Email Server Software

In this small article we will not make side-by-side technical specs comparison. We would rather like to give you opinions from both sides – Microsoft and SAP. Both products target mid-size businesses in the USA, Europe (however Microsoft Great Plains – Dynamics GP will be leaving continental Europe market starting with version 10.0 – somewhere in the year of 2008, where Microsoft Business Solutions will probably stake on Microsoft Dynamics NAV – again this is contingent to the progress with Project Green or now Microsoft Dynamics project). Let’s come to the topic:• Microsoft Dynamics GP strong points. Microsoft, being leader in Operating Systems, Office Products, and also having such platforms as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server – can now capitalize on ERP technology infrastructure, which includes ERP integration: SQL heterogeneous queries, Sharepoint workflows, web portals. At the same time, long time presence on the market for such products as Microsoft Outlook gives Microsoft the option to count on Outlook user experience – Microsoft Dynamics products will not require user training (from the interface intuitiveness standpoint) – Microsoft Dynamics CRM has Outlook Client, Microsoft Dynamics GP will have tighter integration with Outlook in its version 9.0. Making some comments on another Microsoft product – Microsoft Small Business Accounting – it is integrated with MS Outlook, where you can create invoices and promote outlook contacts to your MS SBA customers.• SAP Business One. This product was purchased by SAP from Israel software development company four years ago. The driven reason was probably the need to go down to mid-size and even small clientele, plus SAP needed such product to be easily adaptable to Multilanguage and complex international taxation rules. SAP Business One has CRM, ERP/Production modules and technically can serve as ERP/MRP/CRM for manufacturing or servicing subsidiary of large corporation. SAP Business One has modern architecture and design and this is what could be a strong point in decision making to select ERP platform. SAP Business One has integration to Microsoft Office – it could use email messaging through MS Outlook client / SMTP and in integrate with MS Office on the level of COM objects• Microsoft Dynamics arguments. At the time when Microsoft Dynamics / Project Green are working to enable Microsoft ERP products to work with Microsoft Office technologies SAP is several years behind in this direction. SAP is currently contracting Microsoft to enable SAP mySAP integration with Microsoft Office. Microsoft has this strong argument against SAP Business One – SAP deploys industry Experts who are very strong in general ERP/MRP plus probably Business and Industry Vertical Consulting to implement ERP from midsize business, where technology consulting and expertise come first. The result is longer implementation cycle plus complexity with SAP Business One integration with technology innovative and legacy products• SAP Business One Arguments. Microsoft is trying to trap you to its technical solutions and proprietary technologies. It is enough if we give you excellent ERP platform which has good integration tools to Microsoft Office plus enables some integration with Windows platform itself – you can use VB.Net or C#.Net (our commentary – you can have your SAP Business One to communicate with outside world with such non-Microsoft platforms as IBM Lotus Notes Domino and use Lotus Notes as Document workflow)• Additional Microsoft Arguments. There are analytics out there on the ERP strategic research market who support Microsoft in the opinion that SAP Business One will need technology advances (such as developing its own Office platform or tighter cooperation with Microsoft Office products) to stay current with the ERP market I the year of 2010…• Additional Considerations. Of course SAP has additional bells and whistles, such as language switch – you can switch from German, French or Brazilian Portuguese to US English by pressing Cnrtl key combination. Microsoft Dexterity was designed in earlier 1990th and doesn’t support such a nice functionality and Unicode – the question frequently asked by the prospect from China, India and Arabic World.

