page_title: N-Gage (device)
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: N-Gage (device) / Design
caption_attribution_description: The Nokia N-Gage, a device that combined gaming, mobile phones and tacos. This mobile phone and handheld gaming hybrid came out in 2003 and was followed by the N-Gage QD a year later. It was not successful as a phone or a gaming platform. This is the Nokia N-Gage disassembled, showing the phone at each layer. Sorry about the dust and dirt, as I tried cleaning it multiple times but it still wouldn't come off.
context_page_description: The N-Gage was a smartphone combining features of a mobile phone and a handheld game system developed by Nokia, announced on 4 November 2002 and released on 7 October 2003. It ran the original Series 60 platform on Symbian OS v6.1.
  N-Gage attempted to lure gamers away from the Game Boy Advance by including telephone functionality. This was unsuccessful, partly because the buttons, designed for a telephone, were not well-suited for gaming. The original N-Gage was described as resembling a taco, which led to its mocking nickname "Taco phone".
  Nokia introduced the N-Gage QD in 2004 as a redesign of the original "Classic" N-Gage, fixing widely criticized issues and design problems. However, the new model was unable to make an impact, and with only 2 million units sold in its two years, the N-Gage and its QD model were a commercial failure, unable to challenge their Nintendo rival.
  The N-Gage was discontinued in November 2005, with Nokia moving its gaming capabilities onto selected Series 60 smartphones. This was announced as the N-Gage platform or "N-Gage 2.0" in 2007, carrying on the N-Gage name.
context_section_description: The N-Gage is used in a wide physical form with a 2.1 inch TFT display in the centre with a D-pad to the left and numerical keys to the right, among other buttons. This kind of design was roughly used before by the Nokia 5510 mobile phone.
  Instead of using cables, multiplayer gaming was accomplished with Bluetooth or the Internet (via the N-Gage Arena service). The N-Gage also included MP3 and Real Audio/Video playback and PDA-like features into the system.
  Besides its gaming capabilities, the N-Gage was a Series 60 smartphone, running Symbian OS 6.1, with features similar to those of the Nokia 3650 (it does not have an integrated camera, however). It was able to run all Series 60 software (other than those that require a camera), and Java MIDP applications as well. Its main CPU was an ARM Integrated (ARMI) compatible chip (ARM4T architecture) running at 104 MHz, the same as the Nokia 7650 and 3650 phones.
caption: A disassembled N-Gage, showing each layer of hardware
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