I just bought this phone a couple days ago.Comparing N8 photos vs iPhone photos:
iPhone screen is 960x640, while N8 screen is 360x640.
A picture when enlarged will look more blurry on the N8, compared with the same picture enlarged on the iPhone.
This doesn't mean the N8 camera takes blurry pictures.
This means the screen resolution is better on iPhone
This means the camera is better on N8.
The bad quality UI complaints are mostly due to the 3rd party widgets included from YouTube, CNN, BBC, National Geographic, Paramount movie previews.
My phone crashed (UI got stuck) due to some third party app, and I tried to remove the battery (as with most other phones) but couldn't.
I realized I did not need to remove the battery...just press the power button for 5-8 seconds and the phone will reboot.
BTW, if you'd ever need to replace the battery yourself, just use a small "allen key" type screwdriver.
The Nokia N8 multiple home screens are a great way to organize yourself and reduce phone screen clutter.
If you need a portrait mode qwerty keyboard, swype or dayhand maybe interesting options for you.
I personally need a qwerty keyboard in portrait mode.
Keep in mind that qwerty keyboard is just a burden for most people (esp. older people in Asia).
Such people will be content with just reading messages, sending a few "very short" messages with the T9 keypad...while making a lot of calls and taking a lot of pictures anytime anywhere.
Among the things I love about this phone:
1. N8 is able to play all sorts of vdo file formats.
2. Camera gives you 12MP pictures, and HD video! Just make sure to peel the plastic off the lens on the back.
3. Connectivity cables included (usb to thumb drive, usb to pc/mac, hdmi to tv is flawless)
4. Multi-tasking
5. Long battery life
6. Internet, Email, or Web Connectivity can be set to be via "WLAN only" or "WLAN preferred" or "3G only", etc.
You can minimise mobile operator fees as you like.
7. Combine Push Email with your choice of network connectivity via WLAN and you start to save money with the lower phone bill.
This is my opinion on the iPhone vs N8 issue...
US journalists/bloggers who write N8 reviews are mostly new to Nokia/Symbian.
So they will only "evaluate" their comfort level with the N8...for just a couple of days.
They admit (very briefly) that "I'm an iPhone user, I tried to use N8 for x days", before they start hammering the N8.
N8 gives you the gear to lower your phone bill
Hackers have traditionally been about lowering their AT&T phone bills. Many in Silicon Valley, including Steve Jobs, grew up with this mentality. Nokia probably realize this and gives you a choice...the press is not giving Nokia the credit for giving you the freedom.
Nokia N8 robust hardware will still be handy after many years of use and software updates.
Part of the "UI problem" is due to the less tightly structured Symbian UI development kit, by allowing 3rd party developers the freedom to create their own look and feel.
So each app on Symbian can have a different UI structure and user's experience may not very be consistent across different apps even though they are using the same device (N8).
The less tight structure of Symbian APIs has proved to be a strength as Symbian has evolved to support a much larger variety of hardware types with different phone form factors:
some touch screen
some T9 keypad
some qwerty keypad
Nokia, as a leading phone manufacturer, offers a larger choice of phone form factors for a larger customer base...that's the reason Nokia is a leading phone manufacturer.
Each form factor will be preferred by different types of users, since there is a much wider consumer base.
Many business users will prefer a qwerty keyboard.
Many users will prefer a T9 keypad and find the qwerty keyboard a distraction with too many buttons...for example, they usually do not do a lot of texting or type on a computer keyboard.
Many people like the "feel" of a touch UI...but that also means that each app is more likely to have "touch buttons" on a different location of the screen.
That means touch UI phones require the users to "look before you touch".
That means with the keyboard or keypad, users can "feel" as they "touch" the phone buttons without looking.
1) First let me go to internet browsing.
Nokia N900 is the first phone to have full flash player and the major capability is it will play videos directly in the browser, for sites like youtube, facebook etc. Once facebook moved to latest flash player, N900 is not able to play the videos(eventhough there is a hack).
Nokia N8, does not have full flash player, but it has flash lite. I was expecting that the youtube and facebook will not be able to play the videos directly in the browser. To my surprise, both the sites played the video in the site itself, thats really great.
With respect to Nokia N900, every site determines it as a computer and hence will show the full page, instead of the mobile site, which is good, if the wifi or 3G is really good.
With respect to Nokia N8, every site determines it as a mobile and hence will first display the mobile site, but if you re-route it to the full site, still it displays the sites like charm.
