Reviews and tests | Nokia 8800 Arte and Sapphire Arte Review

Our suggestions indicated in the Nokia 8600 Luna review are fully confirmed now, Nokia divides the premium class into subclasses, now there are two of them, the upper one is positioned in the price segment of 1000 Euro and higher, the second subclass is lower than 750 Euro. Let's refer a bit to the history. In September '2006 the company presented its successor christened 8800 Sirocco. What stands for such a long gap between the two? The deal is easy to explain: 8800 maintained such high sales volume enjoying a total lack of competitive brands that there seemed to be little to no reason to issue a sequel model. Even in a year and a half later the sales were high enough to get to thinking about something cardinally new - the Sirocco gadget was just a revamped 8800 just intended to expand the product life cycle. Sirocco didn't have any extra features as compared to the regular 8800 save for new looks and a slight increase in user memory and battery life. To make Sirocco look more exclusive and independent from its predecessor, the phone was bundled with a Bluetooth headset (BH-801), a tabletop cradle and a new model name. The 8800 ships with a full bundling similar to most premium class handsets. Like its elderly brother, Sirocco utilizes an exclusive user interface featuring brand themes. The original 8800 had its ringtones written by Ryuichi Sakamoto while Sirocco ringtones owe a credit to Brian Eno, another famous composer known as the father of ambient.

It's rather unusual for a minor upgrade to get a brand name of its own, Sirocco being the first throughout the whole history of Nokia products. Sirocco stands for a strong, dry wind blowing from deserts of Arabia and North Africa that mixes with the colder air of the Mediterranean. The brand was chosen to underline the device's natural harmony of looks, which was reflected in two 'dunes' on the surface of the phone casing, resembling the sand dunes of deserts.

Designing and launching Sirocco truly was Nokia's big deal demanding new concepts to turn a somewhat obsolete cell phone into a brand new product with a new casing featuring virtually the same stuff inside. The only and main aim of the project was to expand the life cycle of 8800, providing for squeezing maximum profits out of the same product.

Meanwhile the intended successor of the 8000 series named Nokia 8600 was artificially delayed for a few months waiting to be launched into mass production and make it to the market when the stars are right. Obviously it was the 8600 which was originally intended to succeed the 8800 within its market niche - Sirocco could simply have gone no further than concept papers, should its forefather have been not as popular as it was. But the sales went the way they did and there was no way back luckily for Nokia, so Nokia 8600 was purposely transferred into another class within the premium class since it was too late to make changes to the specs and besides that, putting the guise of a top model onto a handset sharing a striking similarity in specs to a two year old existing phone would not have made a perfect marketing decision anyway. So the recommended retail price of Nokia 8600 is lower than that of Sirocco, resulting in a number of speculative consequences:

• The target audience of the premium class expands due to the availability of a more reasonably priced model in the series
• The Sirocco handset gets an opportunity to phase out of the market in time without having to cut the model price thus securing its image of a top phone.

What makes us think that Nokia 8600 was planned long before it was released this July? The fact is betrayed by an obviously outdated software platform with a number of artificial limitations.

Officially the model is based on the third edition of the Series 40 v3 Feature Pack 1 platform, but none of the new features observed in the recent models like 6300 or 5300 are found in it, the two models mentioned being Feature Pack 2: a separate call log, the dial button only brings up the log of previously dialed numbers; audio and FM player interface are similar to those of Nokia 6280.

Another fact backing our theory is the wide availability of the phone right on the next day after its release which means that the product stock was formed long in advance.

Lowering the model index is not the only means used by the company to underline a relatively lower position of the model, the bundling is a bit scarce and there are no exclusive ringtones. It's obvious that should Nokia 8600 have been released a bit earlier forerunning the launch of Sirocco, it would surely have been marketed as a top phone bundled with a complete range of accessories but today this idea was obsolete. As a result of such a development of its marketing strategy, Nokia now runs two separate series of phones, 8800 and 8600 formally being the flagships of those. The former is intended to be a more elite product while the latter acts as a mass product still staying within the premium class. It should be noted however that it doesn't mean a gap in functionality and quality between future products ranking below the 8600 model and those ranking above the 8800 Sirocco. The difference will mainly persist on the front of target marketing, finding its realization in design, bundling and price. Thus Nokia will occupy both the ?1000+ niche and that ranging from ?500 to ?900, its top product being Nokia 6800 Luna. The device utilizes the form factor candy bar, without the movable slider, such devices will be available on the market by the end of the year.

