Nokia is done with N-Gage too, again.

Posted by BA on Dec 4, 2009 in Uncategorized | 7 comments

Nokia has announced that 2010 will be the last year their N-Gage gaming platform and N-Gage arena will be operational. This is because of two things. Firstly, I’m very doubtful that Nokia achieved their targets from the N-Gage brand. Secondly, Nokia is really seriously pushing their service brand OVI. So any gaming related to Nokia will now be called OVI-Games.

Nokia has played the N-Gage card twice. Initially they launched Nokia N-Gage devices that looked like a small gaming console and were amazing for playing games. The devices were named Nokia n-gage and Nokia n-gage-QD respectively. On the in-side, they were simple Symbian S60 smartphones with symbian or J2ME games to play on.

Second time they used N-Gage brand was with their latest line of N-Series phones that could install an application named N-Gage. You could download, install and games right from the N-Gage app itself. No doubt N-Gage games have been great but I think its about time Nokia moves on. Second attempt to use N-Gage brand doesn’t work out again in my opinion.

Nokia 7705, Another Weird design or the future of QWERTY Nokias?

Posted by BA on Sep 25, 2009 in Uncategorized | 9 comments

Nokia has been known for its innovation and in trying out things, they don’t hesitate. Launch of Nokia 7705 has come in a big way and the swivel keyboard, small size and cool design makes it very attractive. How usable is the phone itself, we cant say till we get to use it.

Fans, please note. This handset is coming exclusive on Verizon, at least for now.

The feature set in addition to the design has nothing special but its not disappointing as well. Following are a few highlights:

• 2.4 inch QVGA screen
• Full QWERTY keyboard for great text and email experience.
• The big ring that works as the alert light in multicolor.
• 3.0 Mega pixel auto focus camera
• Good old 3G network support

Historically, Nokia has been launching unique and creatively designed handsets. Some of them were totally flop and other did not lose it at least. I’ve been a big fan of a few of them as well.

The first weird looking nokia I saw was Nokia 5510. That was probably the first ever QWERTY nokia that was ugly to look at but great for sending SMS.

Then came smarter phones and probably first series 60 Nokia was quite weird looking, especially the keypad. See for yourself, its Nokia 3650:

Typing on Nokia 3650 was a nightmare. Rest of it was heaven.

On the same platform, Symbian Series 60, Nokia launched their gaming consoles named N-Gage and N-Gage QD but the series then got discontinued. They were pretty decent as a gaming device and even other usage, but as a phone they looked quite odd:
You may come up with a few more examples as well but the most Bizarre looking phone I’ve ever seen is Nokia 7600. Its ugly to look at, boring to carry and a nightmare to use.

Finally to close this article, I cant help sharing this advertisement of the new Nokia. Enjoy!

Dance-Fabulous – N-Gage + Music (store)

Posted by BA on Jun 11, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Nokia has launched “Dance Fabulous”, a new-game on their N-Gage gaming platform. The game uses both N-Gage and Nokia Music Store’s services to make it happen. This is a very interesting combination. It will not only interest game enthusiasts but music and dance lovers as well and its a great idea to boost sales on both N-Gage and Nokia music stores.

The game allows you to control a character on the dance floor and with your key-press combinations, you make the dancer make the moves. This is a really cool, fun application. The great part is, that you are dancing to the rhythm of the songs that you have in your own music library. Initially I thought its a crazy game, but later I found out that its simply packed with fun.

The game is available both in the available games section within N-Gage application and the game website. But when I tried to download it, it forced me to upgrade my N-Gage software from 1.00 to 1.20. N-Gage upgrade was around 11MB of a download.

After the upgrade, I downloaded the trial game and the download was smooth as usual. The game launches and following are a few screenshots from the trial version

As I said, game is really addicting and even in demo-mode its fun big-time. See a few dance moves below

As you can see in above screen shots, the game encourages you if you are going in a rhythm and awards you with the stars and it also criticizes you if you are going wrong somewhere.

The came costs $3.99 to purchase and once you have the paid version, you have a bundle of options available as listed in the screen shots below.

When I visited the game’s website I was happy to see a free 30-day pass but the game I downloaded from there appeared to be a demo as well. Moreover, the SMS sent to my number never reached

If the free pass works for somebody, please do post your comment here.

Mobile Payments made simple – Nokia and Etisalat team-up to make it happen in Middle East!

Posted by BA on Apr 27, 2009 in Uncategorized | 4 comments

Nokia and Etisalat have announced a collaboration that will allow Nokia to provide advance Internet services to Nokia users in the region. Etisalat will provide a convenient means of payment to Nokia users willing to subscribe to paid Nokia services. As a first step, Nokia users will be able to purchase games on Nokia’s N-Gage platform and pay for Ovi-Maps services. The purchases will be made over the air and Etisalat will charge the amount to the customer’s bill. This is a very convenient and safe option as opposed to the use of Credit cards and other similar payment options. UAE will be the first country from the region to offer this service in Q2 2009.

This is very interesting to mention here that if you can use this service to pay for mobile applications, games and services, you can use it for other payments as well. For example, you can use the same mechanism for sending gifts to friends, you can use it for buying items at grocery stores or paying other utility bills, and everything is eventually charged to your monthly Etisalat bill.

In Pakistan, Etisalat is holding shares in PTCL and a similar payment model has been in place in the country for payments of PTCL DSL service and IP TV subscription. Those who subscribe to DSL or IP TV, the subscriptions are billed to the customers in their monthly phone bill. I would love to make other payments in the same way if it adds the luxury of convenience to the payment process.

N-Gage One review

Posted by BA on Oct 31, 2008 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

I just downloaded One on my N-Gage and could not live without writing about it here. It’s an amazing game with crisp and clean 3D Graphics, amazing music and sound effects and a game play that is simply a breeze. One has proved to be a star in all aspects. Game-play, 3d Graphics, Characters, backgrounds, music, sound effects, menus and ease of use.

You can play and download the demo for Free. You can play the demo game in 3 different venues against 7 possible opponents. You have all the basic options like turning the sound on/off, optimizing game by changing graphics options and changing controls.

When starting a game you can select your opponent, your venue, number of fight rounds, duration of each round, difficulty and whether the game is ranked or not. While fighting the round, you will enjoy every moment of the fight. There are no hick-ups, no lags and a very simple two button fighting control. You can capture screen shots during the game. Yes, the shots on the right are taken on my N-82. You can not only change the controls during the game but you can also change the language and can set the music and sound volume.

In short its a great addition to the n-gage family of games. I will try to find an n-gager to try a multiplayer on bluetooth to evaluate that aspect as well. Till then, go! n-gage One.