I lost my Nokia N72 recently, and now, decided to get my hands on the Nokia N81. The main attraction for this phone was it’s looks. I saw this phone a while ago in my friend’s hands. And three days ago, I got my own. After using this phone for three days, I decided to put up a review.

SCREEN

The screen is  2.4 inches QVGA  display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, capable of displaying up to 16 million colors. The brightness can be varied through 31 levels, unlike the 4 levels in Nokia N72. The numbers displayed on the dialling screen ( when you press a number key on the home screen to make a call ) are bigger and clearer as compared to N72.

DESIGN

It is a slider phone. The top part has the Power and the Device hold. The dedicated volume buttons and the camera capture key on the right hand side, and the microSD slot on the left hand side. Also, two gaming keys are provided near the earpiece. The front part of the slider has 18 keys in all. The numbers are on the lower part as usual. The distinctive feature is the Navi wheel, which allows you to use the D-pad as the iPod touch wheel. Personally speaking, I found this feature very unrefined. Pressure must be applied on the D-pad while moving the finger, and one complete circle makes one jump in the menu. So, if one wants to scroll down to the fifth song, five complete round must be made on the Navi wheel. And this feature can be used only in the music menu. I hope that a firmware update will fix these problems with the Navi wheel. Besides, there are dedicated music buttons placed around the D-pad. These include the play/pause, next track, previous track, and the stop button

SPEAKERS

It has two speakers, one on the left hand side, and the other on the right. The speaker volume is quite high, and the quality is not lost at higher volumes. Good work with the speakers Nokia! The speaker grills are of metallic finish, which enhances the looks.

CAMERA

The N81 has two  cameras. The front camera is a VGA one. The good thing is that it can be used to take self pictures, unlike the Nokia 6500. It’s main purpose is for making video calls. The second camera, also termed as the main camera, is 2 megapixel in resolution supported by a LED flash. Video recording is supported by both the cameras. Both the cameras, however,  lack the autofocus feature. However at this price, one expects a better camera, at least 3.2 megapixels with autofocus.

CONNECTIVITY

This phone has a host of connectivity options. It has WLAN i.e. wi-fi, 3G, Bluetooth 2.0, micro USB port, and a 3.5 mm AV connector. The good thing here is that you can use any of your earphones or headphones which have the standard 3.5mm audio jack.

OPERATING SYSTEM

The operating system is a Symbian Series 60 3rd edition. My N81 came with the firmware V 20.0.056, and presently, the Nokia Software Updater shows this as the latest version for my product code. The new thing I found in this Nokia phone is that it is wholly animated. The way in which one menu comes up from the other, and other transitions are really good, pleasing to the eyes!

STYLING

The Nokia N81 is definitely a style statement. The front and rear parts are black in color. The sides are available in blue and silver in the 2GB version, and golden in the 8GB version. Mine is a 2GB model with silver color. Stress has been laid on stylizing this device. The keys are illuminated intelligently. Certain keys like the media keys, gaming keys, volume buttons and the camera capture key light up only when the associated applications are started. This makes the phone look less complicated and more sophsticated. The front plastic part, especially the one covering the D-pad area, is prone to discoloring. The second feature that amazed me was the blinking D-pad light. To be honest, the first time I saw this feature, I thought that there was some problem with the phone, and I actually took out the battery and restarted it. Later, I discovered that the lights were blinking on purpose, and was not a fault. I have used several phones, and a majority of them were Nokia. But I had never seen this blinking light feature on any phone. So, it was natural for me to get confused! However, I like these blinking D-pad lights and keep them ON, as I feel they look good. The device hold key is used for locking and unlocking the keypad, just like the ’selection’ key + ‘*’ key in other models.

WHAT ALL COMES BUNDLED

• Nokia N81
• Nokia Music Headset HS-45 with remote control AD-54
• Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-101
• Nokia Battery BP-6MT
• Nokia Compact Travel Charger AC-5
• Nokia 2 GB microSD Card MU-37

The battery backup is really good. With a full charge, the battery lasted for 2 days, with almost 4 hours of FM Radio, around 3 hours music playback on external speakers and and lots of playing around with the settings, and with the blinking lights ON.

WHAT THE N81 LACKS

This phone has almost eveything you can think of. However, according to me, the following is the “lack” list:

• A good camera ( at least 3.2 megapixel with autofocus)
• Infrared
• A better Navi wheel function

On a rating basis, I would rate this phone as a 9/10 (keeping in mind that I own this phone! ). On a serious note, it would be 8.5/10, just because the camera is not upto the mark.

To conclude, I would strongly recommend this phone to all those people for whom their phone is all about gaming and music. But for those who substitute the digital camera with their cellphone, I would not recommend this phone.

Comments and views are invited!