N-Gage game phone debuts at V-Fest

WHILE INDUSTRY insiders have long been able to test out Nokia's Gameboy rival - the N-Gage games deck and integrated GSM mobile phone - the wider British public got a chance to do so at Virgin's V-Fest.

Inside the Virgin Mobile Red Light Club were a number of consoles fired up and ready to go. Besides the strange keyboard layout the N-Gage has the look and feel of a standard Nokia 3650 handset.

With one exception - the INQ hears that for some bizarre reason the N-Gage only has data Bluetooth profiles so it won't work with a Bluetooth handsfree headset!

No prices were given, although an October launch date is heavily mooted. The INQ expects it to retail without subsidies for around €399 and with a contract to cost a third of that so around €130.

Also at V-Fest was the Nokia 3300 handset. It's got an MP3 player plus stereo FM radio built-in which you can listen to while playing a Java game. The 3300 apparently boasts 'True Tones' which permit 'real music' to be used as ring tones. The INQ assumes that means that MP3s and .WAV files can be used. µ