Disqus
Following on from Will’s post about the new Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte, I thought now would be a good time to sum up on my experiences to-date with the Nokia 8800 Black Arte (there is one other variant which is the Sapphire Arte, by the way).
I’ve now been using the device for about 2 weeks, and in that time have formed some opinions on it – headlines are below:
- Initial feelings on unboxing were actually a little bit flat – I’m not convinced the boxing has quite the luxury it should have, for what is currently Nokia’s most expensive model
- Peripherals are good, nay impressive – the headset is worth nearly £100 on it’s own, and the charger/stand is well-machined, and impressively weighty. Only disappointment was the case
- The device itself has a good design aesthetic – matching the look of a Mont Blanc Pen, and I would imagine, probably targeted at exactly the same market segment!
- The keyboard is potentially just a little too small for a man with large hands (!) – I struggle on text messages and menu-nav occasionally
- Battery is reasonable
- UI is quite minimalist, but then I like that – I’ve got a colour scheme up called “black”, which as you can probably guess, has very little on screen or visible
- Series40 in this device is reasonably quick – not lightning, but does what it does very competently
- PC Sync is really rather good indeed – contacts and calendar no problem – in fact, I daresay slightly better than Series60!
So overall, I am loving the first couple of weeks with the device – I got it as a voice + text device, hence my lack of headlines regarding the multimedia or other functions. There are all the usual suspects on board in that respect – including a 3.2MP camera, 1Gb of memory, and a media/music player, but I have been using this device with it’s minimalist intentions in mind.
I have some concerns about what will happen to it if it gets dropped (big scratches I should think), but I’ll right in another post about my attempts to handle this matter…..
Ben
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
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Ben Robinson
