Nokia N8 - A New Approach

The Wait is Over

At long last, the Nokia N8 is finally here, amidst a flurry of news that accompanied its announcement since April 2010. More than six months down the road, and almost missing the Q3 2010 launch promise, the N8 was pushed into the market and delivered to consumers. Well, some, not all consumers.

How does the N8 fare from first impressions? Well-defined contours and a minimal use of plastics on its exterior gave the N8 a few plus points for our evaluation of its design. A seamless, unibody design is incorporated onto the N8, leaving the device looking sleek and sophisticated. And if looks aren't enough to satisfy, we can attest to the smooth feel of the phone's smooth metal finish on our hands. Even so, handling the N8 wasn't a chore, given its reported weight of 135g, and our own experience. Its front profile is mostly devoid of physical buttons, save for one at the bottom left that brings up the Menu.

While it does come off well in the aesthetics aspect, we also realized its accompanying shortcomings. With its SIM and microSD slots well hidden by two plastic covers, the obvious problem is intricately tied to its streamlined design. In our bid to access the said card slots, we realized that it takes much effort to pry both covers open. Even with the use of a spring mechanism to unload the microSD and SIM cards, the cards are etched too deep within. In turn, our stubby fingers couldn't reach it easily, and in lieu of that, we had to use a pen to prod and eject the cards.

Besides the card slots, the N8's left profile also houses the microUSB port. For this, Nokia chose to leave the microUSB port without a cover. Personally, this bodes well for us as it's easier to interface with the N8 without fumbling with a potentially stiff cover.

With a fully flushed left profile, it stands that the N8 would try to attempt the same for its right profile. As such, you get a clutter of buttons such as the volume, lock and camera's shutter release all lined up in single file on the right. While the volume buttons and lock slider are relatively easy to access, the camera's photo capture button is deceptive. Being flushed as it is, there were times when we had to use the tip of our nails to have the button fully depressed to activate its camera and capture a shot.

On its front, the one and only visible button is located at the bottom left, which tends to strike us as an odd position. Should you be a right-handed, your thumb will find it at an awkward position to reach, often throwing the phone off-balance in your hand. This button acts as the menu and home button functions, whilst pressing and holding it invokes the task manager. We'll cover more on that in the Features page.

Perhaps the most prominent difference in its design value over the previous N-series, or in fact, any other Nokia devices, is the N8's choice of using a non-removable battery. Turning to the rear, the smooth and metallic finish is proof of the device's commitment to keep its exterior as fuss free and streamlined as possible.

The Little Additions

When we look at the unique features of the N8, there are two aspects to consider - software and hardware. We explore the former for the specific significance it has on the N8.

Within the N-series, the N8 is the last of a long lineage of Nokia smartphones powered by the Symbian operating system (OS). In the bigger picture, the N8 represents the first of Nokia's future devices on the revamped Symbian^3 platform. Maybe, using the word revamp is too strong in this case. The late entry into the touch screen arena, via the Symbian S60 version 5, was something Nokia had to wrestle with a year ago with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

More than twelve months down the road, we are looking at the renamed, and supposedly restructured, Symbian^3. Aesthetically, there are differences, particularly in its home page. Tossing two additional pages to its repertoire, we also see more widgets being populated within the N8. And if you're someone who needs to manage your apps usage, the task manager gets a new look with a more detail image of its running apps. Speaking of apps, the N8 is preloaded with apps that differs in each region. This gives you apps that are catered to your location, such as news apps from your local stations, or even localized apps such as Makansutra on the Singapore N8 phones.

In line with the growing social network presence, the N8 is also equipped with a social network app. Popular networks such as Twitter and Facebook are included within. During our testing period, the app felt unpolished, often taking way too much time to even load the data feed from either Facebook or Twitter. The interface felt too clunky and cumbersome, which doesn't bode well for users who want a no-frills experience.

Hardware-wise, the N8 is loaded with 16GB of internal storage, with an expandable capacity of up to 32GB via its microSD slot. As if it's trying to keep up with the times, the N8 is equipped with an OLED screen, and should that prove insufficient for your viewing pleasure, a HDMI output is also available for big screen viewing.

Receiving the most hype on its hardware front, would be the 12-megapixel camera. Compared to both the earlier Samsung Pixon 12 and Sony Ericsson Satio, the N8 is clearly late into the scene, and in the tech industry, it's all about the timeliness. Better late than never, we say, and if you believe in that, there is something to look forward to with the N8's 1/1.83-inch imaging sensor size, a fairly large size compared to its competitors. With the expected better dynamic range and imaging quality associated with its sensor size, and the promise of 720p video recording, this is where the N8 is hoping to stand out. The truth will be revealed in the upcoming performance page.

Portrait of a Symbian

By now, most of you might have heard a thing or two about the N8's performance rating. And if you're seeking some form of confirmation from our review, we do have some thoughts to share.

A smartphone should typically be designed to be all-encompassing at no expense to its overall handling speed and performance. Can we say this is the case for the N8? Sadly, no. Within the first few hours, we experienced sluggish response from the device several times. Using its social network app, as we've mentioned, is as good an example of its less than acceptable performance. Sadly, it doesn't stop just at that. When it comes to apps loading, we could count the seconds before it finally gets it running. Also, transitioning across apps was a time-consuming affair, which led to the N8 crashing on us on occasions.

In fact, due to the number of crashes we've encountered, we decided to wait for yet another unit to arrive and reconfirm our findings (which is one of the reasons why we weren't as timely for this review). Alas, it was nearly the same situation, which got especially worse when we pushed the N8 to its limits with as many apps running simultaneously as possible. A quick check of the firmware via over-the-air also reported no immediate updates, leading us to believe the experience we faced is as current as you can get up till the point of publishing this article.

