Overview
Many may think that the 8855 is Nokia’s major upgrade to the very successful 8850. For others, it’s nothing more than just a much-needed cosmetic improvement. In my opinion, the Nokia 8855 is something in between - encompassing a new genre through its new “black casing” design and minor improvements in the phone’s software (or features).
The first thing that caught my (or anyone’s) attention straight after opening the sales package was the phone itself. What was different about the 8855 compared to its predecessors was its clean, black matte case which had virtually no lines disrupting its natural curves. This is more obvious when looking at the back of the phone.
Although the phone’s back is slightly more rounded probably because of design, there is another reason for this. The 8855 has the ability to accommodate both the standard and a new slightly, larger-sized (thicker) extended lithium-ion battery allowing for both longer talking and standby times. For those people who have a habit of slipping their spare SIM card between their 8850’s battery and back cover, you won’t be able to anymore if you use the thicker battery on the 8855! :)
One of the downsides of the 8855’s casing is that it has a less resistance to scratching than that of the silver casing found on the 8850. One reason may be that, when scratched, the black case contrasts the damaged sections more greatly than that of the silvery surface found on the 8850. At the end of the day, one needs to take greater care when handling their 8855 handset.
"A larger-sized
battery allowing for both longer talking and standby times"
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Using the phone and its functions wasn’t very much different compared to the 8850. While the 8855 uses a similar white backlight, the illumination on the keypad has been improved significantly thanks partly to the black casing and transparent silhouettes on the keypad (where some were previously coloured on the 8850). Some keys, such as the top two function keys, are slightly harder to press due to the keypad’s new design.
Some of the new features of this phone include the addition of a WAP browser, screen saver function, keyguard lock feature, ringtone composer, rhythmic backlight and vibrate feature, “vibrate then ring” feature, concatenated SMS messaging plus chat feature, Chinese lunar date feature, and a new set of games as well. Although these features are very much welcomed, they have caused the phone to react slightly slower to a user’s input. This situation becomes especially evident when a user uses the WAP browser or plays a game such as Bumper.
Battery times were pretty average. Although the 8855 wasn’t able to provide the battery-saving benefits available on both the 8310 and 6510, the extended (or thicker) battery was able to provide some additional usage time in both talk and standby times compared to the standard lithium-ion battery.
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Overview (Page 1)
