Nokia N8 Megathread

Rsaeire · 27-04-2010 12:39pm #1

So the Nokia N8 has become official. For those who don't know, it will be Nokia's first handset with its new Symbian^3 OS and is, pretty much, as high-end as you can get. It is being launched in "select markets" in Q3 2010 for €370.

Here's a brief rundown of the specs:

Symbian^3 OS
3.5-inch HD capacitive touchscreen
12 MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash
HD video recording (presumably 720p)
HDMI connector
16 GB internal memory
microSD memory slot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ-5WAcj6o0

Davy · 27-04-2010 4:29pm

That is one of the strangest videos advertising a handset.

Rsaeire · 27-04-2010 4:49pm

Davy wrote: »

That is one of the strangest videos advertising a handset.

It is very random. I don't find it effective either, but then again, I don't think Nokia will use this to advertise their handset on TV, so there's hope for them yet.

matrim · 27-04-2010 4:53pm

It looks quite nice and it will be interesting to see what the new OS version will bring.
My understanding is that they are moving the app development away from Symbian C++ to QT which will allow easier porting of apps between Symbian and Maemo \ Meego (and desktop), so it should be good news for both OS's

Gekko · 27-04-2010 5:19pm

will the touch screen be good enough to make it an iPhone killer?

No front facing camera for video calls. OLED screen and good battery life by the looks of it though.

rizzee · 27-04-2010 5:24pm

No removable battery... odd!

Still, it's between this and a 3GS in the Summer, i'll have to see what happens..... i'll let the guinea pigs try it out first :P

billbond4 · 27-04-2010 5:25pm

Top right of the screen looks like a video camera.
I wouldnt be bothered if it didnt have one. I never use it on my phone.

Samples from the camera
http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/04/27/first-12-megapixel-sample-photos-shot-on-nokia-n8-untouched/

rizzee · 27-04-2010 5:28pm

billbond4 wrote: »

Top right of the screen looks like a video camera.
I wouldnt be bothered if it didnt have one. I never use it on my phone.

Samples from the camera
http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/04/27/first-12-megapixel-sample-photos-shot-on-nokia-n8-untouched/

Yeah a video camera and should be a light sensor too.

Saw that link earlier, thanks, the samples sure look decent.

Gekko · 27-04-2010 6:18pm

billbond4 wrote: »

Top right of the screen looks like a video camera.
I wouldnt be bothered if it didnt have one. I never use it on my phone.

Samples from the camera
http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/04/27/first-12-megapixel-sample-photos-shot-on-nokia-n8-untouched/

you're right it does look like aforward facing camera

Davy · 27-04-2010 6:38pm

Gekko wrote: »

will the touch screen be good enough to make it an iPhone killer?

Will be hard to persuade a lot of people who thought the n97 was going to do it. Which it didnt, actually probably did them more damage with the amount of complaints.

rizzee · 27-04-2010 6:45pm

Thats why the launch is 6 months away. They want the device to be perfect and not buggy like the N97 when it first came out and got rid of lots of Nokia customers. A real iPhone competitor and IMO this HAS to be right from Nokia, otherwise they'll be well behind with the new iPhone coming and all these Android products...

jesus_thats_gre · 27-04-2010 7:07pm

They do the same with virtually every single flagship device they release. I always wondered why they insist on giving the competition 6 months notice on what they are doing.

I read a translated preview from mobile-review.com and it doesn't sound too good. They were very critical of the OS. Hopefully it was an early beta.

It looks like an extremely nice device though and the price is surprisingly reasonable. The n97 was anything but perfect but I was still very fond of the device.

Edit: Quite a few videos on YouTube. I am quite intrigued by this device now actually.

Rsaeire · 27-04-2010 8:18pm

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

They do the same with virtually every single flagship device they release. I always wondered why they insist on giving the competition 6 months notice on what they are doing.

I read a translated preview from mobile-review.com and it doesn't sound too good. They were very critical of the OS. Hopefully it was an early beta.

It looks like an extremely nice device though and the price is surprisingly reasonable. The n97 was anything but perfect but I was still very fond of the device.

Edit: Quite a few videos on YouTube. I am quite intrigued by this device now actually.

I read the same about the new OS, so God knows how well rounded it will be upon release. I still have some faith left in Nokia and hope they can pull one out of the bag, not least due to their overwhelming success over the years and even given their more recent lacklustre performance.

What Nokia need is a handset and OS that can offer something new, not just something another manufacturer has already brought out and proved successful with. If you look at what is being done with Android then you can see how, at least in my mind, how things should be done; concentrating on the OS, GUI and the user experience and then ensuring that the hardware can meet the necessary requirements.

jesus_thats_gre · 27-04-2010 8:38pm

Their handsets are pretty much bang on. They have slipped somewhat in terms of build quality but they still make extremely desirable looking handsets in my opinion.

