N8 owners - Yes or no?

i once swore i would never buy another Nokia after the N97

in the end I went for an N8 with the intention of sending it back if it felt ANYTHING like the N97

I'm keeping it. it is brilliant. i have hundreds of songs on it, over 4000 photos and videos and it hasn't crashed once in the 4 days i've had it. i've been multitasking without a problem

it does have issues
-touch input is a little hit and miss at times
-stock browser is rubbish, but i use Opera mini anyway

I would say go for it, but make sure you can return it if it doesn't meet your expectations, its fair to say it has exceeded mine.

As for the camera, my god......

I'm an N97 owner. I'm not interested in the N8 due to the lack of a qwerty keyboard. I'm more interested in the E7.

so Gavin, you ordered your N8 yet? 😉

I haven't... And it's not looking good... I just don't think I can go through it all again. I'm also looking at the Samsung Galaxy. The jury is still out!

That said, I hadnt checked the poll before I answered. It seems that there is a positive sway on the votes... If I 'do' get one and it gives me any trouble at all I will feel very, very sorry for the staff at my local O2 shop!

Gavin Watson wrote:That said, I hadnt checked the poll before I answered. It seems that there is a positive sway on the votes... If I 'do' get one and it gives me any trouble at all I will feel very, very sorry for the staff at my local O2 shop!

If you read around on the web forums (I recommend Modaco for Android forums) you will see that the Samsung Galaxy S has a number of problems including camera issues and problems with the GPS. I think the truth is that all the mobile platforms and devices on the Market come with their own issues and idiosyncrasies, it just that with Nokia, and to an extent Blackberry, the press focussed on the negative while Apple and Android as the current flavours of the month get gloss jobs.

I have recently bought an Orange San Francisco running Android 2.1 and I find it the least "intuitive" (how I hate that word!) interface around. And this is despite many years of using WinMo, Symbian, Palm OS, iOS, Blackberry. I dare say that Android 2.2 is probably on a par with Symbian 3 as far as interface goes and may it's just my recent familiarity with iOS and Symbian that are causing me to struggle with Android. I'm also sure some of the glitchyness of Android would be improved in 2.2 and would be further improved by running on a �400-�500 pound handset. It's just that all the high end Androids I have tried feel too cheap and flimsy to justify their price, hence the reason why I decided to dip my toe in the Android water with a cheaper device.

These are all opinions of course. Others may disagree.

Gavin Watson wrote:I haven't... And it's not looking good... I just don't think I can go through it all again. I'm also looking at the Samsung Galaxy. The jury is still out!

A few months back, I was also looking at the Galaxy S. I ended up sticking with my N97 for a various reasons including money. What was a deal breaker for me about the Galaxy S is the GPS issues that I heard about. The quality of the camera was also something that I did not like.

I was really considering the Galaxy S even though it had no physical keyboard. At the time, I was pretty dissatisfied with my N97 that I was almost willing to overlook the lack of a keyboard.

Right now I'm mulling over whether to go with the Desire Z or E7. I had another incident with my N97 this past weekend that renewed my interest in upgrading to one of these phones. The N97 gets unstable if it remains on for a few days. Normally I turn my phone off and on every workday as I switch between my personal phone (N97) and my work phone (BlackBerry). The N97 became unstable because I took a couple days off work due to illness so my N97 had not been restarted for a few days.

Yes, I had a couple of die hard samsung fans, who started a bit of nokia bashing when the N8 dropped, say that actually... they were rapidly going of the Galaxy S for a number of reason, inc those mentioned above. Still, there will be plenty of people out there that do just fine with it.

Hey Stuntman,
I seem to be in exactly the same situation as yourself. The Desire Z and the E7 are the 2 devices that have my most attention.

My contract with 3 has just ended (I actually have nothing bad to say about them to be honest) and I am trying to decide what to do. They are offering me the N8 for free on a �30 a month contract. I am trying to work out if I should take it, or move to a SIM only contract and keep my N97 until the E7 comes out.

Stuntman wrote:A few months back, I was also looking at the Galaxy S. I ended up sticking with my N97 for a various reasons including money. What was a deal breaker for me about the Galaxy S is the GPS issues that I heard about. The quality of the camera was also something that I did not like.

I was really considering the Galaxy S even though it had no physical keyboard. At the time, I was pretty dissatisfied with my N97 that I was almost willing to overlook the lack of a keyboard.

Right now I'm mulling over whether to go with the Desire Z or E7. I had another incident with my N97 this past weekend that renewed my interest in upgrading to one of these phones. The N97 gets unstable if it remains on for a few days. Normally I turn my phone off and on every workday as I switch between my personal phone (N97) and my work phone (BlackBerry). The N97 became unstable because I took a couple days off work due to illness so my N97 had not been restarted for a few days.