Conclusion: with respect to internet browsing Nokia N8 does great.
2) Playing videos.
Nokia N900 has a resolution of 800x480, hence the videos look very good.
Nokia N8 has a resolution of 640x360, so I expected videos(good videos like HD videos) will look less attractive, but to my surprise, it looks great in Nokia N8.
Nokia N900 can almost play any video format directly, like wmv, avi etc, including flv. I am not sure whether any other phone can do/compete with this.
Nokia N8 on the other hand, has the ability to play any video format, but for avi and flv there is a little trick. When you copy an avi file, your PC may complain that this device is not capable to play it, but you can still use it as a storage and say yes to it. To my surprise, media player picks and plays well. For .flv files, after you copy, the media player is not going to pick it, as if it doesn't support it. If you go to file manager and click on this .flv file, media player picks it and plays well. I haven't tried .mkv file yet, as the mkv files that I have are all big and it is not allowing me to copy those.
Conclusion: Playing videos is very good in Nokia N8.
3) Camera.
Nokia N900 has 5MP camera and in this area, Nokia N8 stays way ahead with 12MP camera and xenon flash.
Nokia N8 has xenon flash, which normal cameras use, still even normal cameras cannot take good pictures in dim night lighting. Similarly N8 photos come good, if taken in close shots in night. In daylight, photos come really good. The beauty with N8 is its photo and video editing softwares out of the box, which are really good.
HD video recording in N8 is good, provided you don't show quick movements to turn the camera to a different angle and this is mainly due to the 25 frames per second video recording.
Conclusion: Nokia N8 camera and its capabilities are one of the best.
4) GPS.
Nokia N900 is pretty dumb in this area too, as it doesn't have voice guidance out of box. So lets directly jump to Nokia N8.
Nokia N8 has one of the best GPS with voice guidance, one major disadvantage that I came across is, it needs 3G connection to work(I am not sure whether this is correct, what I am quoting is just my experience). Once it connects, it works good. I just found two minor issues, one is it informs you to take a turn just when you are few feet away to take the turn, whereas Garmin GPS informs you well ahead. Similar way when you arrive at your destination, it says you arrived at destination, it does not say, whether your destination is on the right or left, whereas Garmin GPS tells which side your destination is going to be.
Conclusion: Nokia N8 GPS is definitely good.
5) Widgets.
Nokia N900 stands out with respect to widgets and its definitely the best in the industry. You can place the widgets whereever you want, even one on top of the other. Widgets are really useful in N900.
Nokia N8 on the other hand has fixed dimensions for widgets and you can't place it whereever you like. You need to place it in the designated places. The main drawback for this that I found is, in email widget, you don't get much required information from the widget, you still need to jump into the mail app to know what email came to you now. Still widgets look good in N8.
Conclusion: Nokia N8 widgets are still good.
6) Chat and Voip.
Nokia N900 stands out in this area too, as Skype worked with Nokia to have the skype integrated into the contacts. Like that, google, yahoo, even sametime all are integrated into the contacts itself. You just need to go to contacts to see who is online. You can call that contact through various options, like gsm call or voip call using skype or skype to skype call or skype to skype video call, same way for google, yahoo etc. It is very powerful, none of the mobile has it integrated like this.
With respect to Nokia N8, I believe it is not out of box and I am not sure whether I need to install anything to get a similar experience. I heard skype is still building an app for N8, so still I am searching for a provider who can offer video calling capabilities, so that I can use the secondary camera.
Conclusion: Nokia N8's capabilities in this area are not yet explored.
7) Social networks.
Nokia N900 has beautiful widgets and integration to contact well.
Nokia N8 is not less to this. It has widgets and integration to contact also well.
Conclusion: Nokia N8's social network capabilities are good.
8) Bluetooth.
Nokia N900 has the usual bluetooth version and it works good even with A2DP.
Nokia N8 stands out in this, with latest bluetooth version 3.0. The transfers are really fast compared to the older version. The beauty comes with out of box drivers to support bluetooth devices like mouse, keyboard etc. Imagine, I paired my bluetooth keyboard and mouse to the phone and it reduced the time that I spent to do the typing, a lot. I don't have a monitor to connect using the HDMI port, if I have, then it becomes a complete system.
Conclusion: This is one of the best in Nokia N8.
9) Battery life.
