N-Gage QD - Nokia's Answer To The Critics? 249
JayBonci writes "According to CNET News, Nokia is preparing the N-Gage QD for release at the end of June. The redesign is an attempt to address design criticisms; such as 'side-talking' and the need to take out the battery to replace the game. Will this signal new life for the console, or is it too little, too late?" We linked to leaked pictures of the N-Gage follow-up late last week on Slashdot Games, and there's further information at GameSpot, which mentions: "When bundled with a service contract, the QD is expected to sell for $99. Without subsidy from a service provider, the phone will go for $199 (with the platform's Tony Hawk title bundled in at that price)."
Too little, far too late (Score:2, Insightful)
You have got to wonder... (Score:0, Insightful)
It's all about the applications support (Score:3, Insightful)
Price (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It's too little, too late. (Score:3, Insightful)
Both not viable alternatives. Nokia pushing Symbian OS. Switch to another OS or make an emulator with limited CPU/memory for niche product is not practical. Standalone console is not what Nokia targeting. Nokia target middle segment between hardcore and casual, people who want have handheld gaming device, but don't want carry another box.Another point is communication. The idea was online gaming through GPRS/WAP. Those games never materialize, but that is another problem (prices still too high). Overall impression of this new NGage - it's more like patched original device , not new. It should be exchanged for old for free (or with huge rebate), or original owners would feel cheated. Trouly new device should have twice bigger screen, twice faster CPU (at least 200 mHz, for now this "gaming" device have 104 mHz vs 150+ mHz of SonyEricsson P800) and, most important - Symbian 8.x OS with hardware OpenGL ES. If NGage 2 will not reach those parameters it will be another falure.
Too little too late? (Score:3, Insightful)
Nokia and Software Patents (Score:4, Insightful)
I for one will not buy any more Nokia products.
Re:You have got to wonder... (Score:3, Insightful)
Given that the new one is losing Tri-band (a must for international travellers) and the FM radio (also handy for travellers and others), I'm particularly content with mine. Meanwhile, if the updated model provokes a few more games releases, well that's great to.
misunderstandings (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not a destination, it's a journey.
The day after tommorrow there won't be phones, mp3 players, games consoles, or even computers as we currently think of them.
As it is why buy and ipod when your phone is going to have a Gb of storage and an mp3 player next year?
Interfaces will vary according to function, so you'll still have a keyboard and montior on your desktop, and a pad and a stylus in your palm, and a TV and huge speakers in your home.
But the storage and processing and comms will all be the one package that you'll carry around everywhere you go.
Nokia want a piece of that, the N-Gage is a step down that path.
Their building expertise and experience and making relationships with crucial content developers.
Microsoft, Intel, and Sony also see themselves as possible players in the space.
who's going to win?
My money's on the guys that embrace open standards and open source, simply because all this stuff is going to have to play together really well.
Anyway Nokia are trying to make the best product they can for now, but even if the next dozen N-Gages are flops have to keep trying to get it right.
Selling Ice to Eskimos or Condoms to Lesbians (Score:5, Insightful)
They have a large stake in the cell phone market, in a sense they're trying to sell a gaming device to people who just want a cell phone. People who want a cell phone will buy a cell phone, possibly one of Nokia's. Their cell business will eat away potential customers of N-Gage. People who want mobile gaming AND cell phones will buy a Gameboy and a cell phone.
What they've done is put themselves in a no win situation. They're trying to sell things that people either don't need or don't want.
Ice and Condoms.
LK
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:5, Insightful)
It's amazing how often young people I know get new phones. All it takes is for one kid in the school to get it and think it's cool. Then the hundreds of others will "need" it. That's the way cell phone marketing works over here, and I think it's very compatible with the N-Gage.
Though you might think otherwise, the main thing young people use the phones for is games and sending SMS's. Calling each other is too expensive. And Nokia is well aware of that fact.