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Nokia 5800 Xpress Music has been designed for the music buffs. It is the one of the Nokia’s Xpressmusic edition models and perhaps the most advanced one. It has a very appealing look from the exterior. The full touch screen mobile is a treat for the eyes.The dimensions of the handset are 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm. And it weighs a meagre 109 grams. You can use stylus for the input and the device has tactile feedback. The display is 3.2 inches wide and supports 16 million colours. The resolution it offers is 640 x 360 pixels with the aspect ratio of 16:9 and has 3D image engine. There are dedicated media bar touch keys to access gallery, music, web browser and share online video centre.Now coming to the most important aspect, Music aspect. The handset features Nokia Nseries digital music player. It has 8 band graphical equaliser and bass booster. You can create your own playlists and select songs by artist, album, composer and genre. It supports .mp3, SpMidi, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA music file formats. There is Nokia Music Manager and Nokia Music Store support along with Nokia Podcasting support. You can have crystal clear Hi-fi sound quality with its integrated stereo speakers with surround sound.Nokia 5800 Xpress Music has a powerful 3.2 mega pixel camera. The Carl Zeiss optics and 3 times digital zoom makes it one of the best ones. There are other features like Red eye reduction, White balance mode and auto focus as well. Dual LED flash gives you good quality pictures even in dark. The on device photo editor aloows you to make desired changes in the images that you click. The main camera gives you the resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and records videos at the rate of 30 frames per second. The front camera or the secondary camera can be used for video calling. There is Real player too. It also supports video streaming so that you can stream online videos.The music phone runs on 9.4 version of Symbian operating system. It runs on quad band GSM/EDGE networks of 850/900/1800/1900 frequencies and WCDMA network of 900/2100 frequencies. IMAP, POP and SMTP ARE SUPPORTED email protocols. The internal memory is 81 MB with 16 GB of expandable memory by microSD card. The battery can give you up to 8.8 hours of talk time and 406 hours of stand by time over GSM networks. You can expect 5 hours of talk time with 400 hours of stand by time in WCDMA networks. It offers you 35 hours of music playback time.

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In a typical FTP session, the user is sitting in front of one host (the local host) and wants to transfer files to or from a remote host. In order for the user to access the remote account, the user must provide a user identification and a password. After providing this authorization information, the user can transfer files from the local file system to the remote file system and vice versa. The user interacts with FTP through an FTP user agent. The user first provides the hostname of the remote host, causing the FI’P client process in the local host to establish a TCP connection with the FTP server process in the remote host. The user then provides the user identification and password, which an sent over the TCP connection as part of FTP commands. Once the server has authorized the user, the user copies one or more files stored in the local file system into the remote tile system (or vice versa).

HTTP and FTP are both file transfer protocols and have many common characteristics; for example, they both run on top of TCP. However, the two application-layer protocols have some important differences. The most striking difference is that FTP uses two parallel TCP connections to transfer a file, a control connection and a data connection. The control connection is used for sending control information between the two hosts–information such as user identification, password, commands to change remote directory,-and commands to “put” and “get” files. The data connection is used to actually send a file, Because FTP uses a separate control connection, FTP is said to send its control information out-of-band. We’ll see that the RTSP protocol, which is used for controlling the transfer of continuous media such as audio and video, also sends its control information out-of-band. HTI’P, as you recall, sends request and response header lines into the same TCP connection that carries the transferred file itself. For this reason, HTTP is said to send its control information In-band. In the next section we’ll see that SMTP, the main protocol for electronic mail, also sends control information in-band.

When a user start p )9P session with a remote host, the client side of FTP (user) first initiates a control TCP connection with the server side (remote host) on server port number 21. The client side of F1′P sends the user identification and password over this control connection. The client side of FTP also sends, over the control connection, commands to change the remote directory. When the server side receives a command for a file transfer over the control connection (either to, or from, the remote host), the server side Initiates TCP data connection to the client side? FTP send exactly one file over the data connection and then closes the data connection If, during the same session the user wants to transfer another file FTP open another data connection. Thus, with FTP, the control connection remains open throughout the duration of the user session, but a new data connection is created for each file transferred within a session (that is. the data connections arc non-persistent).

Throughout a session, the FTP server must maintain state about the user In particular, the server must associate the control connection with a specific user account, and the server must keep track of the user’s current directory as the user wanders i put the remote directory tree. Keeping track of this state information for each ongoing user session significantly constrains the total number of sessions that FTP? can maintain simultaneously. Recall that HTTP, on the other hand , is stateless–it does not have to keep track of any user state.

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It has the capabilities to rendezvous distinct kinds of need of distinct classes of users and keeping all the wonderful characteristics that it presents to its client in mind it can be resolved that it is perfect in every aspect.

The classic bar shaped casing is 107.5mm in height, 46.7mm in width & 14.8mm in depth which fits into the user hand perfectly when in use is popular as Nokia 5130 Xpress Music Red. It weighs 88 grams which is lightweight and therefore it becomes easy to carry. It is the gadget that comes with a 2 Inch QVGA screen which has a coloured display & below the screen the user will find the navigation controls, call keys & a numeric keypad. It is a widget that comes with a built in music player which supports a large range of music playback formats including MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, Midi, WMA, WAMR & MXMF formats. Not only this, it comes with easy to access volume keys which allow the user to control their sound in an instant & with easy to reach music keys which allow the user to enjoy the music playback feature.

