Nokia concept phone: N-Gage 2?

So it goes without saying that these shots come with all the usual disclaimers — these are just concept/prototype shots, etc. etc. Allegedly, this is the direction Nokia wants to take as they move their gaming platform to their smartphones. Not sure where they've hidden the keypad on this, but for gaming it does look tiny and sweet. One more pic after the jump.

[Thanks, Zak Petrowski and Jim]

[steve g @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Damn, that's pretty sweet. If someone can get a gameboy emulator on that and give it some decent battery life i'd buy one.
Of course, T-Mobile will never offer it (even if it does materialize)

[Nieuwemobiel.nl @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Keyboard: http://www.mobile-review.com/forum2/attachment.php?attachmentid=4508

[btmnky @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

You KNOW I'd have one of those. It doesn't look like it's got the right layout for a Series 60 device, but it's only a concept...

Yes, I would buy that for a dollar. Multiple dollars, in fact.

Well, pounds, I'm British.

[phi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Where's the keypad? You still need one hand operation if its a phone.

[Unpretentious @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

That thing is way too god damn sweet to be the next Ngage. I hope to GOD they offer it at the same price point they offered the QD when it first came out. PLease oh please oh please, just give me just one more hit.

[Kreamy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

There are softkey selections but no softkeys. I think its fugly! Then again, i do for all the next gen systems, its hard to please me. Sony had it with the PS2 and PSP. Nokia had it with the QD. Everything blew up.

[cuby @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

almost certainly a touchscreen keypad, no?

that looks far too small to actually be comfortable playing for more than zero minutes. and when gameboy micro comes out, you'll start seeing that same sentiment in reviews.

[kevin @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

no need to keypad. it could have touch screen to display that.

holy sweet concept. agree with #2, battery life is everything.

[anthony @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

If you look at the picture # 3 posted, it looks like the keypad comes out from the bottom. And if you look at the first pic on engadget...well, it looks like the "thumb pad" comes out of the top of the phone. Could it be a double sliding design..top and bottom. If so then that would seriously be something to consider getting...

[Farhan Hafetz @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

if that's how they're gonna make the keypad, looks like it won't take much to break it.
but i think it's too small, and they might not have the technology to create such a thing yet (look at how long Nintendo took to come out with the Micro)
still, nice concept though. wouldn't mind getting one if it ever comes to the market.

[Myke @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

That left d-pad looks a tad too small. Apart from that it's pretty sweet. I've not been a big fan of most of the designs coming out of Nokia these days, but this is a nice change, even if it is only a concept.

[cafn8 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I like it. Don't think my 3650 would last until they get the details fleshed out, though. It's likely to take quite a different form if/when it does become a reality. As someone already mentioned, it still has "Options" and "Exit" at the bottom of the screen with no corresponding keys. Glossing over things like that makes me suspect that they haven't done other things like, you know, make sure all of the guts will fit inside.

[Dustin Rodriguez @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I'm sure it's just like concept cars. They look amazing, revolutionary, and you've just got to have it. But then they let it go through a few commitee votes and they pinch another nutty loaf on the shelf and expect you to buy it.

At this point, I fully trust Nokia's complete inability to produce a gaming device that can be significantly distinguished from a torture device. Don't let this design worry you, it certainly will never come to fruition and, most likely, whoever put it forward was elected by their manager to be volunteered for suicide.

[jayarr_superstar @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

AMEN!!

[YourTechSupport @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I'm guessing the 'keypad' would be a touchscreen that takes up a good hunk of the device?

[Yet another Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Its definatly a change for nokia, they always used to go for bulky phones.

There are a lot of issues with the pic tho, like the lack of keypad, and it doesnt look like it will fold out. And that there are no menu buttons even though theyre on screen.

It looks like its symbian60 too, so #2, it will certainly have a gameboy emulator

[jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Before I buy it, I want to make sure they spell favorites correctly.

[narco @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

These are REALLY nice. I never imagined that I'd consider buying an N-gage, but if this is real then I'll definitely hold off on the "iTunes" phone and buy this instead.

