Nokia N8 Review: Nokia's New Flagship
by Mithun Chandrasekhar on January 12, 2011 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Nokia
- N8
- Symbian
- Mobile
Conclusion
Now is not a good time to be Nokia. Once the king of the (smartphone) hill with an overwhelming majority of the smartphone market share, the lack of evolving to changing consumer demands in a fast enough manner has seen its smartphone share plummet. With Apple and Google thoroughly beating Nokia in its traditionally weak markets (North America for example), and taking the fight to its traditional strongholds (Europe and Asia), they don’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing things down. In fact, it almost seems too little too late for Nokia with the N8 and Symbian^3. Had the N8 launched at the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010, before the explosion of Android slate devices and the iPhone 4, the N8 would have clearly been the best smartphone with little competition.
But it’s not all so gloomy. Nokia still commands massive brand recall in a lot of major markets. And the N8-00 is a solid smartphone; hands-down the best mainstream phone Nokia has put forth to date (again, ignoring the outlier than N900 is). In fact, Nokia sells the N8-00 as a ‘mobile computer’ and while I’ve always thought of this as being a marketing gimmick for their Nseries devices, I am fairly convinced that the N8 actually befits this tag. With most definitely the best camera ever seen on a mobile phone, the N8 is a worthy replacement to basic point snf shoots. With excellent media handling capabilities, HDMI out and the very useful USB-To-Go capability, the N8 actually fulfills basic HTPC duties with no fuss. And Ovi Maps, a definitely capable replacement for dedicated navigation devices. As is clear from this review, Nokia has made sure to implement whatever features it has included in the N8, with great attention to detail. And thankfully this time, this attention to detail has also mostly translated to the software side of things…traditionally Nokia’s weakness.
Symbian^3 is a definite and marked improvement over the previous Series 60 5th Edition without any doubt. With Symbian^3, Nokia has finally entered the modern smartphone market and it makes a strong showing here. There still are issues that Nokia needs to fix ASAP—the browser, mail application and Ovi Store being the major ones. If Nokia executes on the continuous and ongoing incremental updates to the Symbian^3 platform that it has committed to, in a timely manner, we may finally have a Nokia device that we can recommend without any obvious compromises or flaws. And with one such update promised for the N8 sometime in Q1 2011, it may be the device to recommend, after the update.
As an interesting side note, the Nokia C7 is a cheaper alternative to the N8. If the top-notch camera in the N8 doesn’t pique your interest and you’re willing to forego half the storage (now 8GB), you will get everything else the N8 has to offer, potentially better battery life, plus NFC-support, for a decent amount less than the N8.
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jaydip - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
There is a much bigger issue surrounding the N8 apart from the obvious.My friend bought this in the month of November and so far he had to visit nokia care for 3 times to make it working.The phone just shut down and did not power on at all.The nokia care guys were clueless and unable to help much apart from updating the firmware.So far the phone has spent more time in nokia's own "care".I know that a review unit will seldom be faulty but it is worth pointing it out.akse - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
There was a manufacturing issue concerning some of the phones at the early production phase. I guess it is fixed now.http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/11/18/evp-nikl... There is an interview about the issue.
Voldenuit - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
Yes, the problem was real, nokia admitted it, and it has been fixed.People with affected phones can get a replacement at a nokia service center.
guidoq - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
I don't think so. More iphone coverage please.Bhairava - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
Buy a 90$ Nokia e5230 and a 100$ entry level camera and you have the same risult. Really, nothing less.Jesus.
Bhairava - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
Well i was wrong, Nokia 5230 is 160$.Voldenuit - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
Then you have to carry 2 devices with you. What are the odds you'll have your point and shoot with you when you're out and about and a photo op presents itself?Can you edit, geotag and upload your images from your $100 point and shoot?
Plus, the sensor on the N8 is bigger than most entry level compacts, and the lens is really great (speaking as a DSLR user with several Leica lenses here).
N8 isn't the answer for everyone, but it's definitely a compelling option for a photo enthusiast.
zodiacfml - Thursday, January 13, 2011 - link
same thoughts. :pcheezyuser - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
Whats wrong with this phone? I dont see any major problems. For those guys in the States, it might suck but For Guys here in India, Nokia rocks, 24k rupees for an unlocked nokia n8 is better than a 42k locked iPhone considering the average work income is around 20k rupeesN8fanMAN - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
"I´d like to take pictures anytime I want and look them over big flatscreen but sh**, I cant buy 500$ N8 caus my friends have 1000$ IPHONE. Oh, they _cant do_ really nothing with it but still they would laugh their ass off if I bought Nokia"This kind of unmatured flood and feelings all over the globe. If you value your hard earned bucks, and want a modern phone in reasonable price with good camera there should be no logical doubt that N8 is the choice of the day. If other companies flagships weren´t so expensive, situation would be different but its not, just like nokias half-empty promises.
And what about the bullshit about batterylife omg... ANY smartphone will dry your battery if you keep wlan and widgets always running and online. I spend easily a weekend taking pictures, listening music, playing games with my friends and of course speaking (in 3G) and that was no problemo for N8.
If you dont need good call quality, camera, navigation, hdmi and other goodies then just buy 120-150$ blade / san fransisco android 2.1/2.2 phone. There is still wlan, bluetooth, 3g, gps and 3.5" multi-touch