Goodbye N95 Hello i8510

Okay you got an 8MB camera and slick 120fps video however you still got 320X240 screen rez while the world has jumped aboard much higer rez displays.

Im interested in it anyway though.

Is it US 3G, Asian 3G or European 3G.

How much did you pay ?

Bowman,

I'd really like to hear how you get on with it in the first few days. I'm thinking of making the same change as you.

Cheers,

J.

Erm, it's UK spec so presumably Euro 3G. As for price I only changed my contract two months ago, if I hadn't it would've been free on Orange for �30/month. Expansys have it listed at �569 which I thought was about right for this spec tho I was willing to wait for it to drop. Went into Carphone Whorehouse and got it for �400, which is only �40 more than a 12 month contract (although the phone was only free if you took out an 18 month contract). Still pricey but I'm happy with it.

One nice little touch I've noticed is you can enable/disable the 'Auto Pivot' (the rotate sensor). With it enabled when you rotate the phone it has a nice zoom out/zoom in effect. There are other settings like 'Etiquette Mode' and a few other wierd ones which I can probably work out but it would be nice to have a bloody manual! Oh yeah, it charges via the usb connection too which is nice.

I'm not sure about the optical joystick though. You can turn it off so it's a normal joystick but by default it's on. It's a little like a trackpad, you swipe your finger in the direction you want to scroll and it does it but it's a bit too sensitive. The buttons are a little close together too, I keep hitting the wrong one by accident but I suppose it's no different to hitting the media key on the N95. I'll get used to it. Only problem now is working out which applications I've bought that issue the serial number based on the phone IMEI and decide which ones I really use the most then buy them again.

The only problem I have with non Nokia phones is that some software is specifically targetted towards Nokias.

Eg. Mail4Exchange, Blackberry Services, Ngage (mainly Nokia grown applications - but there are others that are specific to certain phone types and detect it upon installation).

Whilst it may not be everyone's cup of tea (having the need to install these), it still is crucial to others (for me, I cannot do without an Exchange mail client etc).

Technology doesnt sell products. Its the support, the advertising and userbase that does.. (lots of products have proven this in the past!!)

still.. I do agree that I am extremely disappointed at the upcoming N96 specs.. "whoopee dooo..."

Think I will hold onto my N95 for just a bit longer..

I'm waiting for my i8510 to turn up too.

I think it's going to be a serious competitor to the N96, as even on Expansys's rediculous pricing, the Samsung is cheaper by 100 pounds.

Disregarding the camera, the phone can do everything the N96 can, bar DVB-H reception (which no one in the UK is going to use anyway as no network is currently supporting it), and has a bigger battery to boot.

This means that to all intents and purposes they're the same phone - with the i8510 being available FREE on some Orange tarrifs, the N96 is going to have a very hard time breaking into the uber-geek market, which will have been sewn up by the i8510 by the time Nokia release their handset (not before 1st October).

OK, so it probably won't run N-series specific software, mainly due to not having the correct security certificates installed, but it will run any and all generic S60 3rd edition software, so the lack of Maps 2; N-gage etc. won't really hurt it. (and Roadsync is available for the phone, so that's your Exchange sync issues sorted)

And what about unlocking it to use on other networks? Anyone thought of that?

Are you guys disappointd that the screen rez is that same o 240X320 ?

This reminds me of what 176X176 rez was just 2/3 years ago.

crewmeal wrote:And what about unlocking it to use on other networks? Anyone thought of that?

Yes I had thought of it. That's why I bought it sim free and unlocked. 😊

anthonybuchanan wrote:Are you guys disappointd that the screen rez is that same o 240X320 ?

This reminds me of what 176X176 rez was just 2/3 years ago.

No not really. When I moved from an N80 to the N95 I was taking a step down in resolution. I think that to make higher resolution useable you need to make the screen larger and that means a larger device. I really don't mind 240x320 (for now).

there isn't a single S60 phone with higher than 320x240 rez screen

(except the old N80/N93)

the 5800 tube will have a slightly higher widescreen rez

i had a htc diamond for a few days which did have 640x480
but the difference wasnt all that noticeable on a 2.6inch screen.
they cant render text too small even with hi res screens as it becomes unreadable.

higher rez is for larger screens

macwhu wrote:there isn't a single S60 phone with higher than 320x240 rez screen

(except the old N80/N93)

Sorry, not true, afaik. N93 was 320x240.

N90, E60, E70, E70-2 352x416
E90 800x352

stuclark wrote:
OK, so it probably won't run N-series specific software, mainly due to not having the correct security certificates installed, but it will run any and all generic S60 3rd edition software, so the lack of Maps 2; N-gage etc. won't really hurt it. (and Roadsync is available for the phone, so that's your Exchange sync issues sorted)

I have a legit Roadsync license and used it before M4E changed to V2. Since V2, the playing field was totally swapped around - that a free product was virtually better than the paid for product with less bugs and better synchronisation (long story.. anyway)

Think I may have to skip a whole generation of phones (N96/i8510) and wait for the next one as it really doesnt impress me at all (none of the features are to "die for" if you know what I mean)..