Nokia 8800 review

Nokia 8800 Review

Reviewed by: Sandra Vogel

Reviewed on: 15 August 2005

Features
While the Nokia 8800 has a definite less-is-more visual appeal, the camera isn't the only feature to which less-is-more also applies.

For example, you get a mono earbud. This despite the fact that the Nokia 8800 has a music player and FM radio built in, and an equaliser, all of which lend themselves to stereo listening. You can use a replacement headset, but it needs to be able to function as an antenna. Nokia suggests its own wireless HS-12W, but you'll be adding another FM radio if you choose this option. This might not be a bad thing, because the HS-12W's radio has RDS and automatic channel search, neither of which are on the radio built into the Nokia 8800.

Another disappointment is the memory. There is 64MB built in, which sounds fairly good, but after performing a hard reset we had just 43.7MB free. That's not too bad for a current handset, but you can't expand on it because there's no memory-card support.

A final gripe is that while you get software for PC synchronisation and file transfer, you'll need to use the handset's built-in Bluetooth to connect to your PC, as there's no cable provided. This may involve the additional expense of adding Bluetooth to your PC.

It's not all doom and gloom. Web browsing was easy -- the handset has configuration settings built in for UK operators, and our T-Mobile SIM was set up with a couple of button presses. Web pages look clear and sharp, though we had to do lot of horizontal scrolling.

Extra applications include a nifty data converter and three games -- Golf, Chess and Street Racer, all of which are fun, and the standard fare of Contacts, Organiser, messaging and call management all worked smoothly enough.

Performance
Call audio was, if anything, on the quiet side, but general quality was good. Radio reception quality was fine, and the Nokia 8800's loudspeaker delivered well, though both through the speaker and earbud there was distortion at the highest volume setting. A bundled stereo headset would have made a huge difference.

Battery life seemed average, though we were able to get by without needing to carry the spare cell with us. If you do a lot of talking, the spare may come in handy, because Nokia reckons you'll get between just 1.5 to 3 hours of talk on a charge.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Nick Hide

Thanks to Expansys for providing a review sample of this phone