The Nokia 808 is the ultimate Symbian phone. It has a 41 megapixel
PureView camera and Rich Recording and many other built-in features.
However, in these days of app-centric smartphones, it can seem to some
like a glorified feature phone. When I do need (modern) 'apps' I have a
Blackberry Q5 and it gives me the Android compatibility as well as a
physical keyboard. (My Nokia E6 is collecting dust because I have
decided to go microSIM for everything.)
Recently, there has been a flood of Nokia 808s available for sale.
They are popping up on Amazon and Ebay priced around $200. That price is
for a new, unlocked 808. I decided the price was low enough to buy and
encouraged my friends and family to take advantage of it. Of course,
they asked me: “Why should I buy it? Is the Nokia 808 worth $200?”
Hence this little article!
For some, the camera alone and its accurate imaging, at a price of $5/megapixel, are worth buying. The recently updated maps
with offline support allows it to be a standalone GPS. The support of
exFAT in the removable microSD allows up to 128 Gigabytes of additional
storage now, and more in the future. The FM radio and FM transmitter
allow music to be enjoyed any time and any place. The built-in VOIP
support enables SIP calls even without a SIM. The ability to share the
internet via USB or Bluetooth or Wi-Fi makes it helpful in areas where
there is no public Wi-Fi. Sharing audio and video via DLNA and HDMI and
component connections makes it an extremely versatile media player.
I see the Nokia 808 and its non cloud-centric design as a benefit. I
always take it when I go out on a trip or a vacation and I don’t have to
worry about a flood of gibberish coming in to bother me. The people who
need to reach me can call and text. Everything else can wait - and I
like it that way. If I need to go online then I use my laptop and can
connect with the 808 via USB and do whatever I need to do without
killing my phone battery.
Could the 808 still be my primary phone? It could because it is
almost always with me but then again I carry multiple phones to handle
multiple SIMs and to swap them several times a day. (I wish the 808 had
easily swappable SIMs, like the N9 or the E7.) It is not dual-SIM so it
cannot meet all my needs but at least it has great functionality on
whichever SIM I use, roaming or local.
For most people, I cannot recommend the 808 as their primary
smartphone. It probably won’t meet their needs. Apps, games and the web
are just too ingrained in the smartphone experience. For people who
primarily use their phone as a phone without needing many frills, it
probably is too expensive. For photography aficionados, I think it is
worth it (and I know Steve does) but others might disagree. I am a
photography novice so all I know is that my shots look less terrible
than before.
All the readers here know the strengths and weaknesses of the Symbian
operating system. If they want to get a Nokia 808 at a great price, now
may be the best time. Along with the phone, I’ve found some useful
accessories also starting to become inexpensive while others, like the
Nokia CC-3046 hard case, are impossible to find at any price. I’ll
always appreciate Symbian and the 808 because it does most of the things
I need a phone to do - as well as doing some things that no other phone
can do.