They just seem to be incapable of pulling everything else together into an extremely tight, refined package. Apple and Google have an uncanny ability to pull 10 moderately good features, package them together in a single solution and put a nice glossy and intuitive interface on top.

The way that the whole OVI thing is moving is obviously an attempt to do this but it just isn't seamless enough yet. The mail service is buggy and slow, the store is brutal, the music service is pretty meh and maps, while good, isn't available across the board yet.

They seem to be stalling for the universal move to QT so that they can develop one basic application for the various platforms they have. Their development teams seem to be far too stretched at the moment and they are letting the ball drop far too often.

zod · 27-04-2010 11:03pm

The N97 finished me and Nokia. On Android now and can't see myself moving anywhere soon.

Professey Chin · 27-04-2010 11:05pm

Gekko wrote: »

will the touch screen be good enough to make it an iPhone killer?

Nah.Sure you can't kill a cult

Random · 27-04-2010 11:05pm

This looks pretty cool. Wonder if it comes with insurance if you drop it while rolling it down your arm?

Boxfresh · 27-04-2010 11:06pm

zod wrote: »

The N97 finished me and Nokia.

Me too, I always had a Nokia and the N97 put me right off. Bought a HTC HD2 and it's by far the best phone I have ever used.

Inquitus · 27-04-2010 11:07pm

Symbian is simply ****e when compared to iPhone OS or Android.....it even makes Win Mo look good. Until Nokia dump it, write a new OS or start using Android......their Smartphones will continue to be a joke.

rizzee · 27-04-2010 11:10pm

^^^

I don't agree. I love S60, Samsung OS and OSX, Android is a load of utter ****e to me TBH.

jesus_thats_gre · 27-04-2010 11:21pm

http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/04/27/one-of-our-children-is-missing/

Today was an important day for Nokia. After months of planning, we proudly introduced the Nokia N8, our latest smartphone and the first to feature the Symbian^3 platform. When it goes on sale this summer, we’re confident that the N8 is going stand out for its ability to create and consume media, and stay connected with social networks. We’re also confident that the products that make their way to our customers are going to be the best possible quality: Refined, tested, re-tested, evaluated, tested again, and then – once we’re all perfectly happy – shipped.

That is why yesterday, as I am sure many of you have read, wasn’t much fun for us. Unfortunately, an early prototype made its way to someone that wasn’t supposed to have it, and his early first impressions of the device and its software spread like wildfire. Buried deep down in the blogger’s salacious headlines about the software not being ready, was the most important point. This is a very early, pre-production prototype with dated software that is not yet ready. So the site’s comments that the software ‘felt premature’ is probably one of the more blindingly obvious things you will read this year.

This wasn’t the first time a Nokia product appeared online before it had been announced. This particular site openly flaunts its ability to acquire our property. Yes, we have to take a look at ourselves, and we are diligently hunting down the source of these leaks. Frankly, we pride ourselves on trust at Nokia, and someone has greatly betrayed that.

However, whilst we are determined to protect our intellectual property and maintain the surprise when a shiny new gadget is introduced, we are not going to do so at the expense of the working conditions we enjoy here at Nokia. We are not the Secret Police, and we want to maintain our culture of openness. We won’t let days like yesterday alter that.

So now that the official news is out, we’d like our prototype back. Please.[/quote]

Inquitus · 27-04-2010 11:23pm

rizzee wrote: »

^^^

I don't agree. I love S60, Samsung OS and OSX, Android is a load of utter ****e to me TBH.

Each to their own, my last symbian phone was an N95, and I found symbian to be shockingly poor, I'd rate mobile OS as follows -

iPhone OS >> Android >>>>>>> Win Mo >>> Symbian

personally speaking, and I have heard nothing good about Nokias attempts to make Symbian touch friendly. I had a mess with a mate's N97 when it came out, and it was brutal.

Surely even Nokia feel the same given the news leaked recently that from 2012 they are ditching Symbian for Maemo on all their highend smartphones, which perhaps is what triggered them to make Symbian Open Source?

http://gizmodo.com/5407319/nokias-n+series-will-ditch-symbian-for-maemo-by-2012

rizzee · 28-04-2010 12:03am

^^^^

Exactly mate everyone has their own opinion and use their phones for different things

Heck i'd take S40 over Android if i'm being brutally honest. It annoys the hell outta me!! Anyway, i'll keep an eye on this thread to see what the device is like , sure it ain't out for 6 months so there could be other phones to tickle my fancy til then.

Blackdragon · 28-04-2010 12:28am

Inquitus wrote: »

Symbian is simply ****e when compared to iPhone OS or Android.....it even makes Win Mo look good. Until Nokia dump it, write a new OS or start using Android......their Smartphones will continue to be a joke.

Couldnt disagree more.

