Introduction
Well here goes my review for the N81...
Well it happened all in a hurry; I was hell-bent on getting the ASUS p320 but thanks to you guys excellent support decided against it considering all the comments and feedback .Next on the line was the HTC touch rejected that too because of no stock and battery life issues. Then the n81 caught my site wanted a phone to club it with the dell Bluetooth headset
.
I like the N81 for two reasons. Firstly, it's a performer If the iPhone is a sports car, this is a truck: far from ungainly, but clearly more concerned with function than form or dimension. And second, it's the first handset to run Nokia's much anticipated and oddly elusive new N-Gage platform which is a chip of the old block “ngageâ€:cool2:
Well here are the first impressions of the phone came in a neat box (not all that rocking quality recycled paper I guess..but no ones complaining) but nonetheless pretty much intact and satisfactory. Here are some peeks into the packing
The presentation skills were neat, gives you an elite feeling when you open the box for the first time. There stands your nokia in between all those jazzy covers staring at you. Its a great feeling.:clap:
:hap5: Cant wait to get into the phone…
[BREAK=Inside the Box]
OK here we go....
• One handset
• One Battery
• One charger(pretty sleek)
• Pair of earphones with the 3.5mm jack
• One hands free connector to the headphone and into the phone
• Pair of ear caps for the earphones
• Datacable micro usb
• Nokia pc suite and other apps on DVD
• Sd card adapter (2gb micro sd in phone)
• Manuals/Advertisements/features booklets/Getting started
First Glance
Alright when you get a first glace at the phone it is Cobalt blue
colored as specified on the box but personally I think of it as a dark purple shade pretty appealing to the eye. With regards to volume its rather big and wholesome considering I am switching from a Nokia 6300 , feels more heavier but willing to compromise that for features. Going ahead… when you open the cover behind the phone pretty much easy for every beginner considering they have put a graphic behind, which is self-explanatory on how to. The battery fits in with ease. The phone has a 2mpx cam accompanied with a flash which is neatly covered with a pink seal along with a white plastic on the cam.
Dimension
The handset is both boxy and glossy, with a slider design and an unobtrusive, slightly spongy set of multimedia playback keys beneath the large 2.4-inch screen. The display is crisp and bright, and well ahead of the spec curve at 16.7 million colors and 240x320 pixels. In design, it's classic understated Nokia, with brightly backlit keys and solid look and feel.
The initial feeling is pretty bulky and heavy when holding it in the hand for the first time it takes some getting used to I must say after the 6300,If u have used pda’s any other bulky phones it sheer feels a bit lighter and smaller but most of all is comfortable!
[BREAK=Accessory and startup]
Handsfree
The Image above is the anterior portion of the phone which on the extreme left is you locking key it is a spring mechanism like key used to lock the phone when the slider is closed the next slot ie the middle one is the 3.5mm JACK the most exciting feature of the phone which allows you to listen to your music with your favorite earphones.
It also includes the Nokia hands free which is a great accessory for music making it completely hands free, it contains the forward back pause play buttons, button to accept a call, volume buttons at the side and a lock button as well to prevent accidental pressing of the buttons. Thats about the handsfree.
Startup
Alright when powered on it has the traditional nokia stratup of the handshake and the sound pretty much trademark “NOKIA†,that can be customized later from the settings.
The display as you can see is pretty organized and the shortcuts are placed on the bar o the top which can be customized as well. Below that is your search bar which allows you to search directly over the internet. There is the calendar bar which I have set a “to do†task appears as shown on the screen. The next is the WLAN which is a key feature of this phone it allows you to search and assign an access point to any of the networks found on the list.
Here is the menu option again pretty much the same as the other Nseries phones
[BREAK=Wlan]
WLAN & INTERNET
The N81 supports WLAN can be used for surfing on wifi can also be paired with a media player supporting wifi for wireless transmission.
Networks in range just click and it, sets as the access point and your online if WEP is not specified otherwise asks for the WEP key.
Here is your Website TECHENCLAVE on the browser on the phone horizontal and vertical view.
A view of the Nokia maps software. A few maps are provided on the phone the rest have to be downloaded and purchased so it not free.. But as usual there are other alternatives hehe!!!
Sorry I couldn’t post pics of browsing maps coz my neighbor logged off his internet so the conn was offline (yeh was using his wifi signal for free hehe!!):hap2: :hap2: :hap2:
[BREAK=Keys & Layout]
Keys & Layout
The layout of keys is damn fascinating, considering the no of keys nokia tried to fit in n to this candy bar slider.They have considered all the possibilities and provided great multimedia shortcut keys on the phone for every move.
