N-Gage (device)
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The N-Gage is a
smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
combining features of a
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
and a handheld game system developed by
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
, announced on 4 November 2002 and released on 7 October 2003. It runs the original
Series 60 The S60 Platform (formerly Series 60 User Interface) was a software platform for smartphones that runs on top of the Symbian operating system. It was created by Nokia based on the 'Pearl' user interface from Symbian Ltd. It was introduced at ...
platform on
Symbian OS Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian OS ...
v6.1. N-Gage attempted to lure gamers away from the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...
by including
telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
functionality. This was unsuccessful, partly because the buttons, designed for a telephone, were not well-suited for gaming. The original N-Gage was described as resembling a
taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...
, which led to its mocking nickname "taco phone". Nokia introduced the
N-Gage QD The N-Gage QD is a handheld game console and smartphone by Nokia, and a redesign of the N-Gage. It was unveiled on April 14, 2004, and was released on May 26, 2004, running the same Symbian OS v6.1 with Series 60 1st Edition FP1. It revised the ...
in 2004 as a redesign of the original "Classic" N-Gage, fixing widely criticized issues and design problems. However, the new model was unable to make an impact, and with only 2 million units sold in its two years, the N-Gage and its QD model were a
commercial failure Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One ...
, unable to challenge their
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
rival. The N-Gage was discontinued in February 2006, with Nokia moving its gaming capabilities onto selected Series 60 smartphones. This was announced as the N-Gage platform or "N-Gage 2.0" in 2007, carrying on the N-Gage name.


Design

The N-Gage is used in a wide physical form with a 2.1 inch TFT display in the centre with a
D-pad A D-pad (short for directional pad or digital pad; officially referred to by Nintendo as a +Control Pad) is a flat, usually thumb-operated, often digital, four-way directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern vid ...
to the left and numerical keys to the right, among other buttons. This kind of design was roughly used before by the
Nokia 5510 The Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Es ...
mobile phone. Instead of using cables,
multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
gaming was accomplished with
Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
or the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
(via the N-Gage Arena service). The N-Gage also included MP3 and Real Audio/Video playback and PDA-like features into the system. Besides its gaming capabilities, the N-Gage was a
Series 60 The S60 Platform (formerly Series 60 User Interface) was a software platform for smartphones that runs on top of the Symbian operating system. It was created by Nokia based on the 'Pearl' user interface from Symbian Ltd. It was introduced at ...
smartphone, running
Symbian OS Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian OS ...
6.1, with features similar to those of the
Nokia 3650 The Nokia 3650, sold in North American markets as the Nokia 3600 (triband GSM 850/1800/1900 MHz), is a smartphone from Nokia announced on 6 September 2002 as the successor to the Nokia 7650. It runs Symbian OS Series 60 (version 1.2). A ver ...
(it does not have an integrated
camera A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...
, however). It was able to run all Series 60 software (other than those that require a camera), and
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
MIDP Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) is a specification published for the use of Java on embedded devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. MIDP is part of the Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) framework and sits on top of Connected Limi ...
applications as well. Its main CPU was an ARM Integrated (ARMI) compatible chip (ARM4T architecture) running at 104 MHz, the same as the
Nokia 7650 The Nokia 7650 is a 2.5G consumer-oriented smartphone belonging to the fashion and experimental ( 7xxx) series. It was introduced in Barcelona on 19 November 2001, and was described by CEO Jorma Ollila as the company's most important launch of th ...
and 3650 phones.


Development

Around 2000, gamers increasingly carried both mobile phones and
handheld game console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the cons ...
s. Nokia spotted an opportunity to combine these devices into one unit. Nokia announced in November 2002 that they would develop the N-Gage, a device that integrated these two devices. Its original development codename was ''Starship''. Many of the preloaded ringtones and sounds were composed by former
demoscene The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...
musician Markus Castrén, who worked at Nokia during mid-2002. For both the N-Gage and
Nokia 7600 The Nokia 7600 is a camera phone developed by Nokia, running on Series 40. The 7600 was announced on 25 September 2003 and was Nokia's second 3G handset after the Nokia 6650. It is notable for its unique radical design. Technical details The p ...
, he wrote ringtones in a variety of popular
dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
genres, as well as creating a small set of sounds inspired by 1980s arcade games; he chose to compose those in a
chiptune Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles. The t ...
style as music in video games of the time did not stand out as sounding distinctively game-related.


