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Nokia N-Gage
Gaming Deck takes hand held gaming to new level
Nokia look set to build upon their success in the
mobile phone arena, by launching all out war in the gaming market as
the number of titles for their awesome N-Gage Gaming Deck
increases. By the end of 2003, less than a dozen titles were
available for the pocket MP3 player, FM Radio, Gaming Platform cum
telephone, but a deal with Sega looks set to build upon that in the
future.
But the latest news is that the Sims Breakin' Out
will be released for the pocket platform in the first half of 2004,
and we can't wait. This title has had major success on Xbox,
PS2, Gamecube consoles, and also on the GBA (Game Boy Advance)
handheld. But the Gaming Deck version will be more fun than
all of those because Bluetooth and N-Gage Arena multi-player modes
will allow us to play online all of the time.
N-Gage is available for less than £200 in the UK,
and under $300 in the USA without a SIM (no pun intended) but can be
obtained for almost nothing if it's time to renew your
contract. We expect demand to be very strong as the new titles
are released, so get in early to avoid shortages.
You'd be
well advised to check out as many suppliers as possible in order to
ensure that you get the best deal. Even if you get it for
free, try to get as good a prices as possible on MMS (Multi-Media
Messages) and GPRS as playing on-line through N-Gage Arena will use
up a lot of your free bandwidth. If you get hooked, and have
to pay a high price for GPRS or MMS, then it's going to be very
expensive indeed.
For anyone new to N-Gage, here's the full specification:-
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Size
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134 x 70 x 20 mm
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Weight
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137g
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O/S
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Symbian operating system
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Phone
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Tri band
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Vibration alert
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Voice dialling
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WAP
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GPRS,
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HSCSD (high-speed internet),
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Messaging
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enhanced SMS
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MMS multimedia messaging
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Internet
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Email, XHTML browser
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Connections
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USB for music download from PC
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Screen
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4096 pixel colour display (176 x 208)
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Controller
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5-way directional (8 way in games)
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Memory
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64 Mbyte external memory card
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Battery
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standby
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150 - 200 hours
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talktime
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2 - 4 hours (3-6 hours games; up to 20 hour radio)
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Music
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Digital music player (MP3 & AAC formats) &
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Nokia Audio Manager PC software
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Stereo FM radio
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Recording
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Digital recorder
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Sound
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Built-in handsfree speaker
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Stereo headset
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Games
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Online gaming and multiplayer gaming via Bluetooth
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Other Software
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Calendar, contacts
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As well as being great news for Gamers, the new device has helped Nokia
to slightly higher sales in 2003, than they had in 2002, but even more
is expected in 2004 as the new games come on-line, despite competition
from Nintendo's GBA and the new Sony PSP.
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