Nokia 8800 Sirocco

8800 Sirocco Nokia picture Despite Mobile Choice’s reticence towards the original Nokia8800, the handset struck a chord with business users. It was THE phone to aspire to for those who happened to have a spare Ј600 to splash out on a phone. It was superbly designed and made, but its specifications left us cold, so we are pleased to see that the Nokia 8800Sirocco has a much improved features set. At first glance, there appears to be little difference between the two handsets, but look closely and Nokia’s design refinement is exceptionally classy. The front slide fascia is more minimalist with a convenient thumb indentation for a better grip when opening the phone. The keypad/navigation/soft key area has also been refitted for the better. The Nokia 8800 Sirocco still has its signature metallic armour, but has gained a couple of grams and a few millimetres. At 138g, its stainless steel body is a weighty proposition and you will definitely feel it in the pocket. The pay-off is that you are getting a solid, meticulously crafted, expertly built handset. The 8800 had the best slider action in the business – spring-assisted and sturdy with a satisfying clunk – and the Sirocco keeps this feature. Nokia has added ball bearings used in high-performance cars to give the mechanism an even slicker glide. You won’t be disappointed. Nokia 8800 Sirocco Themes Free Nokia Themes download Nokia 8800 Sirocco Software Free Nokia Software download Nokia 8800 Sirocco Games Free Nokia Games download The display quality hasn’t moved on from the 208 x 208 pixel resolution, but it's an adequately detailed screen and guarded by scratch-resistant sapphire-coated glass. Usability has been improved by the keypad overhaul, with more spacious buttons and joypad. The slight overhang from the sliding cover that blighted the original 8800 is still evident. It does hamper your fingertips when trying to get good purchase on the last row of keys, especially those of you with chunky digits. The camera has been bumped up from a miserable 0.5 to two megapixels. The camera quality is an improvement and you can fire it up via one of the soft keys. It shoots in 1600x1200-pixel resolution and has white balance, effects, night mode and self-timer settings to adapt to different environments. Picture quality won’t win any prizes, as colours do appear washed out, but it is adequate for this level. Elsewhere, internal memory has been doubled to 128MB and Brian Eno has been recruited to record exclusive ‘Crystalline’ ringtones. Of course. These are unmistakeably Eno, with atmospheric and tasteful guitar and piano vignettes, and all sound undeniably pretty. The lack of memory card and sufficient internal memory limit the appeal of the Nokia 8800 Sirocco's music player. This is compounded when you see it has a capable seven-band equaliser to enhance the fidelity and stereo Bluetooth function to wirelessly stream your music to compatible headphones and speakers. It is also frustrating to note that Nokia only supplies a mono earphone with the handset, so you will have to invest in extra headphones to listen in stereo. The 8800 Sirocco has enhanced its reputation with a design polish and feature hike, and despite competition from the LG Shine, it still remains the beautiful people’s phone with a designer price tag.

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