Features

Top 10 Games Phones: June

Give a big hand to these hot gaming handsets

Top 10 Games Phones: June
|

It's been quite a couple of months for mobile phone handsets. We've tested our first Blackberry on Pocket Gamer and, while we can see the appeal for suits, we're not hooked; while the 'Crackberry' tag may be appropriate for office warriors, it's just not built for gaming. It's a claim that cannot be levelled at Nokia's amazing new N95 though, which has made its debut in our top 10 handsets list at number two. The only reason for it not supplanting our perpetual fave, the Sony Ericsson W550i, is in terms of current range of games�(see below for more).






















Sony Ericsson w550i
Fair enough, you're tired of seeing this diminutive handset sat on top our Top 10 handsets list. But there's no getting around it: right now, this remains the best handset out there for playing games on, and even better, it's getting ever cheaper to get your hands on one. (Shop around and you'll pick one up for £140, contract-free.) Why is it still number one? Well, wide support from games developers and publishers, great sound, 3D visuals as well as its party piece: you can hold the phone horizontally, rotate the on-screen action, and play on it as if it were a handheld console. Bonza!
(Read our review)
Sony Ericsson W550i mobile phone
Nokia N95
The new wonder smartphone takes second spot to the W550i in its launch month, and indeed the N95 might have the smaller Sony Ericsson licked in all departments but for one important difference: at the time of writing, there's very little support from publishers and developers. That means that there aren't very many games out there to actually play on an N95 right now. But there will be, particularly when the second-generation N-Gage gaming platform gets its official kick-off later this year. And when that happens, you can fully expect this handset to take the top spot.
(Read our review)
Nokia N95 mobile phone
Nokia N73
If you want to trace mobile phone handset evolution over the past two years, you can do no better than look at the N-series from Nokia, particularly the N7xs. The N70 was almost a direct clone of the older 6680 and 6630 handsets, with a heft and battery life that belied its older technology. But they were good, solid handsets. The next link in the chain is this, the N73, and it was�clear to see that design and the technology behind it had moved on. This handset is smaller, lighter, more powerful and a better games player than its forebears. It also features better controls, with a thumbstick that's infinitely preferable to the directional pads that most Nokia's are encumbered with these days.
(Read the review)
Nokia N73 mobile phone
Sony Ericsson K800i
While Nokia's operating system is the most widely-supported, the software that enables Sony Ericsson's stable of handsets is, at a push, the second-most widely supported. Because Sony handsets have always had a predilection for media, they've always been well supported by games publishers, which means that it's almost impossible to buy any Sony Ericsson handset and not find pocket gaming joy easy to come by. The K800i stands here on the merits of its screen, 3D prowess and little joystick / nubbin thingummy-jig, but in many ways it also represents a number of peers such as twin sibling the k810i and the similar, but slightly smaller-screened duo of w800i and w810i.
The reason a nubbin thumbstick is preferable to a D-pad? Partly personal preference, but mainly due to the fact that it's quicker and easier to change the direction you're pressing in. Try it.
Sony Ericsson K800i mobile phone
Sony Ericsson W810i
Walkman phones might be no better at playing music than most other handsets these days, but as a branding exercise it's been a hit. Thankfully there's some beef behind the scenes though, and unless you opt for the wafer-thin models you can pretty much guarantee yourself a solid gaming experience. This is illustrated by the W810i, an unspectacular-looking handset that manages to squeeze in a decent set of controls, good 3D performance, and sound that resembles actual music and noises you might hear in the real world. If the screen were a little bigger and the numeric keypad better defined, it'd be higher than it is.
Sony Ericsson W810i mobile phone
Nokia 5300
The reason that multimedia phones fare so well in the Pocket Gamer top 10 phones list, whether they be Nokia N-series handsets, Sony Ericsson Walkman models or others, like this, is because many of the demands of video and audio playback are the same. So, you get a good, crisp screen that's not averse to handling technically difficult tasks such as playing back the latest Fratellis video and speakers that don't sound like a wet fart when they're supposed to be banging out your latest download. In the case of the Nokia 5300, you also get a set of controls that are easy to live with and the assurance that comes with any phone running the Symbian Series 60 operating system, which is one of the best supported handset platforms around.
(Read our review)
Nokia 5300 mobile phone
Nokia N93
How can a handset like this drop five places in one go? Well, largely by being superseded by a newer model. The new phone in question is the currently untried by us�Nokia N93i, an update to the existing N93 concept, and it carries over most of the design decisions and hardware. The latter is crucial because, for a long time, the N93 has been the most powerful handset, in visual terms, on the market. The big screen, dedicated 3D graphics processor, and sheer size meant the N93 was ideal for playing games on. And it still is, but until we've put its successor through its paces, the N93 will have to take a backseat.
Nokia N93 mobile phone
Nokia 6234
3D visuals aren't the be-all and end-all of mobile gaming, despite what the publishers and handset manufacturers might try to tell you. There are still many more 2D titles released � and will continue to be released � than 3D, and the addition of an extra D is no guarantee that a game will be any good. The reason we bang on about 3D visuals here is that they're technically more demanding of a handset's hardware than 2D visuals are, so if a model can deal with 3D with aplomb, it'll do so with the less flashy 2D games. The Nokia 6234 manages to do itself proud when it comes to the three-dee stuff and, for a 3G handset, it's relatively inexpensive, too, though multimedia widgets are correspondingly thin on the ground.
Nokia 6234 mobile phone review
Sony Ericsson K700i
The elder statesman of the Pocket Gamer review handset stable, our trusty k700i has been doing the rounds for more than three years now and is still going strong. If that wasn't testament enough to its qualities, consider this: it's essentially the same handset beneath the skin as the Sony Ericsson model(s) found at number 4, save for a few aesthetic and media-player tweaks. That means it can play the latest 3D games, even those from perennial third-dimension stalwarts Fishlabs, and has an incredibly wide support base among all the developers. It's also dirt cheap, comparatively speaking, with PAYG examples going for less than �100 on the high street.
(Read our review)
Sony Ericsson K700i mobile phone
Nokia N-Gage QD
Okay, this is partly a sentimental carry-over from our earlier top 10 lists but not entirely: the N-Gage QD is still a strong performer, despite running on a version of the Symbian Series 60 operating system that means that 3D Java (J2ME) games won't work on it. But it's a small price to pay for the N-Gage games that are unique to the handset, with Pathway To Glory, a turn-based World War 2 strategy game, being a bona fide classic game that we love playing to this very day. Remember, you can grab an N-Gage QD handset for around �30 on eBay and games cost no more than you'd pay for a download from your network operator. In short, top-flight gaming for mere pennies.
(Read our review)
Nokia N-Gage mobile phone