Another thing is the price factor. If, as has been stated, it retails for $199 without a service contract, it will be available in Europe probably for 1 EUR with a 24-month contract. That's a decent price, and very afordable for the young. I know many who regularly pay 100 EUR to buy phones on ebay. The phones are usually worth about 300 EUR.
If Nokia is smart (and I think they are), they'll have easy access to this huge market. If not with this revision, with the next.
Re:It's all about the applications support (Score:2, Insightful)
Headphone Jack? (Score:1, Insightful)
One small thing.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Is even $200 (if it's even that much) really expensive for all that? For me, it is definitely not. I'm unaffiliated with Nokia; I just like this particular device because it's very useful and cheap phone which allows me to do everything I wish and lots more.
Missing it completly (Score:3, Insightful)
Think: handheld game console + cell phone = ? Mobile online gaming of course! Even the demo game shipped with the N-Gage supported that. Of course for now the GPRS charges are killing it, but it the near future, this is going to be huge!
Re:QD (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm surprised it even got out the door in the first place. So, of all the people that work for Nokia and had the chance to look at the thing before release, no one was smart enough to figure out that replacing the battery to change the cartridge was a bad idea? Or that side-talking was not comfortable at all?
Makes for a good textbook example on product failures...
Also, one of the biggest mistakes of our time: companies focus too much on what consumers say (mostly companies addicted to CRM systems). They should also listen very carefully to people that chose not to buy (the non-consumers).
Re:It's too little, too late. (Score:2, Insightful)
Boy, do we live on different planets... My (mostly european) experience says kids absolutely 'need' a cell phone, change to a new one often and would kill for a cooler devices/phones. I'm not saying this Ngage2 is that kind of device though.
Re:No MP3 player?! (Score:4, Insightful)
Lack of radio is slightly annoying tho.
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd say the Virtual Boy and 32x may even have a better chance of success than the N-Gage.
I speak not only as someone who buys just about anything game related, but also as someone who has many like-minded friends. The major issue that gamers have with the N-Gage isn't the shape, and it isn't the location of the memory card, though both of those issues ARE major turn offs, they ALMOST might could have been overlooked if it weren't for a few other serious factors.
The first buzzkill was the screen. Tall and Skinny Works for early 80's upright cabinets and that's it. It doesn't work for handhelds, and there's almost nothing you can do to make it work.
In a day and age were video is making a push for "WIDE SCREEN", doing the total opposite is the kiss of death. Human vision is wider than it is tall, and we've become spoiled by a wide field of vision. For that reason, the screen layout of the N-Gage pretty much prohibits it from having games most people are going to stand playing for very long.
Next, the button layout is crap. It had all those buttons (in the form of a number pad) and they wasted the chance to do something really innovative by trying to turn the interface into a stylish phone. Only it's not a stylish phone, so they failed that too.
If the N-Gage actually has a future, it won't be in it's current, or even it's newly announced form. It'll require a MAJOR overhaul.
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:2, Insightful)
Is there anything on N-Gage 2 (nee QD) that couldn't have been technically and commercially implemented on the original N-Gage, released around 9 months ago? Nope.
Did Nokia listen to the critics who pointed out the faults inherent to the original (pre-release) N-Gage. Non, non, non!
Is N-Gage 2 "revolutionary" or "innovative" in any way? Nein, danke. No aspects to the interface are compelling in any way - there are no shoulder buttons, analogue input (as per PS2, perhaps?), wide aspect screen (try tunnel vision for side-scrolling platformers), or anything remotely beyond the expected. For example, in the era of transparently mobile digital media why are we constrained to carrying numerous and valuable MMC cards around just to play games? This is analogous to the old days of tapes and Wlakmans. Why could Nokia not implement a satisfactory online distribution channel? They do have the expertise, but sadly not the capacity for original thought...