Nokia N900, in line with all the other powerful smartphones, with all the widgets constantly checking the internet and all the chat softwares too constantly checking internet, it comes for 75% of the day and you need to charge it after that.
Nokia N8, to my surprise even with all the above said things, it is able to withstand for atleast 2 days.
Conclusion: Battery is really good in N8.
10) WebTV.
Nokia N900 doesn't have this capability.
Nokia N8: need to explore in this area.
Conclusion: Need to explore in this area.
11) Micro USB capabilities.
Nokia N900, not much to say.
Nokia N8, can read your memory stick out of the box and will show it as a drive in the file manager.
Conclusion: Micro USB in Nokia N8 is capable of more things.
12) Speakers.
Nokia N900, has stereo speakers and it can produce loud sounds without any external speakers.
Nokia N8, doesn't have stereo speakers, but to my surprise the sound is equally loud as N900, but I found only one problem in this area, as the speaker is in the camera compartment which directly comes in contact to the ground. If you keep the phone down on a desk, you will not be able to hear any sound, as the speaker is blocked by the desk. Similarly even the mic is on the same side, so if you talk over phone handsfree, by keeping the phone on the desk, both the parties are not going to hear properly.
13) FM transmitter and internet radio.
Nokia N900 is outstanding in this area. If you find to get your popular radio stations URL from internet, you just need to grab the URL and give it to the media player, then N900 can stream your radio station live from internet either using wifi or 3G, which means even if you are in any part of the world, you will be able to hear your favourite radio station live. Using the build-in FM transmitter, you can transmit to your own car radio.
Nokia N8 has the FM transmitter, which is equally good to N900. Even though N8 has internet radio concept, it is basically app based, which means whatever stations the app is providing, thats what you are going to hear. If you want to do the same things as above(like grabbing an url and feeding it to media player), I am not sure how to do it.
Conclusion: FM transmitter is really good, but internet radio needs some improvement.
I hope, I covered the review of some distinct features apart from the usual ones.What more can I do with it (compared to iPhone or Android):
1. Navigate anytime with a fantastic GPS module and free life time navigation (including turn by turn voice navigation with street names, lane guidance, speed limit warning, traffic etc.!!). Go buy crap GPS software for iPhone for a huge price (last time checked was more than 50$) and even then that won't even come close to Nokia navigation. Don't forget Nokia owns Navteq (the worlds largest map producer)
2. Transmit FM and play it on your car music system (iPhone doesn't even have a FM receiver)
3. The best camera (those of u who read the misleading review of endgadget, if u r really reading my review, then u r serious and go ahead to search on google to find zillions of unbiased camera review, comparing N8 even against DSLR)
4. Pentaband network support, which would let you use the phone with both AT&T and T-Mobile 3g network!!
5. Dolby surround sound output
6. USB on the go (which means you could connect your USB device with the phone!)
7. Bluetooth 3.0
8. The only OS that has a very complete bluetooth stack implementation (perhaps too technical for some of the readers) that allows u to even control ur powerpoint presentation with ur cellphone (using salling clicker). The poor iPhone guys, no ur phone doesn't have that functionality (crippled at OS level)
9. The OS that gives superb battery life (anyone using Symbian would testify for this)
10. The freedom that comes with an open OS (OK, Android is also open)
11. The most configurable and complete enterprise wireless stack (trust me, I never ever had any problem to configure my Nokia phones for the most convoluted enterprise wireless network!)
12. A built in completely integrated VOIP support. You won't even notice that u r using VOIP. And trust me, if u know how to use VOIP effectively, u could save a huge amount on your phone bill
13. The ability to work as Bluetooth HSPA modem (or even create Wifi hotspot with third party software)
14. The TRUE TRUE TRUE multi tasking. Yes that's three TRUEs. No one else (including the upcoming Windows Phone 7) supports true multi-tasking. If u ever use Symbian multitasking, u would hate to use others' sham multitasking
15. Many many ... can't list. Feeling tired :( Users are welcome to comment and add additional pros and cons. I am sure there will be Nokia fanboys and iPhone and Android fanboys.
What can't I do (or can't do so well):
1. The UI (yes iPhone and Android have better intuitive UI)
2. I can't fart with my mobile (but I do have all the apps that I would ever need: e.g. call screening software, office software, pdf reader, flash support, email solution, the entire Oxford, cambridge or a host of other dictionaries etc.)
