Nokia N80 (Unlocked)
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CNET Editors' Review
CNET Editors' Rating
- Reviewed by: Bonnie Cha
- Reviewed on:
The good: The Nokia N80 is a multimedia-rich phone with a 3-megapixel camera, a second VGA camera, and an integrated music player. It also has a sharp screen, PIM functionality, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.
The bad: With no carrier backing, the Nokia N80 is expensive. Performance is also a bit sluggish when switching between apps.
The bottom line: If you can afford it, the Nokia N80 delivers a powerful multimedia phone packed with advanced imaging features, PIM functionality, and good call quality.
The Nokia N80 has a beautiful 2.2-inch screen that boasts 262,144 hues at 325x416-pixel resolution. Colors pop, and text and images are extrasharp; it's certainly one of the best cell phone displays we've seen to date. Below it you'll find two soft keys, the Talk and End buttons, a four-way navigation toggle with a center select function, an edit key, a menu shortcut, a multimedia key, and a Clear button. For the most part, the controls are easy to use, but the toggle and the select button are a bit small, so you have to press them carefully.
To slide open the cover, just push the face upward. The sliding mechanism is smooth and locks into place with a solid click. Once the phone is open, you'll have access to the numerical dial pad. The keys are large and adequately backlit, but the top row of numbers are closely lined with the bottom of the open face, which may cause some problems for users with larger hands. On the left spine, there's a Mini SD card slot, while the speaker and camera activation key are on the right. The placement of the latter is especially nice since it mimics the feel of a real digital camera when held horizontally. Consequently, though, it's a little awkward if you want to take a vertical picture. The camera lens is located on the back along with a flash and a switch that lets you change from normal to close-up (macro) mode. There's no self-portrait mirror, but it isn't necessary since there's a second camera lens on the front of the phone; it's positioned above the screen in the upper-right corner.
Nokia packages the N80 with most of the basic accessories, including an AC adapter, a stereo headset, a USB cable, a wrist strap, a screen shammy, and a 128MB Mini SD card.
The main draw of the Nokia N80 is its multimedia prowess--more specifically, its imaging features. The mobile sports a 3-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities and 20X digital zoom. The breadth of customization and editing options available on this phone is astounding. You can choose from eight shooting modes, ranging from portrait to sports to night portrait, and five resolutions: 2,048x1,536, 1,600x1,200, 1,280x960, 800x600, and 640x480. You can tweak the brightness, contrast, white balance, color tone, and exposure value. There's also a self-timer and flash. The secondary camera is of only VGA quality, but then again, how often do you find a cell phone with two cameras? The shooting options are significantly reduced, with a mere two modes to choose from: automatic or night.The N80's camera captures video with sound in MP4 or 3GP formats with up to 5X zoom. You get a choice of automatic and night shooting modes, as well as High, Normal, and Low quality settings. Most of the aforementioned customization features are also available in video mode. Once you're done with your shots, you can touch them up with the preloaded image and video editors. For photos, you can add clip art or text and reduce red-eye, while you can cut audio, trim clips for multimedia messages, and more for videos. Also, the photo-sharing options on the N80 are much more robust than those of other cell phones. In addition to being able to e-mail or save your images, you can use Nokia's Xpress Solutions to print photos, upload them to the Web, or transfer them to other devices.
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Compare selected Bonnie Cha is chief correspondent for Crave, covering every kind of tech toy imaginable (with a special obsession for robots and Star Wars-related stuff). When she's not scoping out stories, you can find her checking out live music or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.
User Reviews
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Most Helpful User Review
stars 19 of 26 users found this review helpful
"Crashes all the time" By ricko2112
Pros Fantastic Screen, great functionality
Cons Unstable, locks up, frequent crashes
Summary I see lots of review on CNet for this phone saying "wow it looks great I must get one" and rating it 9/10. Well what a waste of time! Don't rate the phone by the pictures and specs, rate it when you've used it! I have actually ... Expand full review
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Where to Buy
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Specifications
See full specsQuick Specs
- Service provider: Unlocked
- Cellular technology: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM
- Talk time: Up to 180 min
