The Nokia N80

The N80 is one of a series of slider phones from Nokia that incorporates the Symbian operating system and provides a host of PDA-style functions in a device with a phone-like form factor. The N80 is not presently offered by any of the Canada providers, but it can, like any GSM phone that supports the frequencies using in North America (850 and 1900 MHz), be bought through a retailer and used on any of the GSM providers in North America.



The N80 also includes 802.11g WiFi, which allows you to hook up to standard WiFi networks and hotspots to avoid using GSM-based data connections. For some reason however, the N80 seems incapable of authenticating on a the WPA/WPA2 encrypted connection (with or without TKIP), which covers most of the standard security setting for home wireless routers. Both Howard Chu & I went through the various settings in a vain attempt to get it to work, but each time we tried we were told that the phone had been unable to authenticate. It does however work well with an open (unencrypted) WiFi network.



The Symbian Operating System: I’ve never had a problem with Symbian operating system, but its implementation in the N80 is very slow. You’d be surprised how long it takes to do just about anything, and to make matter worse there appears to be no key buffering. If you press a key too quickly, you’ll have to press it again once the operation you started with the previous key has completed.
There were all sorts of annoyances that one wouldn’t expect to find on a cell phone. For example, when a new voicemail message, MMS message, or text message arrives, you can’t actually make a call until you get rid of the warnings from the screen.



Perhaps the biggest annoyance isn’t the fault of the Symbian operating system, but the physical lack of separate volume keys. As on a number of other Nokia models, volume is adjusted using the left and right cursor keys, which is fine under most circumstances. However, if you press any numeric keys during your call (such as when access your voicemail) you cannot adjust the volume until you have cleared all of they keystrokes from the display. If you’ve already pressed left or right before realizing you need to clear the display first, you must ALSO move the cursor back to the beginning of the line before it is even possible to clear ALL of the characters. What idiot thought up this idea? Why doesn’t the phone have separate volume keys?
The N80 includes a MiniSD card slot, which unlike other Nokia models is actually accessible WITHOUT having to remove the battery door. Currently MiniSD cards are available in sizes up to 2 GB, which gives you plenty of storage space for the relatively large photographs the camera takes (up to 1 MB per image) and for lots of MP3 files.



I really ended up with mixed feelings about this phone. It has excellent RF performance and audio, as well as some exceptional features, including a terrific camera. However, it is a slug when it comes to normal phone operation and it has annoyances galore that make the day-to-day use of the phone a royal pain-in-the-ass. I also found the earpiece to be uncomfortable after prolonged use, and getting the best volume from it requires finding a rather small sweet spot.