Nokia's 8800 sells itself on its sleek lines and shiny exterior, but can the phone live up to its glamorous marketing campaign or is it a case of style over substance. We take a closer look.

After the usual barrage of reviewing practical technology designed for problem solving the delivery of the Nokia 8800 struck me like a small lottery win might.

Just sitting with the wonderfully elaborate box that the handset ships in made me forget my once embarrassing lust for the Motorola RAZR phone.

The phone itself is crafted from highly polished metal and holding it in your hand you may well find yourself giving a satisfactory sigh, if not at that point, then the slide mechanism certainly will bring it out of you.

Sadly if you're after substance you are likely to be heavily disappointed in a very short time as this is a premium rate phone is lacking in service that most consumers will have come to expect from such a high brow model.

In our tests, the call performance performed well but if you step into the world of texting you'll be needing twig-like fingers to type at any speed. The buttons in this phone are so small it's hardly worth venturing off into the limited feature list as it's just too frustrating to navigate.

The camera too lacks punch and while manufacturers rush to get bigger and better cameras in their phone's Nokia has opted for a lowly 0.5 megapixels for the 8800. This, although disappointing is probably due to the phone only featuring 64mb on-board memory with no expansion slots for MMC or SD.

It's strange then, that I'm still oddly attracted to this object, and in search of redeeming factors look to the ultra-chic docking charger with pulsating blue light, a spare battery and carry case.

But, even then, the phone lets me down. Talk time battery life lasted us 3 hours and standby is maxed out at eight, so the hypnotic cool blue charging station may well have to be admired at length.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Mobile phones Nokia

Nokia 8800 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 27 Oct 2005 00:00:14 +0100

The most recent collaborative project in the mobile market went on show Friday night as one of the centrepiece attractions at Sotheby's annual contemporary art sale, amidst the painted cardboard boxes, infantile abstracts and jaw-dropping price tags the Samsung Serene handset was possibly the only item not needing a second mortgage to purchase.

The Matthew Williamson clad waifs were doing their level best to show off the novel features but I thought it best not to tax them too much and stand to one side loaded with champagne and canapés to take a mini-tour of the Serene alone.

You can immediately see and feel the Bang and Olufsen part of the project on the phone's sleek casing, aluminium clasp and the timeless 80s tape deck opening mechanism which opens to reveal an upside down design where in general use the screen is at the bottom and numeric pad the top.

Using the handset for making calls is a simple enough affair with an iPod style click wheel for menu selection but texters will have to endure a workout of their fingers for anything longer than one-liners.

The handset can't really be described as an anything killer - it doesn't play music and has a paltry 0.3 megapixel camera but it does manage Bluetooth, WAP 2.0 browser and email client, perfect for ladies who lunch.

A triangular shaped docking/charging station adds to the glamour of the handset and another unit is also available to be used for synchronising your Serene with a B&O DECT system.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Mobile phones Samsung

Samsung Serene - FIRST LOOK originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 25 Oct 2005 13:03:36 +0100