The Nokia N8 is an amazing mobile device, that's nearly unusable thanks to its interface. The phone is a perfect display of Nokia's strengths and weaknesses: stellar hardware, combined with an OS that appears to have been designed ten years ago.
First, let's get one thing straight: I write reviews that help U.S. consumers choose cell phones. Outside the U.S., the N8 has a very different profile—it will be available for much less money, and people in those countries are more familiar with Symbian's awkward gyrations. Sorry, guys, I'm not writing for you. This review is for the U.S. consumer, who has excellent Apple, Android, Palm, and now even Microsoft options available for less than $200 with a contract at a local carrier store. Meanwhile, the Nokia N8, with its bizarre interface is only sold unlocked, for $549, on the Web.
The N8 is somewhat irrelevant to the U.S. market. It probably won't be picked up by a carrier, and not many handsets will likely be sold here. So I'll be a little more creative than usual here. I didn't go through our full suite of lab testing with the N8—instead, I lived with the phone for a week and a half, putting it through its regular-use paces—after that week and a half, I put my SIM card in a Samsung Galaxy S phone and breathed a profound sigh of relief.
The Good News: Great Camera, Great-Sounding Phone
The Nokia N8 is one of the best voice phones, and probablythe best camera phone, I've ever used. It's a rare "everyband" phone, and works at 3G speeds on both AT&T and T-Mobile. Just pop in your SIM card, and it auto-configures itself for the right network. Signal reception is spectacular, and calls sound absolutely crystal clear. Apple's stable of Keystone Kops RF engineers should be taking this phone apart right now to learn its secrets.
The Nokia N8 is one of the best voice phones, and probablythe best camera phone, I've ever used. It's a rare "everyband" phone, and works at 3G speeds on both AT&T and T-Mobile. Just pop in your SIM card, and it auto-configures itself for the right network. Signal reception is spectacular, and calls sound absolutely crystal clear. Apple's stable of Keystone Kops RF engineers should be taking this phone apart right now to learn its secrets.
The N8's 12-megapixel camera is fantastic for a camera phone. Images are heartbreaking in their clarity and ideal in their color balance. Even the Xenon flash is bright enough. The shutter isn't instantaneous, but it shows less lag than most camera phones. The N8 records HD video and outputs its entire interface to TV screens via an HDMI cable—no annoying DRM here to prevent you from watching your videos on a big screen. There's a front-facing camera, but I found it much less useful. My wife described a video recorded with the front-facing camera on the N8 as "three dancing pixels."
The processor feels snappy—the N8 played XVID-encoded episodes of "Burn Notice" beautifully on its 3.5-inch, 640-by-360-pixel screen. Video playback is definitely a speciality here, with wide codec and format support that even includes MKV files.
This awe-inspiring voice and image performance is wrapped up in a sleek body, a metal torpedo that comes in green, blue, orange, gray, or dark gray. The screen is made of practically scratch-proof Gorilla Glass. There are flaws, though: the battery is non-removable, so it's a good thing the N8 has terrific battery life (unless you're trying to push Microsoft Exchange e-mail, which cuts life to half a day.) The camera lens forms an unfortunate squarish bump on the back that could catch on pockets, and the memory card and SIM card slot doors are a bit sticky. Overall, though, the phone looks and feels elegant.
Before you go ahead and get the N8 to taunt your iPhone-owning friends with clear, non-dropping phone calls, though, read on.
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