Nokia's 8800 Arte and Sapphire Arte for the nouveau riche
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Nov 13th 2007 4:47AM
posted Nov 13th 2007 4:47AM
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.
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...
this is THE phone!
Yeah but do they play Doom!.
Nokia has lost the reality completely. U
SD price with taxes for these uglies will be around 2.000$ ;)
There is a market for these, so why blame Nokia for wanting to earn more money?
"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.
39% overall market share, profits up 85%, over 50% market share of smartphones...
You're right, Nokia has lost the plot completely.
"which should help to minimize the "new money" whispers from behind your back."
Best thing i've read this morning..
the prices are enormous.. but they DO look great and stylish
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
But this can send MMS.
iPhone could never be as sexy as these..
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. ;-)
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).
Those ringtones were indeed something else. I was hoping the iPhone would bring something worth replacing them with but I was disappointed.
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 :)
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.
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.
So when does the spambot get banned/deleted ?
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.
This "Arte" can go up som1 else's "Arte"
i came on here jus to say that :)