[Rsaeire]

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

[Davy]

That is one of the strangest videos advertising a handset.

[Rsaeire]

Originally Posted by Davy

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]

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]

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]

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

[billbond4]

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/...-n8-untouched/

[rizzee]

Originally Posted by billbond4

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/...-n8-untouched/

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

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

[Gekko]

Originally Posted by billbond4

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/...-n8-untouched/

you're right it does look like aforward facing camera

[Davy]

Originally Posted by Gekko

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by jesus_thats_gre

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]

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]

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