Gadget Greed

If you paid $2099 for a mobile phone, what would you expect it to do? Make calls on your behalf? Automatically hang up on your exes?

Personally, I’d hope it could convince Keanu Reeves to call.

Price aside, Nokia’s latest luxury phone is pretty darn good lookin’. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte has a whopping great man-made sapphire in the middle of its face, leather panels back and front, and its metal and glass body weighs a tonne in phone terms (150g).

And its innards are a lot sharper since Nokia’s last luxury release. Its camera is now 3.2-megapixels strong, its keyboard is bigger, its screen is better, and it has 1GB of onboard storage.

It’s also got gimmicks. Turn it over during a call, and you’ll silence its ringtone (love that). Tap its screen twice and a cute analogue clock appears. An ambient light sensor makes sure the screen isn’t too bright for your eyes.

Designer animated wallpapers and ringtones reinforce the phone’s exclusive and expensive reputation.

But should you buy it? Only if you’ve got money to spare and need a people magnet.

The camera’s not great, it doesn’t have wi-fi, there’s no GPS, the memory’s not expandable, and you have to fish through menus to find anything (no external buttons).

Still, this phone is seriously attractive. And it comes with a matching Bluetooth headset, leather pouch and desk stand that glows as your phone charges.

Gadget good: This phone is truly sophisticated. It’ll make you the envy of most.
Gadget bad: Mid-range features in a top-of-the-range phone.

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Nokia’s high-falutin’ N95 is awesome, don’t get me wrong. Five-megapixel photos, GPS navigation, wi-fi connectivity, crisp screen: what’s not to like?

Well, if you were being harsh, the camera takes a bit too long to load, and if you’re not within reach of a power point at least once a day it’s a bit of a paperweight.

Enter the N95 8GB. I’m not necessarily a fan of gadget revisions. It’s like admitting that you didn’t get it right the first time, but you’ve done it this time, honest. The N95 8GB has changed my mind on the topic.

Nokia’s 8GB version is inherently superior and worth an upgrade. Its camera starts a full 2 seconds faster than the silver model, the battery life is superb (two days or more with a generous serve of talking), the screen is substantially larger, and it doesn’t rattle a little like the old model.

Plus, and I know this is superficial, but it looks so much more sophisticated! It’s amazing what a coat of black paint will do, especially once you smooth away some unnecessary edges.

Again, if you were to be picky, its generous 8GB storage allowance is keen, but it doesn’t let you add any extra via a memory card slot. Also, some might not like the removal of the camera lens cap.

Still, this phone kicks the butt of all comers. Love it.

Greed good: Faster, more efficient, fully loaded and pretty to boot.
Gadget bad: High price ($1349 RRP), slightly bulky, no memory card slot.

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