Nokia 5130 Xpress Music Red comes with Opera mini Web browser allows the user to surf the Web to gain access to information & their favourite websites and comes with an email service complete with attachment facility which supports IMAP, POP, SMTP & OMA EMN emails. It is a mobile phone that comes with a flight mode setting which allows the user to access a selection of features. Moreover, this widget comes with 30 megabytes of internal memory & with a 1 gigabyte memory card including in the start up kit and it comes with a memory card slot which allows the user to expand the handsets memory capabilities & the phone supports up to 2 gigabytes of memory in total via the memory card slot.

It is a gizmo that is integrated with two megapixel camera feature complete with a 4 x digital zoom function and comes with capture modes which allow the user to gain the best quality capture to suit the user’s environment & quality finish. It also consists of a colour balance setting that allows the user to select either a normal, sepia finish, black & white, vivid or negative finish to their picture. Not only this, its white balance mode allows the user to select a setting to suit the user’s desired finish. In this gadget, the user can capture & view pictures in landscape mode. This is a gizmo in which the camera feature also allows the user to capture moving video footage at up to 15 frames per second and the user can enjoy using a selection of the imaging settings when recording video on their mobile phone. It consists of a fully charged battery that will provide the user with up to 1 hour worth of video recording time and 20 Hours Music Playback Time.

