The N81 is a sleek and stylish entry to the popular N-series range of Symbian-powered phones. It's full of up-to-date entertainment features too, like N-Gage.

However, on top of the staggering array of multimedia gadgetry packed inside, the Nokia N81 is geared up to meet all your mobile messaging needs - including email. The device enables you to receive and send emails from your normal email account(s) in a similarly easy way as you would with a desktop PC.

It's simple to set up too. With just a few button presses, you can be accessing your emails, viewing and downloading attachments and firing off emails from the phone.

All you need is a few details of your email account - address, user name and password - and you can get connected to web-based email or email provided by your Internet Service Provider. You can receive and read emails, send emails and forward messages, and tweak settings to suit exactly how you want to use and view your messages - just like with your desktop email.

You can add one email account, or use a number of separate email accounts and switch between them in the phone's settings menus.

The Nokia N81 has an email wizard onboard that can be used to automatically retrieve settings for POP3 email for most web and ISP email accounts. It's simple to use, but if you do have any problems, you can find help and settings details from Nokia's UK support site. From here you can set up your phone via a received text message. If you want to use your Nokia N81 with corporate email, you should talk to your company's IT department to get it set up.

Setting up email

1. From the standby screen, press the Messaging softkey (Figure 1). Altenatively, press the Menu button, and highlight Messaging (Figure 2). Press Open.
2. Scroll down to highlight New mailbox (Figure 3). Press Open.
3. A message appears: No mailbox defined. Define now? (Figure 4). Press Yes.
4. Instructions appear for the email wizard (Figure 5). To start the email set-up wizard, press Start.
5. In the email address box, type in your full email address (Figure 6). Press OK.
6. You can now type in the name you want to call your email mailbox, or leave it as the default name of your email service (Figure 7). Press OK.
7. You are asked to define the user name and password for your account (Figure 8). Press Yes to continue.
8. In the User name panel, edit the email address until you have your user name - this is usually the bit of your email address before the '@' sign, (though if you're unsure, check with on your email service provider's website) (Figure 9).
9. When completed, scroll down using the navigation pad to highlight the Password panel. Type in your email account password (Figure 10). Press OK.
10. After a few moments a message appears onscreen informing you that the email mailbox has been defined (Figure 11). Press OK.
11. The first time you set up, you will be taken into your mailbox and asked: Connect to mailbox? (Figure 12). Press Yes.
12. After a few seconds while the phone connects, you will get a list of email message subject headers onscreen (Figure 13). Scroll through the list to highlight ones you want to view.
13. Press Open to download and view the full email. Scroll down to read the message (Figure 14).
14. If the message has an attachment, scroll to highlight it and press Attachments (Figure 15). Highlight the attachment and press Open (Figure 16). You'll be able to see the attachment in full (Figure 17). Press Close and Back to return to the original email.

To get back to your mailbox, press Back. Alternatively, if you want to reply, forward or see other options, press Options. A list appears onscreen (Figure 18).

Replying to emails

1. To reply, highlight Reply. Press Select. Highlight To sender (Figure 19). Press Select.
2. Type in the text of your message. You can also edit or delete the original message if you want to, add new recipients or alter the subject header (Figure 20).
3. When you're ready to send, press Options, highlight Send and press Select (Figure 21).
4. Alternatively, before you send the message you can add an image or other files by selecting Insert from the Options list and pressing Select (Figure 22).
5. A row of icons appears at the bottom of the display, representing different elements you can insert - images, others, video clips, sound clips or text (Figure 23). Highlight and select one of these, and you can search through files to add a suitable attachment. Press Select to add it to your email.
6. When ready to send, as before press Options, highlight Send and press Select (Figure 21).

Checking for new emails

1. To check for new emails go to the Messaging menu as before (Figure 2).
2. Scroll down to the name you gave your email mailbox (Figure 24). Press Open.
3. If you're not currently connected, you will be asked if you want to connect to your mailbox (Figure 25). Press Yes. New messages will now be retrieved.
4. If you are already in your mailbox and want to check for new messages, press Options, scroll down to Retrieve email (Figure 26). Press Select.
5. Highlight New (Figure 27). Press Select. New messages subjects will be delivered to your mailbox.

