The official Nokia N8 owners thread

Forums › Legacy mobile platforms (Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Web OS, Symbian, Meego, Blackberry) › The official Nokia N8 owners thread

heavenlywild

5045 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#67830 8-Sep-2010 23:37

OK, now that the Nokia N8 is officially being available at the end of September, I reckon it's time to start a discussion on this 12mp smartphone.

Who is looking to purchase one and your reasons behind it?

After owning a N97, I really gave up on Nokia after owning many of their phones. It was slow, unstable and an unfinished product. Let's see what they can do to with the Nokia N8. I reckon it is their final chance to impress otherwise I predict all those hardcore Nokia fans are likely to look elsewhere.

Nokia N8 specs
Nokia N8 demo
Nokia N8 running flash & YouTube

Official Nokia statement (source Engadget.com):
GET YOUR NOKIA N8 THIS MONTH!

London, September 8th - The much-anticipated Nokia N8 will be on-sale at the Nokia Online Shop for £429 SIM free or on contract from £35 per month.

Pre-order now at www.nokia.co.uk/N8 to make sure you're one of the first to get a Nokia N8 when it goes on sale exclusively at the Nokia Online Shop during the last week of September.

The Nokia N8 will also be available from Carphone Warehouse, O2, Orange, Phones4u, T-Mobile, Tesco Phone Shops, Three Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone from Friday 1st October.

The Nokia N8 offers amazing functionality and usability:
It will come bursting with new and exclusive Ovi apps
12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash
Record HD quality videos; edit using a unique, built-in editing suite and play-back with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound
Connect to your social networks and view live feeds from Facebook and
Twitter in a single app directly via up to three personalised home screens
Flick scrolling and pinch-to-zoom, plus a faster and more responsive user interface.

Mark Loughran, General Manager, Nokia UK, says, "The Nokia N8 is a great multitasker, packed with market leading innovations, which include the best picture and video capability available on a smartphone.

"The Nokia N8 is perfect for creating and sharing great content in high-definition, using HDMI out to connect to your TV as well as hot-USB swap. We're making it fun and easy to capture and share memorable moments on the go."

Buying a Tesla? Use my Tesla referral link and we both get discounts and credits.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ... | 48

100 posts

Master Geek

#378079 9-Sep-2010 00:18

looks like a good contender to android and iOS, will attract the masses as it's nokia but I guess we'll see how they decide to market it. Vodafone UK is getting this as soon as it comes out and vodafone here is known for its strong lineup of nokia phones, I'm willing to bet that vodafone NZ will be releasing it soon. Can't wait

Backblaze

Backblaze Unlimited Backup. World’s easiest cloud backup. Get peace of mind knowing your files are backed up securely in the cloud (affiliate link).

heavenlywild

5045 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#378083 9-Sep-2010 00:40

I'm over the fact that the ovi store doesn't have as many apps as Apple or Android. I find at the moment on my iPhone I only use no more than 5 apps. The rest just sits there doing nothing:)

Buying a Tesla? Use my Tesla referral link and we both get discounts and credits.

NZtechfreak

4649 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#378088 9-Sep-2010 03:01

Besides the camera and USB OTG I see very little to recommend this handset over the current iPhone or cream of the Android crop.

That said I will surely be getting one to try out :)

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

jjnz1

1356 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#378105 9-Sep-2010 08:28

I hope the pitiful ARM 11 680 MHz processor can cope with all the multitasking and UI intensive graphics..

I am not a big fan after I spent $1400 buying a N97 when they first came out.

They only advantages to this phone is the...
12MP camera
Bluetooth 3.0
HSDPA 10Mb down
Quad band HSDPA.

I really hope for Nokia's sake they really pull this out of the bag.

jjnz1

1356 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#378106 9-Sep-2010 08:32

Sorry and the Xenon flash - I still really love my old sim less N82.

heavenlywild

5045 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#378153 9-Sep-2010 10:56

I believe the OS optimisation has more of a say in speed and multi-tasking abilities than solely just the processor speed itself.

I say this because even the HTC Desire with a 1GHz processor can at times be laggy.

Buying a Tesla? Use my Tesla referral link and we both get discounts and credits.

teihoata

100 posts

Master Geek

#378169 9-Sep-2010 11:21

Don't worry about speed, I was hesitant at first when I heard about the processor but recently my girlfriend got her hands on a final copy and shot a video for me. From the looks of things the speed put my overclocked nexus one to shame and the transitions were definitely iphone smooth. She did go on to say that it was boring to use and there was nothing to do on it lol but yeah she's not a phone lover.

NZtechfreak

4649 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#378184 9-Sep-2010 12:22

The speed should be OK for the UI I think, I like high quality gaming though, and it looks less capable for that than high-end Android and iPhone.

My main concerns are:

Will the sound quality be up to snuff? The current top Android offerings surpass all of Nokia's offerings, and I'd really dislike stepping down from the SQ on my current handset.