Drawing parallels with Sirocco, the new premium model gets a brand name of its own, the suggestive Luna, with a number of possible interpretations, the most likely one being that of the heavenly body. The Luna model gives its owner an idea of the moonlight gently cutting through the clouds in the night sky forming a glittering moonpath on the sea waves - an association brought to you by the slowly flashing keypad visible through the smoke-coloured slide panel window.

What the target audience of the Luna phone is going to look like? It's marketed towards people purchasing a top phone for the first time who are not content with Nokia 8800 due to some reasons while the new materials and price drives them towards the 8600, however these make only a small percentage of potential customers and no expansion in this limited market segment is seen ahead shortly. Luna is mostly targeted at the owners of original Nokia 8800 not willing to trade it in for the Sirocco edition due to a small number of actual changes.

Nokia 8600 Luna achieved big amounts of production, filling the segment where the 8800 models do not belong. Besides as we have already mentioned, 8800 Sirocco left the market, and after it, some months later a new image product of the upper price segment will be available. The time-frame between the issue of the devices in two subclasses of the 8 series will be on the level of 7 or 8 months, it is an optimal term that allows the model to live a bit more than one year.

So, Nokia 8800 Arte became a real continuation of 800 Sirocco. The new series Arte (that means "the art") is aimed at emphasizing the art of individuality with the help of natural colors and textures. The line that started with Sirocco is still used in the company. In that device a groove on the face panel and the effects of light on it created associations with desert dunes created by the warm wind Sirocco, and in new Arte models leather from East India is used, and the natural texture and color are saved.

In spite of the "ordinary" 8800 Arte there is its variation, Sapphire Arte, and their price makes up on the average 1000 Euro and 1150 Euro accordingly, the difference is only lack of leather and a cultured sapphire crystal at one piece in the low-end device. The devices were brought to market with a difference of two months, it is an optimal term. The cost of the premium class solutions slightly achieves 2000 Euro, which is the aim of the company. The prices are unlikely to rise further otherwise the targeted audiences of the Nokia and Vertu premium products may be confused.

The 8800 index became a sub-brand, its usage may be seen in the future models of the class, the devices differ by their unique names that exist separately from the index, the examples are the same Sirocco and Luna. Nokia is unlikely to product the phones of famous brand names like Samsung Armani or LG Prada, there will be no such models. Cooperation with the renowned designers will continue but only in the same way that was used in cases of the Nokia 7370, 7373, which is understandable for the reputation and recognizability of the Nokia brand allows the company to create tendencies on their own, without making use of the high fashion brand names while advancing their devices.

The phones differ by the materials used in them, we have already mentioned that leather pieces and a sapphire are used only in the older model. 8800 Arte is black while Sapphire Arte is light brown, totally corresponding to 6500 Classic. The body is made out of stainless steel, the display is protected with the sapphire glass and is resistant to scratches. The most part of the surfaces is glossy, it collects fingerprints in no time, the phone often has to be rubbed. The Arte series is still not so easily soiled as 8800 Sirocco, especially its black version, it particularly concerns Sapphire Arte where a part of the surface is protected with leather. The glass of the ordinary 8800 Arte is far more easily soiled.

Much may be said about the design of the device, but it is impossible to describe its feeling in the hand, we can only say that the phone's dimensions did not practically change in comparison with the 8600 Luna model, apart from reduction of its thickness up to 14,6 mm. The size is comfortable, you can bear the device where you wish, but a big weight (150 g) will not allow you to put it in your shirt pocket. The design, materials of the body, its appearance, combination of the glossy steel and lusterless leather, sharp lines and the brand sound of opening the slider create a tremendous feeling, it is really the fashion idol and will remain it for a long time.