Sending new emails

You can send messages as emails as quickly and easily as text or MMS messages.

1. In the Messaging menu, highlight New message (Figure 28). Press Select.
2. Scroll down to highlight E-mail (Figure 29). Press OK.
3. Add the email address, subject and message (Figure 30).
4. If you want to, add any attachments in the way outlined above.
5. As before, when your email is ready to send, press Options, highlight Send and press Select (Figure 21).

There is such thing as a free lunch when it comes to mobile games. If you want fun on the go, you don’t always have to pay for it. There are lots of great mobile games you can get off the net for free, and we’ve picked out 10 of the best for your Nokia N81 8GB.

We’ve tried to cover most gaming genres, whether you’re more into falling blocks or firing guns. Just click the title of each game and you’ll be re-directed to a game page where you’ll be able to download the game for your Nokia N81 8GB. For the latest mobile and iPhone games coverage, check out our mobile games channel.

Planet Riders 3D
Forget Wipeout, Planet Riders 3D is the definitive futuristic mobile racer. Take control of a jet powered hover ship and race against opponents across several worlds full of tracks. With multiple championships and full 3D graphics, Planet Riders brings out the gaming potential of any mobile phone

Flexis
A next generation Tetris game, Flexis is a colour matching blocks game with a difference. It’s got a full physics engine within it, meaning that your blocks bounce off each other like rubber bouncing balls. Fast-paced and thoroughly addictive, Flexis is a must-have for any puzzle fan.

Tower Wars
The Tower Defence craze hasn’t passed mobile phones by, and Tower Wars is one of the best examples of the genre on mobile. Place your towers carefully and protect your castle from wave after wave of enemies. Boasting great graphics and an excellent tower upgrades system, Tower Wars will keep you amused for hours.

Emergency Mayhem
Play as the three emergency services in this free wheeling open world game. Tear around the city in an ambulance, police car or fire truck, looking for civilians to save. Be careful not to smash up the city too much! Emergency mayhem also contains a gallery full of mini-games to play whenever you get to the scene of an emergency. Put out fires, arrest criminals and resuscitate casualties. Get on the right side of the law in this Grand Theft Auto beater.

Deep 3D
A huge and engrossing adventure, you pilot a submarine around an underwater world in Deep 3D. You can play the game exactly as you wish, plundering enemy craft, fishing for trade or undertaking missions from the underwater stations. With dozens of hours of gameplay and the ability to buy new ships, weapons and fishing equipment, Deep 3D will keep you hooked.

Tank Raid 3D

Don’t you just wish you had your own tank? Traffic wouldn’t be an issue any more, and you could just park on top of cars rather than in between them. Since getting hold of one is unlikely, why not grab hold of Tank Raid 3D. It’s a cute 3D shooter where you get to drive a tank, blasting an army-full of enemies. Casual fun for all.

Rollercoaster Rush
A truly ingenious one-thumb game, Rollercoaster Rush lets you control a coaster full of theme park goers. Press ‘5’ to make the rollercoaster go faster, but watch out for some of your patrons might fall out. With dozens of tracks and a fully upgradeable coaster system, Rollercoaster Rush is a mobile gaming classic.

Darkest Fear 3
Few mobile games can genuinely cause fear, but Darkest Fear 3 is one of them. A horror adventure game packed with puzzles, you have to avoid the shadows to stay alive. Use light to your advantage to keep the night horrors at bay as you discover the mystery of Darkest Fear 3. The third instalment in mobile’s premier horror series, check out the previous two games for more top quality chills.

Townsmen 3
Townsmen 3 lets you run a whole community from your handset, and strangely enough it works! The Townsmen series is one of the most popular strategy series on mobile and has been going for absolutely ages. Build, manage and protect your city from its enemies, Townsmen 3 is a game with far more depth than your average mobile game.

Galaxy on Fire
Fly across the galaxy in this epic space adventure. Trade and fight your way to riches as you complete missions and explore over 500 different planets and space stations. After playing the intial 12 missions, you’re completely free to break away and do your own thing, whether that’s trading or just blasting away. Upgrade your ship, weapons and storage in this massive 3D space adventure.

You can now enjoy a whole new mobile gaming experience with the full launch of Nokia's N-Gage service - a sophisticated, interactive, multi-player platform that promises to take mobile gaming to whole new level.

