PC World Australia (online)
26/10/10
The Nokia N8 fails to deliver a satisfying smartphone experience. An excellent camera and great multimedia features aren't enough to excuse the N8's clunky software and frustrating user interface.
The Symbian^3 OS offers a number of live widgets across the N8's three home screens, but widgets can't be resized. A handy contacts widget allows you to add your favourite contacts to the home screen, while the social-networking widget displays recent status updates from Facebook and Twitter. It should let you to update your Facebook and Twitter status from the home screen, but instead tapping on the widget simply opens the full client to update your status. Text is too small and can't be resized, the app is noticeably slower to load than clients on other smartphones, and the size restrictions imposed on widgets means that tapping the up and down arrow buttons to read status updates is awkward. Some of the N8's widgets have an Australian flavour, such as the News.com.au, SMH and Coastal Watch widgets, but they offer nothing we haven't seen on other smartphones.
The Symbian^3 OS on the Nokia N8 has three home screens that can be customised with live widgets.
Extra widgets can be downloaded from Nokia's Ovi Store. Though the Ovi Store has steadily improved since its release, it has far less apps than its competitors (about 13,000); there is still no official Symbian app for Twitter, eBay, PayPal or Dropbox (to name just a few). There is also a distinct lack of apps that have a 'wow' factor, such as 3D games, and the store itself isn't as easy to use as its competitors. Strangely, the Ovi Store isn't preloaded on the Nokia N8 — tapping the shortcut directs you to download and install the app.
It's not all bad news: the preloaded Ovi Maps application includes a lifetime, free subscription to full turn-by-turn navigation, which is a nice feature considering you have to pay up to $100 for the same service on the iPhone and other smartphones. The upgraded music player is slicker than ever and displays albums in a similar "cover flow" style to the iPhone. The N8 handles multimedia better than a lot of smartphones we've tested, with sound quality a particular highlight, along with the range of file formats supported. But the entire user experience of the Nokia N8 ultimately leaves a sour taste in your mouth. The N8 is packed to brim with features and has the best camera we've ever seen on a smartphone, but this isn't enough to compete with slick and easy-to-use competitors. And that is truly a shame.
The Nokia N8 is available through all Australian carriers (Telstra, Optus and VHA) but is also sold through online store MobiCity.
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1
In the running for worst phone of all time.
Software is absolute rubbish, freezes, is clumsy to use, a some days even allows you to load a web page.
Like James said, absolute junk.
The heady days of Nokia are gone, stay away, do yourself a favour and purchase a different brand.
2
The phone is a good one but its so sluggish most especially when a few apps is open @ the same time. The manufactures should improve on its memory.
3
camera calerty is good but not able to foucus to longer dustance ex:- not more than 15mts.why ?
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Celulares El Salvador
1
The N8 is a great phone, I love the quality of materials and of course his wonderful camera. a feature that I like is that it can read USB memory and FM transmitter.
But I'm not too sure about the good performance of the new Symbian OS, this phone I think it would be better with android
Frank
2
PC World should look into doing a refresher review with this phone since Nokia has released Symbian Anna and soon to make to become available soon the Symbian Belle which further addresses reported concerns of customers.
Hannah
3
This phone is a piece of crap! Don't waste your money!