Will browsing be up to snuff? I suspect the answer here will be no in comparison to Android. Flash Lite 4.0 Vs Flash 10.1, lower resolution screen (yes, the extra 160 pixels in landscape really dose make quite a difference in browsing since you usually see the full width of the page, or close to it, when fully zoomed out), it will lack anything like Chrome to Phone functionality, and the videos I've seen look like it lacks text reflow, which is a serious flaw in a mobile browser. Maybe there will be a good version of Opera? Usually their offerings are better than Nokia's own, but tend to be a little battery hungry...

Apps. Don't want to labour the point, but I use a huge number of apps (as in actively use), and I'm having trouble seeing how Nokia is going to suddenly turn around the studied lack of interest in their platforms that developers have shown to date. Hopefully there will be good apps for the core functions I need, in which case I may be able to live without a flourishing app store.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

heavenlywild

5045 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#378224 9-Sep-2010 13:33

Some impressive HD Videos recorded by the N8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH-mAvZKmPQ&feature=player_embedded

Official unboxing videos - interactive ones too:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VPxntuYwVA&feature=player_embedded

Buying a Tesla? Use my Tesla referral link and we both get discounts and credits.

Handsomedan

7215 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#378240 9-Sep-2010 14:14

I just think that without a really good gaming platform in their Ovi store offerings, it'll die a death...the iPhone and most Androids both have the ability to play PSP-esque games with ease and there are plenty of titles for iOS (don;t know about Android) that are of this calibre.

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

heavenlywild

5045 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#378247 9-Sep-2010 14:43

^I think it really depends on the user.

Nokia tried their own gaming system a few years back and it failed. N-gage I think it was called.

I think Nokia is now targeting a different market - productivity and photography enthusiasts - with this new N series device.

Buying a Tesla? Use my Tesla referral link and we both get discounts and credits.

Charles000

78 posts

Master Geek

#378750 11-Sep-2010 10:49

NZtechfreak: The speed should be OK for the UI I think, I like high quality gaming though, and it looks less capable for that than high-end Android and iPhone.

My main concerns are:

Will the sound quality be up to snuff? The current top Android offerings surpass all of Nokia's offerings, and I'd really dislike stepping down from the SQ on my current handset.

Will browsing be up to snuff? I suspect the answer here will be no in comparison to Android. Flash Lite 4.0 Vs Flash 10.1, lower resolution screen (yes, the extra 160 pixels in landscape really dose make quite a difference in browsing since you usually see the full width of the page, or close to it, when fully zoomed out), it will lack anything like Chrome to Phone functionality, and the videos I've seen look like it lacks text reflow, which is a serious flaw in a mobile browser. Maybe there will be a good version of Opera? Usually their offerings are better than Nokia's own, but tend to be a little battery hungry...

Apps. Don't want to labour the point, but I use a huge number of apps (as in actively use), and I'm having trouble seeing how Nokia is going to suddenly turn around the studied lack of interest in their platforms that developers have shown to date. Hopefully there will be good apps for the core functions I need, in which case I may be able to live without a flourishing app store.

Gaming: it has a powerful GPU, and in benchmarks either matches or beats the iPhone4.

Sound: "Dolby Digital Plus surround sound when played with HDMI & a home theatre". I'm not sure how the speakers will sound, but by all reports they are above average.

Browsing: the browser will be a weak point to start with, but a new browser (built in QT) will be released by the end of the year (I've heard Oct + Nov dates floated around).

Apps: for most people the number of apps is not such a big deal. I'm sure there will be plenty of apps which cover core functionality, plus Symbian^3 will be able to run all the old ^1 / S60v5 apps as well as the new QT apps.

heavenlywild

5045 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#378752 11-Sep-2010 11:08

Charles000:
Sound: "Dolby Digital Plus surround sound when played with HDMI & a home theatre". I'm not sure how the speakers will sound, but by all reports they are above average.

The Dolby Digital Plus surround sound is the sound that the phone supports when you play movies via HDMI on your TV, rather than surround sound via the phone's in-built speakers.

Buying a Tesla? Use my Tesla referral link and we both get discounts and credits.

heavenlywild

5045 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#379780 14-Sep-2010 18:38

Another video, showing YouTube videos working on the native browser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZa_QlNS8Yo&feature=player_embedded

Buying a Tesla? Use my Tesla referral link and we both get discounts and credits.

NZtechfreak

4649 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#379789 14-Sep-2010 19:06

The sound quality I'm referring to is listening to music via line out or headphones, which is the important one. Dolby digital is nice for your video n all, but thats a minority of use for me versus actually listening to tunes.

Where are these benchmarks you speak of? I haven't seen anything to suggest its as good as the iPhone (unless you're referring to the 3GS perhaps).

EDIT: OK, I found some stuff on the benchmarks - the comparisons I saw were with the 3GS, which is lightyears slower than the iPhone 4 or my Galaxy S. Apparently it does 32m triangles per second, whereas the two phones I'm talking about push 90. 32m is not bad at all though, its better than the current Snapdragon devices, which are pretty capable for gaming as it is... I have to wonderi whethers its all a bit moot though, because Nokia would still have to attract developers to code the games to take advantage of it.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ... | 48