Nokia N81 8GB Multimedia Phone

Permalink: Nokia N81 8GB Multimedia Phone by Franz Bicar

The Nokia N81 8GB phone is truly one of the most exciting phone to be released by the world’s foremost mobile handset manufacturer. It combines the power of Symbian 9.2 OS with the new N-Gage platform. With this duo, the phone gives you an impressive device that promises tons of fun.

For those who do not know, this phone comes in two versions, the older/standard N81 and the newer 8GB model. The standard version features a memory card slot, the other has none but offers the exciting 8GB of onboard memory.

First of, let’s tackle the N81’s design. The handset measures at 102 x 50 x 17.9 mm. It is of solid build, with high-quality sturdy materials used on the casing. The slider construction also seems very reliable though it somewhat lacks smoothness. All in all - the phone is a typical Nokia in that aspect.

The N81’s front panel is very basic. You have the video-call camera located at the top right portion. At the top center you have the earpiece located in an oblong-shaped plate. But the most important part of all, is the 2.4″ display. It supports 16M colors and has a QVGA resolution. Offering stunning picture quality, the display ranks among the best even by Nokia’s standards. Under the screen come a whole bunch of controls in what seems the most crowded of D-pads. The Navi Scroll key is the central element.

Opening the slider reveals the numeric keypad. The keypad is entirely flat with almost undetectably thin lines separating each row of keys. On the right side of the handset we find one of the two stereo speakers at the top, the volume rocker right below it, and the dedicated camera key at the bottom end. The other stereo speaker is symmetrically placed on the left side.

As mentioned, the N81 is a multimedia and gaming phone. This is very evident especially with the phone’s 2.4″ screen display. The 2.4″ display with 16M colors and QVGA resolution is perfect for this type of phone. The display on Nokia N81 has great sunlight legibility, incredible picture quality and is large enough for everyone to see.

Nokia N81 is running on Symbian 9.2 OS and uses the well known S60 3rd edition graphic user interface. The improved Feature Pack 1 is no news anymore, as all recent Nokia smartphones are equipped with it. Among the strong points of the FP1 is the availability of multiple alarms, as well as the voice memo limit increase to a whole hour. Furthermore, it displays blue circles on running applications’ icons to remind you to turn them off when you don’t need them any more.

The Nokia N81 is armed with the fastest Nokia processor to date (ARM 11, 369 MHz). The same CPU powers the Nokia 6120 Classic and Nokia 5700. Navigating the menus is very fast. All the commands are executed in an instant, which greatly contributes to the impression N81 leaves.

As with almost all Nokia phones, the N81 sports a typical symbian phonebook. It has virtually no limit to either the number of entries or fields for each contact. Technically, all the available memory can be used on that. Naturally, they can also be searched by gradual typing of the desired name. The phone will search in both first and last name fields, as well as additional names in those fields.

The phone also features a comprehensive messaging software. This includes an SMS editor, and MMS editor, audio message editor and of course, an email client. No one will be surprised with these editors as its UI and functionality is definitely a Nokia standard.

As a multimedia phone, the N81 sports one of the best music player found on any Nokia phone. The music player looks exactly like on other Symbian 3rd edition devices. At least, that’s what you may think when you first look at it. The Navi wheel however gives it a real kick. Other than that, there are no changes regarding functionality. As usual, there is support for a huge number of audio formats including MP3, AAC, eAAC+ and WMA. The M3U playlists are also managed flawlessly and files are automatically added to the music library once downloaded to the phone. Tracks can easily be transferred to the phone via Bluetooth, USB or by simply downloading them from the internet.

The player comes with five equalizer presets, which is a respectable count. If it still seems not enough to you, new ones are created in a matter of seconds and modifying the existing is just as easy. Another thing to mention is that the phone also has a support for the A2DP Bluetooth profile. This means that you are able to play your favorite tracks on stereo Bluetooth headphones.

Nokia N81 also features Real player and Flash player. The video player automatically displays the videos in landscape or portrait mode depending on their aspect ratio. You can also switch to full screen to make better use of the large display.

If you get bored with the preinstalled content on your Nokia N81, you can always turn the radio on for a breath of fresh tunes. The FM radio automatically scans and saves the available stations in your area.

A typical N-series gadget, Nokia N81 is particularly strong in the gallery. The application is even better now, with the cool looks of the 3D rotating gallery enhanced by the Navi wheel functionality. This really makes browsing your pictures and videos on Nokia N81 a sheer pleasure.

A disappointment however for this phone is the camera. The N81 only has a 2 megapixel camera. The camera interface looks identical to the one found in the Finnish multimedia flagship Nokia N95. The camera options are shown with small icons near the lower end of the screen. These can be hidden to make full use of the display as a viewfinder. The main camera only shoots in landscape mode which is easily explainable by the position of the dedicated camera key.

Camera settings are identical to the one on Nokia N95 with one nice addition - grid lines can now be added to the viewfinder. You can use them to help compose your snapshots like a pro. The other change made goes without saying - macro mode is not present due to the lack of autofocus on Nokia N81. Luckily the customizable ISO settings, white balance and scene modes are still present.

The image quality of Nokia N81 is just what you would expect from a 2 megapixel Nokia camera - slightly below average for that pixel count. On the phone, the images are displayed beautifully, however, when downloaded, a whole bunch of flaws became visible. The noise levels are acceptable, but the photos in general look somewhat as watercolor paitings. You can also seen some strange color blotches in the shadow areas.

The secondary camera can also be used for taking pictures. It is quickly accessed through the camera interface and can be used as a quick and convenient way to make self-portraits or contact images.

For this phones connectivity options, you have a microUSB port in charge of cable connections. It also has Bluetooth v2.0 or Wi-Fi. In addition, there is a rich choice of network selections - GPRS, EDGE and UMTS are all present.

Sources:
http://www.brighthand.com
http://asia.cnet.com
http://www.intomobile.com