As you can see above the
• Red and green keys.
• Menu below the green
• Left And right selection Keys
• Delete key “câ€
• The 4 directional square button
• Navi wheel (blue surface)
• Media Button (silver button)
• Music buttons include pause play. stop, next, back for music support.
• Volume +- on the right side
• Camera Click key on the right side
• Two Keys on Earpiece for gaming and zooming images
• Memory Slot on the left
• Two Speakers left and right side
The newest innovation is around the square pad. , the 'naviwheel' (scroll wheel). Which doesn’t actually scroll, and isn’t a wheel, so should get round any legal niceties when compared to an iPod. It’s a good addition to the UI, and allows you to work through a long list of musical tracks with ease by running your thumb or finger around the silver cursor ring to control the on screen selector. This is picked up in hardware, and in essence works as if you are spinning the cursor ring with your fingers.
It’s not incredibly precise. Sometimes you start scrolling straight away, sometimes it takes a little movement to get going, and part of me thinks that for a first effort it’s well done!! – it does feel incredibly cool and futuristic – but part of me thinks that a company of Nokia’s size should be able to get this right before delivering the phone to the masses. There’s an argument that this is just a bedding in process and over time I’ll get used to the pressure required to activate the scroll –
The scroll however fails to work in applications that has a list, however works for browsing multimedia files photos, music, videos, contacts etc. Hope this issue is fixed with a firmware upgrade. Another point to be noted is when I received the phone I was not aware of the naviwheel option as it was turned off, its only when browsing through the options I realized it sported a naviwheel.
The keypad is mediocre when it come to dialing , however when texting its a little bit difficult to text the 123 keys as the slider is a a minor obstruction if you have big fingers like mine!
[BREAK=Entertainment]
THe menus on the scroll..the aero like effect
Music
It’s the most impressive feature of the phone in comparison to the other models. The sound quality is outstanding and of the highest quality. I was under the impression nokia could not match the standards of sony when it comes to sound. You gotta have to hear this to believe! this one is a good competitor to the SE models out there. The equalizer settings have the options similar to the ipod with all the genre’s , presence of a customizable view when playing whether it’s a visualization or an album art u want to see on the screen,it comes equipped with a 2gb micro sd card which is hot swappable on the left side of the phone.,
You can sync the phone with your windows media player and add music transfer n create playlists by a single plug n play off course ull need the dvd for drivers . Other settings include stereo widening, balancer and loudness. The pair of earphones provided by Nokia this time is of very superior quality. The balance of bass and treble is simply awesome if not the bass will definitely give you an extra thump!! All in all this fone is excellent for music!!! Can’t wait to get the Dell Bluetooth headset and pair it with this baby!!
It also sports a radio as well which has pretty good sound quality but obviously no comparison with the audio on the phone. There is an option for podcasts and a music store to buy music online
[BREAK=Video & Other]
Video
The video clarity is great as well, you get some default videos of a concert of some Indian bands pretty good clarity supports 3gp mp4 and realmedia player provides for a fine video player. The full screen mode is fantablulous. Check it out
Gaming
Being an Ngage phone the gaming is ultimate and of the best quality. You get 3 games with the phone Fifa 2008, Asphalt, Creatures of the deep. The game play is superb and the alignment of the keys for gaming are perfect with the other 2 keys on the earpiece possible to game with the slider closed The graphics in these games are phenomenal especially the game play in fifa is real-time. However Nokia spoilt it by just putting in the trial versions of these games, they have to be purchased and the code needs to be entered to use further levels .:no: :no:
There is a game manager which keeps an account of your profile and tracks your progress in the game. You can go online and play games or through Bluetooth through the online option or add a friend option
:rofl:
[BREAK=Camera & Snapshots]
Camera & Snapshots
Well the phone had a mediocre 2.0 megapixel camera with a flash at the back, it also has a VGA camera in the front for video calling. The images are not the best of quality one can say that nokia has sacrificed the camera on this model and no auto focus as well however the Nokia 6300 camera I personally felt delivered more perfect images. The images on this one appear granular often especially by night images do not retain their clarity inspite of the flash. The camera has all the options of automatic flash red eye,iso exposure white balance etc.. as well as the shooting modes and effects. But overall an inferior camera. Here are a few images shot
Coffee day
Close up
With the sun
Against Sun
By night
Night with light
night w/o light only flash
night w/o light only flash
Room light and flash
Outside
Normal Mode
Sunny Mode
Other
The N81 also comes preloaded with loads of applications with support for ms office ie word excel and powerpoint,it also supports pdf files and has a viewer installed. Media includes a flash player recorder, realplayer nokia lifeblog .
