Nokia N-Gage - a good idea but was ultimately a failure

Back in 2003 mobile phone giant Nokia decided it wanted a slice of the mobile gaming pie and launched the Nokia N-Gage (pictured right), a curious looking Symbian OS based mobile phone which could also play good quality games supplied on small MMC cards, this in principle sounds great as the device had a proper d-pad for controlling the games and the games themselves were actually rather good offering some big names titles such as Sonic, Fifa and Call of Duty to name but a few, however there a number of reasons why this device ultimately did not bring Nokia the hoped for success.  Firstly to use the device to make and receive phone call you have to hold the side of the device to your ear which not only makes you look and feel completely ridiculous but will leave you open to ridicule from your fellow passengers if using on public transport, secondly to change the game card for another you had to remove the back cover, remove the game card, insert a new one then put the cover back on - a very time consuming exercise.

They did attempt to remedy these issues later with the release a year later of the Nokia N-Gage QD (pictured left) which allowed for changing of game cards on the fly thanks to a slot in the bottom of the phone eliminating the need to remove the back cover, also to make and receive calls it could now be held flat to your ear.  The QD was also smaller than the original device and I really like the design of it too!  In fact I actually own one which I tracked down a while ago on eBay with an MMC card full of games, and I still give it a go every now and again.

Ultimately though not enough units were sold and after an initially impressive line up of titles these soon dried up and now it’s nothing more than something sought by collectors.  But kudos to Nokia for trying something different!