Nokia says N73, N93 and N93i won't be N-Gage compatible

Tough news for N73, N93 and N93i owners -- a respected N-Gage Arena Forum moderator has just stepped forward to let the world know that the aforesaid phones will not be N-Gage compatible. For folks who've moved on to newer, more powerful handsets, we're sure this tidbit means nothing; for those who've held tight to prior promises to bring the N-Gage experience to this trio, it's far more detrimental. We're told that Nokia tried for months on end to make it all work, but in the end they simply weren't satisfied with the experience on these aged devices. No need to tear up though, it's just the perfect excuse to line up for that N97 you've been eying.

[Via All About Symbian]

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2009 6:36AM]

It is an excuse for people to line up and buy the N97 but it's still disappointing [to say the least] for owners of the N73, N93 & N93i. To their credit, Nokia tried and just weren't satisfied with the results. The most recent of the bunch, the N93i is two years old so I'm assuming just about all owners of that phone as well as the other two have replaced them with newer devices and even if they haven't they can still buy newer devices for relatively cheap prices. For example, the N95 8GB can be had for $450 which is far short of it's original ~$700USD price tag. If that's too pricey then the N81 can be had for ~$225USD which is far more affordable.

What I don't understand is why the Nokia N95-3 STILL doesn't have official N-Gage support while every other version of the N95 does.

[sockatume Posted Mar 27th 2009 7:51AM]

For what it's worth, you're not missing much. The media buttons on the N95-2 just aren't any good as action buttons, and it feels like you're damaging the already-iffy slider when you work on the d-pad. Fine for Reset Generation but I could only play Resi for about 5 minutes before my thumbs cramped up.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2009 8:10PM]

Isn't the N93 the top, fastest, hardware-accelerated phone out there? They can't get N-Gage onto that? And not even the other reigning king the N95?

You can't beat the iPhone on that weak a box.

[Judah Rosenthal Posted Mar 27th 2009 11:29PM]

Who cares? There are 4 n-gage users. They all own N95s. & N81s.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 30th 2009 9:23PM]

Why did you use an image of a N86, for a post about the N73, N93, and N93i. It's a bit confusing and shoddy reporting.