gage's games are as bad as most regular cell phone games out there today, but I don't see one other phone out there with Playstation quality graphics and classic 32-bit games like Tomb Raider, System Rush, Tony Hawk, or Colin McRae. Anytime I even see a commercial for a phone that plays games like these, they don't even have the guts to show actual footage of their phones' graphics. N-gage is only too proud to show its own off. And with its multi-tasking abilities and retro gaming horizons, for the next couple of years, it's still going to be the best cell phone out there for gaming. Period!

Ok, ok, I know. This is the year 2007. Phones are onto the next series and are outperforming the N-gage. Fine. But did you happen to take a look at their price tags? $499? $599? Yeah. That's what I thought.


But NOKIA knows that cell phone users are constantly changing phone models and so they're making a move very soon that really makes perfect sense. NOKIA will bring the N-gage platform to every NOKIA smartphone out there. So basically there are soon going to be tons of cell phones out there that essentially ARE n-gages. This basically means that instead of bringing the experience to one phone, they're going to make it playable on all of them so you can choose which phone is right for you. So obviously, NOKIA is going to take another stab at this whole gaming thing by letting you choose what N-gage phone you prefer. You might think, "Well then why buy this old N-gage, then, when it's all coming to new and better phones?" Well, good question. That's why it's completely up to you. This move is still a year and a half away, though, and no one even knows if NOKIA will produce another phone designed just for gaming. So even if you get an original N-gage now, there might not be anything like it or better for a while.

Despite its few design flaws, I can't help but think that if only it's screen had been brighter, it's handset been on the front, its game insertion were easier, its battery life were longer, its size were smaller, its shell were not so smooth, its mp3 player could fast forward or rewind, .....it would've been the perfect phone! And yet I still love it. But hey, .....that's me.