High quality multimedia phone, Good value for money

The operating system:
The trade press was impressed not improved Symbian OS, why? iOS and Android have created for smartphones new standards that must be as easy to hold times. I own an iPad and the usability is excellent, in fact, and the system structure very intuitive. Nevertheless, there remains the question of whether you really need hundreds of thousands of apps whose everyday benefits or added value is often a sham. Symbian is sometimes sprawling with its many sub-menus and widely distributed system points. On the other hand with Symbian ^ 3, the performance significantly improved: Everything goes faster by hand, double clicks are eliminated and one or the other sub was decent integrated in the touch operation. Features such as automatic WLAN scanning or setting priorities or individual selection of Internet access points are controlled confusing still cumbersome and for Symbian newcomers, but were once all the basic settings configured as desired, falling barely significant, these are not Settings that can regulate every two hours again ...

For this, the software works very well together with the hardware. The music player, for example. convinced with good sound quality (in combination with ordinary headphones or speakers) and the interface is easy to operate, the camera takes pictures and erstklassike law offers many settings, even if they, classic, not very clear for Symbian. It would be really important, especially when taking pictures.

The optics of Symbian is ok. Apple has always placed great emphasis on Eyecandy and accordingly polished acts iOS. The widgets and app icons on Symbian ^ 3, however, are fully ok and let the phone do not look so incredibly outdated, as it is often portrayed. Who wants to miss out on the OS a new coat of paint can do with themes from the OVI store or anywhere else on the net. Nokia provides the Midnight Theme an offical alternative to standard per update (see pictures in the gallery)

The device comes already with a number of Apps for Photo, Music, Navigation, Internet browser, video, e-mail, social networking, Youtube etc. if you like the N8 supplied with the most important and satisfactory. All of these programs do their job pretty well, but the default browser is slow and cumbersome, here Opera Mobile is a more comfortable and faster solution, but unfortunately. Without Flash Lite and pinch-to-zoom The OVI-store fills up slowly, the Qualiät of apps varies greatly, but that also applies to Apple's App Store and the Android Market, even if the selection is not comparable in size. Those looking for a little place all sorts of useful and free games and applications.

The hardware:
The mobile phone is well made, a lot of metal, nothing rattles or creaks. The display is scratch-resistant and absolutely great when it comes to image quality, because even if the resolution of other smartphones is not reached, there is a strong light, and energy-saving AMOLED display!

The often criticized here 680 Mhz processor is supported by a graphics chip, the eternal bashing for the low clocking so is therefore absolutely unnecessary. HDMI port lets you play back 720p HD video experience on the relevant television, while all formats are recognized and played, for example, also .mkv! About the 3.5 jack socket can not only music but also video be played, if HDMI is not an option. Corresponding adapter cables are getting low, the picture is totally amazing well.

USB is used for data transfer to the computer or with USB sticks and external hard drives quickly and easily. Also the device charging is possible as an alternative here.
The FM transmitter is a good thing, not a problem or adapter cable clutter in your car or office, if you do not want to give up your music collection. The quality is acceptable, but much better than cable.

The GPS receiver enables fast and precise location, absolutely great!

Oh, because it actually is a phone at the N8, the following may be of interest to one or the other: The voice quality is very good and I've never had power or Emfangsprobleme, there is not where my old phone now and then bitches made (car / train, in the basement, in the countryside at demonstrably patchy network expansion)

The battery lasts me some 2-3 days, (initially shorter because I've played around with it a lot). In everyday life, that is, in my 4-5 hrs. Music, while often activate the FM transmitter, WLAN and UMTS for emails and Facebook, at night or during prolonged periods of inactivity the power-saving mode is activated.

Those looking for a high-quality processed multimedia phone (HDMI playback of various formats, premium photo video camera USBtoGo, good music player, full offline Navi), will find it here. The current app and Internet-On-The-Go hype, which prevails in the smartphone segment, the phone does not stand up, because the competition offers better. But that is no reason that one or other device at all costs to speak ill or to praise in the skies. You should think again just exactly before buying, what you, that's expected from a device in this price range and where to put the priorities everything.

The N8 + Mac iSync plugin MapLoader for Navigation and Multimedia Transfer (using the iTunes library) are in place and function altogether quite easily, that's N8 so well be used with Apple computers.