I could never stress enough on how amazing the hardware felt as I held it in my hand upon the unboxing. Flashbacks of the E90 and E71 came to mind as I spent time caressing every curve and straight line, but something was different about the N8. For the first time in a Nokia device, I could honestly say its physical refinement even surpassed the E90 AND E71! Distinct design cues gave an appearance undoubtedly derived from collective minds in Espoo, Finland, yet in a more modern interpretation from previous models. The footprint seemed similar to the Nexus One, albeit with additional thickness and possibly length from what I could recall of the Google flagship. A good amount of heft could be sensed in the palm of my hand and was at the perfect medium to convey worthwhile value in its retail cost. There was no doubt that every single penny spent by a potential buyer would not be wasted in any way in regards to the N8's hardware quality. Not one creak or flex was detected on the unit, and its overall presence was extremely solid.
Although my reception of the N8 was a most positive experience from a hardware perspective, I was still apprehensive of turning on the S^3 software. After the familiar vibration of pressing the power key, I waited for those famous hands to come in contact above the blue font of the company logo amidst the five-note jingle. I was struck with a bit of lowered expectation as a widgetized homescreen flashed before my eyes and reminded me of S60 5th edition. But within a few moments of swiping the three screens via the capacitive Gorilla glass, I was pleasantly surprised by the swift touch response. Simply going from resistive to capacitive provided a world of difference on its own, but feeling that S^3 was a faster OS was a great revelation.
First thing I set out to do was configure settings for Exchange in order to sync my Google data to the phone. Similar to my recent experience on the E72 and N97 mini, things were painless for the most part. However, the same headache in not being able to correspond via email on Exchange reared its ugly head on the N8. Nonetheless, checking and deleting emails was sufficient enough since I had no desire to do any lengthy writing with either the virtual qwerty or T9. Default HTML support was a pleasant surprise on the email app. Slight tweaks to the UI could have made for a slightly more efficient user experience, but lack of threaded emails was a considerable setback. Contacts and calendar entries appeared intact in their appropriate areas with no problem, and any changes or new additions made on the device were relatively quick in being synced to the Google cloud.
Returning to Ovi Store interface did not seem like a huge departure from what I remembered on S60 5th edition. I cannot say whether the app selection had improved, for I was only concerned with downloading familiar staples like Gravity, Accuweather, and Opera Mobile. While searching and buying apps could be done reliably, I could not help but feel hindered by the clunky interface. What I did like from the Ovi Store were the widget apps for certain tech blogs what were not available on Android: GSMArena, PhoneArena, Pocketnow, and AllAboutSymbian. However, I was not pleased to realize Engadget did not have a widget app for S^3...at least not yet. These widget apps may not have seemed to offer much at a glance, but they did provide a convenient shortcut to breaking mobile news without having to rely on a default browser that was not user friendly.
Surfing web on the default S^3 browser really was no different than S60 5th edition. Even though it did support flash, web page rendering and the speed at which it performed was still lacking in comparison to competing alternatives. Clunky and jerky scrolling along with outdated zooming controls over modern multi-touch commands enabled in the gallery app made for a forgettable user experience. Thankfully, a sufficient alternative was found in Opera Mobile from the Ovi Store.
Using the landscape virtual qwerty presented a problem for me on the N8. While I tried to rid myself of the comparisons to other touch OS alternatives as I typed on it, I could not help but do just that. Touch responsiveness was a bit lacking and led to my having to peck the keys with caution to prevent typos. Any attempt to gladly speed along with my thumbs was always thwarted by a mistake or the slower response. Swype was never considered to be a good choice for me even on Android, and my sentiment had remained the same once I tried it on the N8. Another letdown was the lack of a portrait qwerty on S^3! Having to use T9 was not a deal breaker by any means and was found to be quite convenient once I got used to it for short messages, but I still had reason to find fault with Nokia. With Opera Mobile being able to implement a portrait keyboard in its UI, I failed to understand why S^3 still did not have one. I could only hope that some future update would at least rectify that situation if not the touch response. Overall, I did get used to using the text entry methods just like on any device I had spent time with. While I still held on to a yearning for physical keyboards, I was sure a majority of users would be satisfied with what the N8 had to offer.