Nokia's N-Gage mobile gaming platform delivers a great gaming experience, enabling users to enjoy sophisticated gameplay with superb graphics, have a trial of games before they buy, compete against other N-Gage users anywhere in the world via the N-Gage Arena, enter online tournaments, and communicate with other users, challenging them to games, sharing tips, and comparing scores online.

The new N-Gage platform has been initially launched for select Nokia Nseries handsets - the Nokia N81 8GB, Nokia N81, N95, N95 8GB, and N82. So you can enjoy the full N-Gage service right now - all it takes is a quick download and installation of the service on your phone.

It's easy to download and install the N-Gage application. All you have to do is visit the Nokia N-Gage site, download the application to your PC or Mac, and then copy it over to your phone. You'll then be ready to create a player name and visit the showroom.

(Note, newer versions of the N81 8GB may come with the full application pre-loaded. If you have an N-Gage icon in your menus that immediately starts up the N-Gage application rather than just runs a video teaser, then you won't need to download the application - you'll be ready to play.)

Downloading the N-Gage application
First you have to download the N-Gage application to your PC or Mac. It is available from the N-Gage website at www.n-gage.com or by clicking on this download link for PC or Mac.

Installing the N-Gage application
You can install the N-Gage application from your PC onto your phone by using supplied Nokia PC Suite software and the USB cable boxed with the phone, or simply by dragging and dropping the file into the phone's mass storage memory when the phone is connected via USB. The drag and drop method is required if you're using a Mac rather than a PC. The application should be stored to the mass storage memory rather than the device memory.

Using PC Suite
If you're using a PC you need to have the right version of PC Suite. You can download a suitable version of PC Suite here.

Instructions for installing N-Gage to your Nokia N95 8GB are simple:

1. Start PC Suite on your PC.
2. Connect your device to your PC using the supplied USB cable.
3. Select PC Suite Mode in the dialog box on the N81 8GB.
4. Click the Get Connected button on PC Suite and follow the on-screen directions to enable the connection to your device.
5. Click the Install Applications icon on PC Suite.
6. Follow the on screen directions to transfer and install the N-Gage application (n-gage.sisx) file from your desktop to your N81 8GB.
7. Start the N-Gage application on your N81 8GB by clicking the N-Gage icon in the Applications folder.
8. Now you're ready to create a player name and visit the N-Gage games Showroom to browse, trial and buy games.

Using Mass Storage Mode/Data Transfer (for PC and Mac users)

1. Connect your N81 8GB to your computer using the supplied USB cable.
2. On your N81 8GB, select Data transfer (Figure 1). Press OK. Your device should now appear on 'My Computer/Finder' as an external drive or removable disk.
3. Copy the N-Gage install file (n-gage.sisx) from your computer to a folder on your N81 8GB's mass memory, such as the Other folder (Figure 2).
4. Disconnect your N81 8GB from your computer.
5. Click on the Tools menu in the N81 8GB's main menu (Figure 3). Click on the File Manager application (Figure 4), and from it navigate to the memory card/mass memory tab. Scroll down to the folder (Other) into which you copied the N-Gage install file (Figure 5). Press select
6. Scroll down to highlight the N-Gage install file n-gage.sisx and click to start the installation process (Figure 6). Follow the on-screen instructions on your N81 8GB. You will be asked if you want to Install N-Gage Installer? (Figure 7). Press Yes and then press Continue. It may take several minutes or more to install the application. You will be asked to select an internet access point (Figure 8). Highlight the one you wish to use and press Select.
7. You will be notified when the installation is complete, and asked to reboot the phone (turn it off and on) after installation.
8. Start the N-Gage application on your N81 8GB by clicking the N-Gage icon in the Applications folder (Figure 9).
9. The N-Gage application is now active on your phone (Figure 10). Now you're ready to create a player name and visit the N-Gage games Showroom to browse, trial and buy games. You can do this online on the N-Gage website or directly from your phone. Scroll across to see all the various options available on each tab (Figure 11).

Nokia's newly revamped N-Gage mobile gaming platform is set to launch imminently, delivering a sophisticated gaming experience with great graphics, multi-player interactivity, and much more. As well as being able to connect to other players, swapping tips, messages and screen shots, you can free trials of games to try before you buy.

