Can Mobile Phones Takeover from Traditional Consoles?

[wraggster]

I noticed the release of the Nokia N80 over atSuccess HK today and with the way that mobile phones are moving forward these days how long will it be before the ghost of Nokias N-Gage is put to bed and Mobile Phones take over.

Heres the specs and a screen of the Nokia N80

Specs

UMTS / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Take great quality photos with the 3 Megapixel camera, integrated flash and close up mode
Next generation wireless connectivity with Wireless LAN1
Easily keep your calendar, phonebook, photos, videos and music synchronized with your compatible PC
Active matrix color display (352 x 416, up to 262,144 colors)

Because most Phones can download cheap games it surely is a threat to the console market and with most phones being good at playing Music/Taking Photos and Even great emulators and Homebrew they sure are giving the conventional consoles a challenge.

So Will Mobile Phones Ever Takeover or will consoles have to change and adapt towards new technologies to keep ahead in the next few years.

Tell us your viewpoints

[stotheamuel]

interesting

[idapimp]

i strongly doubt it.

[T-2000]

not sure, but i know my nokia symbian mobile 6630 managed to play Sms and Cbm64 etc, emulators very well...

[Oni]

hmmm this is a thing i never thought would be brougth up, mostly 'cos mobiles isn't powerfull enough... But now that u say it, they might be able to do some crazy things over the years... but then again, the consoles will evolve too... I think that fones never will catch up with consoles

[MikeDX]

I think the mobile market is totally seperate to the handheld gaming market.

A mobile phone will always be just that - a phone. Imagine a phone the size of a PSP, or even a DS. nobody would buy it. Phone screens will probably always be too small to keep up to date with the latest handhelds, so at best, the mobile phone market may have a nice little emulation scene in a few years..

[Oni]

agreed on that it is 2 seperate markets, but in time those two might flow together to one... I remember just before the psp was released there was a rumor (here in Denmark there was) about the psp should be able to make calls like a mobile... so in time the two markets might come together, with still a little deffirence of course

[SmashinGit]

I remember when I had my Ngage qd, it ran very good emulators of Mame, the Megadrive, the Nintendo, Gameboy and even has a Super Nintendo emulator. The only thing I felt that let it down was its screen size and commercial software support.

[lord_goth]

My brother has the N80 and its not as good as it says on paper. My samsung D600 still takes better photos and video. Anyway, i dont think mobiles will take over. who woukd want a mobile thats the same size as a PSP? Thats the only way i see a mobile taking over.

[MaxSMoke]

I stated pretty much the same thing on an Engadget forum a few months ago. Packing around several gadgets is a real pain. People often only have room for just one object with them. And if you're going to take only one gadget with you, it's going to be a cellphone.

The real question is, how could they make this work? After all, the Cellphone is designed for dialing numbers and talking to people. It's not something you look at once you start using it, since it's up against your face. It needs to be comfortable to talk on for long periods of time.

The handheld gaming system, on the other hand, needs to be comfortable to play on for long periods of time. You need to stair at the screen, so the screen must be very large. And it needs adequate controls available to manage these complicated 3D games. Even the PSP, with it's 17 control buttons and analog stick, is still seen as having limited controls to really manage a 3D game.

So how do you fit ALOT of buttons and two joysticks on a phone, with a HUGE display, and without making the phone too uncomfortable to talk on for long periods of time?

And bear in mind, you can't make this too big either! It's got to be very small, and yet still have a VERY large display and numerous controls. It's also got to fit a large battery for long periods of gameplay and long periods of talk time. And it needs as much CPU power as possible. No small order.

A bluetooth headset can get around the talking problem, if you're used to using wireless headsets. I dunno about you, but I've tried Bluetooth headsets and found them to be too annoying to use much. I feel stupid leaving it on my ear, and it's too fragile to put in a pocket. Sometimes it doesn't connect at all, and it's yet another device I need to remember to charge. Too bad they don't make the headsets built into the phone itself.

The N-Gage tried to mix a phone and gamepad controller together. They did a pretty good job, but it was lacking in these ways:

1. Screen was FAR too small.
2. The controls were too close together.
3. The CPU was FAR too slow for 3D games.
4. No camera! (I use mine all of the time)
5. Made a lousy phone.

How about a contest to see who can design the best cellphone/handheld gaming device? Maybe we can ask Microsoft to consider using the design for their handheld X-box, should they ever make one.