Beyond the removal of added-value features such as the radio and media support, numerous design faults are still inherent - e.g. there is no satisfactory Hold switch or function, therefore the user is required to traverse up and down through interface trees for even the simplest action (i.e. removing and replacing the phone from a pocket), etc etc
In my view Nokia are 9 months behind where they could have been, and are distancing themselves (in the wrong direction) even further from the competition.
Re:Looks fine to me. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Convergent products (Score:2, Insightful)
Do you remember the 'all in one fax, scanner, printer, copier, modem' units that were all the rage a couple years ago?
Do you remember which of those functions it was really good at?
Probably not. 'Cuz they sucked at all of them.
Convergence devices have always promised to be a panacea. However, in reality it comes down to this:
These devices are the jack of all trades, but master of none.
Re:Buttons (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:3, Insightful)
In fact it is easier for me to carry a SP + a couple of cart's and my regular nextel cellphone than it was to carry and use the Ngage.
They can redesign all they want... I know that it will continue to suck in useability, in game selection and in quality.
Yes the ngage i have has 3 broken buttons and a cracked case... one drop to a tile floor, the same drop that my nextel takes almost weekly and that the SP has taken 3 times all with no damage.
One thing to point out (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't believe me? I swear on everything that is true in this world that the following was excitedly exclaimed from a Fry's in Campbell, CA, just a scant few months ago:
"Mommy! Mommy! It's American Idol for the Gameboy Advance!"
The kid was ten. The game was not purchased.
Don't get me wrong. I own a GBA. Hell, it's my second one, since I lost my first one. There's a good dozen games on the system that are actually playable -- the Castlevanias, the Metroids, some of the work coming out of Squaresoft. But even if the hardware is the spiritual successor of the SNES, the software selection is embarassing, bordering on mortifying.
And Nokia knows all this -- they know there's a pent up demand for gaming that scales to people who don't need to beg for a candy bar. Sony knows this -- and could actually destroy Nintendo on a whim, simply by releasing a handheld Playstation 1 (and re-releasing
a small chunk of the old library on new media). But everyone seems to be skipping a generation of failed machines (the "Don't Be Sega" effect?) and trying, better or worse, to do portable, multiplayer 3D gaming right.
And if you don't think MS is in this game, you're not paying attention to those "portable video players" with DRM support and space for a gamepad.
There's alot at stake here. I'm frankly surprised to still see Nokia still involved -- if nGage was any worse, the FCC probably would have refused to certify it on principal -- but you can't fault their recognition of the potential size of this market. Nintendo may have owned this space since the 80's -- but they've gone from the company that returned quality to video games ("Nintendo Seal of Quality" meant something) to
Yay.
--Dan
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:4, Insightful)
Nokia is about 140 years old, has been Finland's largest corporation for decades, and started off by making paper. They are probably no more corrupt and decadant now than they were 5 or 10 years ago - they just made a crappy phone, that's all.
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:3, Insightful)
Now It's About The Games (Score:4, Insightful)
It is no surprise either that the redesign came out so fast. Nokia makes cel phones! Cel phone designs and features seem to change on almost a weekly basis. So it is likely that Nokia is accustomed to working on short design and manufacturing cycles. Indeed, this may be why they felt they could release the first N-Gage with all of the design errors. Again, this is not good news for Sony or Nintendo who are accustomed to longer cycles.
In the end, it will be the games that decide who makes real money in the portable space. If Nokia gets traction, we'll see a real fight. I would guess that Nintendo is most at risk because they haven't had a real fight in the portable space in yea...like ever. Sony I think will recognize the threat and use their muscle and money to get exclusives for the PSP early. But the PSP had better not be too late to market, or they'll be looking at the 3rd or 4th iteration of N-Gage by then. Finally, one wildcard here is Microsoft. MS has said they're not interested in the portable market. That said, MS makes the best development tools in the business, if it suddenly becomes easy to develop for Nokia using Visual Studio
Re:QD (Score:2, Insightful)
Or maybe it is because Nokia is by far the biggest manufacturer (~40% marketshare) and so has by far the biggest counterfeit battery problem?