The new N-Gage platform will soon be available to download on selected Nokia Nseries phones, including the Nokia N81 and N81 8GB, N95 8GB, and N82. However, although it's not been officially launched yet, Nokia is enabling owners of N81 and N81 8GB phones to download a First Access trial version of N-Gage - and a handful of sample games to play.

It's easy to download and install the N-Gage First Access application and games. All you have to do is visit the Nokia N-Gage site, download the application to your PC, and then copy it over to your phone. You can then be one of the first to try out the new N-Gage exerience for yourself - and, if you like, tell Nokia what you think about it...

Downloading the N-Gage application
First you have to download the N-Gage application to your PC or Mac. You can download the application with four trial games - Space Impact: Kappa Base, System Rush: Evolution, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep, and Block Breaker Deluxe - all in one bundle, in a Zip file. It is available from the N-Gage website at www.n-gage.com/firstaccess or by clicking on this download link.

The application and games bundle is contained in a 60.4MB Zip file; if you don't have broadband access, Nokia also offers another option for separate file downloads for the app and individual games.

Installing the N-Gage application and games
You can install the games from your PC onto your phone by using supplied Nokia PC Suite software and the USB cable boxed with the phone, or simply by dragging and dropping files into the phone's mass storage memory when the phone is connected via USB. The second method is required if you're using a Mac rather than a PC. The application and games should be stored to the mass storage memory rather than the device memory (or to the memory card, if installing to an N81).

Using PC Suite
If you're using a PC you need to ensure you have PC Suite version 6.84 or better installed on your computer. You can download the most recent version of PC Suite here.

Nokia's instructions for installing N-Gage First Access to your Nokia N81 8GB are simple:

1. Start PC Suite on your PC.
2. Connect your device to your PC using the supplied USB cable.
3. Select PC Suite Mode in the dialog box on the N81 8GB.
4. Click the Get Connected button on PC Suite and follow the on-screen directions to enable the connection to your device.
5. Click the Install Applications icon on PC Suite.
6. Follow the on screen directions to transfer and install the N-Gage application (.sisx) file from your desktop to your device.
7. Start the N-Gage application on your N81 8GB by clicking the N-Gage icon in the Applications Folder.
8. Now you are ready to install the games. Double-click the N-Gage game file (the .n-gage file) on your PC, and follow the on-screen instructions.
9. The on-screen instructions will remind you to have the N-Gage application installed, and prompt you to finish the installation on your device.
10. With the N-Gage application running, install the games to your N81 8GB's mass memory or memory card (note: the N81 8GB's mass memory is displayed as a memory card).
11. Complete the installation and start the game.

If at first you aren't able to complete the installation, you may need to attempt this process several times.

Using Mass Storage Mode/Data Transfer (for PC and Mac users)

1. Connect your N81 8GB to your computer using the supplied USB cable.
2. On your N81 8GB, select Data Transfer (Figure 1). Your device should now appear on "My Computer/Finder" as an external drive or removable disk.
3. Copy the N-Gage install file (.sisx) from your computer to a folder on your N81 8GB's mass memory, such as the Others folder (Figure 2).
4. Disconnect your device from your computer.
5. From the File Manager application on your N81 8GB (under the Tools menu), navigate to the memory card/mass memory tab (Figure 3). Open the N-Gage install file to start the installation process (Figure 4).Follow the on-screen instructions on your N81 8GB. It may take several minutes or more to install the application. You will be notified when the installation is complete.
6. Run the N-Gage application once to verify it is working. This can be found in the Applications folder in the main menu (Figure 5). Click on the N-Gage icon to launch the app (Figure 6).
7. Now you are ready to install the games. Re-connect your N81 8GB to your computer using the USB cable.
8. From your computer, copy the N-Gage game files (the .n-gage files) to the N-Gage folder on your mass memory/memory card (Figure 7). This folder is created the first time you run the N-Gage application.
9. Disconnect your device from your computer.
10. Start the N-Gage application on your N81 8GB by clicking the N-Gage icon in the Applications folder. The N-Gage application will detect your games and prompt you to install them (Figure 8). (If you are not prompted to install the game, use File Manager to open the game install file and start the installation process.)
11. Complete the installation and start a game (Figure 9).

