The N81 marks Nokia’s entry into music-related services similar to that offered by Apple (as in iTunes). Like the N73 and N95, the N81 comes in two editions-Standard and Music. The former has a memory card slot, while the latter has 8 GB of flash memory and no memory slot. The N81 is handsome-rounded edges, black lustrous finish, and you’ll notice the use of contrasting brushed silver on the edges. Build quality is excellent, and though the body has a plastic feel to it, it’s rugged, and should take the rigours of everyday life. The slider mechanism is taut, but we’ve seen better ones on Samsung phones (and lately, the Sony Ericsson W910i). The front facia is dominated bya huge,  arklingly-clear 2.4-inch display. The screen equals that on the N95 (which has the best among cell  phones).Just below the screen is a whole new navigational console. The directional pad (D-Pad) now also acts like a touch-sensitive scroll wheel, but the keys can also be used like regular keys. Though it works OK, the touch-sensitive scrolling needs refinement. The playback control keys are cramped near the D-pad and are frustrating. The alphanumeric keypad isn’t quite what we expected from Nokia; it is flat, hard, and frustrating to use. The music player is similar to that on the N95 and other Symbian-based phones. However, the Navi-scroll gives it an edge in terms ofusability. We’d like to see Nokia ironing out the  chinks in the touch-sensitive UI. Eight GB ofmemory means enough space to pack in your entire collection. Transfer times are reasonably fast. Audio quality is good, and nearly equalsthat of the N95; what we liked was the placement of the 3.5 mm jack-it’s on the top. The bundled earphones are good, but we liked our music with the Bose in-ear plugs. The camera is a complete let down, be warned:  just 2 megapixels doesn’t cut it anymore-at least not on a high-end phone. Three games come preinstalled-all of them demos. The games are based on the Ngage platform, and gaming is fun thanks to two additional keys and the excellent display. Internet browsing is great-thanks largely to the Web browser which is the best you’ll get on a handheld today. The Nokia N81 8 GB retails at Rs 19,400. That price is reasonable, but we feel the N95 is a much better overall device-we’d recommend it over the N81.