News

In a world of cellphones marketed to 12-year-old girls, the Nokia 8801 is the kind of phone you can picture in the well-manicured hands of Catherine Deneuve.

The phone, marketed as a "premium" design, is a sleek, luxe phone made of high-polish, stainless steel in a slower manufacturing process than all that plastic.

Adding to the serious nature of the 8801 is the authoritative way it slides open with a sexy snap.

The weight of the thing is anything but rinky-dink too. Heavier than you'll expect. "I've never added weight to a phone before," says Nokia designer Frank Nuovo, who designed the Vertu phone, the $20,000 phone that comes with its own concierge.

With the relatively less expensive 8801, Nuovo says he's looking to reframe the mobile phone from a disposable consumer object into a long-lasting, even classic, one. "We were conscious that what makes something beautiful doesn't necessarily come and go," he says. For at least $550 with a service plan, it should. "This is long-term thinking. We're trying to slow down the clock and seek simplicity."

Of course technology will make this phone obsolete before too long, but they've sure loaded up a lot on it. There's a camera from which you can e-mail pics and video clips instantly. While there is an MP3 player available, the nifty FM radio is the clearest we've heard in a long time. The phone can also function as a digital recorder. And it has its own ring tones and alerts, all created by award-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Sure, as one fellow who test-drove the phone put it, this could be the most money you mindlessly blew on a piece of stainless steel since you bought that DeLorean. But it sure feels nice.

http://www.nokia.ca and http://www.fido.ca.

--