It is possible to transfer the application to the N81 8GB via Bluetooth, but not the games files.

The Nokia N81 8GB is a well-equipped music mobile, with 8GB of internal storage, a multi format music player and dedicated music player controls on the front panel.

You can store up to 6,000 tracks on the Nokia N81 8GB, depending on which format and the quality files are saved in. Tracks can be copied easily from a PC to the Nokia N81 8GB using the supplied USB cable or via Bluetooth. You can use synchronise your music with Windows Media Player 11 software on a PC, use Nokia PC Suite software to manage music files, or simply drag and drop files when plugged in via USB.

But as well as "sideloading" tracks from your PC to your Nokia N81 8GB you can download tracks directly to the phone over the air. Many mobile phones allow you to download music over the air, with mobile network operators offering their own music download services.

However, the Nokia N81 8GB is one of the first handsets to come preloaded with software enabling direct to phone downloads from the Nokia Music Store service.

You can access the Nokia Music Store service from a PC by visiting http://music.nokia.com/uk, or directly from your Nokia N81 8GB. Once you've landed on the Nokia Music Store home page, you can browse and search tracks under a variety of categories or by doing a text search.

To buy and download tracks, you have to sign up for the service by providing some standard information, such as username, password, email address and mobile phone number. You must the add credit to your account; there are a variety of ways of adding credits to your account, by using a credit or debit card or by using pre-paid vouchers.

In the UK, Nokia supplies the N81 8GB with a voucher for downloading 1 album or 10 tracks to try out the service. This voucher contains a scratch-off panel which contains a unique 16-character PIN code.

It's quick and easy to register for the Nokia Music Store online on your PC and add credit to your account. Once you have done this you can sign in to your account directly from your Nokia N81 8GB. You can then browse and buy tracks that can be sent straight to the phone.

Signing up to the Nokia Music Store from your N81 8GB
The Nokia Music Store can be accessed from several points within your Nokia N81 8GB's menu system, such as one of the options offered when using the Music Player application. From standby, however, it can be accessed in a few clicks.

Press the Menu button, on the bottom left of the closed phone (Figure 1).

Highlight the Music icon in the menu (Figure 2) and click the centre of the main navigation pad to select.

Highlight the Music store icon In the Music menu and press select (Figure 3).

You will be asked to Select access point (Figure 4). You can choose to access a Wi-Fi (Wireless LAN) connection by clicking on the Search for WLAN option, or alternatively scroll down the list of mobile network access points.

Scroll down to the access point you would usually use for internet browsing and press select (Figure 5).

After a few seconds, the Nokia Music Store home page will appear onscreen (Figure 6).

You can browse through the tracks available under a variety of categories, with the latest new releases, top tracks and albums shown (Figure 7). To buy and download tracks, you are required to join the service.

You can sign up for the Nokia Music Store by using the navigation control pad to move the cursor onscreen to highlight Join now on the top of the page (Figure 8).

You may get a message "This site has sent an untrusted certificate. Continue anyway?" Press select, highlight Continue and press select (Figure 9).

Complete the form (Figure 10) by highlighting each required box, and typing in details for username, password, confirm password, email address and mobile phone number (Figure 11).

Before proceeding you are also required to tick the box at the bottom of the page under Terms and conditions. You can read terms and conditions by highlighting and clicking on the underlined text next to the box, "I agree with Nokia Music's terms & conditions". (Figure 12).

Press Continue and you will be signed into the Nokia Music Store.

Buying credit
To buy credit, highlight My account at the top of the Nokia Music Store homepage and select Buy credit from the drop down menu (Figure 13).

You are presented with a list of options to buy certain amounts of track download credits, plus at the bottom of the page an option to redeem a PIN code from a voucher (Figure 14).

If you want to pay for credit using a credit card or debit card, highlight one of the amounts onscreen and click select. You may get a message "This site has sent an untrusted certificate. Continue anyway?" Press select, highlight Continue and press select (Figure 15).

You will now be presented with a payment form you can fill in (Figure 16).