Let us discuss the peculiarities of the models. First of all the innovation concerns the application of the position sensor, For example receiving a call it is enough to put the phone on the table with its fance side and the sound will be muffled. Under the keyboard there is a sensor that activates a screensaver – a clock – it is enough for that just to tap twice the surface. Unfortunately if the slider is open this option does not work and there are for the moment no other actions for the position sensor and the sensor. Apart from this similar to the 7900 Prism model, there are the so called Living Wallpapers, that means an automatic change of the screen's wallpaper. In fact Living Wallpapers is no more than the swf-animation, it does not at all compete with the Living World of the Samsung devices. All these hardware and software peculiarities are quite pleasant, such small things are obvious, they become an inalienable part of new devices.

In the package of 8800 Arte there is a wireless Bluetooth-headset BH-803, desktop cradle DT-19, performed in the style of the models themselves and a leather case for its transportation. The set corresponds to the status of the devices, Nokia 8600 Luna did nor feature that.

The battery cover of 8800 Arte is performed out of blackened steel, it is lusterless unlike the face panel. The surface is quite firm, rubbed traces are not likely to appear. Traditionally for the cover removal two holders on the both sides of the device should be pressed. The люфт is absolutely excluded, the assemblage may be called ideal. Under the cover there is a new gen battery, BL-4U, 1000 mAh, capable according to the company's declaration to provide the work of the device within 3 hours of talktime and 12.5 days of standby mode. The size of the battery is rather big, it occupies almost the whole back surface.

Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte features a leather piece on the surface of the battery cover, because of which the phone does not slide in the hand, its feeling is quite of the level. The leather kept its natural color, but like any other natural material it is not very resistant to soiling because of its light colour. Of course the possibility of darkening of the leather depends on the tidiness of the user, but there will be no problems for several months. In any case it will hardly stop the target buyer of the model if he chooses it.

Additional control keys lack in the model, only on the top there is an "off" and profile change button. At the bottom there is a microUSB slot, that allows for synchronization, recharging, as well as connecting a headset. There are no other slots on the body. On the right side there is a loud speaker, it is the only one in the device (like in Nokia 8600 Luna, in spite of the presence of two grooves on both sides), but its quality and volume are enough in any situation. Melodies specially created for the device are especially well heard.

The camera of Nokia 8800 Arte has a resolution of 3,2 Mpx, it features an automatic focusing. The camera is on the whole analogous to that of Vertu Accent Ti, it allows for a high quality of the pictures but of course we cannot speak about its identity to Nokia 6500 Slide or N78, it is an average level. There is no dedicated key for launching the camera focusing is done when pressing the central button, the photo is done when this button is released.

The keys are quite standard, they are arranged in a few rows in a terrace-like fashion which makes them comfortable at pressing. The ergonomics of the keyboard are higher than in Sirocco because of slightly bigger keys. Functional keys may appear sensory at first sight but it is not so. They have an exact response, there are no erroneous pressures. The highlighting is not very bright, it is of white colour. There are lighting effects, the highlighting grows gradually, evenly, when receiving a call and in other events as well, for example when recharging the phone.

The display of the model qualitatively differs from the most company's solutions, it is powered by the OLED technology. Given technology allows to lower energy consumption, leaving freshness of colors and high brightness. The same technology is used in Nokia 7900 Prism, they are identical. Comparing OLED display 7900 and the Arte with usual TFT-display (for example Nokia 5310), the difference is easily visible. The view angles also surprise, the information can be seen almost under any angle. The colors are maximally natural, deep, saturated, on the whole, the displays of Nokia 7900 and Nokia 8800 are the best on the market today, they are comparable with that of the Motorola ROKR E8. Therefore, the effectiveness of OLED displays use is more than approved, it can't be said that it is an essentially new level, but anyway.

Its physical dimensions are 31 x 41 mm, 2 inches (51 mm) in diagonal, while the resolution is 240x320. The screen can display up to 16 millions of colors. In the settings the brightness adjustment option appeared. Until this moment the company's devices supplied with the luminance sensor didn't have such an option and maximal brightness of the display wasn't on a good level. The quality of the screen can be only appraised when the phone is exposed to the daylight, the information is fully visible though the colours fade.

The only slot used for connecting the handset, cable and charger is a microUSB one, located at the top of the body. A MicroUSB cable is available from the sales package. As for the data transfer speed, there isn't serious difference from the devices using miniUSB slot, everything is comparable with the said 8600. The protocol version is 2.0, Mass Storage support is also present, the user is left with the choice to choose between data storage, PC Suite and modem connection modes. If used as a storage device, the 8600 doesn't go offline which is also an advantage. While in the cable connection mode, the phone also recharges over time.

The device is designed for usage in 850/900/1800/1900 GSM networks, as well as in WCDMA 850/2100 ones. 8800 Arte is the first premium class device of the company supporting third generation networks. Front camera for video call is missing, though. GPRS and EDGE are fully supported.

The Bluetooth-profile A2DP is supported which allows for a wireless stereo headset, everything is quite ordinary.

Among other pleasant small things setting of the Bluetooth time of visibility by other devices is outstanding – it may vary from a minute to an hour.

The model uses a Li-Ion battery, bearing a standard capacity of 1000 mAh. Under an average duty (nearly two up to three hours of talktime, up to two hours of using the other features and menu) the handset is able to last for about two days, this is a very good result. Its predecessors could not boast of such a long time of offline work, in fact it was the main drawback of Sirocco and in particular of the original 8800 model.

Total time of a complete recharge of the battery is approximately one hour and a half, there is traditionally a desktop cradle in the delivery package that may be used for recharging.

Battery of Nokia 8800 Arte

The 8800 Arte and Sapphire Arte interface deserves attention for a presence of specially sorted for it themes and dynamic screensavers from Fritz Fizke, all of them correspond to the overall appearance of the model. The themes and screensavers of Arte differ from those of Sapphire Arte, which is explained by different colors of the devices, accordingly different themes correspond to them. The themes are dynamic, the company calls them Living Wallpapers, the background of the screen changes with the time. Screensavers are the swf-animation, apart from change of the background picture nothing happens, there is no analogy with the Living World (now - uWorld) by Samsung.

Apart from excusive themes there are short videoclips used as signals of video ringtones. Videos are developed by the German group Kruder & Dorfmeister. The most part of them look interesting, and in combination with the loud sound of high quality the video ringtones they will replace usual ringtones in the majority of cases for the users of Arte.

Nokia 8800 Arte employs Series 40 5th edition user interface and has all basic functionality, reviewed many times. Phone software peculiarities coincide with the rest representatives of the line, also including Nokia 7900 Prism. On insignificant differences, referred to built-in software kit and some settings we will stop to have a detailed look in respective sections.

Series 40 v5 was announced on the 7th of May 2007, among key features were support of the latest version of MIDP profile (2.1), JSR-248 and other specifications. At the first look there are slight differences of the Feature Pack 2 with the third version, for most of users are far to be noticed, but for developers it is a giant step forward. JSR-248 was developed in the end of 2006 (final version on 21 of December) under a support of Vodafone carrier for providing a compatible suite of Java standards with the third party products. JSR-248 is also considered as one of the key components for S60 platform, which will provide high level of application compatibility for devices, based on Series 40 and S60 those two platforms.

MIDP update from 2.0 to 2.1 also provides media-keys support in Java-applications (for instance, media-keys in Nokia 5300cannot be used in applications, in new devices it will be possible).

Formally in comparison to devices, based on a previous version, new features were added, such like Java APIs for Bluetooth (JSR-82) beginning from the version 1.0 in Series 40 v3, FP1, FP2 to version 1.1; Mobile Media API (JSR-135) – access to audio and other multimedia abilities of the phone exactly for Java-applications; addition of SATSA-CRYPTO package in Security and Trust Services API (JSR-177); 3D sound support in Java-applications (JSR-234), and also update of Adobe Flash Lite Player to 2.1 version.

