Prototype Ngage unit

Obtained from an Activision employee while working on Tony Hawk for the Ngage. You can see the back cover in the picture is an army green and the unit is marked proto B 5.3



Inside the unit was this card.

 

I love your stuff buyatari

 

Thanks !

Don't tell me tell my wife. She swears it will all hit the tree lawn if I'm the one to die first.

 

well lucky for you, I m one exam from being a lawyer, write me in your will :lol:

 

N-Gage prototypes?

Hey, nice pic! Might not be as rare as you might think though
I pulled this N-Gage QD from a retail demo kiosk. The Nokia rep was supposed to come pick it up, but never showed. I am not certain if the original kiosk units were protos or not, or if this one I found was just a fluke, but it was found in the wild none-the-less.



Now that test mmc is cool, though never seen one of those before (all I've seen was the white "not for resale" ones)

 

Could be.... but when I bought it I was told it has a different operating system than the released one and that this one was sent out prior to the Ngage launch. I never verified this as the battery is now dead and I don't have a retail unit to compare it with anyway.

I've also seen the "PROTO" but its always just PROTO. I assume this is B for Beta ver 5.3 but thats just an assumption. I've also not seen the metallic green color on these before.

 

The firmware loaded into the units is always different I can tell you with certainty that some versions of the "Beta" firmware (if not all) will allow you to make outgoing calls.

However, the firmware on my unit is labeled as "Demo" (don't feel like charging it to get the exact version otu of it) and it CANNOT make outgoing calls. Bluetooth and Game functions are enabled, but that is all.

 

interesting stuff! so have you checked out the mmc card to see whats on there?

i still have my old n-gage, wouldnt swap it for the world! i know its worthless, but still get a kick out of showing people tombraider and tony hawks on it and my sons addicted to sonic and pandemonium on it

 

No way to test it right now.

 

This is true, most kiosk demo units are 'prototype' marked also.

 

There were a bunch of ngage prototypes on ebay a while ago for $30 a pop. Was tempted.

 

Are the prototype units tri-band GSM? That was supposed to be one of the few advantages of the original model N-gage over the revised QD version, which were specialized for whatever region they were sold in. That'd be a nice reason to have one in service.

 

Be warned, if anyone is tempted to flash a retail bios to any of the kiosk units, it will brick your NGAGE. You can't make calls full stop on them.

 

As long as you don't mind looking like a side-talking fool, that is! :lol:

 

i never had a problem using mine to talk with, i just held it flat instead of looking like id got a dumbo ear

 

I currently use an N-Gage QD as my regular cell phone. (more of a statement of my hardcore geekiness than anything). But when someone text messages me, and I write back while walking somewhere, it looks like I am playing a game, and I get the strangest giggles and smirks from, people that think I am weird. Maybe I am, but I still like my N-Gage.

Note: Dec 26, 2005 most N-Gage games at EB dropped to $1.89 a piece here in Canada. I now have almost a complete release collection because of that

 

The sidetalking isn't an issue if you use a headset, and the N-gage has some pretty well-implemented Bluetooth support. There is a case mod for the original N-gage that involves drilling some holes and rearranging the speaker so that you can hold it flat against your head with no loss of audio.

I've also got a QD in service, although it's got an inactive SIM and isn't usable as a phone. It's nice to be able to carry the whole library around on the little MMC cards.

 

They are not uncommon, so don't worry about selling it.

Can you still buy N-GAGEs new?

 

Don't confuse the demo units (marked proto) with an actual proto unit.

 

I'm not, I've seen a prototype before and held it in my hands. In Europe they are not very rare, the casing you have is just rarer than demo units. Some magazines got prototype green units for running test software on and so on, and others went to devs and publishers.