Once completed, highlight the Continue button at the bottom of the page and press select. Your Nokia Music Store account will be credited with the amount. Your current Nokia Music Store credit balance will appear on the top line of the homepage.

If you have a voucher you want to redeem, instead of choosing one of the payment amounts scroll down to the bottom of the page, highlight the box Redeem PIN and press select (Figure 17).

You will be requested to "Key in your PIN number below:". Highlight the empty boxes and type in the 16-character PIN code from your voucher (Figure 18). Click on the box next to the underlined text "I agree with Nokia Music's terms & conditions". Highlight the Continue box and press select.

Your Nokia Music Store account will be credited with the amount from the voucher and the amount of your balance will be displayed on top of the hompage.

You can now browse the Nokia Music Store catalogue, buy tracks, and choose tracks you want to download later.

Signing in to the Nokia Music Store
Next time you want to browse or buy from the Nokia Music Store from your N81 8GB, follow the procedure described above until you get on to the Nokia Music Store homepage.

Highlight the Sign in option, click select and then type in your username and password (Figure 19). Highlight the Sign in box and click select. You will then be able to browse, buy and bookmark tracks for your "Wishlist" to download later (Figure 20).

You can change the look and feel of your Nokia N81 8GB's display by changing its theme, either using one pre-loaded into the N81 8GB or by downloading a new one.

Installing a new theme can change the look of the display in standby mode, the background wallpaper for the menu system and the phone's screensaver.

Your new theme could simply bring a fresh colour scheme or design change to your phone's display, or you could choose a theme that includes images of your favourite movie star, football club or TV show. It's up to you, as there are numerous different theme downloads available to suit your tastes. You can find plenty of websites on the internet offering downloads, and while some charge, others can be downloaded to your PC for free simply at the click of a mouse.

Once you've downloaded new themes from the internet you can copy them easily onto your N81 8GB via Bluetooth, or using your phone's supplied USB cable.

Once you have copied a new theme to the phone, you will be required to save them and apply them via your Themes menu, but this is a straightforward procedure.

To see the themes available on your phone and to choose a new one, press the Nokia Menu key, situated to the bottom left of the closed phone (Figure 1) to take you into the main Menu.

In the main menu highlight Tools and press the central select key on the navigation pad (Figure 2).
In the Tools menu, highlight Settings and press to select (Figure 3).
In the Settings menu, choose General and press the select key (Figure 4).

Choose Personalisation and press select (Figure 5).

Scroll down to highlight Themes and press select (Figure 6).

Choose General and press select (Figure 7).

You will now see a list of the themes available on your phone, including the one you're currently using (Figure 8).

You can preview the themes available on the phone before changing your existing theme, or if you already know which one you want to set, you can choose to set the new theme quickly without previewing it.

Setting the theme
If you already know which theme you want to install, simply scroll down to the name of the theme and click to select (Figure 9).

When selected, the new theme will be installed on your N81 8GB in a second or two. A message will pop up informing you that the selected theme has been installed (Figure 10), and you will be able to see straight away that the background to your menus has changed (Figure 11).

Preview first
If, however, you want preview the theme first, in the Themes menu scroll down to the name of the theme you want to preview. Then press the key beneath Options (bottom left of the display).

Highlight Preview (Figure 12) and press select. The theme will be displayed oscreen (Figure 13). You then have the options to press Set to set the theme or Back to return to the Themes menu.

Also, You can quickly change the theme back to the original by following the same procedure, as all your themes will be stored on your phone for you to choose whenever the mood for a change takes you.

To get back to the original standby display at any time, simply press the red End key to the right of the navigation pad.

• Press the Menu key (Figure 2).
• In the main menu, scroll to highlight the Tools icon (Figure 3) and press the central navigation pad to select.
• In the Tools menu, choose Settings and select (Figure 4).
• Choose General and press select (Figure 5).
• Scroll down to highlight Navi wheel and select (Figure 6).
• Press the Options softkey, highlight Change and press select (Figure 7).

It's hardly surprising that the Nokia N81 8GB has found itself propelled into the ranks of so-called iPhone killers. The "8GB" bit is an immediate giveaway; this Nokia smartphone is stacked with storage to rival the Apple phone's capacity, and is geared up for serious music playing. But this is a very different beast to the touchscreen-operated iPhone.

