The Nokia 8800 looks a million dollars and costs nearly that much! But that's the point - exclusivity and style is what the 8800 is all about. The looks of the 8800 are unique. The phone's sliding keypad cover is made from stainless steel and is laser-cut for precision. The cover is engineered to be strong and to protect the phone. The screen is also built to last, being made from reinforced scratch-resistant glass, so your investment will be well protected. The keypad isn't the easiest to use, but it's OK. The phone is quite heavy, but feels good to hold. The overall impression of the phone is first class. The 8800 has an exclusive user interface with its own styles, themes and ringtones. The ringtones were composed for the 8800 especially by the composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, although to be honest we don't know anyone who actually likes them. You might want to download your own!
Moving on from the look and feel of the phone, the 8800 isn't the best-specified phone around, especially when you consider the price tag. The camera is rather poor, although the display is excellent, with 262,000 colours and high resolution. The MP3 player supports both MP3 and AAC formats with stereo output via a conventional stereo headset (included) or an optional Nokia Bluetooth wireless headset. 3D games are supported, plus fast data transfer via EDGE. There is also an XHTML web browser.
The battery life of the 8800 is really quite poor. It does improve after a few full charging cycles, but is shockingly bad in the early days. Memory is adequate at 64 Mbytes, but not really sufficient to make full use of the video and music features of the phone. A memory card would have unlocked the full capabilities of the phone.
We do have to criticise the audio quality of the 8800. The sound quality is not up to standard. For a phone in this price bracket, that's pretty shocking. Nokia should have got the basics right.
Overall, the 8800 does its job. It impresses. It's a stunningly beautiful phone that looks good, is lovely to hold, and does enough to hold its own against the competition. If style is what matters to you, then you may love the Nokia 8800, but there are too many issues to ignore, particularly battery life and poor audio quality. It could have been a five star phone, but doesn't make the grade. The new Nokia 8800 Sirocco improves on the original.
You can find the best online deals for the Nokia 8800 at Shopping.com.
| £572.98 | Nokia 8800 Sirocco In Black Sim Free Mobile Phone | C & A Electronics |
Features of the Nokia 8800 include:
