In the smartphone sector the two main platforms are Symbian and Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone.

Nokia has now made three generations of Symbian smartphones. Siemens is soon to release the SX1 and Sendo recently launched the Sendo X. In the Microsoft Smartphone camp, there is the Orange SPV E200 and the Motorola MPx200.

Nokia’s 6600 is the third smartphone based on the Series 60 Symbian platform and uses the second edition. It succeeds the 3650 with the circular keypad, which in turn replaced the 7650.

The first impression you get with the tri-band Nokia 6600 is a distinctly wide yet attractive two-tone handset that thankfully dispenses with the aforementioned round keypad. At 58.2mm, the 6600 is 9.5mm wider than the SPV E200, but that doesn’t detract from the usability of the Nokia which weighs in at a manageable 122g.

The keypad layout still has some idiosyncrasies that take a bit of getting used to. For instance, you are likely to overlook the power button positioned in a thin black rubber strip along the top.

Another design quirk is placing the menu key on the left hand side beneath the green call key. For such a commonly used key you would expect it to be placed centrally but even odder than that is the positioning of the two soft keys. These are conventionally placed directly beneath the screen, but on the 6600 they have been lowered. In practice this means that you find yourself futilely pressing the blank border under the screen where you expect the soft keys to be.

The five-way joystick has the stiffest action I’ve ever encountered; it works well enough but definitely lacks something in the ergonomic department.

Top marks go to Nokia for the large and bright high-resolution 2.1in TFT display that runs 65,000 colours at 176 x 208 pixels.

Themes play a big role in the 6600 display and Nokia now has a 22.6 MB zip file to let you edit and create your own with the Series 60 Theme Studio. For anyone with the time or inclination to create personalised mobile graphic interfaces this is a dream solution. The 88 page pdf guide should help the inexperienced user.

On the back of the handset is a VGA 640 x 480 camera with a 2X digital zoom, night mode, and time delay settings. In Video mode you get about nine seconds of recording, now with an audio and zoom option. An embedded RealOne Player provides video streaming and playback. Specify in the settings panel whether to save to the 6MB internal phone memory or to the removable 32MB MMC card supplied.

To play your video clips on your desktop, install the 6600 PC suite and connect via Bluetooth. The suite has contacts and calendar backup, syncing and file transfer. Also bundled is the Nokia Multimedia Player that plays .3gp video files from the 6600 on the desktop.

While the Nokia 6600 is described as a smartphone for business users, both Word and Excel are lacking as standard features, but PowerPoint can be remotely controlled by the Nokia Wireless Presenter via Bluetooth on the 6600, but only after you’ve paid 39 euros for the software download. You can browse presentations and read speaker notes on the 6600 handset.

Other business benefits are that the XHTML browser supports secure email access via 128 bit SSL encryption and a mobile VPN, using permanent TCP/IP currently on O2 and Vodafone networks. A Nokia wallet application stores encrypted personal information. You can record calls or use it like a dictaphone.

Of special interest in the menu is a full version of the Opera 6.1 microbrowser which uses Small-Screen Rendering (SSR) technology to reformat Websites to fit on small screens. You can’t use a WAP gateway as your Internet access point with the Opera browser and will need to specify an 0845 ISP and your password.

A ‘Try & Buy’ folder has nine third-party programs that each give you three tryouts. Included are Wayfinder Mobile Navigator, Photographer, video utilities, a Word converter, a multi lingual text translator, plus a Zip file compression program. It’s a shame that these mostly useful programs come at an additional cost.

Other items of interest in the menu are a Bluetooth print program and support for Java MIDP 2.0 downloads.

The 6600 is available on the O2, Orange and Vodafone networks at prices ranging from ‘free’ to around £480 depending on the tariff you pick.

Verdict

How the 6600 compares alongside other smartphones depends on your needs, but if you require a tri-band Bluetooth phone with a bright screen, and versatile camera, removable memory, and calendar and contact syncing with your desktop then the 6600 is worth considering. Good points include faultless Bluetooth, video clips with sound, support for Opera, and SSL encryption. The downside is no USB or desktop email syncing and having the MMC card stored under the battery.

