Nokia N8 Review

Nokia comes out with hundreds of different models every year but they always have one flagship product that gets all the attention. Last year it was the N97, before it was the N96, the year before that it was the N95 and so on. This year it is the N8. It is the most feature packed handset to come out of Espoo but more than that it also represents many first for the company. It's their first phone with a 12 megapixel camera and the first phone running on the new and improved Symbian ^3 platform. We have already covered the two in great detail in separate reviews. Now it's time put the complete device to test.


 

Bundle 

• Nokia N8
• Charger
• Headset
• USB Cable
• USB On-the-Go adaptor
• HDMI adaptor
• User Guide

Design and Build 

When I saw the N8 for the first time, I must say I did not find the design particularly impressive. However, after using it for two weeks, I think it has started to grow on me. It does look fairly classy and that has a lot to do with the materials that the phone is built with and the general fit and finish.Majority of the N8's body is crafted out of anodized aluminum, which not only gives it unsurpassed strength and rigidity but also a very premium look and feel. The colors look rich and vibrant and we doubt even after several months of usage the metal will lose its sheen. 

 



The N8 does not have any user removable parts and everything is tightly shut using Torx screws. Even the battery is sealed inside and non-user replaceable. But due to this design decision the N8 has an extremely sturdy build and feels rock solid with nary a creak or groan emanating from the body.

On the face of it the N8 looks very simple and uncomplicated. All you see is the big display up front and a small menu button right below. Nokia smartphones used to have a bewildering number of buttons on the front, which have now been replaced by one. We like this simplification of the design as it makes it more approachable and less intimidating to non-techie users. The display is surrounded by a thin glossy metal rim.

Around the sides you will find the volume control buttons on the right with raised dots making it easier to use. Right below is a sliding screen lock switch that has a nice spring loaded action that gives a wonderful feedback combined with the ribbed pattern. Below is the camera shutter button that has a two-step action. It is one of the nicest shutter buttons I've used on a phone with a precise and assuring click sound at half press as well as full press. Below you will see one of the three Torx screws that provide access to the internals of the phone.

On the other side you will notice the SIM card and memory card slot. Since there is no battery cover the SIM card slot is placed outside. The N8 has 16GB internal memory, yet there is a microSD card slot for additional 32GB of storage space should you feel the need. Considering N8's multimedia prowess, you probably will. Below is the micro USB port with a small white LED that glows when the device is charging via USB and turns off when it isn't. The second Torx screw lies near the end.

The only access to the insides of the N8 is proved by the two plastic caps on the top and bottom. The bottom portion has one of the two microphones placed below the display, along with the Menu button that glows when you have a notification waiting for you. At the bottom is the charging port for a standard 1.5mm pin Nokia charger. Despite the USB charging feature Nokia has also provided a standard charger port for compatibility with other chargers. The device info, such as model number, type and FCC ID are printed on the bottom edge, stuff you would usually find printed underneath the battery. 
 
Accessing the battery isn't completely out of your reach. If you manage to get hold of a Torx screwdriver and are willing to sacrifice your warranty, you can very easily access the 1200 mAh Li-Ion BL-4D battery hiding underneath. Considering the fact that the Nokia N97 mini and now the E5 use the same battery, it wouldn't be hard to procure it. So for someone who knows what he is doing, the N8 technically does have a user replaceable battery. And by the time your battery does conk off, you will probably be out of the warranty period of the phone anyway.

Moving up to the top, you will see the power button on the right. In the middle, under a plastic flap, is the HDMI port. It's a Type C port, so you will need the provided HDMI adaptor to connect the HDMI cable of your TV to the phone. You can also spot the phone's IMEI number under the flap along with the last of the three expose screws on the phone. On the left is the headphone jack. The position of the jack is a bit inconvenient when using headphones with large plugs, as it interferes with your left hand when typing in landscape mode or even when you are just holding the phone with your left hand while watching a video.




On the back of the phone you will notice the large 12 megapixel camera module poking out of the body. Obviously the sensor is too large to be contained within the phone's relatively slim dimensions, so this arrangement was necessary. The camera module has the xenon flash on the top, the lens in the middle and the loudspeaker and the second microphone below.

The second microphone is used exclusively for video recording and in tandem with the other microphone below the display it records stereo sound. The raised module makes the phone rest at an angle on a surface and also prevents the loudspeaker from getting blocked. When holding the phone, your index finger rests exactly at the point where the camera module sticks out of the body and provides as a reference point for placing your finger.

Like I mentioned before, the fit and finish of the phone is top notch and it looks elegant. The best part about using the N8 is that you never have to be very careful with it or treat it delicately. Even if you are fairly careless with your gadgets, you know that the N8 will survive whatever you have to throw at it. Not many phones can boast of being able to do that. There are also some nice design touches, such as the subtle chrome highlights where the cutouts for the side buttons and the camera lens were made into the metal body.

