The Nokia N81 is a GSM/WCDMA dual mode phone supporting EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 2100 or GSM 850/900/1800/1900 for some regions. The N81 supports MicroSD cards up to 4GB. Dedicated music keys provide for instant access to music. Use the built-in 2 megapixel camera with flash for taking pictures or videos and second camera (QCIF) for video calls or pictures. The Nokia N81 has a 2,4" color QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) 16 million color screen, built-in stereo speakers, Bluetooth stereo headphone support, USB 2.0, and support for Java MIDP 2.0 & CLDC1.1.
There will be two versions of the Nokia N81: an 8GB model and one with a microSD expansion slot that can accept cards up to 4GB. Both N81s are built for music and gaming with a 3.5mm headphone jack and dedicated game keys (when held in landscape position).
Nokia N81 marketed as a music focused mobile; the retail box is plastered with pictures of rowdy concerts, and the user manual is covered with musicians in recording studios, but there's nothing about the device itself that screams "Rock!". The piano black and brushed titanium body is classy looking, but not particularly sexy. At 18mm in thickness the N81 is a stocky-looking slider phone that feels similar to others in the Nokia family, the N95, the E65 and the 6110 Navigator to name a few, but without the advanced components in those devices we think the N81 should have at least been slimmer.
N81 8GB is closed while hiding the numeric keypad, 18 buttons just on the front part of the phone! If two of those buttons are the dedicated gaming keys, that means the other 16 buttons are packed together with the Naviwheel. Let’s see the keys in that area: green call, red end-call, left soft-key, right soft-key, main menu, multimedia menu, clear, play/pause, stop, forward, back, left, right, up, down, and center.
Nokia say that the keys light up when you use them, and they are also optimised for playing games in landscape mode as well as playing multimedia and all the other smartphone functions. As you'd expect, there's a web browser and email client and the Nokia N81 can also place VOIP calls (if your carrier has not disabled the functionality). There's a navigation wheel, and the N81's interface has had an overhaul to make it more dynamic.
Audio is heard through an external speaker on the side of N81, or alternatively and preferably through headphones plugged into the 3.5mm headphone jack on the top. The ability to use your favourite headphones, via the 3.5mm port, is a winner on a media device, and having it on top means you can keep the phone in your pocket comfortably while listening to your tunes.
The N81, like all new N-Series devices, comes pre-loaded with Nokia's N-Gage gaming application, and if we were doubters before, Two of the three demo games we saw are by far the best mobile phone games to date. Game juggernaut Electronic Arts (EA) has developed a mobile version of FIFA 07 soccer and it is outright addictive. Let's cross our fingers for a Nokia phone with a decent joystick, because if these games are indicative of what to expect from N-Gage, we'll be seeing some very cool mobile games in the near future.
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