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The Nokia 6270 is a compact & modern designed camera phone which comes in a choice of light blue, dark brown & silver coloured casing. The handset has beautifully polished metal surfaces which are combined with satin for a perfect finish. The handset has a slide opening mechanism which slides down to reveal a useable & spaced out keypad. The handset weighs 125 grams & measures 104 x 50 x 23 mm which feels good in the users had & makes it easy for the user to open the phone with one hand. The Nokia 6270 is from the same Nokia family as the Nokia 6280 & both phones share the same slide opening mechanism.

The 6270 has a colourful 262k colour TFT screen which provides the user with a clear 320 x 240 pixel resolution display. The user can view the screen when the phone is in the open or closed position. The phone has a 2 megapixel camera complete with 5 x digital zoom & LED flash feature. The user can take their snaps in either portrait or landscape mode & the full screen works beautifully as a viewfinder. The 6270 comes with 9 Mbytes of internal memory with a 128 Mbytes miniSD card which allows the user to store & save their snaps on their phone & view them at any time. The Nokia 6270 has a user friendly video record feature which comes complete with a video player & streaming facility.

The user can sit back & enjoy the music on their 6270 with the use of the built in music features which include a music player that supports MP3, ACC & MPEG4 music formats & the stereo FM radio. The user can experience the ultimate radio experience with the use of the visual radio feature which allows the user to interactive with their favourite radio station. The music can be heard from the stereo speakers with 3D sound which brings the music to life.

The messaging services on the Nokia 6270 are easy to use & ensure that the user never loses contact with those persons closest to them. The text messaging service allows the user to send & receive text input messages & comes with a SMS distribution list & picture messaging feature. The multimedia messaging service provides the user with the ability to send & receive photos or video clips complete with text & sound. The multimedia messaging can be sent & received to any multimedia messaging service compatible device. The phone come with a Xpress audio messaging service that allows the user to record their own voice & send it to compatible devices. The email service allows the user to attach files & documents to their emails which is easy to create & send.

The Nokia 6270 comes with Bluetooth® technology so therefore the user can connect wirelessly to any compatible device including headset, mobile phone, personal computer, PDA & printer. The user can connect to devices using a USB cable with the support of Pop-Port™ & with an infra red connection. The phone comes with a quad band network coverage which covers GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900 networks. The 6270 comes with Edge technology & an XHTML browser which provides the user with access to the Internet.

The phone comes with 3D snake game already preloaded & the user can download other games easily which suit their gaming requirements. The push to talk feature allows the user to have a real time communication with one or more contacts at the same time. The user simply presses the push to talk button & holds it down whilst talking & then when the button is released the user can hear the contact talking back. The Kodak mobile service allows the user to share & print their snaps by either uploading their snaps to the Kodak web site & the prints will be delivered to their address or the user can use Bluetooth technology & print at any Kodak Kiosk.

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Nokia could be causing a bit of a problem for itself in that its mid range consumer focussed phones are often very, very good, while its higher end more expensive ones can be a bit iffy.

Sometimes there are exceptions. I wasn’t a fan of the low-to-mid range 7373, but in recent months the 3110 classic and the 6300 have both shown themselves to be lovely little mobiles. Meanwhile, two of its flagship handsets; the N76 and the N95 have both left me rather nonplussed.

What this does for Nokia’s confidence at the higher end of the consumer market and for its profit margins are not for me to speculate on here, but from the point of view of the consumer looking for a good deal and a small, friendly but highly capable Nokia handset, arguably things have never looked better.

Take the new 6120 classic for example. This is a quad-band mobile with 3G and HSDPA support, is based on the S60 platform, and comes with the cable and software you’ll need to synchronise diary and contacts with a PC.

Yet it is available from free on some pretty affordable contracts – as low as £15 for 18 months on 3, for example (Orange listed it as ‘coming soon’ with no pricing at the time of writing). I don’t have a SIM free price from the Nokia online store at the moment, but it is likely to be relatively affordable, and is a sign that the smartphone, done Nokia style, really does come within everyday grasp.

Top that off with the following: this is a simple looking candybar mobile with no swivels, twists, or other fancy, geeky gizmos. The shiny black and sliver livery of my review sample is understated and appealing. At 89g I think it must be the lightest S60 handset I’ve ever come across. At 105 x 46 x 15mm it is small for the hand and pocket.

After that little lot you might expect me to end up absolutely gushing about this mobile. That isn’t the case, however, and I do have some grumbles.

