Although Symbian is very popular in some countries of the world, this platform is not very well known with us, since it lags behind competitors in usability and functionality. The Symbian 3 operating system is a good attempt to correct these shortcomings, and Nokia N8 is the first smartphone running on an updated OS. Such necessary improvements are visible at a glance - a simplified touch interface and advanced multimedia features.
Nokia N8 - device features
N8 is also one of the best camera phones on sale today, and also provides good communication quality and long battery life. Nevertheless, it still does not reach its competitors in a number of areas, including ease of use, navigation and integrated services. All this, combined with an expensive price tag of $ 549, does not make it a mass gadget. Despite the fact that Nokia N8 is a good smartphone, consumers more often choose devices on Android or iPhone.
Design
For the most part, Nokia always produces quality equipment, and the N8 is no exception. As soon as you pick it up, you will notice a sturdy and at the same time beautiful body with metal inserts and a glass display. The gadget has the following dimensions: 4.47 inches high, 2.32 inches wide and 0.51 inches thick. These are good dimensions for a smartphone: it is large enough to have a large screen, but it is thin and compact enough to easily carry it with you and hold in the palm of your hand. On the back there is a slightly convex camera that stands out from the streamlined design, but this does not create inconvenience.
Nokia N8 Screen
The front of the phone is adorned with a 3.5-inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen. With a resolution of 640x360 and support for 16.7 million colors, the display looks bright and clear. However, the image does not look as sharp as some of the latest smartphones. Compared to devices like the HTC Evo 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S series, text and images don't appear so harmonious, and pixels are more visible. This does not stop you from using your phone, but you will definitely notice the difference.
The display offers a built-in accelerometer and support for zoom with a click of the finger. The performance of both functions is a bit controversial. Sometimes the response may be instantaneous, while in other cases there may be a slight delay. This also applies to the operation of the touch screen as a whole. Scrolling through the lists and panels of the desktop is not quite as smooth as in some other competing phones.
To enter text on the screen, the keyboard is displayed in portrait and landscape modes, but the QWERTY option is available only in landscape orientation. This means that if you want to enter any messages in portrait orientation, you will have to type them on an alphanumeric keyboard.
Other controls
In addition to the touch screen, the device has a couple of controls designed 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 paired volume control key, a lock switch and an activation / capture button for the camera.
What other features does the Nokia N8 have? There is a power button, an HDMI port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the top of the device. On the left side are slots for SIM cards and microSD, as well as a micro-USB port. On the back you will find a 12-megapixel camera with a xenon flash. It is curious that, unlike other phones, Nokia N8 does not have a replaceable battery. Thus, the battery for Nokia N8 is not replaceable.
Completeness
The N8 comes with a good selection of accessories, including a charger, a USB cable, HDMI, a USB On-The-Go adapter, a 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, if desired, you can choose a cover for Nokia N8 of any color.
User interface
One of the main drawbacks of the Symbian S60 platform is its “poor” user interface. Ascetic appearance, archaic menu and not too convenient navigation - all this contributed to great disappointment among users. Symbian 3 corrects a number of these shortcomings and makes the N8 mega-modern compared to previous Nokia smartphones. Nevertheless, it still lags behind its competitors in a number of functions and amenities. In order to change something in the device, you will need a security code for the Nokia N8.
Symbian 3 now offers a single-user management model through the user interface, so you no longer need to go through several steps to complete a simple task or exit the menu. This single system made the phone easier to use, but still lacks quick access to functions inside the application. For example, to reply to an email message on Nokia N8, you must first select “Options” and then only enable the answer. In Android, a similar option is located on the same email page.
The desktop screen currently consists of three panels that can be configured with various widgets, including messages, social networks, a music player, favorite contacts, RSS feeds and so on. Widgets can provide you with a quick view of the latest information, and if you want to view more, you can click on it to launch a separate application.
The main menu largely repeats the previous models, representing a grid of your applications (you can change the display to a list). There is a useful feature - if you hold the menu key for a long time at the bottom of the screen, it will arrange the icons of all your running applications. From there, you can scroll through the list to switch between tasks or exit the application.
Features
Nokia N8 offers hands-free calling, speed dialing, conferencing, voice dialing, vibrating alert, text and multimedia messages in the form of chat and much 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 item for storing several phone numbers, work and home addresses, email, birthday and other important information in each contact. You can also assign each contact a photo, a group identifier or a custom melody, which is very convenient according to users.
Unlike devices on other operating systems, Nokia N8 (original) does not automatically synchronize information from your email accounts and social networks. You will have to use features such as the Ovi service or the ISYNC plugin, which is not very convenient.
N8 is compatible with several email protocols, including Exchange, Lotus Notes, and POP3 / IMAP, and offers HTML and folder support. At the same time, access to mail options is not always simple and understandable. 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 is not the biggest problem, but it all goes back to the issue of usability.
Connection
Wireless options are well presented with Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi (802.11b / g / n), GPS and five bands of 3G support (WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100). The WebKit browser integrated into the N8 is quite worthy. It offers support for Flash Lite 4.0 and multiple windows, and pages open pretty quickly. Navigation, however, judging by user reviews, could have been much better. Such a simple task as entering a new web address requires launching a separate menu and entering a URL followed by clicking Go. In fact, it should not be so difficult.
Multimedia
The Nokia N series has always been known for its multimedia capabilities, and the N8 continues this 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 basic features such as shuffle and repeat modes, create playlists on the fly, and support for MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC, eAAC +, AMR-NB, and AMR-WB. There is also an FM radio. Since the battery for Nokia N8 is quite powerful, you can watch videos and listen to music for several hours in a row.
Camera
We can say that the best feature of the N8 is its 12-megapixel camera. Equipped with Carl Zeiss optics, xenon flash, and numerous editing options, it allows you to get excellent quality images. In this part, the smartphone is significantly ahead of its competitors. Images taken with this camera have vibrant and vibrant colors, as well as crisp details that are not visible on most photos taken with the phone. The camera is also able to successfully cope with shooting in various environments - indoors, outdoors, in motion (reviews confirm this).
In addition to photos, the camera can record high definition and high quality video. Unlike some other smartphones that offer HD video recording, the N8 creates clips that are obtained without any nebula or yellowing. A pre-installed video editor, as well as a photo editor will allow you to crop the video or add music and text. You can share the resulting clips on HDTV via the HDMI port. There is also a front-facing VGA camera that you can use to make video calls in applications like Fring.
Available Apps
Other integrated programs for the Nokia N8 include the QuickOffice suite, a PDF reader, a ZIP manager, a voice recorder, a dedicated YouTube application, and Maps Ovi (which offers free navigation). In addition, you can find and download more applications from the Ovi Store. The store catalog has about 15,000 items. Of course, this is a very small choice compared to 80,000 applications in the Android Market and 250,000 applications in iTunes, but Nokia has done a good job of updating the store interface. The N8 offers 16 GB of internal memory and an expansion slot that accepts cards with capacities up to 32 GB.