vB Easy Archive - My N-Gage QD Mini-Review...

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My N-Gage QD Mini-Review...
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Posted by: ollywompus

Ok, so i know that lots of people have reviewed this phone, but I don't care becasue I love this phone and I want to brag about it!

Size: I wanted to address this first, because lots of people are hesitant to buy an N-Gage due to the size factor. Frankly, this phone is smaller than my 3650 was. It is certainly wider, but it is a little thinner by my estimation, and certainly it is a hell of a lot shorter. The best way to get a feel for the size of this if you can't physically get your hands on one is to think of an IPOD that has been rounded out wider slightly. Fits in my pocket great!

Controls: this was something that I personally was worried about. The layout on this phone is certainly different than most phones, if for no other reason that the fact that it is landscaped rather than the standard phone layout. While one-handed operation certainly isn't as easy on this as many phones, it's completely doable... Especially for the phone aspects of it.. dialilng one handed isn't a problem at all because of the way it is balanced. The dial pad is wonderfully tactile, with great snap back... and if you are coming from a phone with a relatively flat keypad, as I am, you will love the raised keys. they are perhaps a little cramped for peolpe with thick hands like myself, but if my not-so-nimble fingers can text fast on this, you will be fine as well.

OS: if you ever used series 60, you will have no problem transitioning to this phone (obviously). But in fact, because of some of the button differences, i think that it actually makes control of series 60 more streamlined... having a dedicated select button, instead of pressing in on the directional pad, is very convenient, and I found mysefl being able to navigate faster through the menus. The way that they have themed the OS as well is a nice change. Perhaps it would've been nice to have v7.0 on here so I could theme it myself, but other than that I think that its a nice change from the traditional v6 layout. Also, whatever processor that is in this bad boy is snappy as hell... where my 3650 would slow down occasionally, this sucker goes through menus faster than I can blink.

Games: Freakin' awesome. I have Tony Hawk, the Sims, and Tomb Raider. Tony Hawk is so close to Pro Skater 2 for the original playstation I can't really tell the difference (other than different music tracks it seems). Tomb Raider wasn't exactly the greatest game, but that may just be because I don't have the patience for it... although the controls were a little wonky, and that added to my frustration. The sims is hilarious, very much like the original, graphics and all.

RF: This phone is grabbing signals better than most phones I have owned. My apartment is a black hole for Cingular (usually i'm roaming onto ATT), but this phone will stick with cingular and get a decent signal where most phones won't.

Voice Quality: This phone is decent in the voice quality department. I haven't used it with a headset yet, so I can't comment on that, but this phone, like every series 60 phone I have used, has a tendency to be a little quiet. Still completely useable, but for you deaf-asses like me, you may find yourself switching to speaker phone occasionally while in louder environments (like wind noise in the car or somethign). ON that note though, the speakerphone on this is amazing... much clearer and less distortion than the 3650.

Side-Talkin': Thank GOD it was eliminated in this phone. The way that this is set up is great, and you don't have to worry about ear positioning as much as I thought you would. Pretty much, if the speaker is aimed in the right direction, you are fine... you may have to adjust occasionally, but no more than any other phone.

Camera: Non-existant... that is one major gripe I have. I never used my camera very often, but it was nice to know it was there. However, I don't think I'll miss it that much, but this could of course be a major drawback for some people.

Overall:
this is one of the better series 60 phones I have used. It is fast, so far isn't prone to crashing, and some of the enhancements, such as the external MMC slot are welcome additions.

Pros:
Great RF
Games
Size (for a series 60 phone)
Controls
OS Theme Design

Cons:
Voice is a bit thin and quiet (still very useable)
Mono output vs. Stereo
One-handed operation can get tricky sometimes
Some Games (like Tomb-Raider) not that well-designed in the controls department (in my opinion).
No Camera

PEACE!

-Matt

Posted by: TriBand81

Very cool review, most of the things concerning RF and keypad handling that you mention for the QD are also the same for the original N-Gage. RF is great, voice quality is great even at a volume setting of 4 for the earpiece. It's even louder than my Moto V525.

