Nokia N-Gage QD: Great Smartphone, Weak Game Unit
Written: Aug 29 '04 (Updated Sep 13 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Bluetooth, MMC expandability, no taco-talkin'
Cons: Very Buggy Phone, weak game system, 4096 colors
The Bottom Line: This phone is too buggy to buy or keep. Stay away if you want a communication device. The QD is iffy if you want a gaming device.
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| mookiekong's Full Review: Nokia N-Gage QD Console |
Note: I posted this review accidentally in the Original N-Gage section, so I deleted it from that section and moved it here. If you rated the old deleted one, please rate this one because the old one is gone. I wanted the review to be in the right place. Thanks!
Update 9/13/2004: My Nokia N-Gage QD just sold on eBay. I found that after using it for a bit more, the system is just too finicky to keep around. I am lowering my rating for the system based on the bugs found as a smartphone.
The system has a lot of bugs that need to be worked out. The compatibility of different software is what a lot of it boils down to. For instance if you install a piece of software, it will work just fine, but when you go an try to synchronize the unit, it will crash giving the dreaded AppThreadServer error. When used with iSync, the synchronization is very touch-and-go. I did not have time to figure it out, but it has something to do with modification dates on the calendar. If something goes wrong, you'll have to reset the QD in order for the iSync to work again -- if not, it'll keep complaining that the Bluetooth service was shutdown halfway through the sync.
The QD suffers from the white-screen-of-death if you install a really incompatible piece of software. This happens after you power down the phone. So, for instance if you install the piece of software, the validator for the package will say that the software is just fine. The software seems to run just fine. But when you power down your QD and power it back on with the MMC card in the slot, the only thing the QD will do is continuously reboot itself until the MMC card is removed from the slot.
The killer for me though was the Messaging application. It has a bug in the Messaging where it stops receiving messages! Or it delays the receiving of messages for HOURS. And the only way to find out if the Messaging app is out to lunch is to try to send a message. If you try to send a message while it is in this state, it will complain that no message can be sent because a backup or restore is in progress (and yes, no backup or restore was in progress). This is very bad considering the QD is a communication device also!
So, because of this I am lowering the rating on the box and putting it as a not recommended buy.
This is a review of the Nokia N-Gage QD, the second iteration of the original taco-talkin' N-Gage. The QD, as it will be known from here on, is mainly a release that takes care of the major problems of the first game-deck/phone. But, along with some very positive changes, there are some negatives introduced also.
What's Changed
The original N-Gage had its fair share of problems, causing the game-deck/phone to tank pretty rapidly. One of the most publicized flaw of the original N-Gage was the taco- or side-taking "feature" of the phone. In order to talk on the phone without using a headset, the original N-Gage had to be held with the edge of the phone to your face. It was the weirdest and most awkward thing. Happily, the new QD functions just like a regular phone, you hold the face of the phone to your own face to talk. No weird looking side-talking anymore.
Another drawback of the original was the need to turn the unit off, take off the battery cover, and take out the battery in order to swap a game card (or memory card). This made switching games or storage cards very cumbersome at best. The new QD has the memory slot external. It is located at the bottom edge of the device and is covered by a thick piece of rubber. The card can now be removed "hot" (meaning with the machine still on), though you will have to select "remove memory card" by pushing the power button. Removal of the card without doing this procedure can cause damage and data loss, so be careful.
Graphical
The original N-Gage had a 4096 color screen (12-bit). The QD has the same screen except that it is a lot brighter for some reason! The screens on both machines are the same size. My question to the developers of the N-Gage (both original and QD) is why go with a cheezy 4096 color screen when upcoming portable game units like the PSP from Sony will support 32k colors? The N-Gage original and QD have the exact same hardware inside for the gaming portion of the deck, which means that it is lacking one huge thing: A graphics processor. What does this mean? For 3D games, it will be a bit choppy. Just like the Gameboy Advance, there is no 3D co-processor inside and when games need that extra processing boost for 3D stuff, it is not there and games get choppy. It can be seen in games like Tomb Raider, Red Faction, and Pandemonium. The processor inside is fast enough to keep the games chugging along, but it would have much benefitted the N-Gage platform if Nokia actually integrated a graphics processor into the unit instead of putting a Nokia 3650 phone inside the N-Gage casing (the N-Gage original and QD are a Nokia 3650 phone). One other thing about the screen is that it is tall instead of wide. This makes for weird game play since it eliminates peripheral vision and makes games like Tomb Raider and Splinter Cell almost impossible.
