Nokia 8801 Review:
04/25/2006
By: Carlos Eduardo
Purchased From: Ustronics.com
Like the beautiful girl on campus, the 8801 evoked a deep desire within
all those that gazed at her.
"
I must have it"
"
It's so cool"
And thus, I fell prey to its metallic spell...
Now.. why the 8801 vs. the 8800. The 8801 and 8800 are both tribands, but
the 8801 has the 850mhz band instead of the 900mhz band that the 8800 has.
This is important for anyone living in the Americas because it gives you
more roaming options. The 900mhz band is not used generally used in the Americas,
but is more extensively used in Europe, Africa, and Eurasia.
Reboots & Returns (or, my experience with Nokia Customer Service):
First thing that happened when I powered on my new phone was that it was
in a reboot loop. It would barely turn on before it would crash and reboot
again. I was using my old T-Mobile SIM card (32K). When I placed my Cingular
64K card (Axalto), it worked. My firmware was 3.60
The first replacement phone that I got from Nokia was a joke. Here I had
my phone for less than a week and they send me a phone that not only had
the same buggy firmware that I was complaining about, but that also had
TONS of lint within the keys and slider! I mean.. doesn't someone look
at these
phones before they go out and clean them? I returned it the very same day.
This week I got back the new one this one sporting firmware 3.78
In this version, the bug that sets your them white after changing the color
scheme is gone. The reboot loop is gone, and it's overall a much more stable
device.
Reception:
Unlike some other reviews that I've read regarding the reception of this
phone being on par with other Nokias, I have to disagree. I feel that this
Nokia has an average reception, and does not make best use of a signal
in marginal areas.
Battery Life:
Yes. It's bad. The worst battery life in a phone since the year 2001. I've
cycled the batteries enough now that they're at their theoretical best,
and even though on a light day I can get through an entire day, on a day
of 'calls',
not heavy, just one of those days when I might have 3-4 calls that are
about 20 minutes each.. I have to switch out the battery.
Unlike other phones (such as Samsungs, or the older Ericsson's), the battery
on the 8801 isn't that quick to swap out. You have to slide the cover out
(not easy to do quickly), then unlock the battery (it's got a sliding lock
to keep it from coming out), and then use your nail to force it out. In
summary, it's not a process that's done quickly.
Screen:
The screen is beautiful, but perhaps the reason for the abismal battery
life. Ironically, this could have been mitigated by simply allowing for
there to
be a user-configurable display brightness setting, hopefully in future
firmware revisions they will add this.
Keyboard:
The keyboard is a bit cramped, and the keys aren't laid out well. Thus,
even after having gotten used to the keyboard, I'm still much slower typing
on
it than on other t9 phones.
Construction:
The metal housing of the phone is thicker than other phones such as the
late 8890, and the feeling is one of more solid build quality. However,
the only
very small detail that I didn't appreciate was the play that the battery
cover had, making it feel less 'solid'.
Conclusion:
The 8801 is a collector's phone. It's classic styling will place it in
the halls of great phone designs along with the 8890. However, its use
as a main
'heavy duty' social phone is a little difficult due to its sub optimal
battery life. However, the style elements make it much more desirable than
any other
option in the market today.
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