Fishes,
narco.

[Teja @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

has noone considered that they might just screw it up n not have a keypad or touchscreen like the 7280...? hope not...
looks like a great phone otherwise...


& #2 they already have gameboy/nes/snes emulators for series 60 phones.. so guess its not a problem...

jus hope the phone materialses soon..!

[Goat @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Favourite is spelt right, if you're in the UK ;)

[cuaghe @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

This thing better not cost as much as the Razor

[Jay @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Games still arent good enough for the N-gage might as well buy the new gizmodo.

http://www.techbyteens.blogspot.com

[BK @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Check out the story on Mobileburn.com. The concept has 2 sliders- the dialpad comes out the bottom of the phone, the gamepad from the top. Very cool. If they could figure a way to incorporate PDA functionality and make the screen swivel like a Sidekick's does, unveiling a QWERTY underneath, well I think I might actually consider buying a Nokia product...

[Zeek @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

#6-
The Flava-Flav/P.E. reference made my week.

[tigerx @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

This looks promising but far fetch from what we've seen so far.
And where's the camera? I dreamt about seeing people i talk with and now it's possible but not if they develop backwards.
And this thing really needs a keypad to get sales records.
And the battery needs to be pretty damn god since this thing is probably gonna do the following, playing games and listen to music 4 hours a day, talk on the phone 1 hour, surf 2 hours, tv 3 hours, look at the clock 10 minutes and still be ready for that flirt talk late at night.

If putting 0,5cm more room to it will solve theese problems then i would buy one for every member of my family.

[TImmah! @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Mother of god! That looks pretty sweet. I'm not a Nokia fan by any stretch, but this is pretty badass.

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

They will find a way to remind you that convergence sucks..

it will be very expensive, difficult to 'repair' and it will take 20 seconds to answer the phone

I don't really have to beat up on it, it's a nice model, but those 'analog' things, come on..

[Patrick @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

#2: The N-Gage is just a Series 60 v1 platform (currently), so there are already Gameboy emulators available for it. http://www.wildpalm.co.uk has a solid GB/GBC emulator (shareware).

[Josh @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Theres more info on this over at pcmag, it is a concept but it says the keypad is on the back http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1817519,00.asp

[Rich @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Keypad photo:

http://www.mobileburn.com/imagepop.jsp?file=%3Cimg+src%3D%22media%2Fnokia%2Fconcept%2Fthumb_concept_phone_open.jpg%22+width%3D%22108%22+height%3D%22150%22+alt%3D%22Nokia+Concept+Phone%22+border%3D%220%22%3E

[knighs @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Its not n-gage2.. its a smartphone prottotype from nokia which supports n-gage gaming platform..

[Zak Petrowski @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

You see the first image there? Well, here's the game preview video of that game - http://www.nokia-americaspress.com/uploads/videos.asp?P=VID&ID=22

Oh and, thanks guys at Engadget for posting my news piece! :D

[pat @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

A few people suggested that it doesn't have buttons to correspond with the menu properly so then it must be a touchscreen :P

Anyone who has used a symbian phone knows there is a little blue button to go to the menu system for the phone... This one doesn't seem to even have that button at all so i think it would be a touch screen also.

Looks nice though.

[fulani @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Anyone want to the see the actual NEW N-Gage Nokia released at E3?
http://www.fulani.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=57

[locus @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

if only

locus

[funkyflea @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Well well well...look at you all, you seem to have warmed up to the n-gage now that you see what's to come huh.

I most likely won't buy that, i'm way too used to my QD/classic, and we want a more rugged game-phone for the OG N-gagers..

[E. Marrs @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

How long do I have to wait though???

[everlost @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

In a few words... quite bad. If this thing comes out they wont sell more than 500. Only for fanatics i thing. They realy need to think it over again. And still it looks very fragile. A phone needs to be solid/compact whit no extras pieces that can breack.

[Unpretentious @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

That thing is fucking sweet. I don't give a shit where the keypad goes. It's perfect.