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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