Under utilities you will find 3d tone maker, voice dial, text2speech,sync switch, voice aid, device manager,settingwizard,vmail&help.
[BREAK=Conclusion]
Conclusion
Before the conclusion i've done a small video review not all that great clarity nothing pompous.. but just to give a breif idea of the actual working!
http://www.youtube.com/v/qAJZ6_EUxbM
Summing Up the N81
While not at the top end of the Nseries range, the N81 just as the N91 before it, is aimed not at the power users, but just below them, with boxier styling, the meager 2 megapixel camera and the absence of a GPS chipset. The N81 is designed for those looking for both a good smartphone and top of the line music device, while remaining stylish and appealing
And that’s a good thing, because the N81 is a cracking music device, even ignoring the fact it’s a phone. For all the quirks of the naviwheel, getting to the music you want to listen to is fast and simple. When the smartphone is in my pocket, it’s a simple matter to jump between tracks, fiddle with the volume, and generally do everything a music device needs to do just by touch and feel. This is a very important consideration in my book, and one that is passed with flying colours.
. On long disk-intensive operations, such as doing a full scan of your library when you’ve added new music, it is true that the N81 takes a fair amount of time to do its stuff.
Well designed for its purpose is what probably best sums up the N81 all round. With the primary function of music, and a secondary role for gaming looking likely to be a success from a hardware point of view, the N81 is a winner for general purpose use. Don’t get me wrong, there are faults in the device. The screen is highly reflective and close to useless under a good sun; the naviwheel can, on occasion, be temperamental even after a few weeks of use; the slider mechanism isn't quite perfect (but then they never are); and the relatively low resolution on the camera does keep me looking over, wistfully, at the Carl Zeiss-equipped N95 hehe!!!.
The N81 is not a super-converged swiss army knife like the N95. Instead it is more a hunting knife, designed for a single purpose - to keep you entertained while on the move. And it does this well, and if that's what you are looking for, then I have no hesitation in recommending it…
PRICE: 13500/- in exchange of my old 6300 for 4.5k
Hope you enjoyed the review as much as I enjoyed reviewing it for you guys.Im doing it for the first time so pls excuse mistakes and yeh the quality of images my digicam is 5 years old now so excuse the quality! All the best
Signing off.. :bye1::bye1:
Joel Fernandes
Well here goes my review for the N81...
Well it happened all in a hurry; I was hell-bent on getting the ASUS p320 but thanks to you guys excellent support decided against it considering all the comments and feedback .Next on the line was the HTC touch rejected that too because of no stock and battery life issues. Then the n81 caught my site wanted a phone to club it with the dell Bluetooth headset
.I like the N81 for two reasons. Firstly, it's a performer If the iPhone is a sports car, this is a truck: far from ungainly, but clearly more concerned with function than form or dimension. And second, it's the first handset to run Nokia's much anticipated and oddly elusive new N-Gage platform which is a chip of the old block “ngageâ€:cool2:
Well here are the first impressions of the phone came in a neat box (not all that rocking quality recycled paper I guess..but no ones complaining) but nonetheless pretty much intact and satisfactory. Here are some peeks into the packing
The presentation skills were neat, gives you an elite feeling when you open the box for the first time. There stands your nokia in between all those jazzy covers staring at you. Its a great feeling.:clap:
:hap5: Cant wait to get into the phone…
[BREAK=Inside the Box]
OK here we go....
• One handset
• One Battery
• One charger(pretty sleek)
• Pair of earphones with the 3.5mm jack
• One hands free connector to the headphone and into the phone
• Pair of ear caps for the earphones
• Datacable micro usb
• Nokia pc suite and other apps on DVD
• Sd card adapter (2gb micro sd in phone)
• Manuals/Advertisements/features booklets/Getting started
First Glance
Alright when you get a first glace at the phone it is Cobalt blue
colored as specified on the box but personally I think of it as a dark purple shade pretty appealing to the eye. With regards to volume its rather big and wholesome considering I am switching from a Nokia 6300 , feels more heavier but willing to compromise that for features. Going ahead… when you open the cover behind the phone pretty much easy for every beginner considering they have put a graphic behind, which is self-explanatory on how to. The battery fits in with ease. The phone has a 2mpx cam accompanied with a flash which is neatly covered with a pink seal along with a white plastic on the cam.
Dimension
The handset is both boxy and glossy, with a slider design and an unobtrusive, slightly spongy set of multimedia playback keys beneath the large 2.4-inch screen. The display is crisp and bright, and well ahead of the spec curve at 16.7 million colors and 240x320 pixels. In design, it's classic understated Nokia, with brightly backlit keys and solid look and feel.