The OS itself is one of if not the most mature out there - The UI lets it down big time though.

Saying that, i cant help but see the N97 in this device (homescreen looks pretty much the same) so this will not be something i will jump at on day 1. (lesson learned from N97).

HTC Desire for me now and perhaps an N8 in a few months once its been out for a bit and the verdict is in

Inquitus wrote: »

Surely even Nokia feel the same given the news leaked recently that from 2012 they are ditching Symbian for Maemo on all their highend smartphones, which perhaps is what triggered them to make Symbian Open Source?

Highly unlikely seen as how Maemo is a dead end and will be replaced with "meego" of whos future is not exactly clear.
Plus, keep in mind that although this is the offical launch of Symbian 3, it is only a stepping stone for Symbian 4 due 2011

pkeno · 28-04-2010 1:36am

Blackdragon wrote: »

Couldnt disagree more.

The OS itself is one of if not the most mature out there - The UI lets it down big time though.

Couldn't agree more. Symbian is definitely the most functional OS. I was able to multitask (as in let other programs run properly in the background, not just freeze and be restarted when they are opened again like in iPhone OS4 and winmo 7) back on my 6630. The UI is just so poor compared to iPhone and Android however that the potential is never realised by most consumers.

My thoughts anyway

jesus_thats_gre · 28-04-2010 1:40am

Inquitus wrote:

Surely even Nokia feel the same given the news leaked recently that from 2012 they are ditching Symbian for Maemo on all their highend smartphones, which perhaps is what triggered them to make Symbian Open Source?

http://gizmodo.com/5407319/nokias-n+series-will-ditch-symbian-for-maemo-by-2012

Did you happen to read your own link?

It states that are planning to use Maemo on their N series smartphones and Symbiam on their other smartphones, i.e. C, E and X series.

This makes a lot of sense as it is looking like, in positioning themselves to use QT, applications will be very easily ported between platforms. N40 will fill the less than 200 euro segment, S60 the 200 to 400 segment and Maemo the 400 plus euro segment (rough guess on price brackets).

Rsaeire · 28-04-2010 11:43am

Nokia have a HD video sample from the N8 on their blog.

not_xanthor · 28-04-2010 5:42pm

It's fairly common knowledge, i guess, that Nokia are phasing out Smybian...but 2012 seems a long time away. Deserved or not, Symbian has a bad name, and newer versions will be tainted by association. Maemo meanwhile may never be that user friendly.

Nokia need to play catch up. Quick.

zod wrote: »

The N97 finished me and Nokia. On Android now and can't see myself moving anywhere soon.

It's 99% likely finished me on Smybian anyway. After a cranky phone call or two, i got an N900 as a stop gap...but Nokia are still on the outs with me.

Would take quite little to persuade me to buy whatever the successor to the HD2 is.

partyatmygaff · 28-04-2010 5:52pm

pkeno wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. Symbian is definitely the most functional OS. I was able to multitask (as in let other programs run properly in the background, not just freeze and be restarted when they are opened again like in iPhone OS4 and winmo 7) back on my 6630. The UI is just so poor compared to iPhone and Android however that the potential is never realised by most consumers.

My thoughts anyway

The UI isn't really designed for touchscreen phones. IMO, it was the best mobile OS back in the time of the N95 8GB where touchscreen phones were still somewhat rare.

Rsaeire · 28-04-2010 7:27pm

partyatmygaff wrote: »

The UI isn't really designed for touchscreen phones. IMO, it was the best mobile OS back in the time of the N95 8GB where touchscreen phones were still somewhat rare.

The thing about the N95 though is that it took two iterations for Nokia to get it right. The N95 alone wasn't that great, but then the N95 8 GB came out, with its increased battery life, better screen, larger memory etc, everybody loved it.

What I find very frustrating about Nokia, and I've voiced this in other threads too, is that they don't design one handset and ensure it's great, they test the waters with an almost finished handset, such as the aforementioned N95, see how it does, what consumers think are the biggest faults and then release an updated version, usually adding an "i" on the end of the model name/number, and release it and hope everyone's happy. They did it with the Nokia 6230, N93 and the N95; and also a lot of other handsets that I don't care to mention.

With that said, I just hope that the N8 isn't another handset that is released by Nokia prematurely, only to then have the next iteration released shortly after addressing any faults that the original had. If I choose to buy a Nokia handset, I buy it with the assumption that it is a retail ready handset and not some pre-release version that Nokia are using consumers to test for them for free.

Thirdfox · 28-04-2010 10:25pm

People love the 5800... I love mine.

Having said that, as a semi-professional photographer - disappointing to see Nokia playing the megapixel camera race... 6mp is enough for A4... heck, even 3.2mp was enough for billboards/newspapers back in 2000(ish)

- quality not quantity!

Nokia N8 Megathread

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