Auditory
The sound on the system has been downgraded since the original N-Gage. There is only a mono speaker now for game sounds -- whereas the original had stereo sound. Yes, you can hook up the included stereo headphones to get sound also. The sound quality on the system is decent when compared to the GBA since both systems are mono. One gripe I have with the sound on the system is that there is no external sound control and the sound seems to be ON for every game no matter how it is configured. This makes for sneaky game play during meetings quite difficult. Nokia could do us all a favor and include an external, easily accessible volume control toggle with the next revision of the N-Gage platform. Other than that, the sound is neither impressive or overly disappointing. It is just there.
Controls
The controls for the system have been changed for the better. The D-pad is quite responsive and makes gameplay very enjoyable. Because there are 12 buttons on the other side, there can be more complex games made -- when compared to the 4 buttons on the GBA. Though, with more buttons comes more confusion when playing a game, but I would rather have more buttons than less. One thing that I wish could be changed, and I doubt it will be, is to make the select button the start button. In games the select button (right next to the D-pad) does nothing. It would be great if it would be the start button instead of the 5 key. Other than that, I really enjoy the controls on the system and they make games a bit easier to play than they were on the original N-Gage.
Physical
The physical size of the QD is a bit smaller than the original. It has nicer lines to it and looks very cool. The new rubber sides make holding the QD much easier. The keys on the QD are also a bit more responsive, along with one change to the D-pad. The D-pad can no longer be pushed down to select things. The selection function has been moved to its own button, which is right next to the D-pad. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you like to select things. For me, I like the select button being separate, it makes selecting something definitive.
Games
The lack of a good launch game (no, an old version of Tomb Raider does not count) did not help the system either. So far, the launch games for the QD are not quite as exciting either, but at least Nokia has rounded up some big name developers. We'll just have to see what they come up with. But, for me the game selection was not that big of a deal because as a gaming platform the N-Gage is not that great. The game selection for the N-Gage platform is pretty paltry when compared to the Gameboy Advance platform. The gaming hardware of the N-Gage platform is pretty weak when compared to what is coming up from Nintendo and Sony.
The games for the N-Gage platform range from games for adults (Tomb Raider, Red Faction, Ghost Recon, Pathway to Glory) to kids (Crash Nitro Kart, The Sims: Bustin' Out). There is a growing amount of games being released for the platform, but I really see the N-Gage platform as one for the 25-30 year old adult male sector which: Has the cash to pay for the system and as the cash to pay for the games.
The system is also not as easy or approachable as the GBA -- There is a complex menu system (just like the Nokia 3650). Though Nokia has made it a bit easier because the games auto-launch when the game card is inserted, this is definitely not a game system for a youngster, they would probably enjoy Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh on the GBA much more than Crash Nitro on this sytem.
One compelling reason to play games on the N-Gage platform is Nokia's Arena. Arena is a wireless gathering for game players and also game servers for different N-Gage games. Players can play multiplayer games one of two ways. The first is locally within 30 feet of each other using Bluetooth connections. The second is via a GPRS connection and Arena. Arena makes multiplayer gaming a reality on the road, something that trumps the GBA. And because Arena is so accessible (the client for the community function is built into the QD), it makes joining a multiplayer game easier. I give kudos to Nokia for Arena, I hope they continue to improve it along with the N-Gage platform.
So, what is the draw for the N-Gage QD other than gaming?
