Nokia N80: First look

Yesterday Nokia presented its new N80 smartphone (being in its final stage of development). It is a slide phone with rich equipment and exquisite design. We had the chance to see and evaluate both its silver and the dark version. Let us now try to describe our impressions and provide you with several dozens of live photos.

Nokia N80 official photos

Nokia N80 is a high-class smartphone and it will definitely provoke an infinite dilemma - should I buy the current Nokia N70 or should I wait for N80...

Live photos of Nokia N80

The dark one is more beautiful

My very first impression: how small it is! Due to its slide construction, Nokia N80 is smaller than Nokia N70. When you look at both phones from abeam, N80 seems thicker than N70. Yet, according to the specifications, both phones have the same measures - 24 mm. Holding Nokia N80 in my hand, it felt a little bit heavier than the forerunner, but it could be nothing more than a subjective impression for N80 is only 4 grams heavier than N70.

It is smaller than N70 - well, at least when closed

I have had the chance to examine both versions of Nokia N80. The silver one resembles Nokia N70 and I myself found it somewhat boring. The display is surrounded by a glossy frame. The rest of the phone's upper part is made of matt silver plastic. The black version is more attractive. Its display is surrounded by a black frame, with the rest of the phone's body being made of dark matt plastic, which is identical to the material used in the rear side of Nokia N70.

Light and dark version, comparison to N70

Solid construction

What a surprise: there is no spring to help open the phone, when the upper part slides over the bottom one. I expected to see something that would resemble the back cover of Nokia N70 or at least a mechanism of the kind used in Samsung'phones. Nothing alike though. You must finger the whole way up the small path. Two dead centers secured with an interlock prevent the display from moving spontaneously.

Display moves in tiny rails

I have no remarks in relation to the construction. Even though the phones I tested were only prototypes, the sliding mechanism did not show any play. As I have gained certain experience by now however, I dare not allege that the phone is not going to start creaking or waggling after used for a few weeks. In fact, even a detailed review will hardly answer this question. Time will tell...

Camera with macro mode

I feel like looking at Nokia N70. The upper right part is occupied by the camera lens, which serves the video calls. The upper left corner features a light sensor to control the backlighting. Below the display you will find a set of functional buttons, which help to use the phone when closed. The set is composed by the same buttons you know from N70 including one new user key.

The memory card slot is located on the left side of the device. It looks better than the one in N70, but yet, it is again protected by a fragile plastic strip. The phone works with cards of the miniSD format. The RS-MMC type has become a matter of the past. On the right side of the phone you will see the loud speaker slot. A special button, which controls the camera functions, is to be found a little bit lower on the same side. It not only works as a shutter release button, when pictures are taken horizontally, but also activates the whole camera mode.

Left side featuring the card slot • right side featuring the camera buttons

The camera lens situated on the rear side of the phone is not secured by a cover. Next to it you will see the LED flash, below it - a sliding controller, which switches the camera to macro mode. There is no doubt that the macro mode is an extremely useful function, especially having in mind the catastrophic close-up results of some previous Nokia smartphones (except for the N90 model with autofocus).

Main camera lens is placed on the rear side of the phone

The camera works in a resolution of 3 megapixels, or more precisely - 2048 × 1536 pixels. If you photograph using a horizontal hand-hold, the pictures are taken in landscape format. Although I managed to take several pictures with Nokia N80, I will not show them in this article. Let's wait a few months till the final version of the phone appears officially. It now seems that Nokia N80 will suffer from certain problems common for all fixed-focus cameras. The sure thing is that the macro mode significantly improves the final result.

On the top plate of the phone you will find a round switch-off button and the infrared port. The Pop-Port connector, the jack for the new tiny charger and the strip eye-let are all to be found at the bottom of the device.

The only part that left a feeling of dissatisfaction in me was the keypad. It is set much too low. The key-press is too short to my gusto too. What's worse, the whole block of keys features a shallow groove, which spans from number 1 to the asterisk, from where it continues to the hash and up to number 3.