Changes are essential, first of all, as it was said, high level of application compatibility is important (also between platforms), software support of additional keys in third party applications, better control of multimedia abilities. It should be understood that with a presentation of the following Feature Packs the functionality of Series 40 v5 will be even more expanded, however no need to expect any principal changes, there won't be any, acquired a good reputation on the market interface and control don't need to be changed, it is obvious that there'll appear some additional functions.

Changes in user interface itself are insignificant, everything is described by a work of certain applications, first of all, a music player, radio and messaging service. All other functions of the device are standard, thus the active stand-by mode is still present in the device in unchanged way, although on the other hand its customizability on these days is maximal and willing of something more is illogical in current position of matters on the market. Active stand-by mode can be switched off, if a big amount of information and application shortcuts are not needed on the screen for a user.

The active standby mode in its standard presentation, like in all the devices featuring a Series 40 3rd Edition and upper, looks like a row of iconized shortcuts bringing up five custom applications visible on the display simultaneously (the number of shortcuts is also configurable and scrollable as well), the user himself picks the applications out of a long list.

Also there's an option for shortcutting to a custom application instead of an embedded function. Another option is to display app info taken from up to three user-set applications simultaneously. By default those are the mp3 player, the radio tuner and the calendar. The calendar displays all of today's upcoming events. It can be navigated through with no need to quit the standby mode with the help of the navigation button (left-right). A notice remains a simple text message popping up on the screen in the standby mode. Applications that can submit info on the screen during the standby mode include the timer, general indicator and the 'my location' embedded function.

The order in which text lines appear can also be manually configured, the number of lines can be reduced. All in all, it allows the user to customize more than he could imagine - from a totally empty screen to a lot of diagrams and indicators in the standby mode. The Active menu is traditionally present, where you can find all the links to the chosen applications.

Similar to the rest of the new phone models by Nokia, the main menu has four display modes: list, icons, icons with text, tabs. While list and icons are found with most phones, the latter two options are a novelty. The submenu looks like lists with smaller icons, clear and simple. The font size is only customizable in three applications: Messaging, Contacts and Web. Voice dialing doesn't require voice sample recording, the menu supports numeric keys shortcutting.

It's worth mentioning that all of the menu items can be arranged in any custom order you like (however submenu items don't offer such a function). Almost any of the phone's functions can be added to the menu or to the desktop in the standby mode, every application can be accessed through a few clicks. Navigation button functionality is fully compatible with the standby mode (up to three button position is configurable in this case, the fourth is reserved for navigation during active standby).

The capacity of the phone book did not change in comparison with Series 40 v3, it is equal to 1000 of simultaneously stored records each hosting five phone number slots and an extended address line. The memory is not dynamic, the same limit of 1000 records persists even if some of the records only store 1 or 2 phone numbers. However such a loose limit would hardly be of any problem to the vast majority of users. Every contact stores up to five phone numbers of different types (common, mobile, home, video, work, fax), address (street, city, region, ZIP code, country), a PTT address, a e-mail address, a presence indicator, a short notice and a video clip. There is an option of binding a custom ringtone to every contact - not a custom ringtone per group only.

There are three ways for viewing the phone book - name list, name + number, name + picture. The call picture size is large enough, occupying the most of the screen, the caller's number is shown above the call picture or the caller's photo, it is not always visible. In such a case you can use the option of choosing the font color on the screen in the standby mode. Also the videoID function is present - if a video clip is set to a specific contact, it will be played in a loop when this person calls you. If both a picture and a clip are set for a contact, the priority goes to the video, also replacing the ringtone with its corresponding sound.

The user can create his own contact groups (up to 25), there aren't any preset groups. A same contact may belong to several groups at the same time. If a custom melody is set for a contact residing a in a group with another custom ringtone selected for it, the phone will play the contact-specific ringtone and not the group-specific one, which stands to reason. The groups are displayed on the same list as the contacts and come with a special icon, which also seems quite logical. A quick dialup option is present with keys from 2 to 9 acting as hotkeys.

Nokia 8800 Arte features a common call log of incoming, outgoing and unanswered calls, a small icon corresponds to each call. Such an approach is much more comfortable, after pressing the send button you will see immediately all the phone numbers or the names from the contact list if the number coincides with a name in the phone book. Out of the call list a new number may be added to the phone book, sending a message to a certain number is also, you can also watch the information about the duration of the call and so on.