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I wanted to get a nokia cellphone for my niece. I looked everywhere and the prices were very high. Then a friend recommended me to sell dot com and I got a great deal on a NOKIA 8800 CARBON ARTE it came UNLOCKED and had 4GB memory built in and 3.2 MP CAMERA. The price was cheaper than all the other sites I went to even cheaper than ebay and the service was GREAT!!! and they offered free shipping via EMS to anywhere in the United States. I recieved my phone very quickly and it was just as described.The transaction was pretty smooth. I just simply contacted the seller asked he or she if they had any more available. The seller responded in less than 24 hours. I paid for the cellphone immediately with paypal and got my tracking number the next day. I recieved the item very quickly and my niece was delighted with the features. It is a great cell phone to have. Check out the specifications the seller had on the item.Specifications DESIGNATION SPECIFICATION Network GSM 850/900 / 1800/1900/mHz SIZE ( L × W × H ) As original size(108*46*16) BATTERY 2 pcs BL-4U COLOR Carbon Arte STANDBY TIME About 180-360 hours TALKING TIME About 3-4Hours Note: Phone with mark label Made in Finland ..assembled in China :THIS PHONE COMES WITH ORIGINAL NOKIA PARTS, AND WAS ASSEMBLED IN CHINA..(…Support before You Buy it: You understand this phone is assembled in Asia Manufacturer)UNLOCKEDHot Selling Features:1: shake to clock2: turn over to make incoming calling mute3: Official IMEI5: Real built-in memory 4GB6:Original package box7: 12 months Quality Warranty8: bluetooth function9: multi-language: French/Germany/Italy/Russian/English/Rom ania/Dutch etc10: made in finland label Size Form: SlideDimensions: 109 x 45.6 x 14.6 mmWeight (with battery): 150 gVolume li>Display and 3DSize: 2.0″Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA)Up to 16 million coloursOLED technologyKeys and input methodNumeric keypadUser configurable right soft keysVoice commandsColours and coversAvailable in-box colours:- Titanium / carbon fibreConnectors Micro-USB connector, USB 1.2PowerBL-4U 1000 mAh Li-Ion standard batteryTalk time (maximum):- GSM 3 h 20 min- WCDMA 2 h 45 minStandby time (maximum):- GSM 300 h- WCDMA 300 hMemory4 GB internal memoryEco DeclarationThis product does not contain:Azo colourants and pigments with carcinogenic amino compoundsAsbestosBenzeneBeryllium OxideCadmiumChromium VI+Chlorofluorocarbons CFCs/HCFCs/Halons as banned in the Montreal ProtocolLeadMercuryPolybrominated Biphenyls (PBB) orPolybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE)Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) orPolychlorinated Terphenyls (PCT)Short Chained Chlorinated ParaffinsEndangered species of flora and faunaConcentrations remain below legal and Nokia Substance List limits.This product meets the Energy Star and EU Code of Conduct requirements.Energy consumption during a call: 820 mWEnergy consumption when idle: 11 mWRecyclingAll mechanical plastic and metal parts have been marked for recycling if practically possible. Plastic parts are marked in accordance with ISO 11469 and ISO 1043-1 to -4 standards.All Magnesium (Mg) containing mechanical parts are marked to ensure efficient End-of-Life treatment.Product has been marked according to WEEE directive requirement for recycling.The battery can easily be removed from the product without tools for recycling.Unplug your charger from the socket when not chargingTips on conserving energy and prolonging the use of your deviceRecycling instructionsFor the nearest collection point for used device and accessories, please see the Recycling Map of Nokia`s over 4500 global collection points on http://www.nokia.com/environment. You can also always mail your used product and we will take care of its recycling.Communication and navigationCommunication and navigationOperating frequencyTri-band GSM 1800/1900, EGSM 900Automatic switching between GSM bandsFlight modeData networkWCDMA 2100, maximum speed PS 128/384 kbps (UL/DL), CS 12.2 kbpsLocal connectivity and synchronisationBluetooth version 2.0 with Enhanced Data RateSupport for PC synchronisation with Nokia PC SuiteCall featuresIntegrated hands-free speakerphoneNumber screening for messaging and callsAutomatic answer with headset or car kitAny key answerCall waiting, call holdLogging of dialed, received and missed callsSpeed dialingVoice dialingVibrating alert (battery)Mute/unmuteContacts with imagesTalking ring tonesConference callingMessagingSMS with support for concatenated SMS for long messagesSMS storageSpeed dialing for SMS sendingList of recently used numbers in message editorMultiple SMS deletionText-to-speech message readerMMS version 1.21.14, message size up to 300 kbAutomatic resizing of images for MMSNokia Xpress audio messagingNumber screening for messagingInstant messaging and Presence-enhanced contactsE-mailSupported protocols: IMAP, POP, SMTPSupport for e-mail attachmentsSupport for e-mail with filteringIMAP IDLE supportWeb browsing Supported markup languages: HTML, XHTML, WMLSupported protocols: HTTP, WAPTCP/IP supportXHTML browser over HTTP/TCP/IP VideoMain cameraVideo recording at 640 x 480, 352 x 288, 176 x 144, and 128 x 96, at 15 frames per second8x digital zoomVideo recording file formats: .3gp; codecs: H.263, H.264Audio recording formats: AMR-NB, AAC/eAAC+ that is stored in .3gp and .mpg file formats.Image stabilisationAutomatic video white balanceScene modes: portrait, landscapeColour tone modes: sepia, greyscale, negativeMaximum 4 hours and 12 minutes of recordingUses the music player for playbackVideo playback file formats: QCIF, H.263Video streaming: QCIF, H.263Landscape mode video playbackVideo ring tones (7 built-in tones)Music and audio playbackDigital music playerMusic playback file formats: .mp3, .wma, .aac, eAAC, eAAC+Stereo audio streaming supports A2DP BT (advanced audio distribution profile for Bluetooth)Ring tones: polyphonic (25 built-in tones)Voice and audio recordingVoice commandsVoice diallingAMR-NB, AAC/eAAC+, stored in .3gp and .mpg file formatsDigital stereo microphoneText-to-speechPersonalisation: profiles, themes, ring tonesCustomisable profilesRing tones: mp3, aac, 64-tone polyphonic (25 built-in tones)Video ring tones (7 built-in tones)Themes:- animated wallpapers- animated colour screensavers- colour schemes- ring tones- icons- pre-installed themes- changeable colour themes- user defined themesExclusive video ring tones composed by Kruder and DorfmeisterAccessories:one charger leather case two battteries English user`s manual earphone USB data cable CD Bluetooth Headset Desk Charger

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Microsoft SharePoint 2007 enables incoming email routing. SharePoint default email service collects messages from specified email addresses and put the information from the messages into a predefined SharePoint list. The service is often used for organizing some help desk or customer support services, where processing incoming mail usually serves as the first step in the workflow scheme.

However, the default SharePoint service has some shortcomings that restrict its usefulness, and applicability. First, it allows collecting email messages from SMTP servers only. Second, it does not allow for collecting emails from more than one mail server or domain. Third, the service supports only default SharePoint list types and cannot put email information to a list of a custom type. Finally, the deployment and setting up procedures are not that quick and simple.

