Nokia 8800 Arte Review

Look and feel

The 8800 Arte is satisfyingly solid and heavy and its constructed from the finest smoked glass and composite metals. With the slider shut, the 8800 is minimalist chic – an expensive-looking blend of black metal and glass with a simple chrome metal trim which acts as a protective buffer for the slider as it opens and shuts with a loud, satisfying clack.

As for buttons, you get a simple joypad and two soft keys (which light up when the phone is activated), which is perfectly adequate. The rear of the phone is just as sparse, but with a matt finish and the solitary camera lens. It’s gorgeous.

Slide the phone open, and you'll reveal a simple numeric keypad. It's a little cramped in there, like an Formula 1 car's cockpit, but the keys are neatly bevelled to assist with tapping in numbers and texts. There are roomier, easier to use keypads, but the 8800 Arte just about gets away with it.

Features

It’s better equipped than Nokia’s previous luxury phones, with a 3.2-megapixel camera and 3G data speeds onboard, together with 1GB of built in memory. However, it lets itself down a little by excluding an expandable memory slot and there’s no 3.5mm jack port for the music player. However, the phone does mute when you turn it over, which is cool.

Ease of use

As mentioned, the 8800 Arte is navigated via a joypad and two soft keys which adds to the minimalist aesthetic, but does take a little getting used to because single keys are designed to do the job of two. For example, when dialling a phone number, click the bottom of the left soft key and you can call the number; click the top of the same key and you can add the number to your contacts list or send a message. It’s a logical idea, but – while it may not look as good - it would make more practical sense to have a separate call and reject key.

Click the joypad to access the 8800 Arte’s menu and you’ll be presented with those familiar Nokia menu icons which make its Series 40 phones such a breeze to use.

Performance

There are few complaints here, although we couldn’t really enjoy the music player because the phone doesn’t come with stereo headphones and there’s no port for plugging in your own.

Battery life

The battery life is weak for a phone with such a hefty price tag. In fact, it’s weak by any standards