There's a fine line somewhere, or so they would tell you. That small things just can't be enjoyed as much as something bigger. Medium, well that's acceptable, but only by an inch, any smaller and it just wouldn't be as fun. But when it comes down to handheld machines, bigger isn't always better. Granted, the DS scored well but it's huge compared to the Nokia N-Gage QD, which has all the features of a good up-to-date phone, vibrating ring tones and all, throwing in a games console too, all in your top pocket.

The N-Gage QD has to be seen to believed. No screenshot can do it justice; it's just beautiful in its own little way. If you've ever seen the old N-Gage you'll know that the N-Gage QD is a big improvement, both internally and externally. The first major difference is that it's scaled down, from something big that you wouldn't really want to carry around, to something small, sleek and highly portable. The old N-Gage doubled up as an MP3 player, as well as a phone and while the QD doesn't play MP3s anymore, it makes for a more user-friendly phone. Before, you had to hold the N-Gage on its side, pressed against your head, which didn't feel nice and it was impractical. The QD drastically improves on this and with some clever microphone and speaker placement, it can now be held like a proper phone.

The main issue with the old N-Gage was the inconvenient method of swapping games. You had to remove the battery flap, pop out the battery and then insert the card. Users complained because they feared that this would damage the battery, as well as decreasing its life; turning it off and on again every time you fancied a change. Thankfully, the cute QD sports a hot-swap slot that allows you to take a game out and pop a game in at any given time. You must press a special button before you can take the card out though, or else the operating system in the phone may become a little confused. Other than that, swapping games couldn't be easier.

Not many people know this but the Nokia N-gage QD is actually a Smart-Phone. This may not mean anything to the average consumer, but to somebody like me, it's almost a dream come true. Aside from playing games, you can highly customise your N-Gage like you can customise your computer, by using third party software with the phone's own operating system. While Nokia doesn't recommend you go installing third party applications on your phone, it is possible, making the N-Gage QD a very flexible phone. MSN on your N-Gage is very desirable - just as desirable as sticking a Megadrive / Genesis emulator on too!

The QD looks great and feels great. The first thing that will strike you is the sleek looking design and how it looks and feels so small when compared to those big close-ups you've undoubtedly seen. Then the feel of the phone draws you in, with its rubberised rim, which allows for a firm grip on the machine, as well being lovely to hold. The next striking thing about the N-Gage QD is the super screen protector it comes with as default. Nokia must have read me like a book here, because I can't stand to get new things scratched. I can now stick the QD in my pocket, safe in the knowledge that the only thing that will scratch is the piece of thin plastic protecting that all-important screen! When playing a game, the N gage has a whole host of buttons here for the developers to play about with. But first, let's look at the eight-way directional pad. This pad is almost an analogue stick and if pressed in a particular way, it functions as an analogue stick too - something that other handhelds are missing this time around. On the right hand side are all the numerical buttons but the number 5 and the number 7 key are more convex for easy pressing. As you may have gathered, these two keys are the main buttons in any game you'll play, mainly because these are the easiest to press, though I have had no problems reaching the other buttons either. Games like Pathway to Glory use almost every button, so it just goes to show that twelve buttons are indeed better than two.

The QD comfortably sits in your hands and with the added rubber, it feels great to hold too. For some reason, the rubber just makes it feel safer in your hands. Don't be fooled though, I think the rubber is there for anti-shock purposes too but I'm not about to test that anytime soon! With rubber safely out of the way, let's talk about the screen. I was a little dubious to learn that the N-Gage QD only has 4096 colours and with most phones now on 64,000 and some even breaking the 240,000 barrier, I felt N-Gage QD could be lacking in this department. Fortunately, mainly due to the large screen and powerful backlight, you won't be able to tell - and while sat against my 64,000 colour phone here, I can safely say that the extra colours aren't that important.

When you put a memory card in the slot, the N-Gage QD displays a memory card symbol, which means that it's reading the card. To start with, the game loads up automatically but this is a feature that can be changed with relative ease if you don't want to stick a card in and sit through a slight loading time right off the bat. Most games do sport a slight loading time buts it's nothing unbearable, just a couple of seconds before the main game boots. However, once it's fully loaded up, there are hardly any loading times. The great thing about the QD is the fact that you can turn a game off anywhere, anytime and then resume when you have a spare five minutes. You simply press phone-down to come out of the game and then press that little button with an N-Gage tick on to resume exactly where you left off. Now if that isn't both portable and practical, I don't know what is.

