Review of Nokia 8600 Luna

The Nokia 8600 Luna. From the name, you could probably tell, there is something special about this new creation from Nokia. It is dark and mysterious, and brims of quality as well. With materials used such as opaque smoke glass and stanless steel, it sounds like parts that is more suited for a racy car rather than a phone.

Well, at least the price tag of around USD$750 at launch sounds equally sophisticated. Think of it as a premium item, a designer collection, like Lexus is to Toyota and aimed squarely at consumers with deep pockets. At140g, it is elegantly light. With the smoked glass, it sure exhibits a certain touch of class. Glass? Yep, and how durable to drops and shocks, we don't know as yet.

I think Nokia has really gone to make sure the finest details are not overlooked in the presentation of this phone. Hold the phone in your hand, and soon you will realize that keypad is special. It has a pulsating light that mimicks your heartbeat. Some people say this thing seems "alive".

Well, that is a good attraction to get enough attention to this phone. What about the real deal? In effect, this is a light weight slider phone. No flimsy sliders here. Firm and positive sliding action, which is good news. Maybe this phone is designed with female consumers in mind, as the keypad might be a struggle for males, especially if you got big fingers. This can be good or bad news. Maybe, you can say Nokia is very focused in their marketing with this phone. Very targeted, very specialized.

Think of it as a designer item, you get class, elegance, quality, but the bare essentials with few bells and whistles. This is no N95. If you are looking for a powerhouse of a phone in a small package, you are looking at the wrong phone. The N95 in the Nokia range might suit you better if that is what you want. Just look at the specs.

I mean a 2-inch screen isn't exactly amazing, along with a measely 128MB of internal memory with no expansion card slot, you are having a very streamlined phone. No expansion capabilty whatsoever. I think this is a limitation, as there is just so much data you can store on the phone before you are forced to delete files when memory runs out, which happens quickly.

Sure, you have the usual PIM features, web browser and email functions, but nothing new and innovative to win any awards. The 2MP camera included is nothing to shout about, with no auto focus and flash. Taking pictures less of the perfect lighting conditions will mean blurred images and frustration. The problem of not having an integrated internal antenna means that to listen to FM radio, you still need to plug in a headset or earphones. With just over 3 hrs of talk time, and limited potential in its feature set, it just falls short of being the phone to have, apart from the chic factor.