While the screen displays 320 x 240 pixels and 16 million colours is somewhat small for serious smartphone usage. Reading email and web browsing are both activities that benefit from a larger screen.

You have to use the headset if you want to listen to the FM radio as it contains the antenna. Nokia has missed a trick (or saved some cash) by bundling a one piece headset with a 2.5mm connector to the phone. Had Nokia gone for a two-piece with a 3.5mm connector beyond the handsfree mike, you could have substituted a superior headset and still been able to listen to the radio.

I’m not over the moon about the buttons either. Beneath the screen the navigation pad is a raised frame around a central select key, and is itself framed by the two softmenus and Call and End keys. None of these is particularly easy to use. Partly I suspect the issue is that the size of the phone constrains the space available. Nokia has made an effort by placing raised lips round the outer keys, but still I found them a little pesky to hit accurately.

It also takes a bit of time to get used to the fact that the softkeys are not at the extreme left and right edges of the front fascia and so are not directly beneath the softmenus they map to. These spots are reserved for the Cancel and Nokia Menu keys, and it took me a few days to get used to this and stop hitting those keys by mistake.

The numberpad keys are rather easier to press accurately, though again the phone’s size means they are a little small.

These things matter as whatever is going on inside a mobile phone, it is pretty much a waste if you can’t use it properly. I think the 6120 is passable on the usability front, but that more could have been done with respect to the non-numberpad keys.

The 35MB of built in memory is not vast, but a microSD card slot sits on the left edge of the casing. It is protected by a solid hinged cover that is a bit fiddly to raise with a fingernail. If you lack nails I reckon you are going to have a very hard time with it. Populate a card with music tracks and the S60 player plays through its loudspeaker to an acceptable level.

The provided headphones deliver reasonable quality too. An equaliser has some presets (classic, jazz, pop, rock), and you can fiddle with left/right stereo balance, reverb (alley, bathroom, underwater, small room, medium room, large room, large hall), and set bass boost and stereo widening. These do have some discernable effect on what you hear.

Battery life impressed a lot. I got a shade under nine hours of continuous music from a full battery charge.
This being a 3G handset there are two cameras. The front one, sitting above the screen, is primarily for video calling but you can use it to shoot stills at 320 x 240 pixels. The back facing one starts at that resolution and moves in steps up to 1,600 x 1,200 (2-megapixels). It has a small flash but no self portrait mirror.

When using the main camera the screen flips into wide – panoramic – mode and you hold the phone on its side and use the side mounted button to take shots.

The camera proved to be disappointing. Indoor photos, like that of the coloured dish that is my standard comparative shot, taken under normal household lighting, were dull and lacking in lustre.

Outside colour reproduction was generally quite good, but images are highly compressed and as a result the blurring in the sample shots was a standard feature of photos. Nor does the camera cope well with light variations. The apples were shot against a bright blue sky, and the camera had a lot of trouble coping with delivering both colour variation and detail.

As for the rest of what you get on board, with S60 behind things there is little missing. Nokia salvages something by enabling you to switch the screen into wide mode, offering zooming features, and enabling you to home in on a section of a page. A thumbnail of a page is marked up with numberpad numbers and you press the number that denotes the bit you want to view. These things help, but they don’t make browsing a particularly productive experience.

Other applications include voice control, voice recorder, calendar, to do list manager, mobile email, note taker, calculator, clock with alarms, unit converter, IM client, the Adobe PDF reader, QuickOffice for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint viewing and three games. There is also text to speech for SMS, MMS and email – something we are seeing more and more of in Nokia’s handsets.

Verdict

The 6120 classic does have its faults. The screen is too small for some activities on offer, and the buttons could have been made easier to hit. Overall though, this is a remarkable little phone ideal for anyone wanting to try S60 features in a small – and relatively low cost – handset.

Key Features
Sapphire Gem Stone Navigation Key
Themes with Living Wallpapers
2 Inch 16 Million Colour OLED QVGA Screen with Ambient Sensor
3.2 Megapixel Camera with Auto Focus & 8 x Digital Zoom
Music Player (MP3, MIDI, AMR, WMA, AAC & eAAC+)
Video Ringtones by Kruder & Dorfmeister
3G Technology

Our Summary
The 8800 Sapphire Arte has a stunning bronzed coloured body & is made from high quality materials & includes a gem stone navigation key. This gorgeous 3G phone comes with high speed technology, fast connectivity & easy to use camera & music features. The 8800 Sapphire Arte has a large screen which displays 16 million colours, a 3.2 megapixel camera feature & a built in music player which all fits in the 109mm by 45.6mm by 14.6mm casing.

