N8 Review

I have now had my N8 for three weeks, and it is time to list some of the positive and negative things I have come across.

Positive

Camera

The 12MP camera was the main reason I bought this phone, and it did not disappoint me at all. It is easy and fast to use and the quality of the pictures is just outstanding considering they are taken on a phone. The panorama feature I mentioned before also brings a little bit of extra fun into the picture.

Battery

I was surprised by the time the battery keeps on going. I was expecting to recharge the phone every day even with normal use, but I have managed to use it for about two to three days without recharging. This is with my normal use, a little bit of playing games, reading emails and updating my facebook status.

The feel of the phone

The phone just feels extremely good and strong in my hand, since nothing on the outside is made of plastic. The screen is known to be super strong and is not going to break in normal use, and of course it looks absolutely amazing. For the record I have the dark grey (black) one.


Negative

Speed

It has been said in many other reviews as well that the speed of the Symbian^3 might not be enough the handle the phones needs. I have experienced this a few times when the phone just does absolutely nothing for many seconds, and then starts working again. This could get quite annoying, but luckily my N8 isn't doing this too often. Sometimes when opening up a lot of stuff at once the phone just freezes. I have had to turn it off once because it froze completely.

Random Errors

My phone has turned itself off twice during the three week span that I have used it. The first time I thought I accidentally turned it off, but after the second time I was sure that it wasn't me accidentally pushing buttons. I have no idea why this happened, but it did. Both of these times happened during my first week with the N8. The N8 has also once asked me to insert a SIM card, while the card has been inside the phone. This lasted for about 20 seconds, and then it found the card again. I took the SIM card out and put it back in and this problem has not occurred again.


All in all I have been very satisfied with the N8, since it is a huge step forward from my previous phone (Nokia N95). The fact that also pleases me with every Nokia phone is how easy they are to use, and how well engineered they are. Every option works smoothly and with ease. Of course I must note that I have not used other smartphones for long periods of time so I cannot compare the N8 to them, but for me this is all the smartphone I need. The ovi store has also been a positive surprise, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger with every day that passes by.