Clearly Nokia have gone for better materials than 8810 which it aimed at the luxury market but somehow saw fit to use a plastic silvered slider rather than metal and worse still it scratched within minutes of sitting in your pocket next to a set of keys. Still this 8800 is made from a metal slider and there is even a scratch resistant screen to ensure this expensive model stays looking it's best.

We'd compare the Nokia 8800 to a luxury hotel, the best hotels in the world look the part and have those special touches that ensure you are happy to pay a premium, for example the slider on this model is reportedly made from Porsche technology and has a very smooth and satisfying action. However much like a hotel if you can't get a good nights sleep then the colour of the wallpaper means nothing and you could have stayed at the YMCA for a tenth of the price.

Sadly from our time with the Nokia 8800 it is very much a case of superior decoration masking a basic and possibly flawed phone, the tri band GSM does the job of making calls ok with a good RF performance but you hit problems as soon as you venture to text messaging. The buttons are far too close together for our fingers to text at any speed T9 or no T9, this also impairs using the phonebook and many of the phones additional features, heaven forbid you'd try and use the web browsing GPRS capability.

The screen is bright and colourful enough but again limited to 208 x 208 pixel resolution on a 1.65" display, the interface is standard Nokia series 40 and while it does a good job its' not that special and can be found on a range of Nokia handsets.

Then we get to battery life and the claimed 8 days of standby which never seemed to get beyond 4, plus the low talk time of anywhere between 2 and 3 hours, with a 800mAh battery the 8800 struggles to last more than a 24 hour period with the kind of use a modern mobile can expect. Maybe that's why the charging stand is so elaborate, Nokia clearly anticipate you'll be sat there waiting for it to charge so they've added what we can only describe as blue down lighters to the charger. Nokia describe this a breathing effect where the blue light slowly pulses, which does little to amuse while we wait each night for the 8800 to get enough juice.

The 107mm × 45mm × 16.5mm Nokia weighs 134 grams and yet seems to lack many features present on many Nokia mobiles, there is no outboard storage, no MMC or SD card and given the measly 64mb of onboard storage this makes the media player as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

The camera is barely webcam resolution with half a mega pixel while other phones storm ahead with 2 mega pixels, probably just as well as a 2 mega pixel image would soon fill up the memory. There is Bluetooth and this is the main method of connecting with the outside world as WiFi is absent, weird then that the package includes a cabled headset?

In fact the generous package is one of the few reminders of the "top end" Nokia 8800, there is a nice carry case and even a spare battery (which you'll need) a shame then that getting the battery off the phone is like wrestling crocodiles who have spent the week at a health farm. We just gave up and sat and watched the pulsing blue light as the power trickled in and our day drained away.

We've tried our best to find redeeming features and they fit into quite a small and compact list, the Nokia 8800 is cute, sleek, holds onto calls and has Bluetooth. But like the worst hotels the 8800 looks the part and charges top dollar (over £600 sim free) but try and use it and you'll soon wish you'd bought any other Nokia Series 40 phone for a third of the price.

Still there are enough BMW 318 convertible drivers out there who'll want one, if that's you just push the little Amazon button and enjoy, for the rest of us it's time to move on there's nothing to see here.

Published - 04/09/2005

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