I'm loving it. Apart from the fact that the wi-fi keeps connecting after I've disabled it and there's no 'share online' feature for photo's.

Well, I tolerated the N97 for about 10 months before finally giving up on it and switching to an E72 - and am now on my second one after giving the first one away to my daughter. It's a very steady performer, and haven't been tempted at all by the N8 - again due to lack of QWERTY k/b.

THe E7 does look interesting, but I'm hesitant over Symbian, so am probably looking at a MeeGo device such as the N9 - right form factor with built in k/b.

I really do think Symbian is under a serious threat for long term future of Nokia's 'top end' smart phones, Android seems to be smashing it out of the water.

But there's something about Android that I can't quite put my finger on, it still sounds a but superficial to me, not quite as 'meaty' as fully fledged Symbian device. As long as the E72 keeps going, and there is every sign it will, I'll just keep looking and waiting.

aferg01 wrote:I'm loving it. Apart from the fact that the wi-fi keeps connecting after I've disabled it and there's no 'share online' feature for photo's.

You should try out Pixelpipe from the Ovi Store, it will let you share to lots of places once you have it set up.

strcmp wrote:You should try out Pixelpipe from the Ovi Store, it will let you share to lots of places once you have it set up.

nottmbantam wrote:and haven't been tempted at all by the N8 - again due to lack of QWERTY k/b.

I kinda like like the N8 (my wife's). I do hope that the portrait qwerty and new browser don't take too long to arrive. Otherwise it seems like a very nice device. Hope there would be more native qt applications as most of the current apps aren't that aesthetically pleasing. The new Ovi store seems good thought.

I think the N8 has a lot of potential if Nokia just keeps rolling out new updates.

Sorry to bump this one up, I've had a look at the poll which seems to indicate that people were/are happy with their N8's and would indicate that it seems to be a better phone than the N97 (so far). I was wondering if there are any issues that you could let me know about before I take the plunge as I am still very undecided after my experience with the N97 and can't make my mind up to go out and get one and really don't want the hassle of arguing with the network provider about getting out of my contract if the terminal turns out to be useless (or just buying it outright).

Any other commetns good or bad that you current N8 users would kind to take the time to share?

Thanks guys (and gals!)

My personal opinion is to skip it for now. There have been no major innovations to make it compete with anything else out there - it's still the same old interface. Good hardware let-down by poor software. And the things that have worked well for years are now either missing or not functioning properly. This is my opinion and no doubt many others might well disagree with me.

Edit: I posted most of my findings on Nokia's forum. No doubt forgot a few things but here is my post:
http://discussions.nokia.co.uk/t5/Nseries-and-S60-Smartphones/Nokia-N8-firmware-suggestions-here/m-p/790554#M233624

Gavin Watson wrote:... would indicate that it seems to be a better phone than the N97 (so far). I was wondering if there are any issues that you could let me know about before I take the plunge as I am still very undecided after my experience with the N97 and can't make my mind up to go out ...

I owned a N97 mini for more than 8 months now. I have got the N8 for almost 2 weeks now. Improvement over N97 and X6:

1. Touch is much more responsive and long press is much more natural.
2. Screen is very very good. Surely better than N97, X6 and iPhone 3GS. Resolution visually is just on par with iPhone 4 but I felt colour of photos are more vivid slightly.
3. UI look wise at first seems similar to S60v5 but actually there are more integration under the hood. First off ,
a) very nice and 3D icons due to the higher resolution and vividness. Try upgrading to some latest themes and wow yourself.
b) Better OVI map integration. For example, the contact address field can now go right to OVI map to open right at the location. Some widgets can also open with an IFX into OVI map. I think more apps will come this way. Previously, map stuff only within the OVI map app.
c) In N97, only the home screen has hot spots for connections and new messages. Now the UI has such hot spots in other screens too like Options-hot spot-Exit vs Options-Exit previously. I think this is a very nice idea and show that the Symbian engineers is thinking along the right directions of tighter UI integrations.
d) Notifications like new calls or messages also integrate better and less intrusive. In N97, these events result in a darkened screen with big dialog at the bottom. N8 just have a cute small drop down at the left top without blocking your current screen.
4. Many widgets load with higher resolution. eg. CNN videos at SD in N97 now HD in N8 and got a photo-swipe UI. Flash lite 4.0 has better performance. Could be due to the graphics chip.
5. Photo browser loads MUCH faster.
6. On-screen QWERTY is so much than the X6. T9 touch is better than N97.
7. Battery life is better.
8. The complete body is really solid. N97 mini if dropped can have the back cover flung out and battery dropped out but not this N8 thing. It is one whole piece. Usually I do not like handphone plastic casing but the spike case with N8 esp. the colour ones really look cool like Lambo or Ferrari.

