Read-only archive of the All About Symbian forum (2001–2013) · About this archive

N-Gage now available for the Nokia 5320 XpressMusic

30 replies · 6,025 views · Started 31 August 2008

The N-Gage application is now available for download for the Nokia 5320 XpressMusic. If you want to download the app directly onto the handset, just go to the 5320's Games folder, click on the N-Gage logo and then click on the 5320 XpressMusic link from the list of downloads. If you prefer downloading the app via your computer, click here to find out how to install using the PC and Mac method.

Read on in the full article.

As the 5320 is an S60 3rd Edition FP2 device, we will probably be seeing the N-Gage application available on the N78 very soon too, and it should be on the N96, N85 and N79 at launch.

And, once again, thanks to ccraig for dropping us a line about this. You ought to start an N-Gage news site of your own, you're very good at spotting these things! 😊

the app for this for phone is more than 2MB bigger than the app for the older phones ,i'd like to hear from some one who as a n-gage on a older phone and the 5320 who can tell us if there is any differences in the app

I've just downloaded it for my 5320 and I'm trying it out now.

This is v 1.10, compared to v 1.01 on the other phones, so I assume there are some differences but not major ones.

One thing I've noticed straight away is that the prices are in US dollars, which seems a bit crazy as it makes them seem more expensive (as the dollar is very weak) and also because very few people in America have compatible phones. The main market for N-Gage is Europe, so the Euro makes a lot more sense.

Another difference:

The download page for games makes it clear that there's an option for computer downloads as well as phone downloads. You can ask the app to send the download link to your e-mail account (which you would then access on your PC or Mac).

i dont like the prices in $
my app as always been in � so will be strange and horrible to convert accurate with the � keep going up and down and down lol latley,
I hope it changes from $ once you put in your account details and country to suite where your from

They still haven't fixed the point pickup bug where you can't see the description if it's too long.

Difference:

V 1.10 has fixed the "screen orientation dance" when you start a game. It now just loads straight to the title screen instead of flickering between horizontal and vertical modes.

Tzer2 wrote:They still haven't fixed the point pickup bug where you can't see the description if it's too long.

i can't understand why they have not fixed thar b/c Unlocking NGP is a big part of the fun for some ppl and not all games display NGP description in the game itself ,so that would of been critical to get fixed if i was on there team

Yeah, it is odd they didn't fix it. You'd think displaying some text properly would be quite an easy thing to correct, wouldn't take long.

BTW the app seems generally faster, though it may be the 5320's large amount of RAM that helps (it has more than twice as much free RAM as the N95).

Ahaaa... interesting. Installing the N-Gage app automatically adds a fifth icon to the 5320's custom active standby screen.

The 5320 has a kind of active standby that isn't found on any other S60 devices so far:

User posted image

After the installation, there's a fifth icon with a pair of dice on it, which takes you straight to N-Gage.

that phone looks cool i might get one b/c they are chaep and looks nice and as decent specs for price
it woud be ideal to use as a 2nd phone as back up to my n95-8gb and i could give bro the old n95 i promised him lol

Yeah, some people on the review comments talked about it as a good second phone as well.

It is pretty durable, and it looks just like a normal phone so you don't need to worry about muggers as much compared to the more expensive models. It's also got much better music playback compared to the N95 as it has a dedicated audio chip.

The keys are a bit weirdly laid out though, and so is the main menu (though they could update the menu in future firmware, and you can alter it yourself as S60 lets you move icons about and create your own folders).

Had been hoping the support for the 5320 would appear alongside the N73/N93(thinking perhaps th reason for the delay, to add a few devices in one hit), obviously not the case as they're still "support coming soon", disappointing.

Had been hoping the support for the 5320 would appear alongside the N73/N93(thinking perhaps th reason for the delay, to add a few devices in one hit)

That wouldn't happen for technical reasons, the 5320 is a slightly different version of S60 compared to N73 and N93.

The N73 and N93 use the original S60 3rd Edition platform, while the 5320 uses S60 3rd FP2, so their N-Gage applications are likely to be released separately. They seem to be releasing the N-Gage app for one S60 version at a time.

If you want to pile some pressure on Nokia to make some kind of statement about the N73 and N93 support, here's the link to do it at:

http://ngage.uservoice.com/pages/general/suggestions/9915

Now it's started displaying prices in euros, so they seem to have fixed the dollar problem.

NOTE: This download has been specially prepared for Nokia 5320 XpressMusic devices only. Attempting to install this application on other devices is not recommended at this time.

