Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte Comments

who will actually buy this??? its like the vertu i have never seen anyone with one of them before

This is a S6600 slider with a frock on. My wife changed her mobile the other day and got a S6600 for 1 Euro. If only I'd read this review first, I could have spent loads of Euros more on one of these!! Ah well.

Now I *know*, from past correspondence, it's an iffy subject around these parts, but forgive me: how does this phone get 5/10 for value? Please, just talk me through it... How?

I often find your phone reviews quite bizarre but to give this phone a value of 5/10 is comical! Come on, just hit it with a 1 or 2!

Having worked for one of the big mobile phone companies (in I.T. support, not in the stores), the take-up on the Nokia 8xxx series isn't as low as you think, but the people end up paying about £250 plus a £35p/m 18 month contract which in itself is a lot of money for such a basic phone.

@Zero

I've never met anyone with a Vertu either, but I did see someone buying one in Selfridges once. Looked about 16. I suspect we don't move in the same circles as people with these handsets!

For that kind of money I expect to be able to shave with it too - especially since it looks like my dad's old Braun.

I really think manufacturers have missed a trick here.

"So without any obvious alternatives offering the same build quality for less money it's hard to be too critical in terms of value"

Haha, Ed...I have to say it, but that's a *really* weak argument!

You know this phone should have got a 2 or 3 out of 10 for value, in the current financial situation the 5/10 mark just seems even more silly (Sorry Sandra, your reviews are great!)...£1,100 for a basic steel & carbon Nokia (carbon fibre is not *that* expensive to produce any more) - King George might be interested.

:)

Sandra, I think you missed the point here. The 8800 Carbon Arte is not about the biggest feature list, and it's not even about 'value for money' in the traditional sense. It's aimed at people for whom status is more important than features or price; the kind of person who has a Mont Blanc briefcase, a Breitling watch and who drives a BMW 335i Convertible. In other words, somebody who earns considerably more than the average, but not yet a millionaire (then they'll want a Vertu).

I found it interesting to note that several reviewers have referred to this phone as a 'midrange' model - midrange as in somewhere between consumer handsets (everything from the Nokia 1650 to the N97) and the Vertu handsets costing many thousands.

That's the target market, and when you realise that it starts to make a lot more sense.

I know I shouldn't take the bait, but I will... It's just that this really bugs me. 'Ed', your defence of the value for money rating is nonsense! Maybe we should call this site "AveragedReviews" instead? With only a slight change to your argument you could show that *everything* should be receive a 5/10 rating for value.

I sympathise, as such a rating will always be somewhat subjective, but in that case one should just bite the bullet and be that: subjective. Yes, qualify it ("I'd give it 1/10 for value, but those with vast amounts of money might give it 5/10" - although that seems pretty self-evident) but tell us what you think, not some artificial, meaningless (to both ends of the spectrum) arithmetic mean. Please.