Gadgetell Review: Nokia 8801 for T-Mobile

Product: Nokia 8801 for T-Mobile
Price: $599.99 – $50.00 (mail in rebate) = $549.99
Rating: 8.3/10.0 (Very Good)
Pros: Sleek design, radio, fast internet access, Hollywood design.
Cons: Small keys, a little heavy, small screen
Overall: If you’re like me and want a true phone, this is for you but it’s a bit pricey retailing at $650 without any contract on the Nokia website and you also have to watch out for the paparazzi.

Design – 9.0 - Walking around with the new Nokia 8801 for T-Mobile got similar responses to when I first walked around with my Razr more than a year ago. Everyone who saw me was in awe and wanted one (I’m talking about the phone, not me). Its very sleek and small, and the silver keyguard is a plus to all those long time Nokia lovers who hated having to lock their phone when putting in a pocket in fear of unintentionally calling their ex, making for awkward conversations when they were called back. The screen is also very crisp, 208×208 pixel, displaying 256k colors. The phone looks great there’s just one major problem, the keys are just too small for your average adult and it takes a long time getting used to. On a less important note it’s a little heavy in the pocket. Other than that it’s a beautiful phone — of course it is, it won the Red Dot Design award.

Features – 7.5 - My favorite thing about this phone is the radio that you can listen to. It’s simple for someone who doesn’t want to spend time adding mp3 files from their computer. Just use the keys to get to your favorite local FM station and you’re good to go. The reception is great, probably just as good as the average car stereo. The internet impressed me in the same way: music/ring tone downloads were much quicker than I had seen on many handsets. That being said the only truly disappointing feature of the phone was the camera/video recording, if you really see a need to have a camera paired up with your cell phone or you’re a wannabe paparazzi then stop reading, this isn’t your phone, the camera was very low quality, which you would expect with a .5 megapixel lens.

Performance – 8.5 - Once I began to understand how the keys are used and how to make sure I don’t hit 3 keys at once because they’re so small, the phone was perfect. I didn’t run across any glitches in the software in the week I had the phone, not to say that after a few months certain things wouldn’t happen but right now there were no problems, the phone didn’t freeze or anything of that nature.

I can’t see a phone being perfect, its just hard to give a phone that status because there is always room for improvement, but this is as close to a 10.0 as I’ve seen. Its great for someone who wants a phone, not anything more and that’s me, I have a digital camera to take pictures I don’t need a phone to do it and I don’t want my email on my phone.