Nokia N8 review - A smartphone with character

When I first heard from Paul at WOMWorldNokia about sending me a Nokia N8, I frankly didn't know what to expect. It was the phone that started all the Symbian 3 hype, but I already tested and reviewed the bigger and meaner E7 and the cheaper C7(Without the 12MP though), so I said to myself, How can the N8 surprise me? And boy, was I in for an answer!



You can look at the N8 from two angles: first is from the normal user POV where it performs exactly like the C7, with Symbian at the helm. The N8 however did get an updated QuickOffice, now able to edit office files.

The second POV is the photography enthusiast POV. Here is where all he fun starts. Here is when you realize you can't stop clicking the damn shutter key.



Oh, and I forgot... the phone is just beautiful... It's built like a tank, but the feeling you get while holding it in the palm of your hand is priceless. You can't help but love it.

Now I don't want to come across like a Nokia fanboy, because I'm not. I love Nokia hardware, but when it comes to the software I have my doubts. But I could not help myself with the N8. It is just soooo..... N8.

In my opinion the N8 is the original flagship, and still stands tall. Even if it's flagship position is threatened by the likes of E7 and X7, I have not yet seen a Symbian device to match the character of the N8.



I have to say that this is the first time it happens to me to start reviewing a phone, and actually get so close to it that I'm at times considering it my personal phone.

To be honest, I started reviewing the device and ended up reviewing and greatly enjoying it's camera.

I already reviewed Symbian 3 to it's core so I won't start over again, since not much has changed. I will do a full review when I get a hold of an Anna device.

And now, on to the thing that makes the N8 have a league on it's own: The Camera.
The camera is addictive, you can't stop snapping pictures. You snap pictures of everything... You snap and snap and snap, and then go to bed, and the wake up, and snap and snap and go to bed again.



I own a Nikon Coolpix LP16 digicam, and I have to say that it doesn't hold a candle to the N8. Besides it's optical zoom, it is surpassed by the N8 on every possible chapter. Starting from the time it takes a picture, on with the quality of the pictures and finishing with the resolution(only 7MP compared to 12MP on the N8).

You can give away your pocket digicam if you own an N8, you won't need it anymore.



Everyone who expects a detailed technical review from me, you'll have to excuse me, but I could not do it with this phone. You can only understand that after you've held it in hand and used the camera for a while. I actually pulled it out of my pocket every few minutes just to look at it. It's the second time this has happened to me, the first being when I bought my first touchscreen phone.

In broad daylight the N8 captures great details and it's just a joy to use. In low lighting conditions it does suffer from motion blur at times, but I have to tell you that the pictures taken in low lighting conditions were of people dancing, so the motion blur is only normal.



I have to say that I did miss one thing, the recording light. Since the N8 comes with a Xenon flash instead of the dual LED flash found on the E7 and C7, it cannot provide this function. Still, the videos shot in low light conditions look great. I would trade LED video light for Xenon flash any day.

A good thing I noticed in the Ovi Store is that there are lots of free quality games that you can download for Symbian 3 devices, which include Assassins Creed, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, Fruit Ninja, Galaxy on Fire, Farm Frenzy, Climate Mission and many other titles.

This is one device I am heartbroken over.