But yep I certainly would love to see the pros of the QD and N-Gage combined into one model so then Nokia will really up the ante in this department.

Posted by: ollywompus

Quote:

Originally posted by TriBand81
Very cool review, most of the things concerning RF and keypad handling that you mention for the QD are also the same for the original N-Gage. RF is great, voice quality is great even at a volume setting of 4 for the earpiece. It's even louder than my Moto V525.

But yep I certainly would love to see the pros of the QD and N-Gage combined into one model so then Nokia will really up the ante in this department.

thanks TriBand and I agree... when comparing specs between the two, I would love to see a QD with the hardware mp3 player and stereo from the N-Gage, plus a camera... (maybe in the N-Gage 3?)

that would be convergence heaven!

PEACE!

-Matt

Posted by: RoYaL21

Matt, can you check with FExplorer witch drives there are on the QD?

Posted by: ollywompus

@Royal21: i'm at work, and i haven't installed FE yet, but i will tonight and i'll let you know what i ind out...

just a word of caution, don't bring your QD to work, because everyone wants to play with it! my mgr just played tony hawk for like a half an hour! grrrr... gimme my n-gage back!

Posted by: RoYaL21

lol

Posted by: angel_wing0

NGage 2..when are u coming out????? i m still waiting for the PERFECT ngage

Posted by: RoYaL21

I'm very curious about the N-Gage 2. But it must have USB, radio and stereo MP3 support. I really love those functions in the N-Gage.

Posted by: angel_wing0

u forgot about the camera man...1 mp camera!!!!!

Posted by: RoYaL21

If it comes with a 1MP camera too. WOW! Then i can sell both phones.

Posted by: RoYaL21

So what is Nokia waiting for!

Posted by: ollywompus

Ok, i did a little sneaky download and install of FExplorer (hopefully MIS isn't wondering why i downloaded a .sis file), and here is what I have found:

Drives and sizes:
C: <flash> 3.996MB Total
E: <disk> 15.0MB Total (this is Tony Hawk)
G: <rom> 16.625MB Total (and it says 0 used)
Z: <rom> 16.625MB Total (also says 0 used)

Now, I know that 3.99mb is what is usually talked about as the availble memory, 15mb is the mem card (tony hawk), but what are the other two? Are these the OS files?

PEACE!

-matt

*EDIT* just realized that if these 16mbs are reporting zero as used they CAN'T be the OS files can they?

Posted by: angel_wing0

Quote:

Originally posted by RoYaL21
So what is Nokia waiting for!

i donno...and maybe they are going to put a 262k screen

Posted by: RoYaL21

Quote:

Originally posted by ollywompus
Ok, i did a little sneaky download and install of FExplorer (hopefully MIS isn't wondering why i downloaded a .sis file), and here is what I have found:

Drives and sizes:
C: <flash> 3.996MB Total
E: <disk> 15.0MB Total (this is Tony Hawk)
G: <rom> 16.625MB Total (and it says 0 used)
Z: <rom> 16.625MB Total (also says 0 used)

Now, I know that 3.99mb is what is usually talked about as the availble memory, 15mb is the mem card (tony hawk), but what are the other two? Are these the OS files?

PEACE!

-matt

*EDIT* just realized that if these 16mbs are reporting zero as used they CAN'T be the OS files can they?

Yeah, i told you so

Two ROM drives. But why? And no D-Drive?

Matt, the zero means there is 0MB availeble. Not 0MB used. Maybe the G-Drive is for backup?? I think QD is the first S60 with a G-Drive.

Posted by: ollywompus

Quote:

Originally posted by RoYaL21
Yeah, i told you so Two ROM drives. But why? And no D-Drive?

