Nokia N Series N8 - 16GB - Silver white (Unlocked) Smartphone

(Revised 9 February 2011 to update experiential aspects; downgrade to -good-

After using the Nokia N8 for two months I have come to the conclusion that this is the smartphone to lead Nokia forward. It is not perfect - what is?

Fit and Finish - This is probably the best constructed and flawless looking mobile device I have ever purchased. The few buttons work well with good feedback. The phone is solid, an advantage of a non-traditional battery cover. The HDMI port cover is too cheap; no port cover for the microUSB port.

Display - OLED and rich looking. 3.5 is as big as I'd want to carry around regularly. The resolution is typical Symbian (360 x 640), which is to say not nearly enough pixels on that just right sized screen. The FIRST mobile display that I can use easily outside in daylight.

Ease of Setup - Initial setup was a bit more of chore than I expected it to be. WiFi setup, contact transfer were both harder than they needed to be. I had to use Ovi Suite to transfer contacts; the interphone transfer application didn't work with my Nokia N900. Everything else, MMS , SMS, microSDHC file system, etc. set itself up. Wow!

How Does It Work? - The phone behaves very well, picking the wifi network over my 3G connection whenever needed. This is something that my Nokia 5800 does not always do well. The N8 doesn't even ask - it simply picks the right connection. By the way, that is a "wireless N" speed connection. Very fast. The user interface is very fast. There are times when it hangs for up to ten seconds, which is an eternity when you are waiting for an application to open or close so you can do something else. This is once or twice a day, just enough to remind you it can be a problem without being an issue. I use the optional Swype keyboard and love it.

The Touch Screen - The pencil eraser sized stylus gave me an idea of how much precision I was sacrificing for the capacitive multitouch on the N8-00 over my resistive screen devices. I like the subtle but distinct vibration feedback. This is a much sweeter and tuned vibration than on previous Nokia touch screens and much nicer than Samsung touch feedback. Multi-touch works well. There are times when I believe my touch input has gotten lost on the way to informing the OS the screen has been touched. About twice a day this happens.

Using It - The upgrade to Belle and the release of Microsoft Apps 2.01 has improved operation of the phone. Screen widgets better response overall and more home screens are key improvements. This cramps the amountof available space on the C: drive so you'll have to be careful what you load to C:. Use E: or the microSD when possible.

Camera- I see very few artifacts in my well lit photos. A lot of thought went into the processing algorithms to ensure best results from the 12 MP sensor. Xenon flash is bright and even. Images look fabulous on the device. Video is quite good. None of the choppiness or hesitation I have seen in other cell phone (N900) video shooters. It all looks great on the big screen in native 720p resolution.

Summary- Daily momentary hangs aside, this is a good device with many features. That I can get 3G speeds with both my T-Mobile US and ATT SIM cards is a huge plus.

Nokia introduces the Nokia N8, our latest smartphone that intuitively connects to the people, places and services that matter most. The Nokia N8 enables people to create compelling content, connect to their favourite social networks and enjoy the latest on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store apps.

The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. People can also make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite.

The Nokia N8 offers a true home theater experience with HD quality film and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound. You can plug the device to your home theatre system with an HDMI cable.

The Nokia N8 enables access to local and global Web TV services that deliver TV programs, news and entertainment from channels such as CNN, National Geographic, E! Entertainment and Paramount directly on the homescreen.

People can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.

The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, taking you where you want to be and showing you what want to see in over 70 countries worldwide.

The Nokia N8 has 16GB of in-built storage space, expandable up to 48GB with a Micro SD card. Large files can be easily transferred to a memory stick with the USB On-the-Go.

With this announcement, Nokia is offering developers a new platform to innovate on. The Nokia N8 comes integrated with Qt, a software development environment that simplifies the development and makes it possible to build applications once and deploy across Symbian and other software platforms. Nokia has also made the simple to use Nokia Qt SDK available, in its initial beta, to enable developers to start realizing the potential of Qt.

The Nokia N8 will be available in select markets during the third quarter of 2010.

The Nokia N8 marks the global device debut of the new Symbian^3 software, featuring several major advancements:

Usability enhancements across the user interface, including single tap, multi-touch and support for gestures such as “pinch-to-zoom.”
Three personalizable homescreens on the Nokia N8, easily maneuvered through by a simple flick.
Faster and more responsive user interface with new 2D and 3D graphics architecture that takes full advantage of hardware acceleration
More efficient memory management allows more applications to run in parallel for a faster, more complete and efficient multi-tasking experience.

The Nokia N8 is a very good smartphone if you look for an smartphone that delivers performance. The camera is just awesome (with 12 MP, you can't go wrong). With 16 GB internal storage + microSD card capability (up to 32 GB) + USB connectivity + HDMI connectivity, I can have pretty much all the files I want to always available from my phone, and can also record HD videos and directly connect the phone to my HDTV (which is pretty cool). The music player is also good. The interface is easy to use, but I have to say that is not the best.

Over the last 5 years I have owned the Blackberry Pearl/Curve, and also the iPhone 3GS. The N8 is far superior to any Blackberry out there (the only advantage of Blackberry is the keyboard).

If you are deciding between this phone and an iPhone think about the following: a) Are you an outdoors person, who loves going camping/fishing/climbing/etc., and will be taking tons of pictures with the phone? If so, take the N8 (the N8 camera will make the pictures taken with an iPhone look like crap, trust me); b) Would you be accessing websites with Flash? If so, take the N8 (I am a huge soccer fan, and to view matches using ESPN or any other broadcaster you need flash... I mean, for God's sake Apple!!! Seriously???); c) Want tons of applications to download? If so, the iPhone is better (Ovistore is not nearly as big as Applestore, but so far I have all the applications I want). Also, I found the virtual keyboard of the iPhone easier to use, but is just a matter of getting used to the N8's virtual keyboard.

This is a very god phone. Is packed with the best camera ever made for a phone, and you have everything you could possibly need. The Ovimaps feature is also a good add. People may say that the phone has a slow processor, but since the operating system is so light, the performance is still very good (this phone is fast!!! Probably the performance of the dual core smartphones is beating the crap out of it, but so they are doing with every single-core smartphone, including the iPhone 4).

I bought it because of the camera lensa, Carl Zeis. It has a Corning Gorila Glass capacitive touch screen, very responsive. It is fast. It shows videos in very great quality.
The included SO (Symbian) could be somewhat easier to handle, but it's OK. I guess I won't miss thing like an Android OS.
I don't make an extensive use of all the capabilities that this phone offers, but I think it's OK in all ways
A friend of mine got an HTC Desire Z. That one is incompatible with 3G in my country, the N8 works great with 3G in Argentina. The HTC Desire includes only 1Gb of storage, the Nokia N8 has 16Gb of internal plus up to 32Gb in a micro SD card.
I recommend this. I think there are other offers with better price/quality or price/features, but the lens of the camera worth the extra money

MOBILE GREAT, GREAT DIGITAL CAMERA, GPS, INTERNET HAS EVERYTHING THAT CAN HAVE A GOOD CELL,FOR ME, THIS MOBILE IS COMPLETE, AND ME PLEASE ALL REQUESTS FOR AN END CELL LINE.