Nokia N-Gage - Mobile Phone Plus Mobile Gaming Console Preview

Published by

Gaspy's Raymond M. Padilla has posted his 3 page Preview of Nokia N-Gage! a device that will change the way you look @ portable gaming.... and don't forget to check out the Nokia N-Gage Commercial's on page 3.

The device itself looks very similar to a Game Boy Advance, albeit with a slimmer form factor. The length and the width are a bit shorter than the GBA, while its thickness is noticeably trimmer, allowing it to fit in your pocket with room to spare. Its svelte dimensions and internal battery causes it to weigh less than the GBA as well. Though it lacks shoulder buttons, the unit has 21 buttons and a rocker pad for ample control.

Powering the system is a 104 MHz StrongARM processor. The amount of RAM N-Gage will have is unannounced; when cornered, a Nokia representative told me that only its development partners know about the RAM specs. One noticeable drawback is its 176 x 208 pixel screen, although it has backlighting and is quite luminous, it's only a bit more than half the size of the GBA's display and is only capable of 4,096 colors. The tradeoff was made to increase the unit's battery life; the smaller size and lower resolution allows the battery to last up to six hours for gaming, four hours for talking, and 200 hours of standby. The battery life is inline with other mobile phones, but is a bit short for gamers' needs. Hopefully an extended-battery option will be offered.