Tethering with JoikuSpot Premium was great for web access and worked reliably as expected. Having a hotspot from the N8 definitely came in handy for moments when I was left without wifi away from home.
Sound quality was passable for the most part on the mono speaker for media playback. However, there was a slight advantage given to the Captivate which tended to have a warmer and more vivid presence. The negative for the N8 in default mode was a hint of tinny feedback that caused the loudspeaker to suffer with multiple music genres. Of course, the included in-ear headphones provided adequate quality with warm sounds that did exhibit some Sony-like muddiness. As for the earpiece on voice calls, I was impressed with the clarity of callers on the other end. There was also ample volume for both the earpiece and speakerphone.
Signal reception on the phone for AT&T 3G was just as solid as previous Nokia devices.
Using GPS with Sports Tracker and Ovi Maps navigation was simply as reliable as with any other Nokia device I have used. Quick location locks occurring in seconds under clear skies and stable positioning throughout my running and driving excursions continued to prove the high standard I had expected. One great example was how the N8 became a trusty road warrior in the midst of a 14 hour drive from Norfolk, VA to Fort Lauderdale, FL for a family vacation! Never once did the N8 lose the GPS signal or exhibit any other malfunctions as it was constantly connected to a power source.
On another road trip in a vehicle lacking an AUX input, the FM transmitter certainly came in handy as an acceptable alternative for music playback.
Battery life was better than what I expected at granting 1.5 days on a full charge with my typical usage.
Unfortunately, I usually had no use for connecting my mobile device to a TV or external monitor and did not have a HDMI cable available at the time of the review. USB on-the-go would have been great to test out as well, but it was an oversight that was not realized until I had completed the final edit on my video review. Nonetheless, I was sure there were other online reviews that catered to those features.
The camera left me speechless...absolutely speechless. At 12 mega-pixels blessed with Carl Zeiss optics and a Xenon flash, this unit was undoubtedly the best standard I had ever witnessed in person. From resulting pictures and HD video, I could confidently declare the N8 to be a sufficient replacement to a dedicated digital camera. Equipped with dual microphones for stereo audio recording, video footage at 30fps was very smooth with well-rounded sound. I was really impressed with playback quality upon uploading a 4 minute test video to YouTube in the 720p MPEG4 format. Visuals in natural lighting to surroundings as well as my own face surpassed the Captivate in clarity and sharpness. There was no problem sensed in the syncing of video and audio, and the viewfinder exhibited no jerking. The 2-stage tactile shutter button was reliable and a welcomed departure from the irritating touch shutter on my Android device. Focusing and processing of captured images and videos tended to occur quickly and painlessly. Low light conditions were nothing to worry about since the Xenon did its job in illuminating everything properly with accurate colors. Going without LED flash meant no steady light for video shoots or flashlight apps, so I was not completely convinced of Xenon's superiority in that regard. The camera application's interface seemed to be just like the S60 5th edition version, but was somewhat intuitive and still performed with swift touch feedback.
Even though the 3.5 inch screen seemed to take a bit of getting used to after the Captivate, it really was not too bad for watching HD videos. My personal favorite already pre-installed was the Dog Days are Over music video by Florence + The Machine. Vibrant colors and movement on the N8 display were almost just as great as the Captivate's SuperAMOLED alternative, but I wondered if being at 4 inches could have improved the viewing experience for me.
Honestly, I was glad to have the chance to experience Nokia in a whole new light with the S^3 OS on the N8's impeccable hardware. After undoing preconceived notions from my experience with Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7, it was only then that I was able to truly notice (and appreciate) OS improvements from 5th edition on the N97/N97 mini. Even though I had no plans to keep the N8 due to my hope for the inevitable E7 release, I certainly could not turn down the possibility of doing so if I had no other option.
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Trentonn Smith, Blogger/Netcast host
Sent from my MacBook
http://about.me/trentsense/bio