For the best deals on the Nokia E90 Communicator, why not visit Dial-a-Phone who are currently offering a free handset along with a free Hewlett Packard HP530 laptop plus a free Nokia Bluetooth headset.

The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte is a 3G phone which comes in a bronze coloured casing which is made with high quality materials. The phone is made from stainless steels, glass, leather & a sapphire gem stone. This prestigious mobile handset has it’s our distinct design as it comes with a beautiful sapphire gem stone navigation key. The phone has an ultra smooth slide opening mechanism which when opened reveals the phones smooth & sophisticated keypad. The slide section of the handset is covered in luxurious leather which provides a quality feel when held in the user’s hand. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte is not the type of phone to shy away from attention as it’s a head turning 3G fashion conscious mobile phone. The handset weights 150 grams in total & measures 109mm high by 45.6mm wide by 14.6mm which provides the user with a slim & solid weight phone. Above the eye catching sapphire gem stone navigation key is the beautiful clear 2 Inch colour screen which has a high screen resolution & displays up to 16 million colours on its OLED QVGA screen. The screen comes with an ambient light sensor which will automatically adjust the screens brightness & contrast to suit the user’s surroundings. The user can enjoy exciting living wallpapers which compliment the design & feel of this beautiful phone. The 8800 Sapphire Arte is a member of the Nokia 8000 series which includes other fashion conscious mobile handsets including the Nokia 8600 Luna & the Nokia 8800 Arte.

The 8800 Sapphire Arte comes with many features to keep the user entertained when the user is out & about or on their travels. The built in music player allows the user to enjoy their favourite tracks which can be played back time after time & stored on the phones large memory. The music player supports MP3, MIDI, AMR, WMA, AAC & eAAC+ music formats. The phone supports a variety of ringing tones including polyphonic tones with 64 voices, MIDI tones, 3D stereo tones & video ringing tones. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte comes with video ringing tones which are composed by Kruder & Dorfmeister & visuals by Fritz Fitzke. The phone comes with preloaded games which include high roller casino, soccer 3D & the 3D golf tour game but the games may vary depending on network provider. The phone supports Java™ games & downloadable games which the user can downloadable to suit their gaming taste. The user can snap photos & recording video clips during the day using the built in 3.2 megapixel camera feature which comes complete with auto focus & an 8 x digital zoom. The user can record video in QCIF video format & enjoy video streaming in 3GPP, H263 & H264 format. The user can use their Nokia Sapphire Arte in landscape mode when using the video feature.

The user will find the tap for time feature both useful as well as a stylish twist to the design of this phone. The user simply taps their new 8800 Sapphire Arte & a clock will displayed on the screen. The phone comes with a turn to mute feature which allows the user to mute incoming calls ringing tones or an alarm alert sound by simply turning the handset face down to mute the sound. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte comes with a Nokia battery, connectivity cable, travel charger, carry case, desk stand, Bluetooth headset, user guide, CD Rom with Nokia PC suite software & a Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte story booklet included in the startup kit. The day to day features include a world clock, translator, calculator, calendar & a phone book feature which holds up to one thousand contacts.

The 3G technology allows the user to enjoy multitasking & high speed data transfers & downloads on their gorgeous 3G handset. The phone supports Bluetooth™ wireless technology which allows the user to enjoy wireless connectivity between their phone & other compatible devices. The user can connect to Micro USB compatible devices using the micro USB port & the connectivity cable supplied. The EDGE technology provides the user with high speed data transfers which are up to three times faster than GPRS transfers. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte comes with one Gbyte of memory which allows the user to store all their data with ease. The phone works over GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900 & WCDMA 2100 which allows the user to enjoy network coverage over Europe & the majority of the US. The network coverage is dependent on the network provider. The user can enjoy up to three hours of GSM talk time or two & a half hours of WCDMA talk time from a fully charged battery. A fully charged battery can provide the user with up to three hundred hours of standby time.

