Think mobile phone gaming begins and ends with the App Store or crummy Java games?
Think again! Nokia’s N-Gage games service has gone from strength to strength, and is available for a wide range of handsets. Pocket Gamer has been kind enough to compile this handy online guide to show you exactly what the Nokia N96 (amongst others) can really do!
How to get onto N-Gage, reviews and previews of the hot new titles like Metal Gear Solid Mobile and Reset Generation, it’s all here courtesy of Nokia and Pocket Gamer, so have a read!
The N-Gage gaming service has been a big success since moving to a software-based platform, available across a wide range of Nokia handsets over the last year.
Considering only 400,000 users were signed up in October 2008, the move to pre-install N-Gage on Nokia phones like the N96 has paid off as people are actually using it now. Currently there are over one million registered accounts and N-Gage is far closer to becoming a legit gaming network.
People who were once indifferent to the service might have changed, but Nokia still did not disclose how many people are actively using N-Gage on a daily basis.
With news that motion control gaming is coming to Nokia’s line-up on compatible phones, titles comparable to the runaway success of the App Store could be coming to an N95 near you soon.
Last night saw some of the biggest movers and shakers in the mobile phone industry rub shoulders with celebs like hobbit-faced crooner Jamie Cullum and fashion ‘pioneer’ will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas at the National Palace in Barcelona last night, as the GSMA Awards celebrated the biggest and best innovations over the last twelve months.
Everything from best mobile game to best use of mobile for social and economic development was recognised at the event (Nuance Communications won the latter for their Airtel-T9 India Consumer Vernacular Messaging Campaigns, but you knew that already), so here are the big winners!
Best Mobile Game:
Gameloft’s Real Football 2009 was the runaway winner, official FIFPRO licensing, 3D graphics and console-quality gameplay making it a hit with the judges. How much of the praise heaped upon it was for the iPhone version, I wonder?
An honourable mention went to Digital Chocolate for AvaPeeps: FlirtNation. Looks to me that this game is teaching kids to dress up their avatars and ‘hang out’ in strange parts to proposition other real world underage “peeps”. Social networking of the dirtiest kind…
See the demo video for yourself below.
Yes, you did see “Use your sex appeal” as one of the options for your avatar.
Best Mobile Music or Video Service:
BBC’s iPlayer was the clear stand out in this category, beating out Nokia’s own Comes With Music and Sony Ericsson’s remixed PlayNow Arena. The iPlayer’s is available across all operating systems from the Nokia N96 to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, and the retention of the desktop version’s functionality has changed how, and where, people watch TV.
Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough:
Ooh, controversial! 2008′s mobile phone Marmite was certainly the Blackberry Storm 9500‘s ‘SurePress’ screen. The SurePress screen clicks like a physical button allowing the user to receive a tactile response from a virtual interface, one thing that has proved difficult thus far for touchscreen manufacturers.
Many felt it offered a unique experience that was the best of both worlds, whilst others found it imprecise and forced.
Nevertheless, the judges loved it!
Best Mobile Handset or Device:
The big one! The shortlist consisted of some interesting phones, all unique in terms of both looks and features. Among them was the ‘my first smartphone’ LG KS360, the ground-breaking T-Mobile G1, the touchy feely BlackBerry Storm 9500 and our Nokia E71 review showed just how good that one was!
Even so, the humble INQ¹ Facebook phonebeat them all! The seamless integration of the popular social networking site, web calls with Skype and killer looks all in one nice device was too good to beat! Congrats to 3 for making a handset good enough to make people change networks to get one!
As the black tie event went on into the early morning, we at Omio were tirelessly toiling to bring you the most interesting stories of MWC 2009. Not least because it cost an arm and a leg to attend, but because we love you loyal readers that much!
What do you guys think of the results? Were the judges crazy to put the INQ¹ ahead of the Storm? Are you amazed a great iPhone game wasn’t at the top of the charts? Let us know in the forums!
LG has launched a new advertising campaign for the LG KC910 Renoir, shot entirely using the the mobile phone itself!