Then these are a matter of taste:
1. On-screen qwerty though very good (better than HTC and Samsung) as haptics seems to be localised accurately but I like the N97 mini keypad better although it saves me popping the keypad.
2. The auto-rotate sensor still seems less sensitive than N97 keypad pop. Unfortunately, S3 still provides no way to tune this sensitivity.
3. Seems to poll internet slightly more aggressively compared to my N97 mini such as in OVI map or the stock browser so required more careful setting access points in destination esp. when network/3G is not good. Might cause the touch to be suddenly less 'sensitive' during web flash loading or assisted-GPS to hang but actually it is the network connection error polling.

What I don't yet like:
1. Not all S60v5 apps have an equivalent on S3. But the HD games are very solid.
2. Help not context sensitive. I think this is probably a bug.
3. There should be a choice of slightly more fancy animation of UI transistions just to feel good.
4. Camera UI can improve. For example, the volume key for zoom should be allowed to tune the steps or even remap for settings control. Using only touch screen can be awkward.
5. Tripod mount. A camera this calibre can be semi-pro and couple with a tripod will be superb.
6. Speaker placement behind can soften the sound when placed totally flat or during driving when it face away. Therefore FM transmitter which works well should be allowed not just in Music Player but also call option. I heard this call FM transmit can be region specific; which brings me to:
7. Nokia please stop all these region specific settings. Language packs should be just independent.
8. Text-to-voice should be anywhere where there are more than 10 words like in the browser, messages, text files easily activated by long press of volume key, etc. This symbian asset must be unleased...

OK, enough for now.

Oh, why I did not talk about the cam? Because it is in such a league of its own that no other phone and not even most pocket digicams come close. Its HD videocam is simply jaw-dropping when you just plug right into HDMI TV to view. Not only one must see but one must really zoom in to be amazed at the marvel. Unfortunately, this is seldom properly demo'ed at the booths or shops.

One more thing, the DOLBY surround sound is REAL.

In summary, I would have respectfully disagreed with N8owner.

The N8 is off the shelf much more stable and sturdy than N97. So I've have truly not experienced any stability problem or lack of resource to perform task like in N97 launch.

The UI should not be judged by look only. It is now better integrated so that we can actually multi-task better. This is not something that is needed on other phone platforms because they don't multi-task at all.

Do I want more improvements in the UI? Yes, but that will be another thread.

The difference between you and I remains that I am not comparing the N8 to the N97. I am comparing it to all my previous Nokia phones and to the competition. For me it doesn't stack up against them and I find it lacking compared to my previous phones. Like I said, we will all have our preference and opionions and if you live in the west we are lucky enough to try the phones before committing to them and allow us to make an informed decision based on our needs.

I've had the N8 for 2 weeks now, and the more i use it, the more i like it.
I upgraded from an E71, and the N8 beats it hands down.
There are a couple of niggles, like the non portrait keyboard, but overall it is a marked improvement over previous Symbian versions i've used.
The battery life is good, which is very important to me, it typically lasts around 36 hours.
Basically i agree with what samson432 wrote earlier in his plus points.
It is fast, responsive, and i find myself using it more and more for things i'd never really used before, because of it's ease of use.

N8Owner wrote:The difference between you and I remains that I am not comparing the N8 to the N97. I am comparing it to all my previous Nokia phones and to the competition.

For closure on this thread, as the thread starter, i�ve popped back to say goodbye for a while... :frown:

I'm afraid that I have decided to spend my hard earned cash on an HTC Desire HD rather than the N8. Before the N97 I woudlnt have thought twice about getting the next Nokia flagship handset but I was so let down by the N97 that I couldn't face another bad Nokia. I'll not say much more as this is a Symbian forum, however I am sure I have the right to my opinion.

I will, however, say that I contacted Nokia and they were kind enough to answer me as follows, which, in my opinion, goes a long way.

This was my communication to them:

I have been a Nokia client since the 101 (I can't remember all the Nokia models I have had, but include the 5110, 6110, 9000, 6600, 3701, 7650, N95, C5 and N97).

I was so disappointed with the N97 that it has put me off Nokia for life. I have been following all threads related to the N8 carefully both here and on the many other forums very carefully this time before I splash out on a very expensive piece of equipment.

Unfortunately, I have decided against buying the N8 and am now looking at alternatives. I cannot imagine the idea of having another terminal as bad as the N97 and am now taking my hard earned cash elsewhere.

