If you think paying more than £700 for a mobile phone is a bit much, then stop reading right now.

The Nokia 8800 comes in two versions, and £700 is the least you'll get away with SIM-free. The more expensive of the two, the 8800 Sapphire Arte, wasn't at the Nokia online store when we checked while penning this review, but an earlier check there put it at £885. You can expect to pay at least a couple of hundred quid for either version of the phone on contract, too.

The two versions are the same on the inside, but outside the 8800 Sapphire Arte has leather trim and a real sapphire in its navigation button.

The build quality on both models is lovely. The metal and glass externals and beautifully smooth sliding mechanism are fabulous, and in the hand the phone feels classy and expensive. Its 150g of weight just adds to the feeling that you are carrying something a bit special.

But on the inside this mobile is pretty average. The S40 operating system is used, which means that some of the sophistications of many Nokia handsets just aren't here. Don't expect software bells and whistles from the off. There is 1GB of internal memory but no support for flash memory for you to add more. A 3.2-megapixel camera provides for photography but it has neither flash nor self-portrait mirror.

The 8800 Arte and Sapphire Arte are tri-band GSM mobiles with GPRS and EDGE (no 3G). The built-in Web browser is Opera Mini which works well on the 2-inch screen. Nokia's WidSets support is also supplied. This is a sort of RSS-lite system which provides content to your mobile from providers that offer a WidSets service. There are plenty of them, listed at www.widsets.com.

There is a clever wheeze in that you can dismiss an incoming call by turning the phone face down on the table. This will appeal to those who feel the need to put their expensive mobile on the table in order to show it off to others, but of course it won't work when the phone is lodged in your pocket.

An irritation pops up when you want to connect the phone to a computer or charge its battery, as the connector is micro-USB sized rather than the more usual and widespread mini-USB. In practical terms this means you have to have the 8800's charger and USB cable to hand rather than use generic cables that double up for several devices.

If money is no object you might consider this handset, but even those with pots of cash might find the features they get for the outlay here somewhat below par.