3. Zillions of games that you may avail on iPhone, u may not have on Nokia yet (believe me it's changing fast). BTW, N8 has a faster GPU than iPhone4!
Now some misleading media propaganda:
1. N8 has only 680 MHz processor: Believe me Symbian is by born very efficient. If u ever own a Mac and try to run a Windows 7 in a virtual machine then u know how slow it is. Processor doesn't define speed. I started with a 233MHz pentium processor with 32MB RAM which ran Windows 98 extremely fast with all Office applications, a bunch of productivity apps and a host of games. To give a recent example look at Windows Vista, which runs very slow on the same computer compared to Windows 7 or Mac OS X!
2. N8 has only 256MB RAM: Again u don't need that much RAM. The Symbian^3 has "Writable data paging" which works like virtual memory. And don't forget, Symbian is built from ground up to be battery, memory and processor efficient. No other OS (including Android) claims that feat.
So, in conclusion, if u r looking for a very modern looking user interface, go for iPhone (or Android). But if u r like me who shops for functionality (and who dreams to carry only one gadget (no GPS, no camera, no Apple remote etc.)) then surely u should give N8 a serious thought. And don't let naysayers fool u with usability issues. Believe me, with just couple of days of use, every unintuitive UI would become intuitive (I am a Symbian veteran and it feels very intuitive to me).I just bought this phone a couple days ago.
Comparing N8 photos vs iPhone photos:
iPhone screen is 960x640, while N8 screen is 360x640.
A picture when enlarged will look more blurry on the N8, compared with the same picture enlarged on the iPhone.
This doesn't mean the N8 camera takes blurry pictures.
This means the screen resolution is better on iPhone
This means the camera is better on N8.
The bad quality UI complaints are mostly due to the 3rd party widgets included from YouTube, CNN, BBC, National Geographic, Paramount movie previews.
My phone crashed (UI got stuck) due to some third party app, and I tried to remove the battery (as with most other phones) but couldn't.
I realized I did not need to remove the battery...just press the power button for 5-8 seconds and the phone will reboot.
BTW, if you'd ever need to replace the battery yourself, just use a small "allen key" type screwdriver.
The Nokia N8 multiple home screens are a great way to organize yourself and reduce phone screen clutter.
If you need a portrait mode qwerty keyboard, swype or dayhand maybe interesting options for you.
I personally need a qwerty keyboard in portrait mode.
Keep in mind that qwerty keyboard is just a burden for most people (esp. older people in Asia).
Such people will be content with just reading messages, sending a few "very short" messages with the T9 keypad...while making a lot of calls and taking a lot of pictures anytime anywhere.
Among the things I love about this phone:
1. N8 is able to play all sorts of vdo file formats.
2. Camera gives you 12MP pictures, and HD video! Just make sure to peel the plastic off the lens on the back.
3. Connectivity cables included (usb to thumb drive, usb to pc/mac, hdmi to tv is flawless)
4. Multi-tasking
5. Long battery life
6. Internet, Email, or Web Connectivity can be set to be via "WLAN only" or "WLAN preferred" or "3G only", etc.
You can minimise mobile operator fees as you like.
7. Combine Push Email with your choice of network connectivity via WLAN and you start to save money with the lower phone bill.
This is my opinion on the iPhone vs N8 issue...
US journalists/bloggers who write N8 reviews are mostly new to Nokia/Symbian.
So they will only "evaluate" their comfort level with the N8...for just a couple of days.
They admit (very briefly) that "I'm an iPhone user, I tried to use N8 for x days", before they start hammering the N8.
N8 gives you the gear to lower your phone bill
Hackers have traditionally been about lowering their AT&T phone bills. Many in Silicon Valley, including Steve Jobs, grew up with this mentality. Nokia probably realize this and gives you a choice...the press is not giving Nokia the credit for giving you the freedom.
Nokia N8 robust hardware will still be handy after many years of use and software updates.
Part of the "UI problem" is due to the less tightly structured Symbian UI development kit, by allowing 3rd party developers the freedom to create their own look and feel.
So each app on Symbian can have a different UI structure and user's experience may not very be consistent across different apps even though they are using the same device (N8).
The less tight structure of Symbian APIs has proved to be a strength as Symbian has evolved to support a much larger variety of hardware types with different phone form factors:
some touch screen
some T9 keypad
some qwerty keypad
Nokia, as a leading phone manufacturer, offers a larger choice of phone form factors for a larger customer base...that's the reason Nokia is a leading phone manufacturer.