Release

With a launch price of US$299 (), the N-Gage was not commercially popular. In its first weeks of availability in the United States, it was outsold by the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...
100 to 1."The N-Gage Doesn't"
'' Game Now'', January 2004. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
Within 17 days of the deck's release, popular retailers
GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operates 4,5 ...
and
Electronics Boutique EB Games (formerly known as Electronics Boutique and EB World) is an American computer and video games retailer. First established as an American company in 1977 by James Kim with a single electronics-focused location in the King of Prussia mall ...
began offering $100 rebates on the deck's price.Smith, David.
"US Retailers Cut N-Gage Price"
'' 1Up.com'', October 2003. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
In February 2004, with the N-Gage failing to make a major impact four months on, CEO Jorma Ollila claimed that the device would be given until 2005 to be judged whether it was a success or failure. In January 2005, UK sales-tracking firm ChartTrack dropped the N-Gage from its regular ELSPA chart, commenting that "The N-Gage chart, though still produced, is of little interest to anyone. Sales of the machine and its software have failed to make any impact on the market at all." Although only directly reflective of the UK market, this was interpreted by some as a serious blow to the N-Gage as a viable gaming platform. Despite this, Nokia reaffirmed their commitment to the N-Gage as a platform, to the point where a new version of the hardware was rumored after GDC 2005. In November 2005, Nokia admitted that the N-Gage failed, selling only one-third of the company's expectations. The product was discontinued from Western markets in February 2006, but would continue to be marketed in India and parts of Asia. Nokia did continue N-Gage promotions at
E3 2006 E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publishe ...
. The last game to be released in the U.S. for the system was ''Civilization'' in March 2006 according to
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
. In October 2006, Nokia released the last game for the N-Gage QD, combat racer ''Payload''. As of August 2007, it was estimated that Nokia had shipped more than two million N-Gage game decks."Play It Again, Nokia. For the 3rd Time."
Brad Stone, 27 August 2007. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Retrieved 27 August 2007.
The "N-Gage" brand name still had a poor reputation within the gaming media and among the few consumers who recognized the N-Gage brand, due to the weakness of the system's first games and the original model's limitations. Nokia had more than 50 games available for the system.


Sales

There is some disagreement in sources about the actual number of N-Gage decks sold. Nokia initially claimed 400,000 sales in the first two weeks the deck was available. However, independent market research firms Chart-Track and Arcadia Research claimed that the N-Gage had sold only 5,000 decks in the United States in that time, and 800 decks in the UK. Critics suggested Nokia was counting the number of decks shipped to retailers, not the number actually purchased by consumers. Nokia later admitted this was the truth. In 2004, Nokia claimed in a press release that it had shipped its millionth deck, represented as a company milestone despite falling short of the company's initial projection of six million decks by the end of 2004. However, this number shipped does not give a reliable picture of the actual sales of the deck. Nokia ultimately shipped 3 million N-Gage decks by 2007.


Reception

'' Pocket Kingdom: Own the World'' received a handful of glowing reviews when it was released, and '' Pathway to Glory'' was Nokia's first self-published success. These games came perhaps too late to have much effect in improving the perception of the N-Gage hardware itself in the eyes of consumers or press. Nokia had projections of at least 6 million sold decks in three years instead of only 3 million.


Devices


N-Gage Classic

The original phone's design was considered awkward: to insert a game, users had to remove the phone's plastic cover and remove the battery as the game slot was next to it. Another feature was that the speaker and microphone were located on the side edge of the phone; this often resulted in many describing it as talking into a "
taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...
phone" or "Sidetalking", or simply that they had one very large ear, because the user held the edge of the phone against the cheek in order to talk into it. Usual for a phone, but unusually for a game system, it had a screen taller than it was wide, with a size of 2.1" and resolution of 176 X 208, giving an aspect ratio of 11:13; at the time most televisions and portable game screens were 4:3.


