<<<...The two versions of this smartphone give you a couple of options. You can get the one that can store 8 GB of music right out of the box, or you can get one that lets you choose how much storage you get with miniSD cards. There are 8 GB cards available now; and you can easily buy a bigger card later when they are released. The so-so included headphones plug into the 3.5 mm headphone jack. The headphones include a controller that allows you to control features such as play/pause, next/forward track, answer/hang-up calls, and volume. Unfortunately, without that extension, the default headphones are too short to use unless the device stays in a shirt pocket. On the rear of the device is a 2 megapixel camera. I expected a camera that was along the lines of the highly regarded one on the N95, despite the lower megapixels, no auto focus, and no Carl Zeiss lens. What I got was a camera that took noisy pictures. Whether in a well lit area or not, the camera never performed well, even when the LED light was used. For such a device that feels so great in the hand, to take a bad picture is just a big knock. Overall, the multimedia aspect of the N81 8GB was not over and above, but it just kind of fit. The design seems made for this kind of use, and everything from the applications to the buttons just seem to fit in very well together. It's not as slick as the iPhone, but it does work and works well.
Gaming
Nokia's N-Gage platform makes a return with the N81 8GB. There is a demo version of a few games, and a nice introduction to the service. Probably one of the most impressive aspects of N-Gage on this device is the N81 8GB has buttons over the top of the screen just for this purpose. Ordinarily, the buttons are hidden, but they light up when playing any game and then the N81 8GB becomes a solid gaming device. Admittedly, I got very stuck on playing FIFA and Need for Speed more than I did with checking out the rest of the service. The games are well done and as a whole seems to fit the N81 8GB quite well. ... more>>>