Anyone own the Nokia 8800 carbon arte?

wilber · 24 Mar 2009 at 20:16

I have been looking to change my phone for awhile now, believe or not 3 years! I got my hands on the first 8800 and have been hard pressed to change for love of this phone. Granted it does'nt have amazing features but all i am after is a good looking, durable mobile that takes pictures and video.

Im really really tempted by the carbon arte, prices seem very expensive, but i just cant find an upgrade to my old 8800 that im happy with.

So if you own one/have owned one what do you think of it? also do you know how to tell the originals from the all the fakes that seem to be floating about.

fendi · 24 Mar 2009 at 21:57

Can you get it on contract?

jhmaeng · 24 Mar 2009 at 23:34

Yes, but not from the "usual" shops - you need to get it from a place that will simply give you a set discount off the price of the phone rather than only selling phones that are approved on that network. Found one retailer selling it with an 18-month T-Mobile W&W 30 for £575.

bigdavecox1990 · 25 Mar 2009 at 09:35

I wouldn't bother with the 8800.

Very over rated and very expensive for what really is just a normal phone.

Psycho Sonny · 25 Mar 2009 at 10:56

bigdavecox1990 said:
I wouldn't bother with the 8800.

Very over rated and very expensive for what really is just a normal phone.

hardly anyone has it - so it gets noticed very quickly, its a nice phone, although for the money you would expect it to be packed with features and its not, the camer is also poor, but it has status

its the same as the range rover sport, its a **** car but you dont buy it for driving pleasure more of a status symbol, so if your after a status symbol, buy the 8800 carbon arte, if you cant afford it then you cant afford luxury status symbols so dont bother

there are far better phones out there for much cheaper

wilber · 26 Mar 2009 at 09:24

Psycho Sonny said:
hardly anyone has it - so it gets noticed very quickly, its a nice phone, although for the money you would expect it to be packed with features and its not, the camer is also poor, but it has status

its the same as the range rover sport, its a **** car but you dont buy it for driving pleasure more of a status symbol, so if your after a status symbol, buy the 8800 carbon arte, if you cant afford it then you cant afford luxury status symbols so dont bother

there are far better phones out there for much cheaper

Very much so, I like it because of the weight, its a heavy phone so i know it's in my pocket. It also has a scratch resistant screen and has a metal casing so it can take a fair beating aswell as looking nice.

Could anyone suggest a good alternative to this phone?

Psycho Sonny · 26 Mar 2009 at 10:00

wilber said:
Very much so, I like it because of the weight, its a heavy phone so i know it's in my pocket. It also has a scratch resistant screen and has a metal casing so it can take a fair beating aswell as looking nice.

Could anyone suggest a good alternative to this phone?

if you want a phone that looks good (also has a lot of features) - iphone

if you want a phone packed with features (but looks okayish) - blackberry storm

want a phone with a decent camera and packed with features and looks good - nokia n96

bledd · 26 Mar 2009 at 12:23

it's got rubbish software, slow and fumbly

edit, thought you meant the original 8800

Yas786 · 26 Mar 2009 at 13:19

Funnily enough Tmobile rung me the other day saying that im due an upgrade and they were listing which phones i might like...they mentioned the 8800 arte and i asked how much for that....i was told £250 to upgrade to that phone...this is me being on the flext50 tariff...my bills are usually £100 odd a month...so told them no way am i gonna pay £250 for a phone that really doesnt offer much other than look nice.

As for the BB storm...nice phone but shoddy software...it will send you up the wall trying to navigate via the touchscreen ie click screen.

wilber · 26 Mar 2009 at 13:49

Spawn said:
Funnily enough Tmobile rung me the other day saying that im due an upgrade and they were listing which phones i might like...they mentioned the 8800 arte and i asked how much for that....i was told £250 to upgrade to that phone...this is me being on the flext50 tariff...my bills are usually £100 odd a month...so told them no way am i gonna pay £250 for a phone that really doesnt offer much other than look nice.

you should have snapped it up. The proper ones (not the cheap chinese knock offs) go for £500+ on the "bay" show them the t mobile delivery notes etc and you'll have a ton of interest.

Yas786 · 26 Mar 2009 at 14:30

wilber said:
you should have snapped it up. The proper ones (not the cheap chinese knock offs) go for £500+ on the "bay" show them the t mobile delivery notes etc and you'll have a ton of interest.

Yeh i know but tbh i cant afford paying £250 for a phone then another £60 on top a month...i think if it was £100 or less i would have taken it...told them to lower the price but they werent willing to.

Airax · 30 Mar 2009 at 13:32

wilber said:
I have been looking to change my phone for awhile now, believe or not 3 years! I got my hands on the first 8800 and have been hard pressed to change for love of this phone. Granted it does'nt have amazing features but all i am after is a good looking, durable mobile that takes pictures and video.

Im really really tempted by the carbon arte, prices seem very expensive, but i just cant find an upgrade to my old 8800 that im happy with.

So if you own one/have owned one what do you think of it? also do you know how to tell the originals from the all the fakes that seem to be floating about.

I have one. If you have an original 8800 then the battery life is a lot better, you'll find the OLED screen a lot nice too (the res has been improved). Couple of minor OS tweaks, the biggest for me was a proper email client that can auto check emails. In all honesty it won't feel too different from the original 8800, which is part of the point I guess. More of a finger print magnet though. 4GB of onboard memory is nice, but wasted. You also loose the pointless FM radio. New desktop charger is annoying though, you can't turn the light off!
I love mine, but I've always been a sucker for the 8800 range (8910 onwards).

As for fakes, if its selling SIM free for less then £500-£600 I'd stay away, because then its too cheap. Retailers are not charging stupid money because they want to, it really does cost them that much.
Some things to also bare in mind.

A) Consider the Motorola Aura (if you fancy a change, comes in a lovely box)
B) The most expensive 8800 Arte will be the (tacky) gold/white leather version (should be out any day now)
C) T-mobile & O2 are carrying this handset directly on contract (but you will have to ask for it)
D) Nokia road map pitches the 8800 Arte Carbon to be EOL around October this year (last time I looked). Draw your own conclusions.

I'v had mine since launch and still love it. I need a device that looks nice and handles the basics well, which the 8800 Arte Carbon does, although if I'm honest I prefer the look of the older 8800 Arte.