Brilliant display

In comparison to Nokia N70, the most important modifications applied to the new Nokia smartphone seem to be related mainly to its display. The latter features higher resolution of 352 × 416 pixels (just like in the N90 model), which makes the picture absolutely stunning. I dare say that the top-class quality of the display will probably be one of the main reasons to wait for the Nokia N80 to be launched on the market. As higher resolution is graphics-intensive, the reactions of the phone seemed to me slightly delayed. However, I prefer to rather leave definite evaluations for the moment, when I have the chance to test the final firmware version.

Main display and main menu

The phone's environment is identical to the one in Nokia N90. Yet it is somewhat different from the environment of other S60 smartphones for Nokia N80 main menu fits in 12 items, instead of the standard 9 ones. I saw an unusual spiral symbol at the corners of several icons, but I did not find a satisfying explication of its purpose. Unfortunately, Nokia representatives were not able to provide me with detailed information, either. Among the phone applications you will find a new music player (or perhaps just a new skin of the Music application), a new horizontal gallery. Camera's environment has been improved as well. I managed to take a quick look at the alarm clock - it is not repeatable, again...

Sample views of the display: gallery • camera • messages • writing SMS

Of course it will be expensive

Nokia N80 is a brilliant smartphone. It is small enough, has attractive design (especially the dark version) and many features. It is expected to hit the market in March next year at the approximate price of 570 euros.

Sony Ericsson W550 review: Walkman for less

Sony Ericsson W550 features Walkman music player, plenty of internal storage, good mobile internet options and an interesting construction. However, it lacks memory card slot. Is it to offer something more than the competitors? To find out - read the following review.

Key features

• full-featured MP3 player
• radio with RDS
• excellent sound quality
• top-quality display
• various accessories including a pair of very good earphones
• internet browser
• charging through USB

Main disadvantages

• no memory card slot
• keypad not very convenient
• no EDGE

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Do you feel like getting yourself a good stylish phone with a MP3 player? And you find Sony Ericsson W800 much too expensive and conservative? Then you may consider Motorola E398 for example... ah...no, I got carried away. In fact, I meant the new Sony Ericsson W550.

Official photos

Sony Ericsson W550 has a lot of common with its forerunner, but it has been added some brand new useful functions facilitating the work with internet. The phone has already appeared in the shops and is being offered for a price lower than the one of W800.

No doubt pictures are taken with a horizontal hand-hold

I will not dare recommend Sony Ericsson W550 to highly conservative users. Its design has been created to provoke and, to tell you the truth, it is quite successful in doing so. However, if you do not want to look much too eccentric, simply replace the orange cover with a white one and you can be sure that no one will notice that your phone hides something interesting. Considered its rich equipment, Sony Ericsson is a truly good mobile phone for all those, who love music and technological innovations.

Japan in Europe

Sony Ericsson W550 yields in many aspects to the typical non-traditional Japanese mobile phone. The trouble is that European customers still tend to accept what is standard in Asia with a certain dose of skepticism. Sony Ericsson's designers have made some serious experiments with W550, which make me forecast that this model's commercial success might be somewhat backpedaled by the general conservativeness of the Europeans.

Comparison to Sony Ericsson D750

In the delivery box you will find two covers - an orange and a white one. I myself find the combination of silver body and white cover more attractive than the one with the orange cover. Nevertheless, it is doubtless that the latter is indispensable, for the orange has already become a kind of a label for all Walkman models of Sony Ericsson. The manufacturer has also prepared a dark red cover version, but it is not a part of the delivery package and has to be bought additionally.

No spring seems to be helpful when opening this phone - similar to the rotating Sony Ericsson S700

The rotating construction results into the phone being a bit thicker than other mobile models. The good news is that the thickness of 23 mm is compensated by the lower parameters of the other two dimensions. Unfortunately, the weight is not pleasing, either. The phone is 120 g, which is somewhat heavy.

Display = quality

Regarding the display, the differences between the W800 and the W550 models are minor. Both feature the same high qualities; they both are easy-to-read at direct daylight and are able to show 262K colors. I cannot complain even about the backlighting, for I did not see any differences in the intensity between the middle part of the display and its margins.

