Information Madness

SPICE X1-NEW GAMING MOBILE:

In the race of mobile games, yet another competitor has been added to the list to offer stiff competition. Spice has recently launched its X-1 gaming mobile in the Indian market, and this could stir things up for the avid mobile gamer. Not too high end or flashy but the old 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System game ROMs’ will be a blast from the past.

A 2.4-inch display makes it quite convenient. It has a 240*320 pixel resolution. The five way navigation pad is useful. The short cut keys to the browser and game section are handy. The handset has volume keys, a dedicated camera key for the 2 MP camera, and the proprietary slot for the USB, charger and gaming console connector located on one side. The large display is great for videos. Only videos from the inbuilt camera show up in the video player section.

The integrated FM radio is one of the X-1’s best features. The handset supports .NES ROM files. It’s also supported to play Gameboy and Gameboy color ROMs’ with .GB, .GBC extensions and also the ambitious Super Nintendo >SMC Room’s. The whole experience is a lot of fun. Most of the keys on the keypad can be used for various functions and the shortcut media and browser keys can also used (not to forget the navigation-pad).

To make certain games more accessible without the gaming console, Spice has added a couple of action keys near the front speaker. The gaming console has a holder for the handset that can be adjusted from the rear to fit the phone. It feels the old 16-bit game consoles. It hooks up the handset via a cable that fits into a 2.5mm socket. The Spice X-1 runs on a similar interface as that of those Chinese mobiles. You can add particular ringtones and images to specific contacts, and add numbers, bookmarks etc. the phone also has the usual basic features such as a calendar, to-do list, calculator, convertor, stopwatch, world clock and a health option that calculates BMI and keep track of menstrual cycles.

It may not be 3-G ready but it does supports GPRS and WAP (but not EDGE). Other connectivity options include Bluetooth v.20 with A2DP support and USB v2.0. X-1’s battery life isn’t that great but it’s good enough. Users will get over a day and a half of usage with a little calling and messaging, audio, and gaming. It’s predicted at a price just Rs.7500 (and that includes the gaming console and a 512MB microSD card) this device is worth considering.