Our evaluation doesn't stop short of its overall usability. There is still the multimedia and battery mileage to consider when we assess the N8's performance. First up - how does it fare as a music and video player? We were duly impressed with the clarity and rich colors presented by the 3.5-inch OLED display. Audio quality was rich, with a range of equalizer settings for you to choose from. Nonetheless, the act of playing a video or audio clip is both convoluted with its multiple layers on its user interface, and slow during its initial loading.

As we've explained in the Features page, the N8 places a strong emphasis on its 12-megapixel camera. In the sea of negativity till now, is it going to be a redeeming point? Fortunately, it's a resounding yes. Compared to other mobile devices, the N8 utilizes a relatively larger sensor size at 1/1.83-inch. In imaging terms, this leads to a greater dynamic range. Typically speaking, this gives the N8 a better grasp at noise control.

If you need to look at the hard facts, our resolution and color test charts have the results to show for. On the resolution chart, the N8 returned values slightly beyond 1200 on both the vertical and horizontal LPH. This sets itself as a close match to dedicated compact cameras. And if you need more convincing, the color chart showed a faithful reproduction of each color, balanced with no overly warm or cool colors across the palette.

Finally, we touch upon its battery mileage. We subjected the N8 to a video at a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels resolution. This video is played repeatedly, with its screen brightness and volume set at 100%. To push the device further, we also activated its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, which gave us the final results as charted below. For comparative purposes, we put the N8's results against the LG Optimus 7 (Windows Phone 7), HTC Desire (Google Android) and the Apple iPhone 4 (iOS)

With a 1200mAh battery, the N8 lasted close to 4 hours 27 minutes. We see this as an average number, which should have been higher given the fact that it is using a smaller OLED screen compared to those within the comparison chart. Matching up against the Desire with similar weight and dimensions, the lower mileage from the N8 puts it at a disadvantage on the portability scale, with only the Optimus 7 scoring lower due to its less efficient power management. Compared to the previous flagship, , the N8 fares a lot better, but competition has since stiffened up quite a bit as well.

Aside from the above intensive battery test, we also subjected the N8 to the normal usage pattern one might get out of it. This includes web surfing, constant push email, occasional multimedia playback and the usual cellular functions such as calls and messages. Luckily, we managed to drain the battery in roughly a day without any incidents. For if it did crash and hang on us, we would have been unable to use the age-old resetting method - removing the battery.

The Truth about the Nokia N8

So what does the Nokia N8 really mean for the Finnish outfit? Is it a re-entry into the ever competitive smartphone market, or a sign that more needs to be done? Clearly, the N8's design is a fresh departure from its earlier N-series device. The inclusion of a unibody design does set off a sleek and streamlined look to it, with a right amount of weight distributed across the metallic body.

As much as the aesthetics is pleasing, it lacks a decent amount of practicality. Prying the microSD and SIM card covers and ejecting the said cards can be tedious due to its flushed design with the chassis. In its attempt to keep its borders simple, its volume and camera buttons are flushed too. Thankfully, we were still able to handle the volume buttons and lock slider. It's the camera button, which was flushed to the point that we had to use our nails, and that made it difficult. To keep it simple, the N8 opts for just one button on its frontal display. Unfortunately, the menu button finds itself relegated to an inaccessible lower, left corner.

Being the last of the N-series to sport the Symbian operating system (OS), the N8's Symbian^3 interface is familiar, with a tinge of revamp kicked in. This includes a total of three pages to park more widgets onto the home screen. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter gets tossed in too via Nokia's social network app. Wise as it is to feature social network prominently, its interface leaves little to desire for with its slow and the user interface feels clumsy. This experience is also prominently felt across its various menus, often returning slow loading and transition times between apps.

If you can live with that, we do have some good news on the multimedia front. Thanks to its 3.5-inch OLED display, we were greeted with clear and richly colored videos on it. This is duly complemented by its audio playback, which was one of the better ones of the current smartphone lot. To sweeten the deal, you can enhance the viewing experience with the N8's HDMI output to a larger HDTV. High definition videos will find the N8 to be sufficiently roomy with 16GB of internal storage, with an expandable capacity of up to 32GB via its microSD slot.

The N8's first foray into the 12-megapixel scene brings more to the table with its 1/1.83-inch imaging sensor size, which is a fair bit larger than its competitors. The results are evident, with a vertical and horizontal reading of 1200LPH on the resolution chart. Colors were also convincingly rich, and we managed to see a high level of details across the test images.

In essence, the Nokia N8 has its shares of ups and downs, but in our evaluation, we discovered more of its cons than pros. The final blow came from its battery mileage, clocking in at less than 4 hours 30 minutes with our intensive battery test, or less than a day on normal usage. With the recent introduction of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, to the stable and mature Apple iOS and Google Android, the Nokia N8 and its Symbian^3 companion is slowly, but surely, finding it hard to keep a foothold in the overcrowded mobile phone segment. Don't get us wrong. The N8 is a step in the right direction, but Nokia has to move faster and have better quality checks in the process. It had the potential to be the phone to get when word first leaked of its existence, but there's much to be desired from a savvy smartphone user's point of view.

Priced at S$785 without a contract, who then should consider the N8? To be fair it's a great multimedia device as noted above. In our assessment, until unless Nokia is able to tweak the firmware to wring out better overall performance, the N8 is better suited for users with more simple telephony needs, light apps usage, and want a phone with an excellent camera. If you need a true all-round performer and a snappy smartphone with better usability, there are several other alternatives.

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