Review: Nokia N8

Nokia N8. Photo / Supplied

No one sells more mobiles than Nokia, but the company has struggled for years to produce a smartphone with the wow factor Apple has managed to instil into the iPhone.

Nokia's latest attempt to win a greater share of the lucrative smartphone market involves a marriage of convenience with Microsoft which will see top-end Nokia phones loaded with Microsoft's generally well-received Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system.

Time will tell whether the Nokia/Microsoft tie-up generates a device, or devices, that are good enough to encourage Apple fans to ditch their iPhones. For now the Finnish company's flagship smartphone is the Nokia N8 - a feature-packed device which can't really be faulted for its performance, but somehow still falls short on cellular sex appeal.

First impressions

The N8 looks classy enough. Its aluminium casing gives the phone a solid feel and the tapered shape suggests a hint of the not-so-ordinary.

The phone's stand-out feature, and a key selling point, is its industry-leading 12-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera with Xenon flash.

As far as its screen goes, the N8 wins first-impression brownie points thanks to its noticeably crisp, high resolution display.

Another stop-and-take-notice first impression feature is the mini-HDMI port on the side of the phone, which means the device can be plugged straight into the flat-screen in the lounge when you want to instantly replay that home video you've just shot.

Overall, the N8 comes across as a device aimed at servicing those mobile users who want the best available video and photographic functions on their phone. The question remains: is there more to this devise than simply a focus on photo/video smartphone supremacy?

Hardware

The N8's super-spec'ed 12-megapixel camera performs up to expectation, with an impressive zoom function, the ability to take photos quickly, quality HD video shooting capability and built-in photo editing functionality. The inclusion of the mini-HDMI port is a bonus for users who appreciate the convenience on-device playback.

As a top-of the-range smartphone, the N8 comes with all the bells and whistles you would expect including GPS, an accelerometer and proximity sensor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and an FM radio. Keyboard input is via the device's touchscreen, which performs as expected. A feature which may annoy some users is that the phone's QWERTY keyboard only appears when the device is being held horizontally.

Software

The N8 is the first, and will most probably the last, Nokia to run the Symbian ^3 operating system. This new iteration of Symbian is an improvement on previous versions, but Nokia's decision to run Microsoft's Windows Phone OS on future top-end handsets is a clear admission that Symbian is not up to scratch.

The modular homescreen concept familiar to users of other Nokia smartphones is continued with ^3, and unfortunately it just seems too chunky and too clunky. Navigating through the N8's full set of functions and applications simply feels like more of a struggle than it should.

Verdict

The N8 will satisfy the mobile user whose priority is a smartphone that comes with the best camera on offer. The compromise is that you'll be forced to endure a pretty ordinary operating system. So if you don't need to take 12-megapixel images it's hard to justify the $999 handset-only price tag when other devices will deliver a more elegant user experience for less.

The N8 once again shows Nokia can make great hardware but the company struggles to produce the groundbreaking software to match. It remains to be seen whether things will be different under the new "Nokiasoft" alliance.

Nokia N8 mobile phone
$999 (Vodafone handset-only price)

Specs

Screen: 3.5-inch, 640x360 pixel touchscreen
Operating system: Symbian ^3
Camera: 12MP autofocus camera with flash and video recording
Connectivity: Wi-Fi (80.1b/g/n), GPS, Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
Processor: 680MHz ARM 11 CPU with 256MB of RAM
Memory: 16GB internal memory plus microSD expansion slot
Other features: Accelerometer and proximity sensor, mini-HDMI port