N81 8GB

Overview

The 2007 N81 8GB replaces the ordinary model’s card slot with separate 8 GB mass storage. S60, a sliding keypad, optional Navi touch-ring scrolling and dedicated music and gaming controls define its entertainment design.

Period and variants

Nokia announces the N81 and N81 8GB on 29 August 2007 and states that both are globally available on 22 October. These manufacturer announcements are separate from an unconfirmed first retail transaction. Symbian 9.2 with S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 combines a sliding numeric keypad, music controls, two upper gaming keys and stereo side speakers. The mechanical Navi key can optionally enable touch-ring scrolling in music, Gallery and the multimedia menu; the display is not a touchscreen.

This variant uses separate 8 GB nominal mass storage and omits the ordinary model’s microSD slot. Mobile-review’s sample has about 7672 MB usable on E and roughly 25 MB free on C. Its reported 128 MB NAND for OS/data, 96 MB SDRAM and around 42 MB free RAM at startup are different measures. This is not an ordinary N81 supplied with a larger card.

The international RM-223/RM-179 guides list quad-band GSM and UMTS 2100 MHz; contemporary tests find no HSDPA. The Chinese RM-256 guide lists GSM, so international cellular and WLAN features should not be assigned to every regional handset. Top 3.5 mm audio, bottom Micro-USB data and a separate charging socket are distinct. FM uses a wired headset antenna; Maps requires a compatible external Bluetooth GPS receiver for positioning.

GSMArena and WIRED report a fixed-focus 2 MP camera, while PhoneArena and some Chinese-guide wording mention autofocus. The reason remains unconfirmed. The original guide specifies High video as QVGA MP4 and MMS Sharing as QCIF 3GP; reviews report up to 15 fps. Early VGA claims are excluded. ARM11 clocks of 369 and 332 MHz conflict between reviews; the BP-6MT capacity agrees at 1050 mAh, but lithium-ion versus lithium-polymer wording differs.

The 2007 shipping material describes N-Gage preview demos. Nokia announces the full global service on 7 April 2008 with both variants supported. Historical applications and shops do not promise working present-day servers or bundled free full versions of every game.

One photo retains the source’s Italian Maps interface. Another source uses a generic N81 filename, but the actual photographed bezel is marked N81 8GB. Neither screen establishes built-in GPS, global release dates or original software.

Sources

• Nokia — N81 and N81 8GB announcement, 29 August 2007
• Nokia — both N81 variants now shipping, 22 October 2007
• Nokia — original RM-223 N81 guide, FCC pre-release Part 1
• Nokia — N81-1 8GB RM-179 user guide, Issue 1 EN
• Nokia — Chinese RM-256 N81 user guide, 9204059
• Nokia — N81-1 Get Started, 9202036 Issue 1 EN
• GSMArena — original N81 8GB introduction, 1 November 2007
• GSMArena — original N81 8GB hardware
• GSMArena — original display, S60 and Navi wheel
• GSMArena — original camera and connectivity tests
• Mobile-review — Eldar Murtazin’s original N81 review
• PhoneArena — original N81 8GB review
• WIRED — Joe Brown’s own N81 8GB review, 15 February 2008
• Nokia — N-Gage global service announcement, 7 April 2008

Image credits

Nokia N81 8GB with the source’s Italian Maps screen; this does not establish built-in GPS — Federico Trobbiani, Public domain; source file unchanged by this archive.

Nokia N81 8GB lying sideways; the generic source filename is checked against its visible 8GB marking — Mark Guim, CC BY 2.0; source file unchanged by this archive.

Optimized display images on this page have been proportionally resized (maximum dimension 1600 px) and compressed to WebP, without cropping or retouching. Statements above about unchanged files refer to the preserved collected originals; attribution, sources and original licenses still apply. Originals: 1, 2.

Images collected from the Internet.