Mobile Phone Review

The Nokia 8800 Sirocco is quite an elegant phone.. but clearly not snazzy enough for some, so Nokia have come up with the Nokia 8800 Sirocco Gold.

Underneath the 18 carat gold plating is a practical handset with a 208x208 pixel display, 2 megapixel camera, 128Mb of memory, Bluetooth, an MP3 and FM radio. The screen is scratch-resistant and the sliding function on all 8800 handsets feels reassuringly precise.

Now, taste is a pretty subjective thing and the Nokia 8800 Sirocco Gold is likely to appeal to people who like its "bling factor" and are prepared to pay out a fairly hefty €1000 / £625 before tax and any subsidy. There’s a matching desk stand and Bluetooth headset too.

It’s a fairly heavy handset at 139 grams, measuring 107 x 46 x 17mm. The Nokia 8800 Sirocco Gold is quoted as have 2 hours 45 minutes talktime and up to 10 days standby time.

If you like this sort of thing, then the Nokia 8800 Sirocco Gold is likely to remain an exclusive handset with a host of useful features. If you don’t like this sort of thing.. and to be honest, it’s not our cup of tea, and there are plenty of other Nokias with much better features for a lot less than €1000. However, the 8800 Sirocco Gold certainly looks nicer than the rival  Motorola RAZR V3i Gold which is still on sale.

Nokia say that the 8800 Sirocco Gold is availabe now in certain markets.