So the N-Gage QD is small and sleek but would you want to be seen talking on it? Well, all things considered, I would say yes. I have been using the N-Gage QD for a week now and it's not uncomfortable to talk on. The microphone is loud, as my friend made a comment about me nearly deafening him and I could hear him loud and clear too! Because the phone is a little bit bigger than average, the QD won't get hot after two hours of talking, like most small phones out there do. Most people won't stay on a phone that long but if you've got network-provider minutes to burn, then burn them with the QD, because the QD won't burn your ear! Being a phone and a games console has its advantages too. Most teens out there take a phone everywhere they go, so would it really hurt to carry an N-Gage instead? This way, you'd have a phone for most of the time but a nice games console to kill the time on the bus - so in my eyes, the QD is fantastic for that type of person. I'd rather carry a phone and games console in one, than a separate phone and a separate console in each pocket weighing me down.

For the price, the N-Gage QD could just be used as a phone, because most low-end phones cost around the same. If you look at the N-Gage as just a phone, it has lots going for it. As mentioned earlier, it's a smart phone, so you can customise it to your heart's content. It also accepts blank MMC cards that go where the games would normally go, so it has expandable memory to save those ring tones and Java games too! Also, the N-Gage QD has blue-tooth, which comes in handy for playing multiplayer games, tracking people down in high street shopping malls and sending and receiving files via another blue-tooth device. I'm not joking when I say that I enabled blue-tooth in a shopping centre the other day and I got a dozen devices up on my screen!

Other phone features include full Java gaming support which allows you to install and run almost any Java application you can possibly get you hands on - then there's a handy web browser that uses GPRS, speed dials, call diverts, organiser, a Dictaphone that records one minute snatches of voices, converters, video players and lots of other nifty features that beg to be explored. The two main features that stand out for me are the neat little screen capture mode, which is similar to the print screen on your computer, and the ease of text messaging. Because the N-Gage QD is mainly a two handed phone, text messaging couldn't be easier - you can even insert music, voice and pictures to create a multimedia message. You can even send your screen captured scores via multimedia to your mates!

If you are GPRS configured and meet all the requirements with your network provider, you can connect to N-Gage Arena and play your buddies online! This means you can have totally wireless multiplayer almost anywhere! So you can shoot people on Pathway to Glory, or look forward to many of the other games that are just around the corner! I can't wait for Worms World Party on my N-Gage QD. How good will that be? Living those old-school PC memories in the palm of you hand and letting some stranger have a taste of your wormage! In addition, some of the games support voice, so you can hold down a button, record a bit of voice and send it over as a taunt - pretty cool if you ask me.

While you're gaming, you're going to want some decent sound to accompany the action. Luckily the sound is quite loud, so you'll be able to hear voices in game and from your buddies, listen to the explosive sound effects and indulge in some catchy theme tunes too. However, If you're expecting DS sound quality then you're going to be disappointed, as the N-Gage QD is only mono sound, whereas the DS is stereo and tricks your ears into thinking it's surround. However, it's still loud enough to embarrass you on a bus, so you'll have to make sure the N-Gage QD is turned down, or that you're wearing the headphones provided. The high level of noise can sometimes distort the sound but if you have it on just past medium you'll be able to hear every noise in a room with a few people in. It's all about adjusting at the end of the day! With the loud speaker intact, you can talk hands free to your friends when you make a call - which is perfect for driving along, or if you simply can't be bothered to hold the damn thing!

The graphics are almost PSOne quality. It does 2D very well; Pathway to Glory is a fine example of this. Fifa 2005 is a 3D game but only 3D because of a pseudo camera angle - however, it still looks very good but there's the odd funny looking curve here and there. The screen is very crisp when playing games, but I can't help wonder about what it would look like with 64,000 colours or more. What we have here are some fine graphics for a console -phone hybrid but it's not DS and it's certainly not PSP. When you factor in that the N-Gage QD is a phone too, you can just about understand that it's not feasible to diminish the battery with next-gen graphics. As it is now, the battery lasts for ages, with a few hours talking, a few hours gaming and a few hours messing about with blue-tooth!

The N-Gage QD improves in almost every respect when you compare it to the older model. While the graphics and the sound aren't up to par with the other handhelds in the upcoming mini war, the N-Gage QD is the most functional of the lot and also the most portable. Even if you're not a hardcore gamer, you can take this out as a phone and have a quick blast on a game where you see fit. Buying this purely as a console and putting a dummy sim card in might not be the best idea, as you won't be able to benefit from all its functions on offer, including the highly rated online gaming service. However, if you plan to take advantage of everything on offer here, then the N-Gage QD will make for a very pleasing purchase!

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).