The ad is a documentary-style piece following both world famous DJ Armin van Buuren and uber fashion photo-taker Carli Hermès for a day in Jakarta, as they run around using the LG Renoir to take pictures for the trance producer’s new album cover.
Thankfully, they were in fact good enough to make some pretty amazing shots together, with the quality of the handset’s 8 megapixel camera making Carli’s job all the more easy!
Take a look at loads of footage from the making of the ad (complete with impenetrable language) here! The campaign is Europe-wide, and will run online, on television and in print throughout February.
I like this idea, it’s all very meta, like the Nokia N96 unboxing taken using an N96…
It didn’t have the column inches of hype, the furore, nor the subsequent backlash that the Nokia N96 had, but the Nokia N85 is still a brilliant phone that means business.
A more slender, equally gorgeous and swifter sibling to the N96, the Nokia N85 shares many of the flagship features including the 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, Nokia Maps with A-GPS and dual-slider multimedia functionality, but stopped short when it came to internal memory, digital TV, and BBC iPlayer.
That being said, with no DVB-H (mobile TV broadcast) signals available in the UK at present, and an 8GB memory card included with the N85 (as opposed to the Nokia N96′s in-built 16GB) are you really missing that much?
They are even so visually similar in terms of design that I have mistaken the N85 for the N96 at a glance on more than one occasion…
Available on cheaper mobile phone deals than its big brother, the Nokia N85 is a great alternative if a little short on cash, but still in need of a cutting-edge handset. With N85-exclusive features like an FM transmitter turning your handset into a mini pirate radio station, there is every reason to leave the slightly pricey N96 on the shelf and opt for the underdog!
Vodafone is aiming to make your daily commute a lot less boring by offering a six month trial of streaming TV service Babelgum on compatible Nokia handsets. The site offers thousands of videos from a variety of genres including independent cinema and music, as well as hours of original and unique content.
Babelgum is hardly the digital television revolution we have been waiting for, more of a clips site in the vein of YouTube or Current rather than fully fledged channels. Having said that, the quality and breadth of content is what sets the service apart, whilst the ability to transfer such a intensive site to a mobile device whilst retaining the majority of functionality is also an impressive feat.
Using the 3G connection, Babelgum TV streaming will not be charged to Vodafone customers (already in possession of a data bundle) using multimedia handsets like the Nokia N95, Nokia N96, and hybrids like the Nokia 6210 Navigator.
Babelgum is also available as an App to UK and Italian iPhone owners, giving them a cool ‘stacked’ interface where the various videos are placed on top of each other like a bunch of Polaroids (ask your dad), getting the user to sift through and discover new content. However, UK iPhone users not on wi-fi will be subject to all of the data charges that streaming TV will incur.
With plans to extend the range of compatible handsets in the future, perhaps the ‘on demand’ nature of viewing on Babelgum is the future of mobile content as opposed to digital TV. With Apple TV, TiVo and torrent downloads showing that consumers are no longer willing to shape their lives around programming schedules, the instant gratification of watching an few gags on the journey into work may succeed where vanilla television on a phone did not.
Go to the Vodafone site to see how to get your hands on Babelgum.
Vodafone has inked a deal with Last.fm, bringing all of the site’s innovative social music features to a range of mobile phones.
Initially for Nokia handsets including the 6210 Navigator, N78, N95 and N96, the Last.fm service will enable free internet radio for all genres of music, as well as recommending stuff you might enjoy!
Also, musical show-offs will be able to ‘scrobble’, broadcasting information on what they are listening to and their tastes, allowing those with similar interests to hook up discuss the merits of John Coltrane over the web!
Customers in Germany will even be able to purchase tunes via the Vodafone Music Store, making Last.fm a digital successor to trying out vinyl with those mangy headphones in the corner of HMV!
Head of Branded Content at Vodafone Group, Javier Foncillas, said, “Music continues to be a major passion for our customers and that’s why Vodafone consistently delivers a superior music experience in a number of different ways to ensure people get the music they want, how and when they want it. With Last.fm, Vodafone continues to pioneer social networking on mobiles, delivering a new, relevant and unique music experience, to millions of customers, across our high speed, reliable network.”