Not recommended != not allowed, I'm trying this on my N95

edit: it works, and I can see the improvements such as email link and avoiding the flickering (it just shows a black screen while the game loads in the background, better)

Good news for 5320 owners then.
And the MGS news was great. But the game page lists Konami as the developer, while I knew (AAN reported too) Ideaworks 3D to be the developer. Anyway, we are going to get MGS within 2 months or so.

Ouch! This is a low blow from Nokia to all the N73 and N93 users!
But those whiners had it coming. Every N-Gage blog article has someone complaining of the N73 release, even if the article doesn't concern devices. -_-
"ONE will be released next week!"
"Who cares!? Gief us N73 nao!"
"Oh, okay then. We'll just have to delay ONE for 3 more months."
No, the above never happened, but that kinda scenario is possible.

I don't know what you, shadowspawn, have against N73/N93 owners. Imagine yourself without any support, after you have bought a handset, only because Nokia promised to give support. You would've done the same, I bet, in that situation. The N73/N93 owners don't have any vendetta over your N95/N81/N82 getting support, why are you just firing in the air? And who says Nokia has delayed any game (or its service altogether) to give support to their old customers? ONE hasn't been released due to 'last minute polishes' (as reported by Nokia), and other game delays were solely due to Nokia's internal problems or problems arising from games getting cracked. I request you to get your facts correct before posting anything.

sandy_1988 wrote:I don't know what you, shadowspawn, have against N73/N93 owners. Imagine yourself without any support, after you have bought a handset, only because Nokia promised to give support. You would've done the same, I bet, in that situation. The N73/N93 owners don't have any vendetta over your N95/N81/N82 getting support, why are you just firing in the air? And who says Nokia has delayed any game (or its service altogether) to give support to their old customers? ONE hasn't been released due to 'last minute polishes' (as reported by Nokia), and other game delays were solely due to Nokia's internal problems or problems arising from games getting cracked. I request you to get your facts correct before posting anything.

Going a bit off topic from the 5320 article here but I have to say I agree with sandys comments above. I personally don't whine on the NGage Blog, but I can understand people for asking there as they are no doubt frustrated at getting zero feedback from Nokia as to the reasons why the support has been delayed for over half a year(bought my N93 back in February in anticipation for NGage 2.0 and I can tell you can tell you it is getting a bit silly now).

I regularly see both sides, people moaning, and in turn people moaning about the moaners(funny enough often that way around in anticipation:rolleyes😊, really can't undertand why Nokia don't just allow Ikona to make a short statement about it on the blog, I get the impression he isn't able to comment, hence he himself starting the feedback poll for a statement linky.

Anyway, as for the 5320, I suppose it can only be good to see more handsets supported, the platform needs to be more on some cheaper handsets in order to get out to the masses and this looks like a good phone for that purpose as it's obviously the lowest price current NGage phone. Thanks for the phone review by the way, hadn't read it until now, an interesting read.

Also, nice to see MGS on the games page, only commented the other day that Nokia should get some more of their "in development" games on there.

Thumbs up 2 nokia 4 releasing the app. And hope they will releasing the app for the 73 and the newer phones. It must have been easier to make this app because of the sheer amount of the memory that it have. I bet that nokia are not gonna give us any release date after all the false ones that they gave. They definetly have the word "soon" a whole new meaning in there site 😉. I have a 73 and am waiting 4 a word 4rm nokia. But lets face it this is an old phone now. I assume giving the newer ones more attention is fair because they are the future. I will be angry at nokia if they said that they were gonna drop the 73 from the list but not as i am right now after waiting for ever for a word.

I have nothing againts the N73 and N93 users per se. Some of my friends cant play cos they have an N93, and that sucks for me.
What I'm sick of are those whiners who think the more they moan the faster they get whatever they want.
Those people just annoy the fuck out of everyone. Be it N73 whiners or impatient fan boys of series or dev haters.

If Nokia had never mentioned N-Gage supporting the N73 or N93 then it probably would be unrealistic to expect that to happen.

However, Nokia DID say that N-Gage would support the N73 and N93, and they had those two handsets prominently displayed in the publicity videos and photos for the N-Gage platform. The official N-Gage website still says that the N93 and N73 will get N-Gage.

People may have spent several hundred euros on these handsets partly because of N-Gage compatibility, and the N73 is still on sale so that may still be happening. If you spend several hundred euros on anything you are entitled to feel bitter if a promised feature fails to materialise.