The user can enjoy an online conversation using the instant messaging service which works like an instant messaging service on a PC or laptop apart from this service is fully mobile & on a small beautiful 3G phone. The user can enjoy sending & receiving instant messages with any contact that is online at the same time as the user. The user can create, send & receive audio messages on their 8800 Sapphire Arte. The phone comes with an email service which supports attachments in popular file formats. The user can create, send, receive, edit, delete & store MMS multimedia messages which contain text & sound with either a photo or video clip. The MMS video clip can be up to 600 Kbytes in size. The user can also communicate with compatible contacts using the SMS text message service which allows the user to create a text message containing text & symbols. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire comes with a XHTML browser which allows the user to gain access to the Internet when the user is away from their PC or laptop. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte is a truly stunning handset which will amaze it’s user with its hidden depths.

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The Nokia N81 is just the latest model to join the well-established and impressive family of Nokia N series multimedia smartphones. It brings support for the cell phone manufacturer’s new Nokia Music Store and resurrected N-Gage gaming platform, and is optimized for music and gaming with features such as dual speakers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and dedicated game keys. So in theory, the Nokia N81 sounds great but in reality, it’s a complete disappointment. First, Nokia’s Internet services haven’t launched in the United States so you can’t take advantage of the N81’s full capabilities. Even so, we had so many problems with the mobile’s cramped navigation controls and buggy performance that we’re not sure it’d be worth it when the services are fully available. It’s a shame given that we’ve come to expect great performance from the N series (for instance, the Nokia N95), but for now, we’d have to say “pass” on the N81. The Nokia N81 is available now unlocked in two versions: an 8GB model ($629) and one with a microSD expansion slot that can accept cards as large as 4GB ($529). For our review, we took a look at the 8GB model.

Design
The Nokia N81 isn’t so much about flash and style as it is about function, and its design reflects that idea. Sturdy and stout, we wouldn’t necessarily describe the N81 as sexy, but the lacquered black finish is eye-catching and attractive enough. The device measures 4 inches tall by 1.9 inches wide by 0.7 inch deep and weighs 4.9 ounces, so it’ll slip into a pants pocket but has a bit of heft and bulk to it.

On the front, there’s a 2.4-inch diagonal non-touch screen that shows off 16.7 million colors at a 320×240-pixel resolution. The display’s sharpness and brightness make it great for viewing images and playing games. You can customize the home screen with various themes and wallpaper and adjust the font size and backlight.

Below the display, you’ll find a plethora of phone controls. You get the standard Talk and End buttons, two soft keys, a main menu shortcut, a clear button, and a navigation toggle with a center select key. Bordering the latter are dedicated multimedia controls; a tiny, silver key launches the multimedia page, while the play/pause, stop, and forward and back buttons surround the toggle but are visible only when the backlighting is on. If it sounds like a lot to cram into a small space, you’re right. We found it difficult and frustrating to use the phone; pressing the Talk and End keys takes finesse since they’re squeezed onto little slivers along the outer edges, and the media buttons and other controls are so close to each other that it’s easy to press the wrong key. Not to mention the fact that they’re all stiff to press.

Things don’t get much better with the alphanumeric dialpad either. To access it, simply push the front cover upward. The sliding mechanism is smooth and the screen securely locks into place, but the top row of number keys is lined so close to the bottom edge that our thumbs constantly hit it. Otherwise, the keys are well backlit for dialing or texting in darker environments.

There are also two gaming keys above the screen. The placement of these buttons works out well since the screen orientation automatically switches from portrait to landscape mode when you’re playing games, so it feels more like a handheld gaming device. Nokia has also added some other design features to mark itself as a multimedia phone. On top of the device, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, along with a lock switch and a power button, while there are side-mounted speakers on both the left and right sides. The right spine also holds the volume rocker and camera activation key. The camera itself is located on the back and includes a flash but no self-portrait mirror.

The Nokia N81 comes packaged with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired headset with remote control, a software CD, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.

Features
As we mentioned earlier, the Nokia N81 (8GB) is optimized for gaming and music. It’s built to work with the recently launched Nokia Music Store and revived N-Gage gaming platform. Unfortunately, both of the services weren’t fully operational in the United States at the time of this review, so we didn’t get a chance to really test out these features on the device. We did, however, play a few demo games–more on this in the Performance section.

