Nokia 8800 Arte review: Art of seduction

Stainless steel and OLED screen: there's no way a handset with that kind of features will ever blend in with the crowd of handsets. Add the hefty price tag and you got the high-end biting the dust too, just like that. But then, there's always someone like us to ruin the pleasure. Poking and prying, finding out if it's worth your dime. Wait a minute, did we say dime?! Sorry, we got carried away. Can't help it with the Nokia 8800 Arte.

Key features

• Looks
• Body made of the highest-quality materials
• 2" 16M color OLED display with QVGA resolution
• 3G
• 3 megapixel camera with autofocus
• Full-house retail package
• Decent battery life
• Fingerprint resistant surface on the back
• Turn-to-mute
• Magic clock
• Large internal memory
• Series 40 5th edition user interface

Main disadvantages

• Poor legibility under direct sunlight
• Tri-band only
• No memory expansion
• Smallish display
• Expensive, believe it or not

Nokia has long stuck a pole into the ground of premium lifestyle. Ever since the original Nokia 8800 saw the light of day, the Finnish-based company has been the first choice for phones made of exclusive, highest quality materials. Exquisite and beautifully crafted, the 88xx series handsets will get away with anything, be it their underperformance or exorbitant price.

Nokia 8800 Arte will face the greatest amount of competition inside its own pack, with every other 88xx-series handset a potential rival. Looks will be the weapons of choice, although the Arte duo has an ace up their sleeve in terms of functionality too. Nokia 8800 Arte and 8800 Sapphire Arte are the first 88xx series phones to feature 3G support. Anyway, the whole bunch is so heavy on design and exclusivity that high speed data transfers may as well be of no consequence if you're to make up your mind between the Arte and the Luna.