Nokia 800 Tough
2.40", 2 Mpx, 4G
Product ratings
Pros
Cons
35 reviews
Ideal second phone for mountaineers
Ideal second phone for mountain hikers who only want to take a mobile phone with them in an emergency. And there is no need for a good camera in the mobile phone. That's all this mobile phone is good for!
Attention: Logging into the 4G/LTE mobile network is only possible with one SIM card at a time! This means that when the 3G/UMTS mobile network is switched off (by the end of 2025 at the latest), this mobile phone can only be operated with a single SIM card in Switzerland.Pro
- Large battery. Battery reliably lasts a day trip even at -10 °C (without mobile data).
- Robust, shockproof, waterproof and dustproof. All connections protected with a rubber cap.
- Modern mobile radio technology, well suited for use in Europe
- VoLTE works with Sunrise prepaid SIM card
- Dual SIM with 2x nano SIM card (Dual SIM Dual Standby)
- Battery charging via USB cable with micro USB connection possible (USB Battery Charging Specification)
- Support for HD Voice: telephone calls with high voice quality (AMR-WB). Top voice quality!
- Importing and exporting contacts from *.vcf files (VCard)
- "Pure" 3G/UMTS mode (without HSDPA/HSUPA with soft handover) can be configured in the settings
- Does not require a protective cover. Ideal for transport in a rucksack.
Contra
- Bulky and heavy. Yet lighter and smaller than a smartphone (with protective cover/case).
- User-hostile operation. Very complicated menu navigation. KaiOS needs a lot of nerves!
- Lack of support for WLAN in the 5 GHz frequency band (802.11a)
- Missing GALILEO support
- Weak torch. Many smartphones shine much brighter
- Missing side buttons for volume control
- Miserable camera
- Logging into the 4G/LTE mobile network only possible with a SIM card
120 bucks is a bit expensive for a brick, so I'd advise against such a purchase. Don't worry, I'm sure Nokia will find other uses for it — it might fit somewhere nice, they'll figure it out.
Ok, so I thought: Nokia saying it is tough, then it must be tough! Plus it looks like the phones I always had, and my last phone, after 11 years of service, finally died. Well, let's go! Basically, it must be a copy of my good old Nokia, with a rugged build, impressive battery life, Wi-Fi, 4G and Google services. No hesitation, it is the One, and I'm going to be satisfied for sure!
First surprise: it is HUGE. Like a smart phone, but thicker! Ok, military phone, must be big so that soldiers and workers alike might use it with thick gloves. I'll live — although… it might just be me, but didnt' the phone look more slender on most pictures I looked up online? Oh well. I'll live…
I'll live, and I'll get used to it. I'm easy to please like that when it comes to phones. Yay.
… But…
But you can't choose your message tone.
But you can't choose your alarm clock tone.
But you can't choose your schedule alarm tone.
But you can't choose the exact time it will ring.
But you can't set themes — totally silent, outdoor, etc. — no, you have to tweak around to get what you want. Like on a smartphone, actually, but clunky style.
But you can't configure shortcut keys for the directional buttons — no, they programmed a grand 3 shortcuts for you you can't change, even if you should think they suck.
But you can't lock and unlock the phone with a button or even an old school 2 buttons combo — no, you need a code now.
But you can't use the alphabetic buttons to look for a specific contact — no, you have to manually access the Search bar again, all the way to the top where you started. Sure, you can shut the app down and reopen it to access the search bar. Oh, how clever we have to be in Nokia's stead.
But you can't understand why the hell this phone is somehow less capable than an 11 years old 6303. Nor why it has input lag. Nor why the app in use sometimes freezes and needs resetting. Nor why the phone turned itself off all of a sudden. And it's a day 1 purchase. It's new!
All in all I spent 4 hours on this brick trying to make it work as I bloody want it to.
Dear Nokia:
Take it from someone who has been using a regular Nokia 6303 (featuring NONE of the issues described above) for 11 years and can't believe what he just bought.
I can accept the 2MP camera, the micro SD power cord, the not-ever-in-your-pocket size of the phone or the overall poor performance in favor of a cheaper and more durable product. But if you're not going to invest decent time in building up the OS, why bother at all? How could you make it worse than a decade earlier?
