Review: Nokia N80

**Anilrgowda** · 05-Jan-2007, 01:17 AM

Probably the most highly anticipated of the new N series phones, the N80 is also the one that most fails to live up to expectations. On paper the N80 is a dream - it's the highest spec smartphone ever released - but perhaps this is the reason for the problems.
Starting with the physical design, the N80 is a novel shape for a smartphone - a slide-up design, similar to the Nokia 6280 or 6111. This makes it both attractive and compact (for a smartphone). At 134g in weight, it's one of the lightest smartphones around, which is a real achievement when you consider the features that have been packed inside. However, the slide is nowhere near as good as the smooth sliders from Samsung. It slides awkwardly open and won't stay closed. There is a tendency for the slide to open by itself when in a bag or pocket, which can lead to the phone unlocking and making calls by itself. It is also necessary to lock the keypad manually, making the whole thing quite annoying.
The N80 is a 3G smartphone, so it benefits from a wide range of advanced software, plus excellent functionality and connectivity. However, it's one of the most buggy and unstable phones around. Perhaps future firmware upgrades will fix these problems, but for now its an unreliable phone. Its also very slow, both to boot up and in operation.
The N80 has one of the best LCD displays around and is also the first phone in the UK to break the 3 megapixel camera barrier. With a 3 megapixel camera it should take fantastic pictures, but it manages to disappoint in this area too. It's nowhere near as good as the Nokia N90 or Sony Ericsson W900i, which are both rated at 2 megapixels. Video quality is good however.
The N80 has an advanced music player with support for playlists and easy access to your favourite music tracks. Audio quality is excellent and a stereo headset is included in the sales package. There's plenty of space for storing music too - a 128 Mbyte memory card is included as standard, in addition to the 40 Mbytes of internal memory.
Connectivity is a key feature of the N80. In addition to Infrared and Bluetooth, the N80 has a wireless LAN. This enables fast connection to a PC, for copying images, video or music files, and also to access broadband internet via 3G. Wireless LAN can also connect to other Wi-Fi enabled devices.
Battery life has to be mentioned, because it is really quite bad. Expect to get no more than one or two days use maximum from this phone. If you are expecting to make extensive use of its music and smartphone features, you will find this to be a real problem.
On paper, the N80 looks like the best phone ever, but in reality it disappoints in many key respects. Opinions on this phone tend to be divided, so read the user reviews below to see what people are saying before making up your own mind.

05-Jan-2007, 01:17 AM	#1 (permalink)
Anilrgowda Administrator Posts: 18,715 Join Date: Jan 2006 Rep Power: 10 IM:	Review: Nokia N80 Probably the most highly anticipated of the new N series phones, the N80 is also the one that most fails to live up to expectations. On paper the N80 is a dream - it's the highest spec smartphone ever released - but perhaps this is the reason for the problems. Starting with the physical design, the N80 is a novel shape for a smartphone - a slide-up design, similar to the Nokia 6280 or 6111. This makes it both attractive and compact (for a smartphone). At 134g in weight, it's one of the lightest smartphones around, which is a real achievement when you consider the features that have been packed inside. However, the slide is nowhere near as good as the smooth sliders from Samsung. It slides awkwardly open and won't stay closed. There is a tendency for the slide to open by itself when in a bag or pocket, which can lead to the phone unlocking and making calls by itself. It is also necessary to lock the keypad manually, making the whole thing quite annoying. The N80 is a 3G smartphone, so it benefits from a wide range of advanced software, plus excellent functionality and connectivity. However, it's one of the most buggy and unstable phones around. Perhaps future firmware upgrades will fix these problems, but for now its an unreliable phone. Its also very slow, both to boot up and in operation. The N80 has one of the best LCD displays around and is also the first phone in the UK to break the 3 megapixel camera barrier. With a 3 megapixel camera it should take fantastic pictures, but it manages to disappoint in this area too. It's nowhere near as good as the Nokia N90 or Sony Ericsson W900i, which are both rated at 2 megapixels. Video quality is good however. The N80 has an advanced music player with support for playlists and easy access to your favourite music tracks. Audio quality is excellent and a stereo headset is included in the sales package. There's plenty of space for storing music too - a 128 Mbyte memory card is included as standard, in addition to the 40 Mbytes of internal memory. Connectivity is a key feature of the N80. In addition to Infrared and Bluetooth, the N80 has a wireless LAN. This enables fast connection to a PC, for copying images, video or music files, and also to access broadband internet via 3G. Wireless LAN can also connect to other Wi-Fi enabled devices. Battery life has to be mentioned, because it is really quite bad. Expect to get no more than one or two days use maximum from this phone. If you are expecting to make extensive use of its music and smartphone features, you will find this to be a real problem. On paper, the N80 looks like the best phone ever, but in reality it disappoints in many key respects. Opinions on this phone tend to be divided, so read the user reviews below to see what people are saying before making up your own mind.

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