At a Glance:
- Touch screen: single tap, multi-touch and "pinch-to-zoom."
- Connected to web TV shows like National Geographic.
- Image capture: 12 megapixels
- Video capture: HD 720p
Looks
I look at the Nokia N8 and can't help but think that it's the ultimate evolution. Much like Pokemon, this is what all Nokia N series phones will one day grow up to be. That is, once they've been trained up a bit. It's magnificently beautiful, sleekly thin and quite different to any phone I've seen. I know that market is becoming saturated with smartphones and it does take a lot to stand out. The display is vibrant; the phone fits into your life unassumingly, and the best part? It comes in a huge array of colours. The phone's exoskeleton is made of aluminium giving it a seamless finish - it looks gorgeous - but is it all looks, no brain? Is it all talk and no walk? I was more than willing to find out.
Camera and video
So, no doubt you've heard about the Nokia N8s camera video hype. If you're anything like me, you're more are amazed by the photo or video, not so much how it was done. It's the detail they put into this phone that blew my mind. Please note, I'm really not an expert on the ins-and-outs of cameras, so I had to research this information. It has a 12 megapixel camera with Xenon flash and an extremely accurate sensor.
The Nokia N8 takes HD videos at 720p and you can easily zoom in whilst recording without losing focus or sacrificing quality. The reason for this is the Active Hyper Focal system – why yes, I did read that in the manual. The most video function is also easy to share and easy to use. Oh and don't worry, the sound is amazing.
The innards
The phone is the first to use the Symbian^3 operating system which boasts features like, easy connection to the internet, simple navigation and a highly responsive interface.
The home screen let's you easily add your important widgets and receive up to the minute notification of status updates or tweets. Speaking of widgets, I couldn't believe the ease at which I could stream videos onto this phone. I watched the Tron trailer, bit of a NatGeo documentary and attempted to watch CNN, got bored and turned the phone off. Brilliant!
The browser
OK, wow, this was a bit odd (!) and took some getting used to. It's really NOT easy to navigate to different sites and it seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. It's not a girl, not yet a woman. Before I get carried away, what I mean is that it can't really decide whether it's a mobi site champion or a website advocate. Certain sites were easy to navigate, while others were just painful. I must say, I love the apps, and the ease in which you can download them. (But, I really wasn't happy with the connectivity.)
Messaging
I love that you can view conversations or if you opt for more traditional methods, you can send your run-o-the-mill text message. It took me a while to, be able to seamlessly send messages to my contact list, as I couldn't find my contact list. But, that bugbear was sorted out. You can also opt for a QWERTY keyboard if you flip the phone horizontally.
The music player is great and I even retired my iPod for a month. Because, I don't have anything else to say about the music player apart from the fact that it was awesome, I'll move on to the navigator (GPS). It really got me out of a pickle, it was amazingly accurate which I think is mainly due to the updates on Nokia Maps, and I must add to my amusement and horror it has that GPS lady voiceover which makes it feel like the real deal.
The touch screen which is one of the most prominent features of this phone and I was surprised to see that it was quite responsive. This is a huge step; if there is anything I hate it's a delayed response.
So, all in all, the Nokia N8 is a great phone. I'm going to buy one, and I'm not just saying that. I actually, truly mean it.
Turn ons:
- Stylish, sleek look
- 12 megapixel camera
- HD video quality
- A relatively responsive touch screen
Turn offs:
- The browser needs some work
- The phone froze when I had a lot of apps open
- No QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode.