So, if you have no love for simple phones… please just stop making them! This one might be rugged, but do I want such a piece of lazy work for the next 10 or 20 years?
Nope.
PS: Snake was good just as it was in 1997. If it's not broken, don't fiix it.Pro
- Somehow cheap
- May hold its promise and actually be durable
Contra
- Bad OS
- Poor customization
- Low specs
- Worse than before smartphones even existed
If you really need a dumbphone, just buy a 30.- one.
I was expecting was merely a Samsung C-3350 with a 3.5mm headphone jack and service continuity (old GSM getting killed soon).
The good points are the very nice styling, good build quality (I would have prefered maybe a softer keypad with more grip, but that's debatable), and as far as I can tell, it is upholding its promises about being dropsafe and weatherproof. Form factor is OK for my needs.
The styling of the OS is very nice, I like its minimalism and simplicity ; the UX, on the other side, is quite terrible. I used the phone for about a month and never got comfortable enough to "automatize" my most used processes. I could live with it, tho, it's more or less on par with most early '00s dumbphones. 3.6, not great, not terrible.
Call sound is OK. Typing texts on that keyboard can be annoying, but I had years of experience with dumbphones (and I will switch to voice if needed) and I can live with that.
What really killed it for me was :
- the terrible battery autonomy. I thought the claimed autonomy was probably optimistic, but we're talking from 5-6 hours of intensive work with the phone, to at most 6 days on stand-by without 4G nor BT. On an average week, I'll probably send a few mails, SMS, have maybe 3 minutes of phone conversation ; outside of that, I will listen for a few hours of music and use the wake up alarm.
- the lack of a decent audio app. I'm not picky, but there is no podcast app available, and the music app is really worse that what you could find on an entry level Nokia in 2007. The playlist manager is appalling, the phone is unable to bookmark where the track paused if you quit the app, making it perfectly unusable for mixtapes, audiobooks or manually imported podcasts.
In effect, most apps are not very useful ; WhatsApp is frustrating, Google Maps is dumb. Google Assistant is not that bad but with limited ressources.
Besides these two main points, the camera is terrible. If you really need to take a picture of something in an emergency (like after a car crash to show the situation to your insurer), it should do the job.
I've read that the flash/flashlight was 180 lumens. After some testing, the only flashlight I own that is weaker is a Maglite Solitaire from the late 90s. Otherwise, the torch is weaker than a cheap keychain flashlight. It will be OK to illuminate a door lock, and your path if you're in a very light environment. In the woods, the practical range is about 2 meters. 18 lumens, maybe.
I bought that phone because I was looking for a reliable, outdoorsy , long running time alternative to my smartphone, with a secondary goal to rely a little less on the shiny moving pictures shown on the screen.
What I really like to see as an evolution :
- a Nokia/KaiOS modern app for music, books & podcasts ;
- a removable battery ;
- a way bigger battery ;
- a serious optimisation of KaiOS ;
- an e-Ink screen to make it even more frugal ;
- USB-C
- dedicated physical keys for volume.Pro
- tough (it's in the name)
- weatherproof
- relatively easy to use
- 3.5mm jack
- useful loop thingie
- can provide an "I'm doing digital detox" vibe
- to make phone calls, it's ok
Contra
- ridiculous runtime (at least five time shorter than advertised)
- not a lot of useful apps available
- even assistant and g-maps are castrated
- no podcast or decent music app
- weak flashlight (ten times weaker than advertised)
- bad price to quality ratio
- configuration of the account can be a b*tch
- no removable battery
- texting can be a chore
Works, but not well
Complicated menu navigation, little customization options, constant crashes,
Nokia 800 tough unusable
After a few weeks of use, it became very slow. After several restarts, nothing changes. The keyboard freezes, the screen remains black. After a complete reset, it became ok again, but no more confidence.
I really don't recommend this phone. Nothing to do with the Nokia of the time.Pro
- solid
Contra
- too many bugs
robust mobile phone for outdoor use
We use it for us for the emergency service, speak only phone calls. Unfortunately, div. pre-installed apps can not be removed...
Pro
- robust
6 out of 35 reviews
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