Nokia 8800 Arte/ Arte Sapphire

When is a Nokia 8800 not a Nokia 8800? When it's a Nokia 8800 Arte. This is much more than a slightly warmed over version of the Nokia 8800 Sirocco - it's a completely new handset, effectively the Mark III version of the original Nokia 8800, with quite a lot of features taken from the 8600 Luna. And it's certainly not as hideous as the Nokia 8800 Sirocco Gold Edition.

There are two variants of the Nokia 8800 Arte, the standard one and the Sapphire Arte which features a gemstone navigation key and a soft leather finish. We kid you not.

Ignoring the rather bonkers Sapphire edition, the Nokia 8800 Arte is a much improved device over its predecessor. This is a 3G phone with a 2 inch 240 x 320 (QVGA) pixel OLED display, a 3.2 megapixel camera and 1GB of internal memory. Add in Bluetooth and a multimedia player, and the 8800 Arte is pretty much on-the-button for a contemporary 3G phone.

Here's the catch - the Nokia 8800 Arte costs a whopping €1000 (£700) and if you want the Sapphire edition then that will set you back €1150 (£815) before tax and subsidy. For those basic specs, you can get a 3G phone an awful lot cheaper - so what is it that sets the 8800 Arte apart from a run-of-the-mill handset?

The answer is, the 8800 Arte follows in the tradition of other 8000 series Nokias by paying very close attention to detail and the quality of construction. The 8800 Arte is constructed from steel and glass, at a time when most phones are made primarily of plastic. The non-stick surface on this new 8800 is a feature that many owners of "glossy" phones will see the need for, and there's a smooth sliding mechanism designed to give the 8800 Arte an air of quality.

It's more than just the build quality, Nokia have gone to some effort to create a whole "8800 Arte" experience. The musical themes for this handset have been created by Kruder & Dorfmeister (check out the soundtrack on the 8800 Arte's launch page), it comes with something called "living wallpapers" and a nice touch is that if you flip over the phone when ringing, it goes mute. There's a desk-stand included in the sales package too, along with a Bluetooth headset as standard.

Although the inclusion of 3G, QVGA and an improved camera are certainly improvements, there are still a few shortcomings with the Nokia 8800 Arte. For starters, this is not a smartphone - the 8800 Arte runs the standard S40 operating system found in Nokia's "dumb" phones. There's no WiFi, the camera lacks a flash and there's no expandable memory either. Video capture is a lowly 177 x 144 pixels, and the 8800 Arte also lacks GPS.. and even though SatNav is a bit of a luxury, the 8800 Arte is a luxury phone. It's only a tri-band GSM phone, so the the 8800 Arte isn't really suitable for the US market,

So, it's quite a lot of money and not as feature packed as the N95 8GB or E90, but the Nokia 8800 Arte is certainly a very desirable phone. Nokia say that the Arte should be available during Q4 2007, and the Arte Sapphire is anticipated for Q1 2008.

Nokia 8800 Arte/ Arte Sapphire at a glance
Available: Q4 2007 - Q1 2008
Network:GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900UMTS 2100
Data:GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G)
Screen:240x320 pixels, 16m colours
Camera:3.2 megapixels
Size:Large slider109 x 46 x 15mm / 150 grams
Bluetooth:Yes
Memory card:No
Infra-red:No
Polyphonic:No
Java:Yes
Battery life:3 hours talk / 12 days standby