The Official Last.fm Scrobbler will be available on Vodafone in th next few weeks, after all the kinks are taken out. All the better for it, as when the iPhone app went wonky after the 2.1 update, previously docile musos went insane! Well, they spilled their lattes and blogged about it.
The roaring success of the BBC’s online portal continues unabated as they announce the expansion of the iPlayer to even more mobile devices.
Now the Samsung Omnia and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 can be expected to receive the iPlayer, which will now also offer live television and radio broadcasts alongside the original ‘catch-up’ service.
The Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot phone will also be added to the roster of supported handsets by the end of the week. Of cource, the current service offered to the Apple iPhone and the Nokia N96 will continue, with the N85 also getting its first taste of TV On Demand action.
Jon Billings, head of the BBC’s mobile technology, said of the development of the iPlayer to cater for the Xperia et al:
“These phones have been selected as they hit our requirements of Wi-Fi and 3G support with great browsing and media playback experience, and its also great to broaden our platform support out to Windows Mobile smartphones as well as our first feature phone offering on the C905″.
All of this is amidst the one year anniversary of BBC’s iPlayer service on 12th December, where the festivities will be huge Q&A sessions will all those involved in its development and success, as well as some kind of Flickr party! Sounds nice.
All this leaves ITV’s clunkier Catch Up service playing, well, catch up! A brand change to ‘ITV Player’ is on the cards…wonder why?
The ‘Game of Death’ Bruce Lee figure (complete with l’il yellow Onitsuka Tigers on his feet!) would have been enough for me, but to add a brilliantly and tastefully liveried up Nokia N96 in the deal…SOLD.
Yes, it’s currently only available in China. Yes, it costs 8788 Yuan (around £860). But when I go off to China to buy my Android-packing Sciphone Dream G2, I’m picking it up too.
Nokia in their infinite wisdom and infinite money, have accompanied it with an awesome viral video of some Bruce Lee ping-pong. Why would they ban nunchaku in the UK when they can bring so much joy?
Whoever keeps burning the N96′s marketing budget with martial arts epics, thank you.
3 subscribers in the United Kingdom can now enjoy a selection of premium Sky output on their mobile phones, as the television service can now be streamed over the air on the 3G network.
Separate from the existing ‘Planet 3′ media service for customers, Sky are offering this for either a monthly fee of £5, or a daily rate of £1.
This now allows customers a choice of live streamed content over the air to their handsets, from channels including Sky News, Sky Sports, CNN and The Box.
There is also load of looped mobile content, offering the best bits of Sky’s other channels to be viewed at any time. Sky Mobile TV is also available in the UK through Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile, with the company claiming over 200,000 subscribers across the networks.
BSkyB General manager of mobile David Gibbs commented: “We are excited that 3 UK customers can now watch the latest breaking news from the RTS award winning Sky News; the best of the FA Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Premiership Rugby Union or Test Match cricket from Sky Sports, 3 UK customers need not miss a minute of the action.”
Sounds great, yes? However, the only setback is the fact that the service is being offered by Sky rather than 3 themselves, which means data charges can be incurred whilst viewing. A safe bet is to purchase an unlimited Internet add-on if you haven’t already got one, at a cost of around £5.
This means that all your web downloading will be covered, and no nasty surprise bills in the post!
Not sure if the whole ‘TV on the go’ thing will necessarily catch on. The Nokia N96 touted BBC’s iPlayer and bite-size shows as a reason to purchase, but all of that online multimedia content is often ignored in favour of chucking some favourite movies and music on a memory card and watching those.
Perhaps looped videos of the ‘new’ Gladiators and watching Ross Kemp speak in a gruff voice to ex-cons could be the content that changes everything.
The N-Gage gaming service has been a big success since moving to a software-based platform, available across a wide range of Nokia handsets over the last year.
Vodafone is aiming to make your daily commute a lot less boring by offering a six month trial of streaming TV service 
Follow us:
