Nokia

0.85-inch hard disk drive (2004 – 2007)

In 2004, Toshiba launched a 0.85-inch hard disk drive with a capacity of 2 GB. This tiny single-platter drive was the smallest commerically available hard disk drive, and due to its small size used a permanently-attached ribbon cable for connection since it was only designed to be used as an internal drive.

There appear to be just three devices that ever used the drive – the Nokia N91 mobile phone, the Cowon iAudio 6 and the Imation Micro Hard Drive.

The Nokia N91 was a mobile phone that also made a major feature of being a music player, with dedicated media keys on the front and excellent audio quality. When released, it contained a 4 GB version of the 0.85-inch hard drive that could store up to 3,000 songs, and was aimed as a challenger to the Apple iPod. Later in 2006, an 8 GB variant was introduced, but the N91 was discontinued in 2007.

The Cowon iAudio 6 was a media player, for music, video and photos, and was also introduced in 2006. It also used the 4 GB version of the drive. However, it was replaced in 2007 by the iAudio 7 which offered 4, 8, or 16 GB of storage, but using flash memory.

The Imation Micro Hard Drive, introduced in 2005, was a USB storage device making use of the Toshiba drive rather than the more usual flash memory. It was shaped like a padlock, and offered either 2 GB or 4 GB of storage. However, it was slower than flash memory and its quirky design made it more bulky.

Figures

Dimensions: 32 mm × 24 mm × 5 mm

Capacity: 2, 4 or 8 GB

Sources / Resources

Nokia N-Gage card (2003 – 2006)

The N-Gage was a combined phone and handheld game console, launched by Nokia in 2003.

To compete with Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance, Nokia included a phone in the N-Gage. Unfortunately, this meant the controls were not so suited to gaming, and the phone’s speaker and microphone were built into the side of the device. This meant users had to hold the device at right angles to their head, leading to the nickname of the ‘Taco phone’ (due to its shape). Some of its core features were impressive for its time, like Bluetooth connectivity and an on-board MP3 and video player.

Games for the N-Gage were distributed on MultiMediaCards, but to put the card into the device meant removing the back of the N-Gage along with the battery. A re-design in 2004 as the N-Gage QD moved the card slot to the outside of the device, but sales continued to be poor and only around 3 million were sold over its lifetime. Over 50 games were made available for the N-Gage range, but there were no ‘must-have’ titles (there were some big titles such as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Call of Duty, and Pandemonium, but these were also available on other consoles).

Games continued to be released until 2006, but the device had already been withdrawn from Western markets in 2005 by which time the Sony PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo DS were on the market.

The N-Gage name lived on until 2010 as the name of a platform for online distribution of games to later Nokia smartphones.

Figures

Dimensions: 32 mm × 24 mm × 1.4 mm

Sources / Resources