When we set out to write the Nokia N8 review on FoneArena, we wanted to bring you a diverse, all-encompassing, balanced opinion of the first Symbian^3 device and the long time coming imaging flagship from the Finnish manufacturer. We were lucky to have had review units sent to many of our team members and that’s how, all throughout last week, we took you through a full Nokia N8 review from 6 different writers, each one discussing a certain aspect of it.Our team members in India, USA, UK , Europe and Middle-East contributed to this review.
- Day 1 – Hardware by Michael
- Day 2 – Camera by Sandeep
- Day 3 – Symbian 3 & UI by Rita & Sloan
- Day 4 – Multimedia by Sandeep
- Day 5 – Apps, Ovi Store and Maps by Jon Choo & Gaurav
- Day 6 – Phone Calls , Messaging , Email by Sloan
- Day 7 – Connectivity by Rita
We all hope you enjoyed the way we handled this review and plan to bring you more of the same in the future. I will be wrapping it up today and sharing some pros and cons, based on our previous coverage of the device, so that you can decide for yourself.
The N8 is a great device in terms of hardware and looks. I have been been carrying a green N8 for a while and many strangers have come up to me and asked “what phone is that?”. If you have used the Nokia N82, which was the first camera phone to come with a Xenon Flash, you will certainly appreciate the N8, especially since it also adds a 12 MP Sensor. Although the Camera is one of the best in its class, it does not come with a lens cover like the N82 or N86, which exposes it to fingerprints and dust. The 2 stage shutter button is actually nice to use. Face detection as well as high-definition video recorded at 25fps are welcome, however, Smile Detection and 30fps videos would have made it perfect.
Symbian^3 is much better than S60 5th Edition, but it’s certainly lagging behind the competition. In short, the N8 has overwhelming hardware and underwhelming software. The Ovi Store, Email, Social have improved but still need some major updates to make their experience enjoyable. The N8 and Symbian^3 have brought many new options in terms of connectivity, but they are still scattered and bring the experience down instead of tuning it up.
I have been an Eseries user for a while and really love the call and hang up buttons present in most Nokia phones. It’s really frustrating to see these missing on the N8 as even the C7 has them. Also, typing on the N8, especially using T9 is not the easiest thing in the world. The landscape mode, even though not perfect, is a lot better.
Pros
- Excellent hardware which can surely withstand accidental drops
- Pentaband 3G and Quad Band GSM for the Globe Trotter
- Decent Call quality
- One of the best Cameraphones in the market
- Above average multimedia performance
- DivX and Xvid support
- USB OTG and HDMI support
- Decent battery life
- Ovi Maps with Free Lifetime navigation.
Cons
- Hardware is great but call and hangup buttons are missing
- Symbian^3 is better but still not very user friendly
- Videos are recorded only in 25fps while many phones in the market record at 30fps
- Portrait QWERTY keyboard input is sorely missing
- Browser needs upgrade badly (it should be coming in 2011)
- Battery is not removable by users
- Connectivity management is a mess.
So there you have it. Is the Nokia N8 perfect, like we once proclaimed here on FoneArena? The more we use this device, the more we notice new things to love and new things to hate about it. It may not be perfect in the absolute sense of the word, but it’s a welcome come back from Nokia, a nice change from the publicly trashed N97 and its derivatives, and the camera will keep baffling us day in and day out. With future firmware updates, the N8 is only set to get better with time, and it’s unlikely we will see any handset on the market soon that challenges its build quality, multimedia features and camera performance. So if that’s what you’re looking for, go ahead, get the N8 without pondering the question, if not, hold on, there are new devices coming every day, and your perfect choice might be there.