Virtosoftware offers an alternative solution that on the one hand is much simpler in deployment and usage and on the other hand provides SharePoint users with additional features. In addition to all the features available when using the default email service Virto Incoming SharePoint Email Service allows for collecting mail from POP3 servers, collecting mail from multiple email servers and domains and enables gathering information from emails in SharePoint lists of any type including custom ones.

Key Features

Visit http://www.virtosoftware.com/incoming-email-pop3-for-sharepoint.aspx for more information about Virto Incoming Email Service, Microsoft SharePoint web parts by Virtosoftware, trials and demo versions as well as installation and user guides.

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A Web server is an application that uses the client, server model and the World Wide Web’s ( HTTP ), to serve the files that form web pages to the web users. There are some web servers which are used in the web hosting industry, however, from all of those web servers, commonly used are :

1. Linux (Apache).

2. Windows (Internet Information System) .

The user requests a page by typing a URL i.e. a domain in a browser, and the web server receives the request. The web server looks at the file extension to determine whether a web application server must process the page. Then, one of the following actions occur:

1. If the user requests a file that is a simple web page (often one with an  HTML extension), the web server fulfills the request and sends the file to the browser. The file is fetched from the hosting package which can anything from a shared hosting package to a dedicated server hosting. The hosting package actually depends on the website and many other factors.

2. If the user requests a file that is a page that a web application server must process (one with a CFM, CFML, or CFC extension for Cold Fusion requests), the web server passes the request to the web application server which again can be a simple hosting package or a dedicated server hosting.  The web application server processes the page ( the requested one ) and sends the results to the web server, which returns those results to the browser.  The following figure shows the entire process:

Because web application shared hosting packages or dedicated servers interpret programming instructions and generate output that a web browser can interpret, they let web developers build highly interactive and data-rich websites, which can do tasks such as the following:

* Query other database applications for data. * Dynamically populate form elements. * Dynamically generate Flash application data. * Provide application security. * Integrate with other systems using standard protocols such as HTTP, FTP,  POP,  and SMTP. * Create shopping carts and e-commerce websites. * Respond with an e-mail message immediately after a user submits a form. * Return the results of keyword searches.

TCP port 80 is always used to http:// request.

This entire process is followed no matter the site is hosted on a shared hosting package which are also hosted on dedicated servers or the client actually has a dedicated web hosting. Though, the process may vary depending on the hosting package or the dedicated server hosting the client has, however, the basic concept is the same in order to make sure that the website resolves perfectly and the requested page is sent to the browser of the requester.

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70-227 is the examination code for Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2003, Enterprise Edition. This examination is held in English language; first obtainable in February 27, 2001. For this exam, the expertise used is Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server. This exam embattled on IT experts who use Microsoft Windows 2000 Server as their operating system. Before a candidate is entitled for the exam, he/she must obtain the essential knowledge of DNS, IMAP, HTTP, RDP, HTTPS, POP3, FTP, SMTP, and SSL. Apart from that, the applicant must contain at least one year of knowledge in network operating system. For examination 70-227, these are the objectives set; – Installing ISA Server- Configuring and Troubleshooting ISA Server Services- Configuring, Managing, and Troubleshooting Policies and Rules- Deploying, Configuring, and Troubleshooting the Client Computer- Monitoring, Managing, and Analyzing ISA Server UseHow to get manually well-prepared for Exam 70-227? Top significant fixation before taking an exam is to do a lot of practices. Throughout the exam, it will be easier for you to tackle the answers as some of the question may be frequent in the exam. Sometimes, when you are uncertain of a question, sketch the scenario on a piece of paper to appreciate clearly what the question has asked for. You need to completely appreciate a network’s operating system before you are qualified for the exam. Knowledge is the best way to develop your IT skills. This is since there will be plenty of state of affairs type of questions asked in the test. For example, when you are trapped in the mid of installing or configuring ISA, you can always get facilitated from other seniors and learn from them. You will have to recognizable with ISA features before taking the exam. This is because the exam will assess your sympathetic mainly on ISA features. You can learn to group an ISA mechanism for your own revision as well. With these guidelines, you will absolutely be more confident in taking examination 70-227.