Smart Phone!
The smartphone of course! As I said before the N-Gage and N-Gage QD are both the same as the Nokia 3650 hardware wise. They all run the Symbian smartphone OS. This is the OS that runs on the Nokia 6600 ($600), the Sony P900 ($800), and the Siemens SX1 ($550). The QD has all the same smartphone features as the previously mentioned phones at a price of $199 without activation (but is totally unlocked to be used on any GSM network) or $99 with activation. That is quite a deal to get a nice smartphone! Because the QD comes with a standard MMC slot, you can load all the software, music, ebooks, movies, and other stuff onto a large MMC card. The QD supports all MMC card sizes, so the current 1GB MMC card will go into the slot and work just fine. And the QD also comes with built-in Bluetooth (just like its older brother, but it loses the USB port that its older brother had). With the Bluetooth I can use iSync on my iBook to synchronize my Address Book and iCal with the QD making it a great replacement for my Palm Tungsten T. And though I can install the free Helix player to play MP3 files, the QD will not replace my trusty 3G iPod just yet.
As a smartphone the QD is quite a bargain and well worth the money. I can run most of the software that I need on the QD and totally get rid of my Tungsten T from my life -- thus eliminating one box to be carried around. Yes, there are boxes that have Palm OS integrated into them and also have a QWERTY keyboard also, like the Palm Treo 600, but there's no Bluetooth with the Treo 600. When some extra software is added to the QD like the Opera web-browser and a filemanager, it is a true PDA and phone hybrid that works quite well.
The integrated calendar, to-do, and contacts sync up just fine with iSync (and for Windows users, they can use the included Nokia PC Suite to sync with Outlook). The phone applications are useful and do their jobs just fine. The one thing that bothers me though is that in the calendar there is a "memo" type that is like an "all day" event in iCal. But these are not mapped correctly, so I cannot sync my all day events from iCal over to the QD.
The built-in messaging client is also quite capable. I can do my text, multimedia, and email messages via the client and it is quite easy to use (and fast too when compared to my SonyEricsson T610).
The built-in WAP 2.0/XHTML browser is not as good as the other software and needs to be replaced with Opera.
As a phone the sound quality is excellent. The only gripe I have with the phone is that the sweet spot for listening is hard to find sometimes, making it really hard to hear the other person on the other side. I experienced the same problem with my SonyEricsson T610. But, with both phones, because there is Bluetooth built in, I just use my Jabra 250 Bluetooth headset for conversations and that works out really well.
The reception on the phone, like all other high powered RF Nokia phones, is excellent. After using the T610 with is somewhat mediocre RF performance, it is a nice treat to have such good reception with the QD. It seems like I can get reception with the QD in all the weak or no-reception areas of the T610. The QD has better reception than even my old Nokia 6610 (which is saying a lot).
Drawbacks
There are some drawbacks to the QD though. The Bluetooth and MMC implementations are quite buggy. I have had multiple problems with trying to synchronize the QD with my iBook. Often it would come down to the MMC drive being buggy and crashing during the synchronization. The Bluetooth is a bit twitchy also. I had to pair and unpair my iBook with the QD multiple times before they started to function correctly together.
Conclusion
So, if you are looking at getting a smartphone and don't mind looking like a youngster with a game-deck, then the QD maybe a good choice for you. It is reasonably priced and works just like the other smartphones based on the Symbian OS. For me, this is a great smartphone and I could care less what people think when I whip out my QD to check my calendar. And if I need a gaming fix, the included Tony Hawk game makes for a quick time killer also. If you are looking for a dedicated game-deck to replace the Gameboy Advance, then I would save your money unless you wanted the smartphone features also. As a game platform the N-Gage platform is still pretty weak. They really need to rework this platform from ground up and make it something better than just a mobile phone with gaming software tacked on.
Recommended:
No
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mookiekong
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Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Reviews written: 68
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Current Mookie Obsession: Apple iPhone 8GB and Fedora 8.
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