Although Symbian is very popular in some parts of the world, this platform is not very well known in our country, because it lags behind competitors in usability and functionality. The Symbian 3 operating system is a good attempt to correct these shortcomings, and the Nokia N8 is the first smartphone to run on the updated OS. Much-needed improvements visible at a glance - a simplified touch interface and enhanced multimedia experience.
Nokia N8 – device specifications
The N8 is also one of the best camera phones on the market today, offering good call quality and long battery life. However, it still falls short of the competition in a number of areas, including ease of use, navigation, and integrated services. All this, combined with the expensive $549 price tag, doesn't make it a mainstream gadget. Although the Nokia N8 is a good smartphone, consumers are more likely to opt for Android or iPhone devices.
Design
For the most part, Nokia always makes quality hardware, and the N8 is no exception. As soon as you take it in your hands, you will notice a strong and at the same time beautiful case withmetal inserts and glass display. The gadget measures 4.47 inches high, 2.32 inches wide, and 0.51 inches thick. That's a good size for a smartphone: it's big enough to have a large screen, but it's thin and compact enough to be easily carried around and held in the palm of your hand. There is a slightly domed camera on the back, which stands out a bit from the streamlined design, but it's not inconvenient.
Nokia N8 Screen
The front of the phone is adorned with a 3.5-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen. With a resolution of 640x360 and support for 16.7 million colors, the display looks bright and crisp. However, the image does not look as sharp as some of the latest smartphones. Compared to devices such as the HTC Evo 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S series, text and images do not appear as harmonious, and pixels are more prominent. It doesn't interfere with using your phone, but you will definitely notice a difference.
The display offers a built-in accelerometer and finger click zoom support. The performance of both functions is a bit inconsistent. Sometimes the response may be instantaneous and other times there may be a slight delay. This also applies to the operation of the touch screen in general. Scrolling through lists and desktop panels isn't quite as smooth as some other competing phones.
To enter text on the screen, the keyboard is displayed in portrait and landscapemodes, but the QWERTY option is only available in landscape orientation. This means that if you want to type any messages in portrait orientation, you will have to type them on the alphanumeric keypad.
Other controls
In addition to the touch screen, the device has a couple of controls to help you navigate and perform other functions. There is one button below the display that switches to the main menu or to the main screen if you are in another application. On the right side, there is a twin volume rocker, a lock switch and a camera activation/capture button.
What other features does the Nokia N8 have? There is a power button, an HDMI port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the device. On the left side are the SIM and microSD slots, as well as the micro-USB port. On the back, you'll find a 12-megapixel camera with xenon flash. It is curious that, unlike other phones, the Nokia N8 does not have a replaceable battery. Therefore, the Nokia N8 battery cannot be replaced.
Completeness
The N8 comes with a good range of accessories including charger, USB cable, HDMI cable, USB On-The-Go adapter, wired stereo headset, and reference materials. Although the charger has an international adapter, the phone can be equipped with a micro-USB charger. N8 is available in five colors: dark gray, blue, green, orange, silver white. In addition, atIf you wish, you can choose a case for Nokia N8 of any color.
User interface
One of the main shortcomings of the Symbian S60 platform is its "poor" user interface. Ascetic appearance, archaic menu and not very convenient navigation - all this contributed to great disappointment among users. Symbian 3 fixes a number of these shortcomings and makes the N8 mega-modern compared to previous Nokia smartphones. However, it still lags behind the competition in a number of features and amenities. In order to change anything on your device, you will need a Nokia N8 security code.
Symbian 3 now offers a single control model through the user interface, so you no longer have to go through multiple steps to complete a simple task or exit a menu. This unified system has made the phone easier to use, but it still lacks quick access to features within the app. For example, to reply to an email message on the Nokia N8, you must first select "Options" and then only turn on reply. On Android, a similar option is located on the same email page.
The desktop screen currently consists of three panels that can be customized with various widgets, including messages, social networks, music player, favorite contacts, RSS feeds and so on. Widgets can give you a quick view of the latest information and if you wantview more, you can click on it to launch a standalone app.
The main menu largely repeats previous models, representing a grid of your applications (you can change the view to a list). There is a useful feature - if you hold down the menu key at the bottom of the screen for a long time, it will organize the icons of all your running applications. From there, you can swipe through the list to switch between tasks or exit the app.
Features
N8 Nokia offers hands-free calling, speed dialing, conferencing, voice dialing, vibrating alerts, text and multimedia chat messages and more. The phone's address book is limited only by the amount of available memory; only a SIM card can provide additional contacts. The directory has a separate entry for storing multiple phone numbers, work and home addresses, e-mail, birthday and other important information in each contact. You can also assign each contact a photo, a group ID, or a custom ringtone, which is very convenient according to users.
Unlike devices on other operating systems, Nokia N8 (original) does not automatically sync information from your email accounts and social networks. You will have to use features such as the Ovi service or the ISYNC plugin, which are not very convenient.
N8 is compatible with multiple email protocols, including Exchange, Lotus Notes andPOP3/IMAP, and offers HTML and folder support. At the same time, access to mail options is not always simple and clear. For example, if you want to get to your folders, you need to click on the "Inbox" tab at the top of the screen, and then select the one you need from the drop-down list. This isn't the biggest problem, but it all comes down to usability.
Connection
Wireless options are well presented with Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi (802.11b/G/N), GPS and five-band 3G support (WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100). The WebKit browser integrated into the N8 is quite decent. It offers support for Flash Lite 4.0 and multiple windows, and pages open pretty quickly. Navigation, however, judging by user feedback, could be much better. Something as simple as entering a new web address requires launching a separate menu and entering the URL followed by clicking Go. It really shouldn't be that hard.
Multimedia
The Nokia N series has always been known for its multimedia capabilities, and the N8 continues that tradition. In Symbian 3, the integrated music player gets a nice bonus in the form of Cover Flow - an interface for viewing music. It offers core features such as shuffle and repeat modes, on-the-fly playlist creation, and support for MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, AMR-NB, and AMR-WB. There is also an FM radio. Because the Nokia N8 battery is quite powerful, you can watch videos and listen to music for hours on end.
Camera
You canto say that the best feature of the N8 is its 12 megapixel camera. Equipped with Carl Zeiss optics, a xenon flash, and numerous editing options, it produces excellent image quality. In this part, the smartphone is significantly ahead of its competitors. The images taken with this camera have bright and rich colors, as well as sharp details that are not visible in most photos taken with a phone. The camera is also able to successfully shoot in various environments - indoors, outdoors, on the move (reviews confirm this).
In addition to photos, the camera can record HD and high quality videos. Unlike some other smartphones that offer HD video recording, the N8 creates clips that come out without any haze or yellowing. A pre-installed video editor, as well as a photo editor, will allow you to trim the video or add music and text. You can share the received clips on HDTV through the HDMI port. There's also a front-facing VGA camera that you can use to make video calls on apps like Fring.
Apps available
Other integrated software for Nokia N8 includes QuickOffice suite, PDF reader, ZIP manager, voice recorder, dedicated YouTube app, Maps Ovi service (which offers free navigation). In addition, you can find and download more applications from the Ovi Store. The store's catalog contains about 15,000 items. Of course it's very small.choice compared to 80,000 apps in the Android Market and 250,000 apps in iTunes, but Nokia has done a good job of updating the store interface. The N8 offers 16GB of onboard storage and an expansion slot that accepts cards up to 32GB.
