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Our Nokia N8 Review

Nokia's latest attempt to regain its position in the smartphone market comes in the chunky and scratchproof Nokia N8 mobile phone. Inside there's the company's latest operating system, the annoyingly-spelt but much more stable Symbian^3. Although a great improvement on earlier versions, it still lags behind the iPhone and Google in terms of excitement.

The interface has a lot of drawbacks. It's fiddly to switch between homescreens and adding widgets is time-consuming - after swiping between screens, you have to wait while the device wakes up. It works much quicker in the main menu than it does in the homescreens. However, the improved 680 mhz processor makes for a significant improvement over previous models in this range.

The interface's ease of use, or lack of, is similar to the difference between a Mac and PC, where you only have to tell a Mac something once, but it takes longer with a PC. The Nokia is the PC, with some simple tasks without the option to automate and it's a long, tedious process to delete the simplest of files, such as emails.

As usual with Nokia contacts, there is space enough for multiple numbers and addresses fro each contact, which you probably won't need. But the syncing of contacts from Google Talk, Twitter and Facebook, is easily done.

Predictive dialling works well when making a call from your contacts list and the Nokia N8 mobile phone's sound was clear at both ends of the call. There's also built-in video calling, which is bound to catch on one day. Messaging and emailing with the QWERTY touchscreen is much easier and faster in landscape mode, but the predictive text option is fussy and fiddly and a bother to navigate - you'd be better off downloading a typing programme so you get more accurate and don't have to use it.

The Nokia N8's web browser is one area where it does seem to have one over the competition. Accurate pinch-to-zoom and Flash make this a smooth and clear browsing experience, as is viewing video online, although you may have to wait a while for the stream to fully buffer. After that, it's just like watching a very small television.

The camera, as you'd expect from Nokia, is also a winner, with its 12-megapixel sensor, Zeiss lens and Xenon flash. There are many options when taking pictures, both before and after clicking the shutter. You can play about with the white balance and contrast, and there are many preset modes to choose from, as well as face recognition. All this directed by the dedicated shutter button on the side. The HD video recorder gives just as good results.

What We Liked

Solid and chunky, scratchproof, with a great camera

What We Disliked

Navigating the user interface is just too fiddly

Our Final Verdict

The Nokia N8 mobile phone has much to commend it, once you have got used to its long-winded way of doing things.

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	Nokia N8
General
Form Factor	Candybar
Dimensions	113.5 x 59 x 12.9 (mm)
Talk Time	330 mins
Standby Time	440 hours
Weight	135 g
Quad Band	Yes
Photo and Video
Integrated Camera	Yes
Camera	12.00 megapixels
Camera Flash	Yes
Video Player	Yes
Phone
Voice Recognition	Yes
Polyphonic Ringtones	Yes
Smart Phone	Yes
Internal Memory	16GB
Memory Card Type	MicroSD (max 32GB)
Messaging
Instant Messaging (IM)	Yes
Photo Messaging	Yes
Video Messaging	Yes
Screen
Colour Screen	Yes
Touch Screen	Yes
Connectivity
3G	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes
Email	Yes
HSDPA	Yes
WAP	Yes
Web Browser	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes
GPS	Yes
Music and Radio
FM Radio	Yes
MP3 Player	Yes
MP3 Ringtones	Yes
Additional Content
Downloadable Content	Yes
Downloadable Games	Yes
Downloadable Ringtones	Yes

Nokia N8 Full Specification

General

Photo and Video

Phone

Messaging

Screen

Connectivity

Music and Radio

Additional Content