The messaging service includes SMS, MMS and e-mail capabilities, supports voice mail and so called quick messages. Nothing has changed on the SMS front save the new icon panel for the quick access to media. The presentation of the messages themselves while receiving and sending them slightly changed. The sender can add smileys, contacts and change the message type (from SMS to MMS and alike), now usage became more convenient, for performing these operations there is no need to open the contextual menu, you can just use the icon line. The contents are standard, they are inserting a text template, a sound or a videoclip, a picture and so on это. While inserting an object the text template is automatically transformed to a multimedia one.

A special contact book is used for messaging, all the recent contacts are displayed on a special list so there's no need to look up a contact again in the phone book if they were recently sent a message. A whole contact group can be chosen as recipients of a message. The «favorite contact» has appeared, that is you can choose a number as the main for sending messages.

The MMS service is quite standard, the graphical appearance of the interface is changed in a way though. The message length is limited to 300 Kb, images are automatically compressed if the size exceeds the limit. In the settings the standard size of the picture for MMS is indicated, the default resolution is 640х480 px, or the initial size of the photo/picture for an expanded mms plus), the period between the slides is also customizable (8 seconds by default). Voice messages are considered a kind of MMS messages, the voice recorder is automatically activated prior to creation of such a message, the only thing to be done then is to switch it on and record the message. Once the recorder is turned off, an MMS message is automatically composed, then you just have to choose a recipient and press the send button.

The integrated e-mail client supports POP3/IMA4/SMTP/APOP protocols. E-mail attachments are supported, the attachments are read by the phone itself. The principal issue considering e-mail functionality is still present - in some cases, the Cyrillic symbol table support goes wrong, however the phone does its best at interpreting KOI-8 and win-1251 coding. If the mail header doesn't include a code table signature, expect problems. Viewing include 'headers only', 'maximum message length', 'encrypted login mode', 'default code table'. The size of the picture for an e-mail message may be original or scaled to 1280х960, 640х480, 320х240, 120х160 px.

Here you can use the copy/paste function first appeared on Feature Pack I phones like Nokia 6131, 6233. The function is accessible via the contextual menu, there's no dedicated key for text processing (unlike the S60-based smart phones), probably a bit of inconvenience here, but still a strong feature.

Message settings include an option to save sent messages, change the font (up to four variants - tiny, small, normal, large), graphical symbols support. The overall messaging service is quite standard, it is rather nice, does not arouse negative emotions in most situations, it is quite on the level with the modern devices of other producers.

The Personal Information Manager comprises a number of applications including Calendar, Schedule, Notice Book, Timer, Stop-Watch. The Calendar supports a few viewing options: by month or by week, the latter involves by-hour day scheduling. Up to five types of events can be bound to a specified date: meetings, calls, anniversaries, notices, reminders. A flexible set of options for recurring events and automatic events clearing are also supported (fully customizable, from one day to one month).

The schedule book allows for traditional arranging of tasks with customizable priority levels and user-defined time limits for task completion. Notices are an even simple matter, a notice is a custom text up to 3000 symbols. The alarm clock can be set either for a single go or tuned to play the signal on specified weekdays at exact hours defined by the user. A custom ringtone can be chosen as the alarm signal. The stopwatch, timer, a world timetable are quite traditional with nothing special about them. The currency converter supports up to seven currency types and is easy to operate.

The calculator radically changed, apart from changed interface with nice graphics an engineering calculator with a greater number of options was added. Besides, a loan calculator is available that helps to calculate the amount of monthly payments, the percentage to pay and so on.

Nokia 8800 Arte features quite a big volume of internal storage, it is equal to 1 Gb. However it is not a music phone, there is even no dedicated headset, only microUSB slot is available, for which it is hard to find suitable accessories on sale. Besides there is no FM-tuner. Generally, it is possible to listen to the music using 7900 (with the help of handset, included in the product box), but it loses in convenience and abilities to multimedia models, however, no one expects them from it, there are Nokia 5310 in the producer line for instance.