The thing to bear in mind though is that Nokia also promised the N-Gage platform would launch in November 2007, but N-Gage didn't get a beta test until February 2008 and the actual launch wasn't until April 2008.

There is no way Nokia would have announced a November launch at a huge press event and then deliberately missed it by five months. It meant N-Gage missed the Christmas sales period, and it made the N81 into a lame duck as it launched with gaming keys and no games to use them, both of which probably did damage to Nokia's sales.

The only explanation that makes sense is that some HUGE last minute technical hitch appeared which messed up all of Nokia's plans. That same hitch may also have messed up their plan to support the N73 and N93, as well as severely delaying the launch on other handsets.

Whatever the situation is right now, Nokia should come clean and tell us what's going on, and I suspect Nokia's own PR people want them to do that as well, but the actual decision makers are just staying silent.

@ shadowspawn,
Yeah, I understand reading through a thread and unnecessarily facing posts demanding for N73 support (though that has nothing to do with the thread) is annoying. But you have to respect them as consumers. After all they have paid for the device and for whatever reason can't/don't want to upgrade; it's up to Nokia to give them promised support. Also, Nokia's everlasting silence is doing them no favor. You've got a point, but think from their perspective, you'll feel as bitter as your friends.

@ Tzer2,
Why does these last minute technical hitches happen to Nokia only? Other companies these days do unveil their services on fixed date, why can't Nokia? In recent times, only things related to this industry that I have seen to be delayed are games and Nokia's N-Gage. Actually, I feel Nokia didn't get prepared for N-Gage from the very beginning. It appears, Nokia were busy creating flash presentations for N-Gage throughout 2006 and first half of 2007. Why on earth did they not develop the N-Gage application first and then go for games? After all, the whole platform is based on the application and if it falters, the platform is a failure, however good games Nokia manage on the platform. Why can't so simple things be put forward by Nokia?

sandy_1988 wrote:
@ Tzer2,
Why does these last minute technical hitches happen to Nokia only? Other companies these days do unveil their services on fixed date, why can't Nokia?

The answer is... they don't happen to Nokia only. It happens to all companies.

Which company has unveiled ALL their services on a fixed date, and has never EVER had anything slip? No company has ever been perfect like that, though they may seem that way if they don't ever announce dates to the public until something is finished.

Take game consoles for example: The PS3 was a year late coming to Europe. The Xbox 360 shipped on time but early models had to be replaced because they destroyed people's DVDs and overheated easily. The Nintendo Wii shipped on time and worked, but the supplies were so limited that most potential customers couldn't buy one until about a year after the launch.

To be honest I think Nokia's mistake was simply to put a date on something they hadn't got ready yet, and they've probably learned their lesson as none of the game releases or the 5320 app had any kind of pre-release announcement. If they stop giving out dates then by your standards there would be no delays.

Also bear in mind that N-Gage is a very ambitious thing, something that's never been done before: an online multiplayer phone gaming platform across many different devices simultaneously.

Launching a software platform on one device is comparatively easy, but to make a platform that can be used across potentially dozens or hundreds of different models (and even PCs too) is a much bigger task. AFAIK no one else is even trying to do what Nokia is doing now, so it's not exactly fair to compare them to other companies.

In recent times, only things related to this industry that I have seen to be delayed are games and Nokia's N-Gage.

If you actually saw behind the scenes you'd see the mobile industry is full of delays.

The iPhone was apparently supposed to launch in 2006 but it wasn't working properly, which caused a year's delay. The public didn't find out about this because the phone was kept secret until it was 100% ready. It seemed like the iPhone came out on time, but in reality it was greatly delayed.

If Nokia had kept N-Gage secret until it was 100% ready it would have seemed like it came out on time too. The only reason it seems delayed is because Nokia told us about it in advance.

Why on earth did they not develop the N-Gage application first and then go for games?

They did, the prototype app was on show way back in 2005 and 2006.

The problem is that the target hardware keeps changing in the phone world, and since the app was originally written there have been many new hardware and OS versions.

It also takes a long time to write good games, Reset Generation and Creatures Of The Deep were in development for about two years.

If Nokia got the app ready and THEN wrote the games, either the games would have to be very bad, or the app would be out of date by the time the games were ready.

Could someone please give Shadowspawn a couple of chill pills & a mug of warm milk b4 his beddy-byes?
There there who needs to swear.. There there... There there.

hi, i have dwnloaded ngage on 5320 but d games r nt gettin installed, dey say file corrupt, d same ngage games wich wrked on n81 r nt wrkin on 5320, plz help