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Nokia N-Gage Review

Nokia's N-Gage is targeted at mobile gamers. It rolls a portable gaming device, an MP3 player, an FM radio, and a phone into one package.

It has a centred backlit 4096-colour display with a directional thumbpad and dial keypad on either side. While the gaming functionality on N-Gage is its showpiece it is packed full of features. Data features include SMS, MMS, IMAP4, POP3, SMTP, MIME2 e-mail, WAP and XHTML Web browsing over GPRS data networks. The phone has J2ME support, Bluetooth and triband capabilities.

N-Gage has an integrated RealOne player and FM radio with excellent digital sounds. The N-Gage records voice memos, FM radio and external stereo sources via an included line-in cable. And you can use MP3, AAC, WAV, or MIDI music clips as ring tones.

N-Gage has launched with 20 games and does a fair job with more advanced 3D graphics. Multiplayer gaming is possible via Bluetooth, which is simple to set up.

As a mobile phone the Nokia N-Gage fairs well.

However, N-Gage does have some disadvantages.

The earphone and mouthpiece of the phone are housed on the unit's narrow edge making it very uncomfortable to use.

The device lacks an externally accessible slot for MMC modules.

The lack of analogue controls makes movement in 3D games difficult. Many games are designed in landscape and N-Gage is in portrait orientation.

As a digital music player and recorder, N-Gage lacks many essential features such as forward/rewind, replay, playlists, and a graphic equalizer. N-Gage doesn't allow you to listen to music while playing a game.

Unfortunately, these design flaws severely limit the device's usefulness. And although the all-in-one concept is appealing, once the battery dies you're left with nothing.