The Nokia N81 8GB is a slider phone, and one of Nokia's many Symbian S60 multimedia smartphones. It boasts Wi-Fi and 3G mobile connectivity, though it doesn't support t high-speed HSDPA technology for broadband-speed mobile connections.

The N81 is one of the first Nokia phones geared up for downloading tunes directly over-the-air from the Nokia Music Store. It is also equipped for Nokia's N-Gage advanced mobile game download and interactive gaming service - so having Wi-Fi onboard for high-speed downloads is a welcome option.

The N81 8GB is no pocket-pleasing slimline phone, however, weighing in at 140 grams - heavier than the GPS-enabled Nokia N95 - and measuring 102(h) x 50(w) x 17.9(d)mm. It doesn't have the high-end camera functionality of the N95 either, making do with a standard issue 2-megapixel camera. It does though mean room for a gorgeously detailed display - an active matrix 2.4 inch, QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) screen resolving up to 16.7 million colours.

With 8GB waiting to be filled up with tunes, the music functionality is obviously the headline grabber with this device. The N81 8GB comes with a set of music player control buttons arranged around the phone's main Navi scroll key D-pad; these can't be seen in regular use, but start glowing when the music player's activated.

Nokia has also introduced a new option for the Navi scroll key pad to aid music finding - an iPod-alike Navi wheel function. This turns the silver ring of the Navi scroll key the into a touch-sensitive speed scroller that works with the music player and the multimedia gallery.

The Navi wheel option has to be activated by delving into the menu system - curiously, it's not the default option that you'd expect. While it's useful, it's not as responsive or fast as an iPod wheel, and not such a smooth experience.

Another new Nokia control button option debuting on the N81 8GB is a multimedia key - an unlabelled silver key that's next to the D-pad. This slips users straight into a multimedia menu carousel system, pulling up options for the music player, gallery, internet browser and so on.

It's part of a new interface being developed by Nokia, and looks rather swish. You can also get the regular Symbian S60 menu system by pressing the standard squiggle-marked key on the bottom left of the keypad.

Sound like a lot of button-action going on here? You're right. For a slider phone, the Nokia N81 8GB has a whole heap of buttons cluttering up the area beneath the display. The two call/end keys are positioned on the edge of the control array, as if they've been squeezed to the side. Nokia might be congratulating itself on fitting so many controls into such a small area, but combined with the smooth surface, it actually ends up creating too much potential for mis-pressing keys. And that's even before we start talking about large-fingered folk...

The music player in itself does an excellent job of playing tunes. Tracks can be transferred from a PC using a variety of methods; the N81 8GB can sync with Windows Media Player 11 software when connected via its USB lead, or users can use supplied Nokia PC Suite software to manage and load content.

Alternatively, it's simple to drag and drop tracks by slipping the device into mass storage mode. They're arranged into various standard categories for playback, and support cover art too.

The stereo speakers on the side of the N81 8GB do a fairly decent job on playback - much better than most mobiles, with enough volume and lack of harsh tinniness. Still, there's virtually no bass to speak of. The supplied headphones reveal the full sound, and impressive it is too. You can upgrade to better headphones easily, as the N81 8GB has a standard 3.5mm headphone socket on top. Listen to tunes through decent in-ear phones or over-ear 'phones and you will really appreciate fully the excellent quality of the music player - we'd recommend giving it a go.

You can supplement your side-loaded tunes by browsing and buying at the Nokia Music Store. This is a quick internet link away in the Music apps folder. If you access this in Wi-Fi coverage, you'll save yourself potential mobile network operator data charges, as well as speed up the download process. It's still acceptably quick on standard 3G if you're out and about, but if you're not on a flat rate data deal you could end up paying a lot more of top of Nokia's per-track charge.

For free music and more, you could also try the built in FM radio - it's another welcome extra. You can also subscribe to audio and video podcasts over the air too, using a Nokia Podcasting app.

As well as the button fest on the bottom half of the N81, the device sports a couple of additional 'hidden' keys at the top of the screen - on either side of the earpiece, next to the secondary video-calling camera. These come into play when the N81 is in gaming mode. They're designed to be part of the console-style keypad arrangement for N-Gage gaming, with some of the main control keys also doubling up as gaming controls.

