When speaking about one of the latest developments from Nokia, the N-Gage QD, as a mobile phone, is kind of a sin, since it is absolutely unclear from the exterior what this device is - a phone or a gaming gadget.
Nokia presents its N-Gage QD as the gaming deck with a full functionality of a dual band mobile phone, operating under the EGSM 900 and GSM 1800 standards. The device operates on the Symbian system with the Java 2 Micro Edition support to ensure the dynamic gaming capabilities of the N-Gage and offers a three point four Mb of the internal memory with an ability to use additional external memory cards. As a state-of-the-art mobile phone, the N-Gage provides polyphonic ringing tones, as well as MIDI and WAV ringing tones with the built-in tone composer. A Calendar, a To-Do list, a Contacts and Address book serve to improve the personal information management within the Nokia N-Gage. The mobile phone features enhanced messaging and connectivity functionality: a full email support with IMAP4, POP3, SMTP and MIME2 protocols, MMS messages with different multimedia content, an enhanced SMS with smiles and picture messages. The N-Gage supports data exchange in the GPRS standards with a speed up to forty kilobits per second. The integrated web-browser allows to surf the web sites with a very high speed and quality. The onboard Bluetooth technology performs the wireless functionality of the Nokia N-Gage mobile phone. In addition, the Bluetooth in the N-Gage allows not only to connect the additional accessories to the phone, but also to organize the multiplayer gaming in real time. In order to have more popular functions, Nokia equipped its N-Gage with a voice dialing option, a voice recorder and an integrated hands-free speaker.
The gaming functionality of the N-Gage really impresses with its rich set of gaming opportunities. The owners of the N-Gage mobile phone can play top-quality games, available on the MMC game cards. The phone has a special slot for this type of cards, and the game starts automatically after the card insertion. An IHF speaker ensures splendid sounds with vibrating effects during the game play. It is interesting that Nokia presented a special on-line service for the N-Gage mobile phones' owners, called the N-Gage Arena, offering additional game levels, chats and community features with chat rooms. The users may download Java games from the Arena web site directly to the N-Gage mobile phone. The device has a perfect illuminated display with high-contrast and 4096 colors characteristics, providing a resolution of 176 per 208 pixels.
The N-gage has a user-friendly and comfortable interface with the multitasking functionality. The separate OK key, gaming shortcut keys and application key help to operate the N-Gage effectively and with ease, especially, during the gaming process.
If to consider all the described features, the N-Gage will certainly become a desirable purchase for people, who would like to combine the gaming device with a high-tech mobile phone from the leader in the mobile telecommunications.