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Nokia N8 Symbian^3 Smartphone Review
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – The Nokia N8 is a much-expected smartphone release, with customers having waited for long for the first instance of the open-source Symbian operating system, as well as the new features that the handset brings to the market.
Undoubtedly, the device’s most attractive component is the camera. A 12 megapixel sensor with Carl Zeiss lens, great for both imaging and video capture. Photography experts may argue that a good size is required for the sensor to actually capture decent images at that resolution, but for just for comparison purposes, the N8 has a sensor which measures 1/1.83″ (the biggest ever in a phone), and the Canon Powershot G10, a Point & Shoot (P&S) dedicated camera, has a sensor size of 1/1.7″ and still has a maximum set at 14 megapixel – the N8 isn’t that different from a P&S after all, but of course, it can’t be compared to a DSLR.
The software is the section where Nokia needs most improvement. Symbian is known as an advanced smartphone operating system, but the user interface has ruined the software’s reputation in the market, with platforms such as iOS from Apple, and Android from Google providing smoother and faster usability.
The N8 is powered by a 680MHz processor from ARM, while rival high-end Android devices rely on a 1GHz processor. An increased clock speed could have a positive impact on the known lag present on existing Symbian devices, especially on phones running on early software versions.
Potential customers will be looking for other enticing components as well, which the N8 does bring: a scratch-resistant 3.5″ multi-touch capacitive AMOLED display, 16GB of internal storage with a microSD memory card slot for expansion, Wi-Fi, HSDPA and HSUPA connectivity, Bluetooth 3.0, TV-out via the HDMI port, A-GPS, full multimedia playback support, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
The handset is the first to offer USB On-The-Go, a technology which allows users to connect a flash drive and other mass storage devices for data transfer. Apps in future may extend this use, perhaps to connect printers or even keyboards.
It all sounds good for Nokia and its customers, but the real test of all components will determine how the N8 can actually perform. Read our hardware opinion, or skip to the user interface analysis, Symbian^3 review, camera test, or straight to the conclusion and N8′s rating.
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Published on Oct 27th, 2010 GMT +2
