At the Symbian Smartphone Show in London today, Nokia unveiled the first touchscreen-based version of their Symbian S60 smartphone interface. S60 is the interface used on their Next Gen N-Gage compatible models, so this means we may see touchscreen-based N-Gage games at some point in the future.

The obvious comparison is with Apple's recently launched iPhone, and indeed the concept model shown in the video does look physically almost identical. The look of the interface is rather different however, and Nokia's touchscreen phones will also apparently somehow incorporate physical feedback so you can feel when you've selected an option.

The implications for N-Gage are extremely unclear. Nokia's first touchscreen S60 models are due for release some time in 2008, it's unknown if they'll be N-Gage compatible. If touchscreen S60 phones become popular then it seems very likely that at least some of them will be N-Gage phones too.

Whatever happens, the Nintendo DS has clearly shown just how much touchscreens can add to games. If the Next Gen N-Gage platform does eventually get this feature, it would undoubtedly be a good thing.