Nokia N80 – For the Power User

Overall

Moving from a Nokia 9500 to a Nokia N80 was as a tough choice.

The Nokia 9500 packed everything I ever wanted from a mobile office, with Fax, E-mail, programmable OS, Word processing/Spreadsheet, Calendar and PC suite, through either Bluetooth, Infra Red or WiFi connection. Heck, you could probably even use it to control a guided missle.

So what else could Nokia pack into their phones, in this day and age?…… Absolutely Nothing, you think?

But then they realised, “Hey! Let’s have all the above features, and more! Into a smaller device.”

The Nokia N80 comes with pretty much every function the Nokia 9500 had, Smaller Form Factor – Full QWERTY Keyboard = N80.

What’s in the Box?

From an Australian stock box kit comes the phone, battery, CD, manuals, stereo headphones, DKU-2 sync cable, charger and 32 MB MiniSD card.

Appearance?

The N80 from the overall shell, isn’t housed by a cheap plasticky feel, however is anodized at the front in either Silver or Black (I actually wanted the Black version, but due to a mix up from a reseller I ended up with a Telstra branded Silver one.) The silver looks good, but I recommend you becareful and stay away from any “Service Provider Branded” Firmware-d phone.

From an overall form factor perspective, the slider design isn’t a bad idea as a clamshell would make it look fat and clunky. The keypad is awesomely gripped for fast smsing traction. The chrome inserts definately give a needed accent to the keypad area. The High Resolution screen is amazing, it is bright and vibrant and reasonably sized.

Top slide consists of 8 buttons in total, a center navigation key, 2 selection keys, a call and end key, quick message settings, menu, a cool fast access menu and clear.

The terminals on the bottom are exposed like the 8 series phones, and power is now changed to a very thin connection rather than the standard nokia fat power plug. However a converter is given to use backward-compatible with old nokia chargers.

Features?

There are two cameras, a 3 Megapixel with flash and auto censor on the rear, and a 3G video call camera on the front. You can access both cameras through the Camera function. This is the cool part, when you hold down the “Snap” button on the side of the camera, it turns the phone into camera mode, where you then hold the camera sideways as you would for an actual camera.

Quality of images at 3MP are O.K in bright conditions, in a dark Macro environment the flash distorts the image, nothing very friendly for a non-camera person. There is a delay writing to both Phone memory and Card memory, and is noticeable. This problem will lead to a blurred image if you don’t hold the camera in position for a few seconds after taking the shot.

Although the S60 platform is more complex and feature rich, Nokia still managed to keep navigation intuitive. The only downside I feel that Symbian needs to work on, in both their S80 and S60 platforms together with Nokia is to reduce the processing and execution times. There’s an annoyingly noticeable delay when accessing functions and scrolling around the phone.

The phone does take a MiniSD card which slides conspicuously onto the left hand side of the phone.

Battery life isn’t Nokia-Tastic, it would last just about a day with full use. I.e MSN permanantly on, Light – Medium SMSes and calls during the day. Recommend that you charge your phone whenever you can. The battery on the 9500 lasted 1 Week with constant use.

Connectivity?

Connectivity wise, Wifi, IR and Bluetooth are easy to use and stable with no real need to upgrade anything to cure any connection issues that some phones have had. This phone is also HSPDA compatible on a 3G network for fast internet surfing.

Fun Stuff?

Nokia themes for the S60 are available for free around the web,with Pay Per Theme from Nokia also available. There’s a built in music player and a radio player. “Snakes” Game has been redefined by a new 3D view and soduku is also thrown in to exercise your logic.

Pc Suite

Personally I synchronize my contacts and calendar with Lotus Notes on my N80. Everything operates automatically, correctly and trouble free even in a bluetooth connection. The only thing I couldn’t sync with the N80 is emails in both Lotus and Outlook, where previously the 9500 could handle it.

Who is it for?

As it is only my opinion, I would categorise this phone for Tech Heads and mobile warriors. It’s a bit too fragile for a young Teen, and a bit too feature rich for a user who wants a simple phone. It does look professional, and it has enough functions to keep you going whilst away from the terminal.