Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte

Ask not what your phone can do for you. It's Nokia Arte, folks, so the question is who you need to kill to have it. Exquisite materials, sophisticated slider design and state-of-the-art finish are doing their best to camouflage the fact that there isn't much your phone can actually do for you. In geeky terms, that is. But hey, we never held that against the Arte series. That Arte tag is just a sin tax and there's obviously people out there that can live with it. Cast in the same mold as its forerunners, Nokia Carbon Arte is topping the familiar OLED screen, 3G and 3 megapixel camera with carbon fiber and titanium and 4GB of inbuilt memory. Sounds like we've been already but a glimpse of Arte is always a treat.




Key features
Yells expensive (and it does cost an arm and a leg)
Body made of the highest quality materials
2-inch 16M-color OLED display of QVGA resolution
3G support
3 megapixel camera with autofocus
Full-house retail package
Decent battery life
Fingerprint resistant surface on the back
Turn-to-mute
Tap-for-time
4GB internal memory
Series 40 5th edition user interface

Main disadvantages
Smallish display with poor sunlight legibility
Tri-band only
No memory expansion
Costs an arm and a leg
Below-par camera performance
No video calls
Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is the third Nokia handset that comes to fill the gaping chasm between regular fashion phones (LG Black Label series, Samsung co-branded offerings) and out-of-this-world-expensive handsets (read: Vertu and the likes). Dressed to kill and priced to draw blood, Arte is so impressive it's intimidating. Thank goodness it's underpowered enough for many people to use as an excuse. Saves face, doesn't it?
Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte views
With respect to pricing, Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is practically comparable to its closest kin only - the Nokia 8800 Arte and the 8800 Sapphire Arte. Those have already been around enough for a hefty portion of that limited market to have sealed a deal but someone out there might just be going: "Carbon fiber and titanium? Now, we're talking."
Nokia 8800 Arte • Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte
The concept of upgrading must not be completely alien to even this utterly ungeeky super pricey segment. After all, previous 8800 owners are little likely to suddenly convert to Symbian or Eseries. That's where Carbon Arte comes in, so all of them Luna and Sirocco users don't feel deprived. Forgive that unfortunate choice of words.
Anyway, whether it's hammer-over-piggy-bank or conceited rejection, the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is back after the break. Hit the jump for a sneak-peek of the treasure chest.