Nokia 8600 Luna
Nokia has always wowed the world with their premium 8000 series of fashion phones, with the new 8600 Luna set to continue the heritage set by its predecessors. It all started with the 8810, a phone entirely clad in chrome, and after going through various materials including titanium, Nokia has again come out shining with the most radical material to grace an 8000 series device – glass. I can imagine thoughts going through your mind, wondering if this is the right move, especially if you are the type of person that drops their phone a lot. While we can't put the 8600 through hell to find its breaking point, Nokia did perform a drop test during the launch of the Luna, with the Luna emerging unscathed. Apart from looking drop-dead gorgeous, let's see if the Luna can function well as a phone.
Physical Aspects
The Luna comes in an all black color scheme. Any other color and Nokia would have committed fashion suicide. Encased in an all glass front and all steel back, the Luna is a gorgeous phone. The glass front has been made scratch and smudge resistant, ensuring it looks perfect all the time. I even tried using my keys to scratch the glass to no avail. Unfortunately, the matte black steel back of the Luna is not resistant to scratches at all, so users will still have to be careful with where they place the device.
In terms of being a fashion phone, Nokia has nailed it with the ultra glossy Luna. The build quality is top-notch and the spring loaded slider mechanism feels extremely robust. You will need to control the slider a little when closing the phone though, as there is no dampener, making the sliding up and down of the Luna somewhat ungraceful. This is quite unfortunate, and I would have preferred a smooth slow-motion slide mechanism like the one found in the old titanium 8910.
Users can access the d-pad, left and right soft keys, and the call and end keys without sliding open the Luna. This makes it easy to answer calls and read SMS messages without having to open the slide. These keys are quite easy to use and the d-pad is standard fare, offering good tactile feedback. The end key also functions as the power key.
Sliding open the Luna will reveal the white backlit numerical keypad. I found the Luna's keypad to be adequately sized, but it was quite stiff and the lower portion of the slide makes it difficult to press the bottom row of keys. This took some getting use to, and in the end, I found typing on the Luna a little awkward, which slowed down my typing quite a bit.
The design of the Luna is simple: on the left side, you can find the volume keys clad in chrome, along with the left stereo speaker. The right side of the phone houses the other speaker and the microUSB port, which is used for charging, data transfer, and plugging in a headset using the included adaptor. The back of the phone is empty until you slide up the top portion to reveal the 2.0-megapixel camera. This part of the phone is housed in smoked chrome, making it look good but also difficult to keep clean.
One of the features of the Luna highlighted when it was first announced was its glowing keypad. You can set it to pulsate for 5 or 30 minutes, or you can set it to be always on or turn it off completely. The smoked glass hides the actual keys unless viewed under bright lights, making the pulsation of the keypad something to behold. Do take note that using this feature consumes battery life though.
The Luna is quite hefty, weighing in at 140g (4.9oz). This comes as no surprise considering the materials used in its casing. Measuring 107mm x 45mm x 15.9 mm (4.2" x 1.8" x 0.6"), it easily fits into pockets but women might be put off by its weight. On the other hand, I find the weight complements the solid build quality of the phone.
The 8600 packs a 2" QVGA (320x240 pixel) resolution display, capable of displaying up to 16 million colors. The display is a joy to look at and it works well under harsh sunlight. Fonts and icons look sharp and smooth with no obvious jaggedness. Icons in the default theme were made black and white, appearing in color only when highlighted. Although some users might think of this as cool, I found that it made the display look dull and unattractive.
