We look back to remember the iconic Nokia N-Gage, a cross between a mobile phone and a games console that marked an era.
Looking back to see what cell phones looked like 20 years ago is a good way to understand how these devices have evolved to the present day. In this article, we want to give the place it deserves to the Nokia N-Gagewhich came on the market in 2003 and can be considered as the original gaming mobile. Without a doubt, it is enough to see a single image of this model for that let’s all remember how iconic it still is.
The truth is that the Nokia N-Gage it was not a big success in terms of salesfar from it, but he sowed the seed of the mobile games with an idea that had a lot of potential. It was a cell phone with which we could call and send SMS, but which also allowed us to play as if it were a portable game console. Now, in mid-2022, with almost 20 years since its launch, we’re recalling the Nokia N-Gage to reiterate its strengths, but also its flaws.
Nokia N-Gage, a review of the original gaming mobile
The Nokia N-Gage was a cross between a mobile phone and a games console.
The Nokia N-Gage was released in October 2003, representing a paradigm shift from what was known as a mobile phone at the time. The idea was clear: this device nokia time a mix between a mobile and a portable game console, both for its design and for the functions it performed. In fact, it has the physical keyboard so common in phones at that time, but it was also designed to be used in a horizontal position, like handheld consoles.
According to the count of nokimobthe idea for this Nokia N-Gage came from Nintendo’s refusal to collaborate with Nokia to create a common device. For this reason, the firm created in Finland wanted to compete face to face with the Japanese through the creation of this Nokia N-Gage.
The idea was very good, but some errors in the execution, the high price (about 300 euros) and low public demand leads to a sales failure. At that time, unlike now, users did not buy a mobile phone with the idea of being able to play games. Also, the quality of their games was significantly lower than Nintendo’s.
Moreover, as pointed out nokimob, insert MMC card (multimedia card) required you have to remove the batteryi.e. turn off the phone. To this we must add that the position of the buttons was not the most comfortable, nor the location of the smartest speaker.
Among the specifications of the Nokia N-Gage we find weighing 137 grams, while the thickness was 20 millimeters. front mounted a 2.1-inch TFT screen and resolution of 176 x 208 pixels. It came with Symbian 6.1 as its operating system, with 3.4 MB of RAM, Bluetooth 1.1 and FM radio. important was also its 850 mAh batterycapable of offering up to 4 hours of phone calls.
It was the Nokia N-Gage screen.
Some time ago in Andro4all we imagined what would happen to the Nokia N-Gage if it were released today. The conclusion was that the results would be very differentWell, now there are many who buy a cell phone with the main idea of using it for gaming. Nokia was ahead of the future with this hybrid between a mobile phone and a handheld game console, and its work was the origin point of the gaming smartphones we know Currently.
Although nearly 20 years have passed since its launch, the N-Gage remains an iconic model often recalled. In fact, there is a 100% legal emulator that allows you to play Nokia N-Gage on your Android mobile. If you want to relive times gone by, all you have to do is install it to be able to play titles like Red Faction, Call of Duty or Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.