Matt, the zero means there is 0MB availeble. Not 0MB used. Maybe the G-Drive is for backup?? I think QD is the first S60 with a G-Drive.

yeah i just realized that after looking at FE again, this is what happens when i'm at work and my coffee isn't kicking in

but i was looking at the contents of the G drive, and it has a bunch of Tony Hawk files (i think they are temp files) so maybe the G drive is the game drive... i other words, nokia realized that when you load up a game into Flash it doesn't work 'cause it's too much for the meager 4 megs, so they created a seperate rom drive for the game to load up it's stuff in...

just a theory, but it seems like that would make sense...

PEACE!

-Matt

Posted by: eimajuno

Quote:

Originally posted by angel_wing0
i donno...and maybe they are going to put a 262k screen

I Would not hold your breath for that one. Nokia is just now putty 65k displays in their phones now. I would say that 262k displays are at least a year or two away.

Posted by: TriBand81

Quote:

Originally posted by ollywompus
yeah i just realized that after looking at FE again, this is what happens when i'm at work and my coffee isn't kicking in

but i was looking at the contents of the G drive, and it has a bunch of Tony Hawk files (i think they are temp files) so maybe the G drive is the game drive... i other words, nokia realized that when you load up a game into Flash it doesn't work 'cause it's too much for the meager 4 megs, so they created a seperate rom drive for the game to load up it's stuff in...

just a theory, but it seems like that would make sense...

PEACE!

-Matt

Sounds plausible, it could also be that with the QD, G: was implemented to replace the D: drive since the number of drives haven't changed. Here's a trick question, does the G: drive show up at all times or does it disappear when you remove the Game or MMC card?

Posted by: gforce23

A ngage with a 262k color large screen (coz Nokia had announced that higher resolution displays would be released) and stereo MP3 and FM would see me queuing up as the first customer.

Posted by: TriBand81

Yep same here

, I'm just hoping that I wouldn't have to spend a fortune to get such a model.

Posted by: gforce23

Dont think it will be massively priced cuz remember that the main target audience is the young and hip crowd who cant buy phones like the 7610 and 6630...
Anyway, I really feel that such a phone would completely change the way a ngage is perceived currently.

Posted by: angel_wing0

Quote:

Originally posted by TriBand81
Yep same here , I'm just hoping that I wouldn't have to spend a fortune to get such a model.

i thinkl u'll be disapointed if thats the case...

Posted by: RoYaL21

I dont care about the price, if the features are good i'll get it.

Posted by: ollywompus

Quote:

Originally posted by TriBand81
Sounds plausible, it could also be that with the QD, G: was implemented to replace the D: drive since the number of drives haven't changed. Here's a trick question, does the G: drive show up at all times or does it disappear when you remove the Game or MMC card?

woohoo! we have an N-Gage forum!

anyway, i checked what you asked triband, and what i found is that the drive is still there, but the files inside change based on what game is in... and when i put a normal MMC in, it doesn't place any files in the G drive...

i really do think that this is a seperate game drive, to keep games from takking up normal ram...

PEACE!

-Matt

Posted by: angel_wing0

Quote:

Originally posted by gforce23
Dont think it will be massively priced cuz remember that the main target audience is the young and hip crowd who cant buy phones like the 7610 and 6630...
Anyway, I really feel that such a phone would completely change the way a ngage is perceived currently.

it will still cost more than ngage and ngage QD cost when they first came out...thats for sure

Posted by: bronco

Quote:

Originally posted by angel_wing0
i donno...and maybe they are going to put a 262k screen

if they do would ngage games be compatible with the ngage 2?

Posted by: ollywompus

Quote:

Originally posted by angel_wing0
it will still cost more than ngage and ngage QD cost when they first came out...thats for sure

another reason that this phone will remain competitively priced, regardless of the incarnation, is that it is aimed at competing with the Gameboy Advance, the Playstation Portable, etc....

the n-gage can't be significantly higher than these, because nokia would shoot themselves in the foot... i mean the QD just came out and you can find it for 199 with a 100 mail in from places WITHOUT a contract... (check out Electronics Botique).

my .02

Posted by: angel_wing0

err...not in canada thou