But anyway, the interface of the music player is similar to the latest company offers, it is extremely convenient and nice. Appearance themes are supported, they differ from menu appearance and stand-by mode themes, and they are independent from each other. Comparing with interfaces of 3rd FP2 version devices (it is similar for all devices no matter of positioning), you come to a thought that such a personalization would be to users' taste, it is unique at the moment. The player appearance changes tremendously, these are color appearance, and elements arrangements and so on. Depending on theme chosen the album cover is displayed either in the middle, or aside the track and performer name. In the following screenshots you can see the actual visualization quality, it is really worth of attention.

The following multimedia formats are supported: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, MP4, (SP)MIDI, (WB-)AMR, WMA, XMF. A five-band equalizer has two user presets. Like the interface of the player the equalizer sports nice graphics, it is animated as well. An enhanced stereo mode is available in the multimedia menu, but it doesn't directly influence the sound quality.

A number of various multimedia options are available including sorting music by performer, album, genre, reshuffle and mixing. The controls have remained unchanged, switching to performers, tracks is provided by navigation button shifting, everything is quite simple and clear. A few playlist options are available: sort by performer, genre, also reshuffle and separate playback. Player controls stay unchanged like in earlier models, the navigation button is used for sorting and browsing the content. The player submits some info to the screen while in standby mode and can be used in background with a Java applet launched at the same time. Video playback is possible as well in the MP3 player, actually a video player with a same interface is activated automatically once you try to play a video clip while in the MP3 player mode. Fullscreen playback is supported.

The quality of sound with 8800 Arte coincides with 7900, 6500 Classic, it is on a high level. But as we mentioned, the lack of support for third-party headsets doesn't let listen to music with comfort, which is on the whole not a big problem for the targeted audience of 8800 Arte. The nonstop playback cycle revolves around 10 hours, it is an average result.

The gallery is much similar to most of Series 40 phones, it's no more than a file manager allowing for browsing and viewing the contents of user memory. Three options for folder content viewing are available to the user (list, informative list, shortcuts), so you can customize it to you liking. The pictures can be viewed in a slide show listing all of the pictures found in a particular folder, which proves useful when you show someone a lot of pictures or video clips, but there are no settings for a slide show, even time of image showing. Sorting the materials by name, date of creation, format and size is also available.

The pictures and videos can be viewed in full-screen mode (on the landscape orientation of the screen, the following video formats are supported: H.263, H.264, MPEG-4 and 3GPP). Video clips scrolling is progressive, at full-screen view the line of playing is shown at the bottom of the screen, where the control icons may be found as well.

The option of watching the storage state is available, the capacity of place occupied by the data from different applications, gallery, messages and so on is available. On the whole the file manager (gallery) potential of the Series 40 is rather low, in the devices utilizing S60 or in those of competitive producers there are much better organized.

Camera Nokia 8800 Arte – 3,2 Mp with a possibility of automatic focusing. It is the first premium class product of the company having a camera of a rather high quality. Of course it cannot and should not provide for the quality of photographic brands like 6500 Slide but it is still quite on the level. The photos are not bad when the lightness is sufficient, they are comparable with the 7390 model, for example. There's no dedicated button for activating shooting mode – pressing the navigation button up and down is used to zoom, pressing it left or right acts as a switch between video and photo modes. While in the viewfinder mode, the screen isn't too informative, displaying only free space sufficient for the indicated number of pictures or the video record time (if a video time limit has been set).

The camera interface utilizes landscape orientation mode, however if necessary it is possible to switch to the portrait mode, since there is such an option. In the viewfinder mode the current status information is displayed: pictures and video resolution, storage folder location, zooming, timer, remaining number of shots available, flash and so on. Generally, everything is quite informative.

Pressing the left soft key brings up the settings menu, which consists of the following options:

There are quite few options and the number of effects is likewise minimized, but the device is not being positioned as an imaging solution, everything is all right for its class.

In the settings tab, the following options are displayed:

The good thing is that it is possible to select the picture storage folder.

Samples of Nokia 8800 Arte pictures: