Nokia 8800 review: Exclusivity costs

Here is the new flagship of Nokia. Excellent performance, quality dislpay, camera and matt steel body. It is luxurious and beautiful... and you will have to clean it every five minutes. Who will posses it, will be exceptional. Do you want it? Street price of the new Nokia 8800 around 800 euro.

Key features:

• luxury design
• steel body
• fine TFT display with 262 thousand colours
• exclusive ringing tones
• camera with 800 × 600 resolution
• EDGE
• Bluetooth

Main disadvantages:

• high price
• no memory card slot
• EDGE and GPRS only Class 8
• no standard system connector

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It took Nokia long time - more than two years - until they sat down on the table in the workroom with the sign "8 Series". The 8910i was the last one from the family of the elite mobile phones. In addition, it was not a completely new model, but just an innovation of 8910. None of the mentioned above is still on sale, while the world of successful bosses in luxury limousines already needs another expensive toy.

Nokia 8910i needed a successor

I am exceptional

The new model 8800 is made for celebrities, businessmen, managers, for ordinary people with extraordinary income, virtually for all, who stand for a good style, image and solidity. The package itself doesn't allow you to have doubts about what is hidden inside - something posh. The black boxboard paper, furnished with a metallic clasp with grinded numbers 8800 on it evoked shaking up in the office.

To exclusive phone suits an exclusive packing

There are two sections - in the first one a shiny phone and a case, in the second - user's manual, battery, stand, charger and headphones. All in black and silver characters and details if possible.

The street price for the silver pearl by Nokia is around 800 euro. The expenditure for the production of this exceptional package is nothing for such a sum. The price itself doesn't respect me much, because in Nokia's review I will point out the same drawbacks as I usually point out in any other phone's review.

Pretty heavy

The newie is pretty heavy. There was aluminum; there was titanium, now it's time for steel. The whole body is made of steel and the result is the monstrous 134 grams. Be prepared. The dimensions, however, will compensate you - height 107 and width 45 milimetres is nothing unusual. The thickness, however which is only 15 mm in the narrowest places, attacks Motorola Razr V3. The sliding contruction increases the effect of paper flatness.

Nokia 8800 in the official pictures

The new Nokia certainly doesn't belong amongst the fat ones

I am hesitating whether to appreciate the extra weight of 8800 as a negative or a positive feature. There are people at least, who need to know that they have something in their hands. On the other side, we talk about a phone, which most of the time will rest in the shirt pockets of many managers. In any case, this is a luxury tax for the used luxury materials.

The steel elegance weighs something...

A lighter

The phone looks very compact and firm when closed. The matching is perfect. Shortly after the first contact you'll discover one of its biggest drawbacks - you will succeed in leaving your fingerprints on the body of the phone. Besides, in the package there is a black leather case, which has an excellent cleaning ability. In addition its opening is pretty narrow so that every removal means also its partial clean-up. Sometimes, however it's not enough and you have to clean the dabs from your cheeks by yourself.

Nokia 8800 is a phone with sliding construction and it takes a while for everyone, who holds it in his hands for the first time to realize how the opening mechanism works. You have to push down the cogged roller, which looks like a scroll button. At first you won't even think about it. When you get over the spring resistance the upper part of the phone is already "flying".

When opening the keyboard, you'll hear a sound, just similar to the one, you know from the opening and closing of Zippo lighters. Metal is metal. The phone opening tool is very precise and pleasant; I have caught myself opening and closing it all the time.

Cogged roller works like a prop for fingers when opening • the construction is first class

Two batteries in the package

Thanks god we didn't borrow this sample of Nokia 8800 like the first one. Someone else before us obviously had confused the back cover of the battery with a yoghurt lid and tried to "unstick" it. He didn't only make some scratches on the metal back of the phone, but had twisted the back cover and couldn't manage the classic release by the two side long buttons.

In order to remove the back cover is enough to push the two side long buttons novináø)

A view from the back cover

Behind the cover you'll find a battery, especially made for 8800. It has a BL-5X sign and is very small. However we face a lower capacity in comparison with the ones we have used to. According to the manufacturer 600 mAh is enough for approximately 8 days of stand-by and up to 180 minutes talk time. In practice the steel phone usually endures short time. Not much of a problem, because in the package you'll find a second battery of the same type.