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Nokia Does Not N-Gage

Targeted at mobile gamers, the Nokia N-Gage ($299 list) offers online, mobile, multiplayer game play using Bluetooth and GPRS. The unit provides a backlit screen that has a 208- by 176-pixel resolution, measures 1.6 by 1.4 inches (HW), and contains 4,096 colors. The unit also has an eight-way directional controller, or rocker. The N-Gage may very well define the mobile gaming market: a device that can serve as a mobile game platform, a tri-band GSM phone, an MP3 player, an FM tuner, an e-mail client, and a personal information manager. Unfortunately, several design flaws severely limit the device's usefulness, and we fear that the N-Gage will go down in history as a poorly implemented great idea.

Our opinion of this groundbreaking foray into the realm of multiplayer mobile gaming is tempered by several important design flaws. Although the industry has widely embraced SD, for instance, Nokia chose to rely on MMC for storage of MP3s, images, and games. Also, you need to disassemble the unit to change MMC modules. This process includes turning the unit off, removing the headset, sliding off the back panel, removing the battery, replacing the MMC module, and then putting everything back together. That's too many steps for switching games. The device should have an externally accessible slot for MMC modules.

Game publishers may help compensate for Nokia's poor hardware design by releasing some must-have titles. Some games should do a good job of building a community by relying on GPRS to download additional content and to display ghosts of global high scores. Multiplayer gaming via Bluetooth is a lot of fun, and we got a kick out of playing baseball against someone across the room. Yet the screen is in portrait orientation, and many games are meant to be played in landscape, which means that the viewing area is often much smaller than the actual screen.

As a digital music player and recorder, the N-Gage lacks many essential features. Not only was the volume insufficient to be heard over background noise on a New York City subway, but the unit also lacks many essential features such as fast forward/rewind, replay, playlists, and a graphic equalizer. You store music files on removable MMC media and transfer them from your PC via USB or Bluetooth. You cannot listen to music while playing a game, however, because there is only one MMC slot.

The device includes full e-mail support (IMAP4, POP3, SMTP, and MIME2) and can synchronize your calendar, contacts, and tasks with many PC-based PIMs, such as Lotus Organizer and Microsoft Outlook. The most useful aspect of synchronization is that it can quickly and thoroughly populate your contact list. Synchronization, however, is via Bluetooth only, so the process is slow and works only for the 1 percent of PC users who have Bluetooth. In addition, once installed, the multicast router software occupies 8MB of system resources and cannot be disabled. The device uses an XHTML browser to access the Web and supports J2ME. Between the Bluetooth connectivity requirement for PC synchronization and the hassle of using multitap input, the N-Gage will not meet the needs of the mobile professional. We did find it useful as a digital photo viewer, however, reading images from MMC and displaying them on the built-in screen.

The N-Gage uses a lithium ion battery, and battery life is acceptable. On our informal rundown tests, we got approximately 6 hours of game time or 10 hours of music time. We made 6 phone calls of varied length and played music and games for 2 hours each, and the battery survived. When we spent 5 hours playing games and listening to music, however, the battery died shortly afterward during a phone call.

The current implementation prevents us from recommending the N-Gage to anyone except a technology enthusiast who simply wants the latest portable gadget. And though the all-in-one concept is appealing, once the battery dies you're left with nothing. If multiplayer mobile gaming is your thing, the Nokia N-Gage is the best device; if you want only mobile gaming, stick with your Nintendo Game Boy.

Find out what our new gaming web site 1Up.com had to say about the N-Gage.