N-Gage QD


N-Gage service

The new N-Gage, also referred to as ''N-Gage Next Gen'' or ''N-Gage 2.0'', saw a change in concept as
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
explained to the world during
E3 2005 E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...
that they were planning on putting N-Gage inside several of their
smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
devices, rather than releasing a specific device. In August 2007, the new N-Gage platform was finalised and was released in April 2008. It was compatible on many
Symbian Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typic ...
S60 smartphones. The service was discontinued in October 2009.


Software

Before the launch of Nokia's first in-house N-Gage title, '' Pathway to Glory'', a one level demo of the game was released to journalists to allow them to sample the game, and understand the concepts behind the turn based wargame. This demo was subsequently placed on the N-Gage.com website as a free download. Undaunted by the 16 MB download size, fans jumped on the ''Pathway to Glory'' demo. The success of the download paved the route for future titles. On June 6, 2006 Nokia announced that people also could buy the games digitally There are 58 full titles available for N-Gage, but only 56 of these saw North American releases. The titles that were not released in North America are: ''Flo-Boarding'' (Germany and UK only) and ''
Sega Rally ''Sega Rally'' is a series of racing video games published by Sega and developed by several studios including Sega AM3, Sega and Sega Racing Studio. The series released its first title, ''Sega Rally Championship'' in 1994. Initially, ''Sega Rall ...
'' (Australia and Brazil only). All but three of these titles (''Payload'', ''
Snakes Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joi ...
'', ''
Virtua Cop (known as ''Virtua Squad'' for the North American Windows version) is a 1994 light gun shooter game developed by Sega AM2 and designed by Yu Suzuki. It was originally an arcade game on the Sega Model 2 system, and was ported to the Sega Saturn in ...
'') were available for retail purchase. These are: Along with those listed above, one more game was bundled with the N-Gage (on the Support CD): an exclusive version of '' Space Impact Evolution X'', that was later made available to Symbian S60v2 phones.


See also

*
Danger Hiptop The Danger Hiptop, also re-branded as the T-Mobile Sidekick, Mobiflip and Sharp Jump is a GPRS/EDGE/UMTS smartphone that was produced by Danger, Inc. from 2002 to 2010. The Hiptop software was designed by Danger, Inc., which was located in Palo ...
*
Mylo (Sony) My Life Online (Mylo) was a device created and marketed by Sony for portable instant messaging and other Internet-based communications, browsing Internet web sites using the Opera web browser and playback and sharing of media files. The pocket-si ...
*
Nokia 3300 The Nokia 3300 is a mobile phone announced on March 11, 2003 as the successor of Nokia 5510. It was marketed primarily as a music playing phone. They are relatively rare and today go for high prices in the second hand market. Design Unlike mos ...
*
Ogo (handheld device) Ogo is a handheld electronic device which allows the user to communicate via instant messaging services, email, MMS and SMS text messages. The device works through GSM cellular networks and allows unlimited usage for a flat monthly fee. It suppo ...
*
Scalable Network Application Package Scalable Network Application Package (SNAP) or SNAP Mobile is an online gaming platform from Nokia. It is intended for use for Java multiplayer online games. It consists of SNAP Mobile API for the client and it uses HTTP or TCP to connect to the ...
*
Xperia Play The Xperia Play is a smartphone with elements of a handheld game console produced by Sony Ericsson. With the marketshare for dedicated handheld game consoles diminishing into the 2010s due to the rapid expansion of smartphones with cheap downloa ...


References


External links


Nokia's official N-Gage site
* {{Portal bar, Video games, Telecommunication, Electronics ARM-based video game consoles Handheld game consoles Nokia mobile phones Products introduced in 2003 Products and services discontinued in 2006 Sixth-generation video game consoles Smartphones Symbian devices