Each form factor will be preferred by different types of users, since there is a much wider consumer base.
Many business users will prefer a qwerty keyboard.
Many users will prefer a T9 keypad and find the qwerty keyboard a distraction with too many buttons...for example, they usually do not do a lot of texting or type on a computer keyboard.
Many people like the "feel" of a touch UI...but that also means that each app is more likely to have "touch buttons" on a different location of the screen.
That means touch UI phones require the users to "look before you touch".
That means with the keyboard or keypad, users can "feel" as they "touch" the phone buttons without looking.Reception: Very good. Has two mics, one for talking and one in the back for noise cancellation, so call quality is very good on both ends. The speaker next to your ear is loud and clear.
Body: The screen is glass so you don't need a screen protector. The anodized/painted aluminum finish is sturdy, but way too slippery. I would strongly recommend getting a silicone case or something.
Camera: Shame on Nokia for cramming 12MP into a 1/1.8" sensor. I'd be happy with 8. This practice should be heavily frowned upon. The autofocus is very fast but not exactly razor sharp. ISO performance is decent, which is expected for a 1/1.8" sensor. The flash is pretty weak, so this camera has to crank up the ISO to compensate, which unfortunately degrades photo quality. I personally prefer a wider angle, around 28mm but that is just personal preference. That said, it is still probably the best camera available on a phone. Pictures come out pretty bland and soft on default settings. I hate that you can't save the default processing settings to "Vivid" and a little higher contrast. Every time you turn on the camera it resets these settings to factory defaults.
Interface: It often takes too many clicks to go places and type things. The touchscreen sensors aren't as well tuned as any of the iphones. I always feel like I could use more buttons. For instance, if you're using the music player, and the phone auto-locked but you want to change the track, you have to unlock it before you can do anything. Same if you want to turn the player off. On my old Sony Ericsson candybar phone, you can press the play/pause button because there is a dedicated play/pause button. If you want to change the track, you hold down the volume button and it changes track, or tap the volume button to change volume. On the N8 if you hold down the volume rocker it rapidly changes the volume. There is also a serious lack of dedicated "cancel" or "back" button, commonly found on almost all Samsung or Sony Ericsson phones. What's the point of having a touch screen you're still only going have two "soft keys" up front and hide most of the options in a submenu?
Organizer: I hate that you can't set an alarm to recursively ring on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Yes you can set it to ring on "workdays" only and then set the "workdays" but I like to have several custom alarms and this doesn't do it for me. The workaround is to set 3 different alarms on the calendar on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and then make them recurring every week. The problem with the calendar alarm is that if it rings and you don't hit snooze in time, it will not ring again. It will auto shut off. Lame. And why, in the Notes app, do I have to click 3 different things to even begin typing? It should be one click. ONE! Or two at the most.
GPS Navigation: It takes about 10-20 seconds for the GPS to track down your location. It's great that you can download maps and use it offline, but the interface and user experience is much inferior to Google Maps, and the same can be said for the search feature. So, I just use Google Maps. But yeah if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere with no cell/internet reception, at least you can figure out where you are.
Web surfing: The default web browser is sluggish and annoying, but Opera Mobile is a very suitable (albeit buggy and crashy) replacement. Too bad Opera can't do Flash yet but at least it can do Youtube.
Texting: The keyboard is OK, not the best ever but I can live with it.
Battery Life: With moderate useage it will not last more than 2 days.
This phone will not satisfy your thirst for instant gratification. It will do almost everything, just not necessarily as well as you would like. $550 is a lot to pay, but who wants to carry around an extra camera everywhere? I suppose if you are of the purse-carrying variety, this should not pose a problem. Other than that, a mediocre picture is better than no picture, and a decent picture is even better. I think I will keep it, but if I had to do it all over again, I would do more research into other models.
UPDATE: 11/18 Just found out about an application called Swype, which makes the keyboard about a billion times better (only works in Landscape mode, Portrait mode is the same).
Apparently the alarm can only snooze for ~45 minutes, which is just plain sucky. I like a good hour and a half of snoozing, darn it! I suppose I could work around it by setting a second alarm 54 minutes after the first one... yes...
UPDATE: 11/27 Just found out you can set your own scene mode in camera settings and save it as the default scene mode, so yes you can save the settings.
