Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte review: Carbon copy

Ask not what your phone can do for you. It's Nokia Arte, folks, so the question is who you need to kill to have it. Exquisite materials, sophisticated slider design and state-of-the-art finish are doing their best to camouflage the fact that there isn't much your phone can actually do for you. In geeky terms, that is.

But hey, we never held that against the Arte series. That Arte tag is just a sin tax and there's obviously people out there that can live with it. Cast in the same mold as its forerunners, Nokia Carbon Arte is topping the familiar OLED screen, 3G and 3 megapixel camera with carbon fiber and titanium and 4GB of inbuilt memory. Sounds like we've been there already but a glimpse of Arte is always a treat.

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte official photos

Key features

• Yells expensive (and it does cost an arm and a leg)
• Body made of the highest quality materials
• 2-inch 16M-color OLED display of QVGA resolution
• 3G support
• 3 megapixel camera with autofocus
• Full-house retail package
• Decent battery life
• Fingerprint resistant surface on the back
• Turn-to-mute
• Tap-for-time
• 4GB internal memory
• Series 40 5th edition user interface

Main disadvantages

• Smallish display with poor sunlight legibility
• Tri-band only
• No memory expansion
• Costs an arm and a leg
• Below-par camera performance
• No video calls

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is the third Nokia handset that comes to fill the gaping chasm between regular fashion phones (LG Black Label series, Samsung co-branded offerings) and out-of-this-world-expensive handsets (read: Vertu and the likes). Dressed to kill and priced to draw blood, Arte is so impressive it's intimidating. Thank goodness it's underpowered enough for many people to use as an excuse. Saves face, doesn't it?

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte views

With respect to pricing, Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is practically comparable to its closest kin only - the Nokia 8800 Arte and the 8800 Sapphire Arte. Those have already been around enough for a hefty portion of that limited market to have sealed a deal but someone out there might just be going: "Carbon fiber and titanium? Now, we're talking."

Nokia 8800 Arte • Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte

The concept of upgrading must not be completely alien to even this utterly ungeeky super pricey segment. After all, previous 8800 owners are little likely to suddenly convert to Symbian or Eseries. That's where Carbon Arte comes in, so all of them Luna and Sirocco users don't feel deprived. Forgive that unfortunate choice of words.

Anyway, whether it's hammer-over-piggy-bank or conceited rejection, the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is back after the break. Hit the jump for a sneak-peek of the treasure chest.