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Implementing Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004, also known as examination 70-350 is announced on May 19, 2005. This examination is held in five diverse languages – English, French, German, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified). The technology used is Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server for IT professionals. Not everybody is entitled for this exam. Candidates who wish to sit for this examination must have at least one year of knowledge in implementing and managing medium to large networks. They must have the basic knowledge of DNS, Active Directory, WINS, DHCP, RADIUS, Certificate Services, Routing and Remote Access, HTTPS, HTTP, FTP, IMAP, TCP/IP, RDP, POP3, SSL and SMTP in both Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Operating arrangement. Same as other exams, you complete the requirement for Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) certification once you passed this examination. It also serves as the not obligatory credit toward Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA)= Security on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)= Security on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server certifications. The objectives set for examination 70-350 are; 1- Planning and Installing ISA Server 20042- Installing and Configuring Client Computers3- Configuring and Managing ISA Server 20044- Configuring Web Caching5- Configuring Firewall Policy6- Configuring and Managing Remote Network Connectivity7- Monitoring and Reporting ISA Server 2004 ActivityWhy is this certification so significant? With this certification, you will be capable to expand your IT skills. Besides that, your capability will be recognized internationally. This certification also facilitates you to get promoted easily or being offered with a higher pay. It is not that difficult to pass this Exam 70-350. All you require is a full set of study kit and your effort in education progressively.

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Perhaps more than any other cell phone manufacturer, Nokia has been pushing the envelope in form factor with innovative designs, such as those of the Nokia N90 and the Nokia 7280. However, image and fashion don’t count for much when they negatively impact the function of the phone, which is the case with the company’s latest model, the Nokia 8800. Although this slider phone is sleek and sexy on the outside, it suffers from a cramped keypad that’s difficult to navigate even for the smallest hands. In addition, a disappointingly uneven battery life had us frequently running for the nearest outlet after any lengthy conversation. However, the Nokia 8800 does have its high points: a sharp 262,000-color screen; Bluetooth; a speakerphone; and an SVGA camera. But at around $900 for an unlocked version, you’ll pay a premium for these features; we suspect the price will come down once a carrier picks up the phone. For our money, we’d rather go with the Motorola Razr V3 and have a phone that not only looks good but also works well.There’s no doubt the Nokia 8800 makes a striking first impression, with its eye-catching silver chassis and complementary black and carbon gray accents. It’s also thin and compact at 4.2 by 1.7 by 0.6 inches, which is enough to slip into a pocket, but its stainless-steel body puts it on the heavier side at 4.8 ounces. With its sleek look, we wouldn’t be surprised to find the 8800 making cameos in TV’s Alias or a James Bond movie (it actually appears in Michael Bay’s The Island); in fact, if it weren’t for the Nokia branding above the screen, one couldn’t be sure it was a phone at all, since there isn’t a visible keypad or typical phone features. The 1.7-inch-diagonal display is bright and gorgeous, displaying 262,000 vibrant colors and a 208×208-pixel resolution. We had an easier time reading the 8800’s display in sunlight compared with other phones we’ve tested, but it tends to hold a lot of smudges and fingerprints, as does the phone as a whole.

Unfortunately, this stealth slider phone loses a lot of its allure and appeal once you open the phone. To reveal the keypad, you use the middle notch to push the screen upward; the sliding mechanism is smooth and snaps into place with a satisfying click. The keypad keeps the same attractive black and silver color scheme, but it’s much too cramped and cryptic. There’s a four-way navigation toggle with a center OK button below the screen, but the whole layout is so squished that we had to play close attention and meticulously press each directional key. Still, more often than not, we’d end up hitting the wrong button. For example, we frequently hit the 2 button when we were actually just trying to scroll down the menu. Flanking the control pad are the Talk and End buttons, but it’s not marked as such, and the two soft keys are actually two slivers located on the outer case. We were able to figure out the latter through just playing with the phone and referencing the user guide, but our first inclination was to hit the Talk and End buttons to access those functions; we often hit the End button and exited the menu completely when we meant to hit the right soft key just to back out of one submenu. The layout of the numerical buttons is marginally better, but the bottom row of keys is problematic, since they so closely border the outer case. Users with larger digits should definitely take the 8800 for a test-drive before purchasing it.