So, Nokia, if you ARE reading this, you have lost a very valuable client. THAT is what you need to be considering. Sure, all devices have issues, but the N97 was so bad it couldn't be fixed. It looks like the N8 is heading the same way.

Please note that I am a high end telecomms user and expect an expensive piece of hardware to do what it says on the tin.

This is of course my opinion and I am entitled to it, some of you may disagree.

If any moderators are reading this, please point your line manager (and their manager!) to this very eye-opening thread and let them know about it.

Thank you.

And the response was:

I'm sorry to hear we have lost you. Of course I respect your opinion. As with the introduction of any new device, some consumers respond more positively/ negatively than others regarding specific features, and it is always useful to see how other consumers are reacting to issues, and to get an overall impression of a particular device.

You can be absolutely certain that we read these forums. They provide a crucial link between the people who design the devices, and the people who choose to spend their hard-earned money on Nokia products and services. The information we gain from user-comments is invaluable, and certainly gives us an indication of what is important

At the same time, I'm sure you will understand that we cannot reply to every post.

As said, I'm sorry we have lost you, and hope that you will return to Nokia in due course.

At least they are listening 😊

Gavin Watson wrote: Sure, all devices have issues, but the N97 was so bad it couldn't be fixed. It looks like the N8 is heading the same way.

I too own SE and Nokia phones since S40 time. Symbian did have a difficult time transit its UI and the previous financial oriented CEO did short change us in hardware and bleed unnecessary customization time from the Symbian engineers but touch the N8 enough one can tell that they got the touch right well balanced with battery life. More importantly, they got the multi-tasking right up there! Very important for the upcoming real mobile apps.
In fact I was relatively surprised by the quite fewer problems in this more reputable Symbian forum.
Perhaps you can ask for a risk free money back purchase fropm Nokia 😊

n8 and symbian 3 are excellent to use ona daily basis

no other device can match the n8 in terms of versatillity or convergance and features

all the smartphones do the same thing , social networks , email , games , videos , sat nav , streaming , calling , sms . mms , tethering , multitasking , music , office stuff , media stuff , applications etc etc however they all go about them in different ways which soem will prefer to others

so what if android or ios is a bit smarter to look at in places (i dont think they are anyways and love symbian and s3) fact is they all do the same stuff in terms of softwae its just that they do it in different ways , the n8 can do everything android or ios can albeit sometimes not as pretty in terms of software , then the n8 takes it even further and adds even better hardware like 12mp xenon , hdmi , fm transmitter , two types of charging , massive memory allowance , etc etc

it all depends on what you want from a handset but rest assured the n8 can match ios and android in terms of software capabillitys and trumps any device out there at hardware/convergance and versatillity

some will love the n8 like me others will think its nice to have an android device or iphone4

ive owned nexus one , iphone4 , n97 , n97mini , n86 , n900 , i8910 , n96 , n82 , desire all recently as iam a self confessed phone junkie looking for my perfect handset and the n8 has beaten them all for me

where as other phones miss some important features , xenon , fm transmitter , decent battery life , mass memory , decent camera and video and then excell in other areas the n8 ticks all the boxes and does all the jobs well

its one of the only devices i can think of where the user doesnt have to decide on features important to them as it covers everything , well apart from physical qwerty 😊

I've only had my N8 for less than a week, and while I don't give out actual opinions until I've owned a system for at least 6 weeks, I've been pretty happy so far. There are a few quirks that I have noticed, but so far so good. And with the quirks, they can be fixed in firmware updates (hopefully coming soon).

phessler wrote:I And with the quirks, they can be fixed in firmware updates (hopefully coming soon).

Wish I had a �1 for everytime I'd heard that!

It seems to be the mantra of the "N" series owner I'm afraid.

See here:-

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum//forum/thread/97015/

yeah but even if the n8 didnt get a update it wouldnt be a bad phone it would still be as it is today

a very usefull powerfull convergance gadget that excells in camera use with a very functinal and effective o/s that can do anything that android/ios/wm7 can do and probably more

the updates that come will only be for improovements and a small amount of tiny bug fixes , mainly improovements which will make the n8 even better then sold as

it doesnt need them like the n97 the updates will only make the device evolve even further rather then make it work as it should

😊

just my view but i think the n8 is a really good device and one nokia should be proud of

its like they actually listend to the consumer and gave us what we want

build quality , camera with xenon , memory , connectivity

if we could have asked nokia for a device 1 year ago then this is what we would have asked for and this is when the n8 was being built tested designed etc

like i say they got alot right

ironass wrote:Wish I had a �1 for everytime I'd heard that!

It seems to be the mantra of the "N" series owner I'm afraid.

See here:-

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum//forum/thread/97015/

Heh. Yes, but even if they aren't fixed, I won't be looking for a battle axe. 😉