Display is brilliant, indeed

The main menu offers four basic graphic themes to choose from. Within two of the motives the icons start pulsing when selected, in the other two the icons are displayed in the form of a sliding animated menu bar. The overpasses into deeper menu levels are viewed as eye-taking animations. The two menu bar themes are probably quite energy-intensive, because at applying them the phone seems to be relatively slower than usual. The standard menu is fast though. It manages animation without delays. Unfortunately, the animation is not possible to deactivate for good.

Preinstalled graphic themes

The display surface reflects every single finger print or smudge. In this respect, a stylish clothe for cleaning the display's surface would have certainly been appreciated by the user.

SMS need to be improved

As the keypad is hidden behind the rotating top part of the phone, the keys had had to be designed to be situated below the rotating level. In result, they are much too flush, which influences the writing process, making it less comfortable. You will come across a similar problem when using the functional keys mounted on the side parts of the phone.

The central point of the keypad backlighting is situated under the middle line

The functional keys are a completely different "pair of shoes". This holds true especially for the four-way control button situated centrally, below the display. It is brilliant indeed. It reacts with exactness and clear clicks without having to be pressed hard. The circle bed where options are confirmed feels as if it has been created for nothing else but the ball of your thumb. The keys that surround it are a little bit tougher to press, which in no way nips in their quality.

Buttons everywhere

As you may have already noticed, manufactures tend to use the side parts of their new models as useful space for installing various additional elements more and more. The W550 model is no exception to this tendency. A big part of the phone's bottom side, for example, is occupied by the port, through which the mobile is connected to the PC, the charger or the earphones. Above the connector you will find a tiny slot for the microphone.

The right side part of the W550 model features the second speaker, the infrared port, the release button of the camera as well as a pair of buttons which control the volume, switch music files and zoom when the phone is in camera mode. If you press the volume button when the device is in stand-by mode, info about the phone's state will appear on the display. Among everything else, this information includes details about the active profile, the free memory space available and the battery capacity in percents.

Main connector and the elements on the phone's right side

The first button on the left side of the phone starts the radio or the Walkman music application. Which one exactly is up to you. The second button on the left side locks and unlocks the keypad. The keypad gets locked, if the button is moved downwards. The same move unlocks it as well. The entire system is extremely easy to get used to.

Manipulating the phone with both hands (AVI, DivX 5.2, 2.2 MB)

On the top side level there is a switch on/off button, which also serves the ringing profiles; here you will also find the eyelet for the phone's strip. The two buttons mounted above the display are the specialty of the W550 model. They are used in the camera applications and the mobile games.

Keys above the display are really unusual

A step towards comfort

Sony Ericsson W550 fits perfectly in hand

The joint of the phone works well and does not fluctuate. I confess that I felt somewhat uncomfortable at the fact that when once opened leftwards the phone is not possible to close but again rotating leftwards. A clear click confirms that the phone has been closed safely.

It is relatively complicated to close and open the phone with one hand only (AVI, DivX 5.2, 1.9 MB)

The back side of the device is dominated by the lens of the built-in 1.3 megapixel camera and its accessories - like the tiny convex mirror for making self-portraits or the flash LED created to help the camera in unfavorable light conditions. The LED's intensity is so high, that you can easily use it as a pocket lamp. The last element that is to be found on the rear cover of the phone is the loudspeaker (enables listening to music without using earphones).

View at the back side of the phone

Li-Pol for the Walkman

Music is battery-intensive. Sony Ericsson has installed a Li-Pol (Lithium Polymer) battery of 900 mAh capacity not only in the W550 model, but also in its last two phones W800 and K750. The new model is said to have a battery life of 400 hours, but to me, this statement could be seen as realistic, only provided the phone load is minor. Once you plug in the earphones, you will start running out of energy fast. The battery gets charged in approximately two hours.

The SIM card fits under the battery

To insert the SIM card you will need to remove the back cover and extract the battery. The SIM card is to go into the right upper corner, below the Sony Ericsson logo.