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Nokia released a follow-up to N-Gage, its gaming smartphone, only a few months after the original first shipped due to poor reviews and weak sales.

Even though N-Gage QD (see image) improved on the initial model, fewer people than the mobile phone giant would have liked bought the device. In response, the company cut the price of N-Gage QD from $199 to $99.

The head of Nokia's gaming business also recently informed Reuters of plans to redesign N-Gage. Gerard Wiener said the company would give the device a new look and feel, including—among other things—a different color scheme.

He also asserted Nokia would finally consider addressing the CDMA market with new versions of the smartphone. N-Gage and N-Gage QD (see review) work only on GSM/GPRS networks, missing out on millions of subscribers with competing CDMA-standard operators in the United States and sections of Asia.

And since a number of GSM carriers plan to move to fast W-CDMA technology, which is related to CDMA, a new version of N-Gage for CDMA and W-CDMA networks seems sensible.

Nokia released no information about the new smartphone. ArcadeStation.com, however, reported this week next N-Gage would for some reason be called N-Gage 2—the moniker N-Gage QD, the real second edition in the series, was said to have before its official introduction.

Rumored new features include a 640 x 480 pixel (VGA) resolution display, up from a 176 x 208 pixel screen in N-Gage QD. N-Gage 2 may also add a 2D/3D Graphics and Video Accelerator that can play movies at 30 frames per second, in addition to a 330 MHz Texas Instruments OMAP2420 processor.

With the new N-Gage model, Nokia appears set on righting its initial stumble into a significant area of what Juipter Research, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (the parent company of this Web site), defines as "hybrid" gaming, as opposed to traditional gamers with handhelds like Nintendo's DS and Sony's PlayStation Portable.

Other "hybrids" besides N-Gage include TapWave's Zodiac and Gizmondo's upcoming eponymous device. Hybrid gamers also play games heavily on smartphones, traditional PDAs, or cell phones.

Nokia could introduce the new gaming handheld as soon as the E3 Expo in Los Angeles this May. The company said the smartphone, whatever it ends up being called, won't ship for at least several months, however.