The initial feeling is pretty bulky and heavy when holding it in the hand for the first time it takes some getting used to I must say after the 6300,If u have used pda’s any other bulky phones it sheer feels a bit lighter and smaller but most of all is comfortable!
[BREAK=Accessory and startup]
Handsfree
The Image above is the anterior portion of the phone which on the extreme left is you locking key it is a spring mechanism like key used to lock the phone when the slider is closed the next slot ie the middle one is the 3.5mm JACK the most exciting feature of the phone which allows you to listen to your music with your favorite earphones.
It also includes the Nokia hands free which is a great accessory for music making it completely hands free, it contains the forward back pause play buttons, button to accept a call, volume buttons at the side and a lock button as well to prevent accidental pressing of the buttons. Thats about the handsfree.
Startup
Alright when powered on it has the traditional nokia stratup of the handshake and the sound pretty much trademark “NOKIA†,that can be customized later from the settings.
The display as you can see is pretty organized and the shortcuts are placed on the bar o the top which can be customized as well. Below that is your search bar which allows you to search directly over the internet. There is the calendar bar which I have set a “to do†task appears as shown on the screen. The next is the WLAN which is a key feature of this phone it allows you to search and assign an access point to any of the networks found on the list.
Here is the menu option again pretty much the same as the other Nseries phones
[BREAK=Wlan]
WLAN & INTERNET
The N81 supports WLAN can be used for surfing on wifi can also be paired with a media player supporting wifi for wireless transmission.
Networks in range just click and it, sets as the access point and your online if WEP is not specified otherwise asks for the WEP key.
Here is your Website TECHENCLAVE on the browser on the phone horizontal and vertical view.
A view of the Nokia maps software. A few maps are provided on the phone the rest have to be downloaded and purchased so it not free.. But as usual there are other alternatives hehe!!!
Sorry I couldn’t post pics of browsing maps coz my neighbor logged off his internet so the conn was offline (yeh was using his wifi signal for free hehe!!):hap2: :hap2: :hap2:
[BREAK=Keys & Layout]
Keys & Layout
The layout of keys is damn fascinating, considering the no of keys nokia tried to fit in n to this candy bar slider.They have considered all the possibilities and provided great multimedia shortcut keys on the phone for every move.
As you can see above the
• Red and green keys.
• Menu below the green
• Left And right selection Keys
• Delete key “câ€
• The 4 directional square button
• Navi wheel (blue surface)
• Media Button (silver button)
• Music buttons include pause play. stop, next, back for music support.
• Volume +- on the right side
• Camera Click key on the right side
• Two Keys on Earpiece for gaming and zooming images
• Memory Slot on the left
• Two Speakers left and right side
The newest innovation is around the square pad. , the 'naviwheel' (scroll wheel). Which doesn’t actually scroll, and isn’t a wheel, so should get round any legal niceties when compared to an iPod. It’s a good addition to the UI, and allows you to work through a long list of musical tracks with ease by running your thumb or finger around the silver cursor ring to control the on screen selector. This is picked up in hardware, and in essence works as if you are spinning the cursor ring with your fingers.
It’s not incredibly precise. Sometimes you start scrolling straight away, sometimes it takes a little movement to get going, and part of me thinks that for a first effort it’s well done!! – it does feel incredibly cool and futuristic – but part of me thinks that a company of Nokia’s size should be able to get this right before delivering the phone to the masses. There’s an argument that this is just a bedding in process and over time I’ll get used to the pressure required to activate the scroll –
The scroll however fails to work in applications that has a list, however works for browsing multimedia files photos, music, videos, contacts etc. Hope this issue is fixed with a firmware upgrade. Another point to be noted is when I received the phone I was not aware of the naviwheel option as it was turned off, its only when browsing through the options I realized it sported a naviwheel.
The keypad is mediocre when it come to dialing , however when texting its a little bit difficult to text the 123 keys as the slider is a a minor obstruction if you have big fingers like mine!
[BREAK=Entertainment]
THe menus on the scroll..the aero like effect
Music
It’s the most impressive feature of the phone in comparison to the other models. The sound quality is outstanding and of the highest quality. I was under the impression nokia could not match the standards of sony when it comes to sound. You gotta have to hear this to believe! this one is a good competitor to the SE models out there. The equalizer settings have the options similar to the ipod with all the genre’s , presence of a customizable view when playing whether it’s a visualization or an album art u want to see on the screen,it comes equipped with a 2gb micro sd card which is hot swappable on the left side of the phone.,
You can sync the phone with your windows media player and add music transfer n create playlists by a single plug n play off course ull need the dvd for drivers . Other settings include stereo widening, balancer and loudness. The pair of earphones provided by Nokia this time is of very superior quality. The balance of bass and treble is simply awesome if not the bass will definitely give you an extra thump!! All in all this fone is excellent for music!!! Can’t wait to get the Dell Bluetooth headset and pair it with this baby!!
