Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Nokia N8 review:

Design
For the most part, Nokia has always produced some great hardware and the Nokia N8 is no exception. As soon as you pick it up, you'll notice the high-quality construction with its metal finishes and glass display. At 4.47 inches tall by 2.32 inches wide by 0.51 inch thick and 2.91 ounces, the smartphone is a nice size: big enough to have a sizable screen but thin and compact enough to make it easy to carry and hold. The camera housing on the back sticks out just slightly, taking a bit away from the streamlined design, but it's not a big deal.

Gracing the front of the phone is a 3.5-inch, AMOLED capacitive touch screen. With a 640x360-pixel resolution and support for 16.7 million colors, the display is bright and clear, and we were able to see the contents of the screen outdoors. That said, it's not as sharp as some of the latest smartphones. Compared with devices like the HTC Evo 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S series, text and images don't appear as smooth and the pixels are more visible. It doesn't hamper the phone's use, but you definitely notice the difference.

The display offers a built-in accelerometer and pinch-to-zoom support. The responsiveness of both features is a bit inconsistent. At times, it can be quick or instantaneous, and at other times, there can be a slight delay. This is also true of the touch screen in general. For the most part, it registered our touches but there were occasions where it simply didn't respond or it was so slow to respond that we thought there was a problem. Also, scrolling through lists and home screen panels isn't quite as smooth or zippy as it is some competing phones.

For text entry, you get an onscreen keyboards in portrait and landscape modes, but you only get a QWERTY option in landscape view. This means that if you want to type any messages in portrait view, you'll have to peck away on an alphanumeric keypad.

Aside from the touch screen, there are a couple of controls to help you navigate and perform other functions on the phone. Below the display, there is a lone key that brings you to the main menu or the home screen if you're in another application. On the right side, there's a volume rocker, a lock switch, and a camera activation/capture button. The Nokia N8 comes packaged with a good number of accessories, including a travel charger, a USB cable, an HDMI cable, a USB on-the-go adapter, a wired stereo headset, and reference material. Though the included charger features an international adapter, the phone can be powered by a charger with a Micro-USB connector. The N8 is also available in five colors: dark gray, blue, green, orange, and silver white.

codename - vasco
Nokia N8 Nokia Available Yes Avg Current Market Price:Rs. 23515
Last Updated On:January 5 2011
Place : Chennai Delhi Kolkata Mumbai
$483.85 approx 12 MP Camera Phone with AMOLED Touchscreen and HD Video Recording

Key features

  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
  • Penta-band 3G with 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support
  • Sleek anodized aluminum unibody
  • 3.5" 16M-color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
  • 12 megapixel autofocus camera with xenon flash and 720p@25fps video recording
  • Camera features: large 1/1.83” camera sensor, mechanical shutter, ND filter, geo-tagging, face detection
  • Symbian^3 OS
  • 680 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 256 MB RAM
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • microHDMI port for 720p TV-out functionality
  • GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
  • Digital compass
  • 16GB on-board storage, expandable through the microSD card slot
  • Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
  • DivX and XviD video support
  • Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
  • Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
  • Stereo FM Radio with RDS, FM transmitter
  • microUSB port with USB On-the-go support
  • Flash and Java support for the web browser
  • Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
  • Nice audio reproduction quality
  • Smart and voice dialing
  • Scratch resistant Gorilla glass display

Main disadvantages

  • Symbian^3 is still behind Android and iOS usability standards
  • No video light
  • Camera interface is decidedly outdated
  • Relatively limited 3rd party software availability
  • No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)
  • Video player has some issues
  • Battery life is not on par with best in the business
  • Battery is not user-replaceable

There’s certainly a lot of pressure on the Nokia N8. People are probably expecting more from it than the very guys who designed it. But the N8 was never meant to compete with the iPhone 4 or the Galaxy S. At least, that’s what Nokia will gladly have you believe.

You see, with the Nokia N8 it’s not about who the competition is. Not about the business benefits of a smartphone, not about the available apps. It’s about the best camera in the business. Now, we’ll have to see about that. Again.

Nokia N8 Nokia N8 Nokia N8 Nokia N8
Nokia N8 at ours

The N8 already managed to put a dedicated digicam to shame in our recent blind test. But it will take more than that to get the thumbs up at the end of a full review. The camera is certainly impressive but it’s the overall balance and bang-for-buck that count most in our books here so the N8 better have more aces up its sleeve.


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