Nokia's 8800 Arte and Sapphire Arte for the nouveau riche

Are you a "style-conscious consumer?" Yeah, then the 3G Nokia 8800 Arte and Sapphire Arte are for you toots. Just as long as you've got a €1,000 pre-tax bounty saved up for the Arte or €1,150 for the Sapphire Arte when they ship in Q4 2007 and Q1 2008, respectively. For that you get a 2.0-inch QVGA OLED display, 3.2 megapixel camera, 1GB of built-in memory, an anti-fingerprint coating on the metal and glass, and a leather pouch with linen-lining to keep things tidy. A turn-to-mute feature allows owners to quiet their phone by simply turning it over -- the phone equivalent of a huffy, raised-palm pirouette. It also ships with a Nokia BH-803 noise-cancelling Bluetooth headset which should help to minimize the "new money" whispers from behind your back.

Gallery: Nokia's 8800 Arte and Sapphire Arte for the nouveau riche

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[Hasnain @ Feb 1st 2008 5:22PM]

The anti-finger print coating is a load of sham. The slide is very slippy unlike the first 8800 . The screen is very dim. Over-all the phone is heavy and you need to carry a box of wipes to keep it clean. Even 8800 Saphire with constant use will have the leather peeling off...

[andrea @ Nov 13th 2007 5:31AM]

this is THE phone!

[emailtabs @ Nov 13th 2007 5:33AM]

Yeah but do they play Doom!.

[BFish @ Nov 13th 2007 5:36AM]

Nokia has lost the reality completely. U
SD price with taxes for these uglies will be around 2.000$ ;)

[Jon @ Nov 13th 2007 5:39AM]

There is a market for these, so why blame Nokia for wanting to earn more money?

[Cesar Cardoso @ Nov 13th 2007 5:53AM]

"Nokia has lost the reality completely."

Because you, and I, and probably any Engadget commenter, aren't the market for these babies. Unless, of course, you earn a lot of grands a month, in this case Nokia will be sad that you thought they "lost the reality".

Yes, rich's realities are different than normal people's.

[Rich @ Nov 13th 2007 7:48AM]

39% overall market share, profits up 85%, over 50% market share of smartphones...

You're right, Nokia has lost the plot completely.

[Compton77 @ Nov 13th 2007 6:13AM]

"which should help to minimize the "new money" whispers from behind your back."

Best thing i've read this morning..

[Vylune @ Nov 13th 2007 7:07AM]

the prices are enormous.. but they DO look great and stylish

[taoprophet420 @ Nov 13th 2007 7:15AM]

Well for that price i can buy 5 or 6 iphones. I guessif u have the money you can spen it on a $2000 phone that u couls spend $300 to $500 on and get the same function

[Jon @ Nov 13th 2007 7:26AM]

But this can send MMS.

[holycow @ Nov 13th 2007 12:01PM]

iPhone could never be as sexy as these..

[Didou @ Nov 13th 2007 8:47AM]

Any new ringtones this time around ? The first 8800 had ringtones made by Sakamoto, maybe this time it's John Lennon himself who did them. ;-)

[Anthony @ Nov 13th 2007 11:04AM]

I love those Sakamoto ringtones. I have carried them on every phone I've had from the N73 & N95 to my K850 (which is so good I doubt I'll go back to Nokia any time soon- even the N82 looks crummy in comparison).

[Didou @ Nov 13th 2007 11:33AM]

Those ringtones were indeed something else. I was hoping the iPhone would bring something worth replacing them with but I was disappointed.

[Esther @ Nov 13th 2007 8:50AM]

They are beautiful and appear well-made. But can anything without a touchscreen really compete? Most of the people I know who have high end phone lust are going for a smartphone or an iPhone.

This could just be my natural anti-Nokia bias, tho :)

[blarvh @ Nov 13th 2007 9:09AM]

I bet 90% are gonna be sold in Russia to the stupid nouveau riche...

And I don't think they are interested in the specs or whether it has a touch screen or not.

[Rk @ Nov 13th 2007 2:07PM]

Lol @ previous comment.... what do you mean it wasn't meant to be a joke? Anyway - there is a huge market for these... yes Russians and Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterns love them (in my experience of selling these) and have they done anything to rectify the 8800s 5minute-long battery life? And I don't mean bundling a THIRD battery with it.

[Didou @ Nov 13th 2007 11:34AM]

So when does the spambot get banned/deleted ?

[jdang @ Nov 13th 2007 2:00PM]

Ehh, I had the original 8801/8800 ($1,000 US), thing was buggy as heck. Now I have the 8600 Luna (about $800) and it fine so far, but battery life sucks. I don't use my phone for anything but calling and txt messaging, no other features I use at all. And for me, form over function. Buddy owns a huge cell phone shop in my city, I get my phones free (he buys up Vertu's like they're going out of style)

These look nice though.

[Jack @ Nov 13th 2007 3:11PM]

This "Arte" can go up som1 else's "Arte"

i came on here jus to say that :)