As far as the Nokia 8800’s other controls and design features, there aren’t too many to note. The camera lens is located at the top rear and is visible and active only when the phone is open. There’s no flash or mirror for self-portraits, and a dedicated camera key is sorely missing. We had to dig through several menu layers (Menu, Media, and Camera) just to activate the camera. You can, however, customize the right soft key to be a shortcut to the camera or one of 26 other functions. There’s a lone power button on the top of the handset, as well as two release buttons on the right and left spines to access the battery and SIM card slot, but good luck prying the cover off. The buttons are incredibly difficult to press, especially while trying to wrangle off the slippery cover. We also would have liked to see dedicated volume buttons. On the upside, the Nokia 8800 comes packaged with a healthy set of accessories, including a wired headset, a desk stand/charger, a suede carry pouch, and a travel charger. Other enhancements are available for purchase, such as Bluetooth car kits for hands-free cell phone use.

Although we aren’t thrilled with its design, the Nokia 8800 offers a good helping of features. The phone-book size is limited by the available memory (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts), with room in each entry for five numbers; e-mail, Web, and postal addresses; and notes. For caller-ID purposes, you can pair a contact with an image, a group ID, or one of 64 polyphonic ring tones; the phone also supports AAC and MP3 ring tones. For messaging fanatics, you can send text and multimedia messages, as well as instant messages and e-mail (SMTP, POP3, and IMAP4). The 8800 has the usual PIM functions, such as a calendar, a to-do list, a calculator, a countdown timer, and a stopwatch. The company also throws in a couple of extras: a translator, as well as the Mobile Wallet 2.0 application, which lets you store personal information–such as credit card numbers, receipts, and more–and can be password protected. Business users will be pleased to see the inclusion of integrated Bluetooth, a speakerphone, voice-memo support, and PC syncing with the Nokia PC Suite. There is also a WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser with support for EDGE speeds.

The Nokia 8800’s SVGA (0.5 megapixel) camera is disappointing for such a high-end phone, but it takes pictures in two image sizes (800×600 and 120×144) and three quality settings (High, Normal, and Basic). There is a 10-second self-timer, zoom, and a night mode available, but as far as customization options, the only choice you get is turning the camera sound on or off–no fun frames, color tones, and so forth. Once you snap your photos, you can save them to the phone’s 64MB of internal memory, send them to others via multimedia message or Bluetooth, set an image as wallpaper or a screensaver, or upload them to your computer. Photo quality was decent, but nighttime shots were subpar even with the night mode on. You can also use the Nokia 8800’s camera to shoot 30-second video clips with sound or up to 74 minutes if you set the video-clip length to maximum. There’s a convenient countdown timer at the top of the screen, and you also get the same options for image size and quality settings as you do in still camera mode, as well as a mute option. While the quality of photos was passable, videos were blurry and pixelated. The nokia 8800 carbon features a sophisticated media player that can play AAC and MP3 file formats, as well as streaming video, but perhaps most impressive is the fact that it’s one of the first mobiles to support the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile Bluetooth specification, so you can stream music to a Bluetooth headset or a Bluetooth headphone. To top it all off, the 8800 also features an FM tuner, which does require you to use the included wired headset, since it acts as an antenna and allows you to store up to 20 station presets. We plugged it in and tuned in to our favorite radio station but didn’t quite get the full effect with only one earbud.

You can customize your phone with a variety of wallpaper, screensavers, and themes, and more options are available for download from the Web. The Nokia 8800 also comes with ring tones by Sony Classical artist Ryuichi Sakamoto that sound rather eerie, in our opinion. For more entertainment, you get three games–Chess, Street Race, and Golf Tour–which are enhanced by the phone’s advanced 3D graphics and excellent screen, but some of that fun is taken away by, again, the cramped controls. We tested the triband (GSM 800/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) Nokia 8800 world phone in the San Francisco area, and call quality was excellent. On our end, conversations sounded loud and clear, and our callers said the same on their end. Using the speakerphone diminished the sound quality only slightly. With the Nokia 8800’s good call quality, it’s too bad the battery life was so uneven. After any phone conversation of some substance, the battery life dropped by a couple of bars, forcing us to run to the nearest outlet. Under formal testing, however, the phone fared reasonably better. We managed 4 hours, surpassing the rated talk time of 3 hours. In standby testing, the phone lasted seven days compared with the promised time of eight days. According to FCC radiation tests, the 8800 has a digital SAR rating of 0.46 watts per kilogram.

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