Nokia 8800 Review

Overall Rating

I've had this phone for over 2 years and have never had a problem with it besides its abysmal battery life. First and foremost the pros of this phone revolve around the way it looks. Made from steel and glass, there are few phones around which rival this phone's inherent quality. The screen (while tiny by today's Smart phone standards) is beautiful and the resolution matches that of a laptop's. The slide opens and closes with a nice tactility and weighting (much better than my new N95 8GB), and as it is constructed using metal ball bearings and springs this is no surprise. From a functional standpoint it is also incredibly easy to use, with the slide controlling call accept/reject. The steel and scratch proof glass construction also serves a practical benefit in its durability. As a phone it also does all you would reasonably expect a phone to do, and after 2 years it has faithfully managed my calendar appointments, contacts and phone calls. Tasty accessories like earphones with a little steel trim bits (only one ear bud though!!), costly blue tooth headphones, and stainless docking station with glowing LED charging light.

Battery life! If you don't make that many calls a day it isn't too bad, but after nearly 2 years it got to the point where you need to charge it every day. After replacing the battery it is much better though. If you've bought an older model, you can also have the firmware upgraded which is reported to improve the battery life somewhat. Also poor non-expandable internal memory (Sirocco Edition has more memory)

Let's face it, this is less a functional phone in the most up-to-date sense of the word, and rather a fashion item. As of the year 2000, by all *practical* accounts this phone was out-of-date before it was even released. Yet I would recommend it, and I do rate it at least 7/10 on value for money, because quite simply this phone is not aimed at the wider audience. The target market for this phone is not going to be concerned with handset cost. Besides the regular phone functions, what you are getting is exclusivity and quality craftsmanship, stuff you don't get with a run of the mill plastic phone. If that is what you are after, the 8800 is a great piece of kit. Later models had more memory, but in my opinion the original 8800 has the best looks. A bit of an indulgence when new, it will become a little treat for someone who doesn't need all the fancy gizmos of the modern Smart phone.