Nokia N81 8GB review - Part 1

Part 1 - Who fits the bill?

About two weeks back, I became the proud owner of a brand spanking new Nokia N81 8GB. I didn't *need* a new phone - I had a perfectly usable though outdated Nokia 3100 which I had been *forced* to use ever since my Nokia N80i (see my previous review here) got snatched by thieves in March. While the 3100 allowed me to make and receive calls and SMSes, I was moaning about the lack of multimedia capability on the phone (which was something I missed badly). So, I went phone shopping.

Unlike most general shoppers, I had a checklist of minimum features I demanded my new phone *must* have. They were (in order of priority) :

~ WiFi aka WLAN access
~ Camera
~ Calendar-ing features
~ Music / video player (bonus feature)
~ Games (bonus feature)

Since I am a die-hard Nokia user, I only looked at phones from that brand primarily because I am very used to their navigation system and didn't want to be bothered to learn anything very different from what I already knew.

Right off the bat, my first requirement - WiFi - knocked out most phone models, leaving me with the higher range N and E series models. And since all the N and E series came equipped with the rest of my want list, I then used my budget to narrow down the choices. At the lowest (read : cheapest) end of the spectrum would be the E65. At the highest point, it was the N95 8GB with the rest in between. If it were a ladder, it would look like this :

N95 8GB
N95
N82
N81 8GB
N81
E65

Yup, not that many models to choose from (I omitted the outdated/no longer in production N80 and N80i which also has the WiFi feature because I owned that previously) and of the six models up there, two are repeats - N95 and N81.

As I had done my research previously and knew exactly which models I was on the look out for, my next step was to shop around for the best possible price. With a fixed budget in mind, at the very least I knew I would walk away with an E65 or a N81 (if the price was right).

Image credit

As it happened, I got myself a pretty good deal on a new edition N81 8GB a little above the target price I was prepared to pay for an older edition N81. The difference between the two is in the 8GB of internal memory on the phone as compared to the original 2GB.

(Note : I need to disclose that while I got an original set, I did not get my phone from an authorized Nokia dealer, so I don't feel comfortable disclosing the price I paid for it on my blog. But I will say that I got my phone from Plaza Alam Sentral, which is pretty much like Low Yat, if you know what I mean. *wink*)

Up next in Part 2, how does the N81 8GB measure up in terms of looks?