The N-Gage is a mobile device combining features of a cellular phone and a handheld game system developed by Nokia, released on 7 October 2003.

[4] Officially nicknamed the game deck,[a] the N-Gage's phone works on the GSM cellular network, and software-wise runs on the Series 60 platform on top of Symbian OS v6.1.

Nokia also ran an online service community, N-Gage Arena, which also supported multiplayer on some titles, using the phone's GPRS data connection.

[6][18][19] Less than a year later, the QD model was introduced as a redesign of the original "Classic" N-Gage, fixing widely criticized issues and design problems.

[25] Nokia had attracted a decent amount of large third-party game companies that signed up to develop titles for the platform, including Eidos Interactive, Electronic Arts, Sega, Gameloft, Activision and Taito.

[31]In February 2004, with the N-Gage failing to make a major impact four months on, CEO Jorma Ollila claimed that the device would be given until 2005 to be judged whether it was a success or failure.

[38] The N-Gage is used in a wide physical form with a 2.1 inch TFT display in the centre with a D-pad to the left and numerical keys to the right, among other buttons.

Usual for a phone, but unusually for a game system, it had a screen taller than it was wide, with a size of 2.1" and resolution of 176 X 208, giving an aspect ratio of 11:13; at the time most televisions were 4:3.

Although it uses the same Symbian S60 software, some features available in the original system, such as MP3 playback, FM radio reception and USB connectivity, were removed from the new device.

[44] Later in August 2005[45] Nokia marketed the Silver Edition of N-Gage QD with a few cosmetic changes, and the replacement of the two specialist gaming buttons (5 and 7) with standard keys.

In October 2021, photos and information about a prototype for a cancelled hardware revision called the "N-Gage IC" were posted to the AtariAge[46] and ObsureGamers[47] forums by two independent collectors: Timo Weirich (Germany) and Leo Ashomko (Russia).

The prototype is cosmetically similar to the base N-Gage QD but came with an integrated camera, a 123 MHz processor, Symbian OS 7.0 with Series 60 2nd Edition and USB mass storage as well as hardware MP3 decoding from the original model.

[48][49][50] Besides its gaming capabilities, the N-Gage is a 2.5G GPRS data supporting Series 60 smartphone, running Symbian OS 6.1, with features similar to those of the Nokia 3650 (it does not have an integrated camera, however).

It is able to run all Series 60 software (other than those that require a camera) and comes with the standard features such as an email client, WAP, and XHTML browser; it also supports Java MIDP (J2ME) applications.

[54][55] Before the launch of Nokia's first in-house N-Gage title, Pathway to Glory, a one-level demo was released to journalists to allow them to sample the game and understand the concepts behind the turn-based wargame.

One more game was bundled with the N-Gage (on the Support CD): an exclusive version of Space Impact Evolution X, that was later made available to Symbian S60v2 phones.

Pocket Kingdom: Own the World received a handful of glowing reviews when it was released, and Pathway to Glory was Nokia's first self-published success.