There were a couple of things that stuck out a bit, such as the fairly large and uneven panel gaps where the plastic parts met the metal. I'm not a big fan of how the plastic parts are of a darker shade compared to the metal. It's obviously a deliberate design decision, probably to prevent the phone from looking boring. I also noticed that due to a smooth aluminum surface the phone is a bit slippery and you need to have a tight grip on it.

The menu key also seems to be bit far down at times and left handed users would have a hard time pressing it. Also, the function of the button isn't very clear. Many people who handled the phone wondered how to get to the main menu as they couldn't figure out the function of the key below the display.

The phone is available in silver, black, green, orange and blue colors and they all can be found in India. My personal favorite is black, which is also the only shade where you won't notice the difference in colors of the plastic and metal surfaces.


 Display

The Nokia N8 has a 3.5-inch 640 x 360 resolution AMOLED display capable of outputting 16 million colors. The display is protected by a highly scratch resistant Gorilla glass. And when they say scratch resistant, they mean scratch resistant. We rubbed keys, screws and whatever sharp object we could find, but nothing could put even a hairline scratch on the N8's display. You can put the N8 in a pocket or bag full of keys and it would come out unscathed.
The picture quality of the display is excellent. Indoors the display put up some vibrant colors with crisp details and deep blacks, typical of AMOLED displays. The good thing about the N8's AMOLED display is that, unlike the one on Samsung phones, they aren't tuned to display outrageously vivid colors. Instead, images look attractive yet natural, just the way we like them.

Being an AMOLED display we were worried about the display's visibility under the sun, but it absolutely shocked us in that aspect. Nokia's AMOLED display can match the best Super AMOLED display that Samsung has to offer in terms of legibility under sunlight. It was hard to believe that it was an AMOLED display; it's that good. It's actually better than some LCDs under the sun, including many of Nokia's own. We believe that even though Nokia isn't advertising this, they are using the Clear Black Displays that they introduced with the C6, C7 and E7 recently, since the pre-production N8s that we used a couple of months back had displays that washed out considerably under the sun.

Considering the fact that the N8 is a camera phone and will be used a lot outdoors under the sun, it's great to know that the display won't wash out when you need it the most. And when you come indoors, the images will look superb on the phone's display.

The N8 is only the second Nokia phone right now to have a capacitive touchscreen display, the other one being the X6. The touchscreen response was superb with just a light press sufficing to register an input. The display also supports multi-touch, so you can pinch to zoom in images, web pages and even in messages now.

Unfortunately, multi-touch is not supported on the keyboard though. The phone has a proximity sensor that switches off the touchscreen during a call when you put the phone to your ear.

Software and Applications
The N8 is the first phone to run on the Symbian ^3 platform and the last of the Nseries before they all move to MeeGo. We have already covered the OS in detail in our dedicated review. All I have to say that even though it is highly improved over its predecessor, it still cannot match other operating systems such as iOS, Android and from whatever little I've seen of it, Windows Phone 7.

It doesn't feel modern and lacks finesse, and although it works well, at the end of the day when the job's done you wish it could have done better.

The number of applications as of now are also limited and although there is a decent number of them to start off with you don't have too many to choose from right now. In the end, I wouldn't say the software on the N8 is a complete disappointment, but if there is one chink in the N8's armor, it's the software.

 

Connectivity

It would be an understatement if I say that the N8 has a comprehensive list of connectivity options. It is the first phone in the world to support five band HSDPA; most phones have just two or three. It has quad band GSM support, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth v3.0, A-GPS and USB 2.0 with USB On-the-Go support.

Nokia might botch up in other areas but if there is one thing you can trust a Nokia phone with, it is call quality, which is always stellar. The earpiece on the N8 sounds really nice despite the small orifice through which the sound outputs. The loudspeaker on the phone is also very loud so there is no chance you will not hear it ring. The antennas on the phone are placed inside the plastic portions at the top and bottom end, and mostly out of the way. You can hold the phone whichever way you want without affecting the network reception or the call quality.

From what I've observed so far, the general strength of radio units inside Nokia phones is very good. Everything from the GSM network, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and even FM radio work exceedingly well. The N8 detected a Wi-Fi signal coming from the other end of the office when the iPhone 3G had trouble finding it from half the distance away from it. The GPS was fast, getting a lock-on to the satellites in about ten seconds from a cold start. Dedicated GPS devices are supposed to be that fast. The FM radio would get a crystal clear stereo signal when the HTC Desire couldn't even find the damn station. The phone also has a built-in FM transmitter, which is powerful enough to be used in a car.

The N8 supports USB On-the-Go, which allows you to connect USB flash drives directly to the phone with the provided adaptor. When you connect a drive to the phone, the file manager opens and displays the contents of the drive. You can then copy files to and from the drive, open them directly from the drive and even send them over to Bluetooth. Transferring data to and from a flash drive was a bit slow.

