In the second part of my Nokia N81 8GB review, I’ll cover the main functions of the device that makes it stand out from the rest of the Nokia Nseries: its Music and Gaming features. In the end, I think the Nokia N81 does a great job as music-phone, and the upcoming Ngage games will be the main reason to consider buying this phone.

For the newbies, the Nokia N81 8GB runs on the Symbian S60 operating system like many of the Nseries and Eseries phones. You can learn more about S60 if you are interested in these really powerful devices.

For this part of review, I’ll talk about what’s special about using the Nokia N81. Read more about the physical aspects of the phone in my first part of the Nokia N81 review.

Music

Playing Music. I don’t really spend much time with the music player in my phones, but for reviewing purposes, I actually enjoyed playing music with the Nokia N81. Accessing music on the Nokia N81 couldn’t be any easier. Like I mentioned in the first part of my review, just pressing the play button at any time will play the last song. Another way to play music is by pressing the the multimedia key where you can instantly play shuffled music or any of your playlists.

Quick Access to the music player.

The interface will remind you of the iPod, so you know it’s not complicated at all. The Naviwheel scrolls up and down lists… yes, just like an iPod. My problem with the Naviwheel is often when I press down, it thinks I’m rotating the wheel. This happened so many times, that I just decided to turn off the option in the settings.

The speakers are also loud, perfect for a music device. I would hate it if this device falls unto the hands of those annoying people who likes to play their musicphones without headseats or earphones in public like the trains and buses. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a train in New York City around 4-5pm.

The speakers are placed on the sides and play LOUD.

Transferring Music. I’m a Mac user and Nokia provides the Nokia Multimedia Transfer application to transfer music, photos, and files with compatible Nokia phones. Unfortunately, the Nokia N81 is not yet compatible with Multimedia Transfer. To transfer music to the Nokia N81, I had to connect in Mass Storage mode then transfer the files over to the Music folder, the same way I would transfer files to a USB stick.

After transferring the files, the Nokia N81 recognizes the new files and asks if I want to refresh the music library. When I chose no, I couldn’t find a menu option to try refreshing the library again. Nokia should add this as an option or just refresh the music library automatically.

Buying Music. The music store is not available yet and you will see a web page that requires a password login if you try accessing it. Unwired View captured a great video demo of the Nokia Music Store. Watch it below.

Album Art. Album art is not automatically transferred with the songs. For PC users, All About Symbian wrote a guide to adding album art to the music player with a PC. They find the procedure a pain. There has to be a better way for a better music experience.

Currently playing songs with and without Album art.

Extra Settings. The Nokia N81 music player comes with loudness and stereo widening effects as options. I played with these settings on different songs. Results varied. Sometimes the differences are barely noticeable, while others are obviously better or worse. This really depends by preference, but leaving both options off are also fine.

Games

The Ngage service cannot be fully accessed yet, but they provided three games for preview: Space Impact Light, FIFA 07, and Asphalt 3: Street Style. Nokia says the service will be available in November. In the meantime, you can also install other non-Ngage games.

The dedicated gaming buttons I mentioned in the first part of my Nokia N81 review becomes active and lights up when Ngage is running. I’ll tell you how they are used in the three Ngage preview games:

Fifa 07. What’s cool about Fifa 07 is that you have two options of landscape views. You can choose whether you want the directional pad on your left or right when playing. Replays are fun also. You can rewind or forward and change camera views. I’m not amazed at the graphics, but I’m impressed I’m playing a 3D soccer game on a phone. In defense, one button to change player, the other for slide tackle. In offense, one button for passing player, the other for shooting.

What I didn’t like about the game is that you need to hold the ‘5′ button to sprint. The defenders will run after you and steal the ball if you keep the ball too long. You’ll be fine if you play in upright portrait mode, but that’s not as fun.

Asphalt 3: Street Style. This is my favorite of the three games. Simple, not bad-looking, and fun. Landscape view is the only way to play this game. The dedicated buttons prove to be useful. One for turbo, the other for brake.

Space Impact Light I’m not a big fan. You basically just move around most of the time while the ship automatically shoots. The dedicated button is for shooting the special weapon.

The preview for Ngage in the Nokia N81 is not a perfect representation of what’s to come. With Ngage, we’re supposedly able to play against other people throughout the world, and instantly download and preview games into our phones. Surely, I’ll be checking it out once Nokia announces it is available. Check out a video from Unwired View to have a sneak peek.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a phone with good camera, video, or GPS, you are looking at the wrong phone. The Nokia N81 is for people who want music and games. It’s fast to play music and the dedicated gaming keys really enhances the playing experience. With Ngage nearing its grand opening, the Nokia N81 is looking to be the ultimate gaming phone.

Negative. There are a few negative points that I want to point out. Syncing music with a Mac is currently nonexistent and album art is a pain to add to the phone. We’ll see if software updates fix these problems.