Our review N81 8GB came with sample N-Gage style games - Space Impact, FIFA 07, and Asphalt 3 Street Rules - to give an impressions of the graphical complexity of the platform, although the full N-Gage gaming application was not available to download when we tested the phone; it will be though when N-Gage goes live in December 2007.

On top of the music and games, the Nokia N81 8GB offers a nicely featured, if not state-of-the-art, main camera. It's a 2-megapixel shooter with flash, so it's not one of Nokia's best, but it can produce good detailed shots (see Nokia N81 8GB camera samples). There's a decent spread of control options, for exposure and white balance, light sensitivity and there's even red-eye reduction. But autofocus is absent, as is a macro shooting mode, limiting close up performance.

The camera user interface is well constructed, though a touch slow to respond. Snaps can be stored or sent as messages, and also uploaded at a click to Flickr or Vox online blogs. Video footage can also be uploaded as an option; footage can be shot in VGA quality at 15 frames per second, so it's reasonably good quality for a cameraphone. Downloaded videos can be played back using the onboard RealPlayer

Among the other features, the N81 8GB has a full Nokia Web Browser, and is loaded with Nokia Maps software; this can be used with an optional external Bluetooth GPS receiver to get mapping and satellite navigation instructions sent over the air to the phone. Email support is included, with document viewers for attachments.

Nokia also supplies the N81 8GB with extensive personal information management apps, including calendar, contacts, to-do lists and so on. There are plenty of other apps, including voice memo and voice commands, plus a neat text-to-voice reader for texts and other messages.

The huge storage capacity (for a mobile phone) carried by the Nokia N81 8GB is obviously going to attract some mobile buyers, particularly as this phone is considerably cheaper than the 8GB-packing iPhone. Wi-Fi is a bonus too for fast downloading of tracks and other content.While it does have a pretty good set of features, the controls aren't the best arranged Nokia has ever produced, can be fiddly and invites mispressing buttons. The camera is another weak point too. Anyone considering this device are advised to look at the more expensive but much better specified Nokia N95 8GB.

Nokia N81 8GB technical specifications.

The Nokia N81 8GB has a main camera on the back panel with a maximum resolution of 2.0-megapixels (1600x1200 pixels). It is also capable of shooting video footage in MPEG-4 VGA quality (640x480 pixels) at up to 15 frames per second.

The N81 8GB also has secondary low resolution CIF camera (320x240 pixels) above the front LCD screen, mainly for video calling but also capable of self portraits.

At maximum 2.0-megapixel resolution the camera can produce good quality prints up to 7x5 inches in size.The main 2.0-megapixel camera can be activated quickly by pressing a dedicated camera button on the side of the phone. This switches the display into landscape mode for digital camera style shooting, with the screen acting as the viewfinder.

There's an LED flash above the lens for low light illumination. The camera is fixed focus, and there's no macro mode for close ups, limiting the quality of close in images. There are three resolution settings, 2-, 1- and 0.3 megapixels, plus a digital zoom up to 20x.

The camera has a fully automatic setting to adjust to changing lighting conditions, although there are a series of camera settings you can try out to improve shots. Lighting sensitivity, white balance, exposure and colour controls can be adjusted, while there are also controls for flash - including a red-eye reduction option - and self-timer.

Users can tweak pre-shot colours (sepia, negative or black and white), and take multiple shots either as a 6-shot burst or taking pictures at set intervals, with settings ranging from every 5 seconds to every 30 minutes.

The icon-driven camera user interface is clear, with pop up descriptions of icons. However, these can be a touch slow if you want to make a fast adjustment to capture an image quickly. Once taken, images can be saved, sent as messages or uploaded with a few clicks to an online Flickr or Vox account.

We found the performance of the camera to be quite average. In our tests, mid-range shots showed reasonable detail but could be a touch soft. Colour rendition was very variable, however; even in good lighting conditions, colour reproduction could sometimes be poor on automatic mode. In average lighting, colours were often subdued and washed out.

The camera also appeared to have trouble with high contrast subjects; there was some burn-out in landscape shots which were partially dark with sunny elements, and some odd automatic white balance register.

The digital zoom, although useful, introduces more noise into images, making them look grainy.