Nokia 8800 and 8801
Discontinued 7th April 2005
The Nokia 8800 is an elegant sliding phone aimed
at the executive market, and it can be seen as the long-awaited
replacement for the Nokia 8910i. This handset's most
obvious feature is the steel shell to protect the handset
and also give it a very distinctive look.
In addition to the Nokia 8800's tough casing, the
screen has been made scratch-resistant to help prevent
damage, and also there's a digital camera that slides
into the case to protect the lens. Both the screen and
the camera on the Nokia 8800 are slightly unusual -
it uses the same 208x208 pixel compact display found
on the Nokia
6230i, and the camera is an 800x600 pixel (0.5 megapixel)
device which is the first one like it we've seen.
It's a fairly heavy handset at 134 grams, but is
a typical "candy bar" size at 107x45x15mm.
Although the Nokia 8800 is pitched at the executive
market, talktime is only quoted as between 1.5-3 hours
which is very low. The standby time is 8 days, which
isn't too long either. It is likely that the casing
is adding most of the weight rather than the battery.
The Nokia 8800 comes with a digital music player,
we think supporting MP3 and AAC formats. Internal memory
is 64Mb which is respectable, but the memory on the
8800 cannot be expanded which is something of a limitation.
The 8800 also supports MP3 and AAC ringtones, and has
a number of tones composed especially for the handset
by composer Ryuichi
Sakamoto. An FM radio is included as standard too.
This
is a tri-band device supporting GSM 900/1800/1900. The
Nokia 8801 is a US variant supporting GSM 850/1800/1900.
The 8800 supports GPRS and also
EDGE data transfer. This is a Bluetooth handset as you
would expect, and it also supports stereo audio over
Bluetooth. There's an email client and XHTML web browser,
and the Nokia 8800 also supports MMS and Instant Messaging.
The SVGA camera supports video clips in QCIF resolution
(144x176 pixels) and has a built-in video player. The
8800 comes with a 3D imaging engine for gameplay too. Of
course, the Nokia 8800 supports Java for games and other
applications.
Priced at around €750/£520/$950 this is an expensive
handset, but it does look really good from a cosmetic
point of view. Inside, the technical specifications
aren't as good as the recently announced 6230i,
but the 208x208 pixel screen is a great improvement
over Nokias of old.
Will it sell? Well, not in huge quantities because
it's an expensive handset, but even the antiquated 8910i
is still selling because there's a demand for this type
of executive-orientated device. Our major gripe with
the handset is the short battery life, and it also appears
that the handset might not be usable with a cable, but the rest
of the specifications are pretty good even if the Nokia
8800 isn't a class leader. It's certainly a phone that
stands out from the crowd, and we think that the Nokia
8800 is an extremely desirable device.
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