The Nokia N81 8GB is a truly exciting smartphone combining the power of Symbian 9.2 OS spiced up with the new N-Gage platform. What we have in N81 8GB is entertainment and multimedia unleashed. Not only does its specs sheet impress, but it promises tons of fun. With that said you cannot blame us for being too eager to test it out, can you? So please make yourselves comfortable and join us for this review.

With 8GB of memory built in, the quad-band, 3G, N81 8GB might sound like the music fan's ideal mobile phone. Certainly the presence of Nokia's podcasting application, an FM radio, a two-piece headset with 3.5mm connector beyond the hands-free and music controls section and a 3.5mm connector to the phone itself, and good playback quality all help, though we can't help thinking that stereo speakers on the handset itself are overkill.

This mobile also comes equipped with Nokia's N-Gage gaming platform and some nifty gaming controls. The idea is that some games run in widescreen format, and controls on both short edges of the screen become illuminated for use with left and right thumbs when you are playing.

The screen is excellent. It measures 2.4 inches corner-to-corner, offers 320 x 240 pixels, and is sharp, clear and bright. We aren't hardened mobile gamers but we found that the sample games on the phone rendered well and were fun to play.

It all sounds very swish, but there are some issues. If you want a good camera on your mobile then the N81 8GB isn't the phone to provide it. The 2-megapixel unit lacks autofocus or macro modes, and shoots only average quality images.

Also, although this is a slider format phone, which means the number pad is hidden away until it is needed, the front of the phone is overburdened with buttons. We think sliders should have a minimal front button array, and found the sheer number of things to press on the front of this handset daunting.

As well as the gaming buttons that only light up when needed, there are music playback controls around the navigation key that become available thanks to a backlight when tunes are being played

There is more button mayhem, too. A button offset to the right of the navigation key is called the ‘multimedia key'. Press this and up pops a multimedia applications menu that duplicates what is on the main device menu, albeit with a new look.

Finally, the silver navigation button has its usual up, down, left and right presses but can also be stroked to scroll through music lists or photos stored on the phone. While a clever idea on paper, we found it a little difficult to get used to. You can disable that feature if you want to.

This is a fairly large and heavy mobile at 102mm tall, 50mm wide, 17.9mm thick and 140g. You'll certainly notice it in your pocket.

Of course there is a lot more software and plenty of other features in the N81 8GB than we've mentioned so far. Web browser, front camera for video calling, Nokia Maps, Wi-Fi and mobile e-mail are just a few of the additional applications and features. But these are fairly standard S60 fare, with even the Wi-Fi increasingly deployed on higher end mobiles, and not in themselves enough to draw us to this particular phone.