It also sports a radio as well which has pretty good sound quality but obviously no comparison with the audio on the phone. There is an option for podcasts and a music store to buy music online
[BREAK=Video & Other]
Video
The video clarity is great as well, you get some default videos of a concert of some Indian bands pretty good clarity supports 3gp mp4 and realmedia player provides for a fine video player. The full screen mode is fantablulous. Check it out
Gaming
Being an Ngage phone the gaming is ultimate and of the best quality. You get 3 games with the phone Fifa 2008, Asphalt, Creatures of the deep. The game play is superb and the alignment of the keys for gaming are perfect with the other 2 keys on the earpiece possible to game with the slider closed The graphics in these games are phenomenal especially the game play in fifa is real-time. However Nokia spoilt it by just putting in the trial versions of these games, they have to be purchased and the code needs to be entered to use further levels .:no: :no:
There is a game manager which keeps an account of your profile and tracks your progress in the game. You can go online and play games or through Bluetooth through the online option or add a friend option
:rofl:
[BREAK=Camera & Snapshots]
Camera & Snapshots
Well the phone had a mediocre 2.0 megapixel camera with a flash at the back, it also has a VGA camera in the front for video calling. The images are not the best of quality one can say that nokia has sacrificed the camera on this model and no auto focus as well however the Nokia 6300 camera I personally felt delivered more perfect images. The images on this one appear granular often especially by night images do not retain their clarity inspite of the flash. The camera has all the options of automatic flash red eye,iso exposure white balance etc.. as well as the shooting modes and effects. But overall an inferior camera.
Here are a few images shot
Coffee day
Close up
With the sun
Against Sun
By night
Night with light
night w/o light only flash
night w/o light only flash
Room light and flash
Outside
Normal Mode
Sunny Mode
Other
The N81 also comes preloaded with loads of applications with support for ms office ie word excel and powerpoint,it also supports pdf files and has a viewer installed. Media includes a flash player recorder, realplayer nokia lifeblog .
Under utilities you will find 3d tone maker, voice dial, text2speech,sync switch, voice aid, device manager,settingwizard,vmail&help.
[BREAK=Conclusion]
Conclusion
Before the conclusion i've done a small video review not all that great clarity nothing pompous.. but just to give a breif idea of the actual working!
http://www.youtube.com/v/qAJZ6_EUxbM
Summing Up the N81
While not at the top end of the Nseries range, the N81 just as the N91 before it, is aimed not at the power users, but just below them, with boxier styling, the meager 2 megapixel camera and the absence of a GPS chipset. The N81 is designed for those looking for both a good smartphone and top of the line music device, while remaining stylish and appealing
And that’s a good thing, because the N81 is a cracking music device, even ignoring the fact it’s a phone. For all the quirks of the naviwheel, getting to the music you want to listen to is fast and simple. When the smartphone is in my pocket, it’s a simple matter to jump between tracks, fiddle with the volume, and generally do everything a music device needs to do just by touch and feel. This is a very important consideration in my book, and one that is passed with flying colours.
. On long disk-intensive operations, such as doing a full scan of your library when you’ve added new music, it is true that the N81 takes a fair amount of time to do its stuff.
Well designed for its purpose is what probably best sums up the N81 all round. With the primary function of music, and a secondary role for gaming looking likely to be a success from a hardware point of view, the N81 is a winner for general purpose use. Don’t get me wrong, there are faults in the device. The screen is highly reflective and close to useless under a good sun; the naviwheel can, on occasion, be temperamental even after a few weeks of use; the slider mechanism isn't quite perfect (but then they never are); and the relatively low resolution on the camera does keep me looking over, wistfully, at the Carl Zeiss-equipped N95 hehe!!!.
The N81 is not a super-converged swiss army knife like the N95. Instead it is more a hunting knife, designed for a single purpose - to keep you entertained while on the move. And it does this well, and if that's what you are looking for, then I have no hesitation in recommending it…
PRICE: 13500/- in exchange of my old 6300 for 4.5k
Hope you enjoyed the review as much as I enjoyed reviewing it for you guys.Im doing it for the first time so pls excuse mistakes and yeh the quality of images my digicam is 5 years old now so excuse the quality! All the best
Signing off.. :bye1::bye1:
Joel Fernandes
