Nokia 8800

[Steve]

There is no doubt that Nokia have designed and built a phone of outstanding quality, its just such a shame it is lacking any substance. We can only hope Nokia build on what they have and produce an 8800i version with the features that represent the investment.

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...lld19JRD0xNDQ3

[ikonia]

very good review. I lot of information I was unaware of.

[5lab]

the obscene price and low availablility puts it out of most peoples reach - i'd have one over a full featured phone, but i'm not paying an extra £200 to do so

[Lord Kordir]

Anything with battery life that poor is a total waste of time no matter how nice the shell may look.

[ikonia]

yes, the battery life was a real key bit of information which I wasn't aware of.

[MD]

In all honesty, after doing the review, the fact you have two batteries is a GOOD thing, and I would not have put that much of an issue on the battery life itself had the cover not been so hard to remove.

It took me 25 minutes the first time, and by the end of it I wanted to chuck it on the floor and make it represent a pepsi can in a game of football, unfortunately, the supplier would not have been happy

Overall though, the concern for the sake of beauty is well founded and you are right, I would expect much better for the money.....

m@

[Apex]

You have no idea how much i hate this phone.........the ammount of issues this causes me in my job is starting to p1ss me off....

It looks good..but thats about it....

[ikonia]

please explain - real life working experience is always good to hear.

[Tom Scott]

It took me 25 minutes the first time, and by the end of it I wanted to chuck it on the floor and make it represent a pepsi can in a game of football, unfortunately, the supplier would not have been happy

m@

Damn straight Matt, probably be the most expensive "pepsi can football" ever. Citylink will probably break it on the way back anyway

[MD]

probably, especially after I spent the morning polishing the fingerprints off it only for the rest of the office to go woooo and start picking it up, 30 mins of cleaning, talk about PITA.

m@

[Lord Kordir]

It looks good..but thats about it....

That's what Nokia should use as the 8800's advertising slogan

[Tak]

Good review, thanks. I wasn't aware of the low battery life issue, and the lack of volume control is a major turn-off. I was considering one of these when (if ever) the price become reasonable but now I'm no longer interested.

[Alan]

I got one of these two weeks ago and finally switched it on yesterday. The reason: - it came without a keypad. Finally got it back, "repaired under warranty". I complained to Nokia and they directed me to an approved repair centre - not a word about why their quality control missed such a blatant blooper!

I think this phone is aimed at people who had the titanium 8910i who want a non plastic, non flash, plain and elegant phone. It's features, though not leading edge, are so much better than the 8910i that it is a logical progression. Now that I have a keypad, I consider that it is cheap and nasty as it makes crinkling noises when you click a button and the 0 button only works if you are particularly persistent. I have e-mailed Nokia about this but what a surprise, no response yet!
The poorly organised manual doesn't say how long you should charge the battery in it's initial charge but after a couple of hours the base was flashing blue on and off (indicating charged - Nokia calls it "breathing blue") it stays solid blue whilst charging - the reverse of what your rview says. The battery lasted one day of moderate use and playing around with it. It's been much better on the second day and I'll post back when I get a regular figure for it.
The comment about adjusting the earpiece volume I would extend to adjusting it whilst on the phone to someone. It makes no bloody difference! The volume level is utter crap and if your hearing is at all below par, don't buy this phone.
The display is lovely. No arguments there at all.
The bluetooth connection to your PC works perfectly and transferring files has been no problem.
The fingermarks on the stainless steel body aren't that bad and I got the battery cover off in 5 seconds (perhaps some examples are harder than others?). If the screen gets smeared a drop of lens cleaning solution on a kleenex does the trick.
I have written to Nokia to get a definitive answer to the volume problem. You could always change the sound to "loudspeaker" setting as the speaker is at the top of the phone and works quite well. No good, of course, if you are looking for a private conversation. (You can turn it's volume down, however).
As for the Japanese composer who lovingly crafted their unique and exclusive sounds - wasted their money, didn't they! What I would give to have a simple "Ring-Ring" when someone calls me.

[herulach]

...stuff.....

WHy didnt you just send it back to the supplier? THey should be able to deal with your issues, and if you complain to them youll more than likely just get a replacement

[Alan]

Ah well... I got it from Vodaphone (not a retail shop) at a ridiculously cheap price on a very low tariff and just after I got it, they stopped selling the phone! Bottom line, they aren't making enough money on the 8800 so they have stopped selling it. All I got from them was "tough, pick another phone". After being put through to a customer services manager I did extract from them, a promise to pay any repair bill from an approved Nokia service centre but in the end I took it to a Vodaphone shop who sent it away for repair.
Not my usual action but it was that or lose the bargain!

[Alan]

During a call, hit the left or right arrow key. This takes you to a graphic to set the volume level for the earpiece. The level sticks, you don't have to do it every time you make a call. Funny that it doesn't clearly show it in the handbook!