As for the N81’s multimedia capabilities, it follows suit with the company’s other N series smartphones. The integrated music player supports MP3, WMA, W4A, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+ files, as well as OMA DRM 2.0- and WM DRM-protected songs. The music library categorizes tracks by artists, albums, genres, and composers; you can also create playlists right on the phone and adjust the sound with the built-in equalizer. You can listen to your favorite podcasts using the N81, and there’s an FM radio. Just be aware that the latter requires the use of the included headset since it acts as the tuner. RealPlayer is also onboard with 3GPP and MPEG-4 video-streaming support.

You can capture video and images of your own with the N81’s 2-megapixel camera. It comes equipped with a flash and up to 20x digital zoom and can capture video at up to 15 frames per second. For still shots, you have your choice of three image qualities, six scene selections, and eight sequence modes. You can also adjust the white balance, color tone, exposure, and ISO settings. In video mode, user options are reduced but you do get three video qualities, two scene modes, and white balance and color tones. Once you’re done, you can share them via e-mail or multimedia message; view them as a slide show; print them via Nokia’s Xpress Solutions; or upload them to the Web or Nokia’s Lifeblog app. Picture quality was mediocre. Objects looked clear, but there was grayish tone to the colors. On the other hand, video quality was pretty impressive for a camera phone.

With all its multimedia capabilities, you might be wondering about the Nokia N81’s memory capacity. The smartphone comes with a healthy 8GB of internal flash memory, which could hold about 6,000 songs if you were storing music only. Now while the onboard memory is ample, just be aware that the N81 isn’t equipped with an expansion slot so keep tabs on your available storage.

Amidst all the fun, let’s not forget that the Nokia N81 is a phone first. The quadband mobile offers world roaming, a speakerphone, voice commands, VoIP support, conference calling, speed dial, and text and multimedia messaging. The address book is only limited by the available memory, while the SIM card can hold an additional 250 entries. For caller ID purposes, you can assign each contact a photo, a group ID, and any of 33 polyphonic ringtones.

Disappointingly, the Nokia N81 doesn’t support U.S. 3G bands, so you’re left to surf the Web using EDGE speeds. You do get integrated Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi. Supported Bluetooth profiles include those for mono and stereo wireless headsets, hands-free kits, dial-up networking, file transfer, and others. And while our review unit was able to find our Wi-Fi access point, it took several attempts to get connected.

Last but not least, the N95 runs the third edition of the S60 platform on the Symbian operating system for your productivity needs. Unlike the Nokia N95, it doesn’t come preloaded with QuickOffice, so you’ll need to download this application if you plan to use the N81 for viewing and editing Office documents. You can do this through the preinstalled Download catalog. For messaging, the smartphone supports IMAP4, POP3, and SMTP e-mail accounts. Other productivity apps and PIM tools include Nokia Maps, Adobe Reader, a Zip Manager, a calculator, a notepad, a measurement converter, a clock, and a voice recorder.

Performance
We tested the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) Nokia N81 in San Francisco using AT&T service, and call quality was good.

General performance was on the sluggish side. There were noticeable lags when launching or switching between applications, and there was some bugginess. For example, after exiting out of the music player, displayed track information would remain onscreen for a few seconds, overlapping with the main menu page. The media player also randomly started playing music on a couple of occasions, startling yours truly and her colleagues.

On the upside, multimedia performance was good. The dual speakers really helped amp up the sound as songs sounded rich with plenty of volume. Watching videos was also pleasant as audio and image always synced up and pictures looked great on the N81’s sharp screen. Game playback was also smooth. We played a couple of the demo games, including Space Impact Light and Asphalt Street Rules 3, and found it to be functional and entertaining in short spurts–definitely a good time waster while you’re commuting on the bus or train. However, the cramped navigation controls took away from the overall appeal, and it’s hard to judge the revamped N-Gage platform without having full access to the service.

The Nokia N81’s 1,050mAh lithium-ion battery is rated for four hours of continuous talk time and up to 17 days of standby time. In our battery drain tests, we were able to get 7 hours of talk time on a single charge. According to FCC radiation tests, the Nokia N81 has a digital SAR rating of 0.81 watt per kilogram.

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