Copying a 1GB file from a flash drive to the N8's internal memory took 3 minutes and 25 seconds (4.9 MB/s), whereas doing the same to a desktop PC took exactly one minute (16.7MB/s). Copying the same file from the phone to the flash drive took 4 minutes 35 seconds (3.6MB/s) and from PC to flash drive took 2 minutes and 40 seconds (6.25MB/s). As you can see it's quite slow but should be fine for copying a couple small files.

The phone's internal memory is quite fast. Transferring the same file from a desktop computer to the N8's internal 16GB memory took 1 minute and 52 seconds (8.9MB/s) and from the internal memory to the computer took 1 minute and 25 seconds (11.8MB/s). This should come in handy when you have fill up that 16GB of memory.

Nokia said that you can connect portable hard drives to the N8 but only if they have their own power supply. We did come across a problem when dealing with NTFS formatted drives, which were shown as being corrupted on the phone, even though they worked fine on a computer. The phone can also format the drives but it cannot do a quick format, which means it could take ages to format a large capacity drive. Nokia mentioned at their launch event that you can connect a printer directly to the phone through USB On-the Go and also hinted at future possibility of other accessories such as game controllers.


Multimedia 

The music player on the N8 has seen some improvements since S60. The format support is still the same though and we would have liked to see support for lossless formats such as FLAC. It has a coverflow like album browser that also works in portrait mode with the track titles displayed below. The manual equalizer has been removed but you now get twenty stops on the volume scale compared to the previous ten.

The audio quality on the N8 is fabulous and the phone can go really loud as well. Also, Nokia is shipping some good quality earphones with the phone which also has built-in controls for the music player along with volume control and the customary call pickup button. The loudspeaker on the N8 is also pretty loud for a single speaker and it sounds good as well, with a pleasant, non-tinny sound atypical of mobile phone speakers.

Video is a big deal on the N8 and not only has Nokia made sure you record it in HD but that you also watch it in style. The N8 supports DivX and Xvid playback out of the box up to 720p resolution. It can play AVI files with ease but we ran into some trouble with MKV files where only the audio was being played back and not the video.

One of the highlights of the N8 is the HDMI-output. It can not only output full 720p video out but also 5.1 channel audio. The N8 supports Dolby Digital Plus surround sound, which means you can get the full Dolby effect when you connect the phone to a surround sound speaker system while watching videos that have Dolby audio on them. We did not get a chance to hear 5.1 audio while reviewing the phone but we did hear it at Nokia's launch event and it was mind blowing, to say the least. It was difficult to believe that the kind of video that we saw and the audio we were hearing was being outputted by a mobile phone.

 

Battery Life

The Nokia N8 has a 1200 mAh Li-Ion battery, which technically is not user replaceable, but as mentioned before, it is not too hard to change yourself if you know what you are doing. In our usage the N8 gave us a battery life of one-and-a half-day on a full charge. This included a few calls, plenty of photographs, including those taken with a xenon flash, about an hour of video and music playback each, web browsing on EDGE as well as Wi-Fi for couple of hours and half an hour of each of GPS and FM radio usage. Considering the fact that most high-end smartphones these days struggle to provide one day of battery life, it is really nice to see the N8 going beyond what is now widely considered as acceptable battery life for modern smartphones. 


Verdict 

 
 

The Nokia N8 is priced at Rs. 26,259 but it can be purchased for Rs. 23,999. At that price you get a phone with top notch fit and finish, excellent build quality, superb display, wonderful audio and video playback, HDMI-out with 5.1 channel output, USB On-the-Go support, excellent connectivity, 16GB memory and decent battery life. Factor in the best camera that you can get on a mobile phone and that itself is good enough reason to buy this phone. The only flaw as such with the phone is the software, which isn't on par with the competition and there isn't much variety in terms of the number of applications as well. But if you put that aside, there really isn't anything wrong with the phone. In fact we had a hard time finding anything wrong with the phone and as much as we tried we couldn't come up with anything substantial worth mentioning. There's no doubt that the N8 is the best phone that Nokia has ever made. It is a culmination of all the work that they ever did. You can tell that they have put in their best effort and unlike the older phones, where you can tell that all they did was make a phone with ever feature imaginable. With the N8 they have concentrated on user experience and how much better it would be for a person to use in his or her day to day life. In the two weeks that I have been using the phone, I never came across anything that I could call a deal breaker. Never did the phone do anything to frustrate me, which itself is a big achievement. It may not be as much a pleasure to use as some of its competitors, the Symbian OS may not feel as modern, but you can tell that Nokia has made it as good as it can get. Now it's time to move on to MeeGo, which is exactly what future Nseries phones will be doing. I'm sure the other reviewers have had their reasons for giving the N8 a low rating, but if you ask me, I would say the N8 is a wonderful all-round device that does many things exceptionally well and a few things you wish could have been done better, but there is nothing particularly bad about it. If you like a sturdy smartphone with a brilliant camera and good multimedia performance, then the N8 should be at the top of your list. Nokia said in their launch event that they expect to sell the N8 in large numbers. If you ask us, we think the N8 deserves to sell in large numbers.