Nokia N8 Hands-On
Just three months after the N8 was announced Nokia told Reuters that it would be the last time an N-series device would run a Symbian Platform OS.
Does Symbian on the Nokia N-series go out with a whimper or a bang?
Looking at just the hardware specifications the device aims to impress:
- 3.5” 640×360 AMOLED capacitive touch screen
- Accelerometer, magnetometer, proximity sensor, ambient light detector, GPS receiver
- ARM 11 processor
- 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
- 12 MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics (aperture: F2.8, focal length: 5.4) and Xenon flash
- 720p video recording using MPEG4 and H.264 with AAC audio encoding
- Secondary VGA (640×480) camera for voice calls
- 16GB internal memory, supports micro SD cards up to 32GB
- 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI out, standard micro USB port, 3.5mm AV connector
On top of the impressive internals and interfaces the device is carved out of a solid block of anodised aluminium, but weighs the same as the HTC Desire with the battery installed.
Paper specifications aside, what makes a good smartphone is how well the software allows you to interact with the hardware.
Videos already leaked late last May showcasing the N8’s “USB On-the-Go” capabilities, allows you to connect USB mass storage devices such as flash drives and other phones directly to the N8 using a mini-USB to USB adapter cable.
Hands on
In order to test the extent of the feature we connected a 1 TB portable hard disk. The N8 immediately detected that the drive was beyond its capabilities and informed the user. Flash drives up to 32GB seemed to work without a hitch, however.
The N8 we tested was a prototype, so this might change, but it seems unlikely that the smartphone will support high capacity external hard drives.
In sunlight the camera delivers impressive quality in both still and video mode.
Patrick Henchie, Product Marketing Manager for Nokia South Africa, showed a video clip taken with the device delivered to a 36-odd inch TV via HDMI cable from an N8. The clip showed that the video camera was able to record fast moving objects in 720p resolution in what looked like afternoon sunlight.
While Symbian^3 certainly seems to deliver on its promises to be faster than its predecessors, there is a little lag between the time you click on something and when the command is executed.
It’s unclear whether this is just a final niggle that needs to be ironed out before the device launches officially, because once the device is in an application the scrolling and transitions are quick for the most part. It was also a little sluggish in the social application.
All-in-all the N8 is an impressive adieu from the N-series to Symbian.
Nokia has stated that it plans to launch the Nokia N8 around October this year for a recommended price of R5500.
Nokia N8 << Will you be getting the N-series’ Judas-kiss to Symbian?
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