Last man standing: The Nokia N8
By The Prodigal Fool, published on 28 February 2011
A couple of weeks ago, we were glued to our laptop, watching Steves Elop and Ballmer from Mobile World Congress announcing their new-fangled plan to take on Google and Apple: Nokia will abandon its Symbian operating system, relegate MeeGo to the sidelines and, henceforth, focus on making devices running Windows Phone. As we sat there, incredulous at the short-sightedness of this new strategy, there was a ring at the door. A courier had arrived with a Nokia N8 for us. How very timely.
With the strategy announcement still ringing in our ears, what was originally going to be a routine review of Espoo’s latest flagship turned into something else entirely. This review effectively became a farewell to Symbian. Oh sure, we expect there will be more Symbian devices from Nokia in the future – indeed, the E7 is just starting to hit the shops now – but the next flagship (and let’s face it, that’s what Prodigal readers care about) will be running Windows. Symbian is not likely to see any further updates beyond what is already in the pipeline. The N8 is very much the last man standing.
So, as pallbearer for a dead operating system, how does the N8 measure up to the competition? Will it lure many Android or iPhone users away from their devices?
The N8 absolutely blew us away in some respects and left us disappointed in others. You’ll have to watch the video review for the details, but here’s the summary:
The ‘good’
- Beautiful hardware that’s a worthy alternative to an iPhone: Nokia excels at hardware and the N8 is one of its finest designs ever. It’s elegant yet purposeful. We loved its metallic body and gorgeous screen.
- Outstanding camera: the killer feature – and the reason, we suspect, many will be tempted – is the camera. The 12 megapixel Carl Zeiss unit with xenon flash is so good that you genuinely don’t need a standalone camera anymore for casual photography or filming. Check out our sample shots in the gallery to the right here. They haven’t been retouched in any way. Click on the photos for larger versions. Notice the detail, the vivid colours, the accuracy of the pictures. Really impressive for a camera phone.
- Customisation: the homescreen widget system allows you to configure the device to your preferred way of working in ways that iPhone owners can only dream about.
- Superb navigation software: with unique selling points like free voice navigation for life and maps that you can download over Wi-Fi straight to the device (rather than using data while out and about), Ovi Maps is now one of the very best.
- Details that make a great phone: fantastic reception and sound quality are just two of the many little details that make the N8 a great phone to live with.
The ‘bad’
- Ovi Store: not enough quality apps, still too many quirks and bugs.
- Virtual keyboard: we don’t mind the portrait T9 keyboard as many do but we’re not crazy about the landscape QWERTY implementation.
- Overall user experience: everything we’ve come to expect from Nokia unfortunately. That means slightly buggy software, inconsistent UI and just a general lack of polish.
- Poor handling of HTML email: scrolling and scaling still not as good as the competition.
The ‘ugly’ bottom-line
We’re not giving the conclusion away. You’ll have to check out the video to find out. What we will tell you is that we were left frustrated. As you’ll see in our review, although there is no doubt that Symbian needs work to bring it up to par with the best, it is now so very, very close. A few cosmetic enhancements, some usability improvements (address the keyboard, make the homesreen widgets of variable sizes) and Symbian could be a contender again.
We don’t doubt that a Windows Phone powered Nokia N8 would be a great device too. What concerns us is that, long-term, our Finnish friends will have no way to distinguish themselves from the sway of other manufacturers pushing out Windows Phone devices. Yes, Nokia hardware is best-in-class but, nowadays, software is what really matters.
As the last man standing in the Symbian camp, we were hoping the N8 would be a compelling advocate for the venerable operating system, a reason to choose it over Windows-powered devices. It certainly endeared itself to us in many ways but it also left us wistfully wondering what a Window Phone N8 might be like. That’s a real shame.
Last man standing: The Nokia N8
As Nokia jumps into bed with Microsoft and kisses its Symbian operating system goodbye, The Prodigal Fool examines the last of a dying breed: the N8, a Symbian-powered multimedia powerhouse that leaves him impressed and disappointed in almost equal measure.
7 Responses to “Last man standing: The Nokia N8”
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Hey, what can I tell you, we have a soft spot for the Finns and wanted to give them a fair outing. I still love – simply love – their hardware.
On the whole, I agree with your analysis. If Nokia has demonstrated anything over the last four years since the iPhone launched it is that they simply don’t have what it takes to put together a competitive software and services offering. Hopefully they’ll fare better with Windows but somehow – in the long term – I doubt it.
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Ivan Y
28 February 2011
Hopefully, Nokia will have a Moto-like turnaround. It’s hard to imagine, but until Droid came out, Moto was in huge trouble since they rode RAZR bandwagon for much too long. So long, in fact, they had ran out of four-letter vowel-deficient words
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Chris I
1 March 2011
11 FEB 11 the day Nokia died.
They should have chosen Android and differentiated and added value with with the one thing they do well: hardware. It’s about the ecosystem and Apple and Android are building faster and better than MS even knows how.
I think Guy Kawasaki said it best about Apple imitators: “They don’t even know what steal” or something close that.
I will say my Nokia phones had a really good form factor and were well built…but everything else was terrible.
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Ivan Y
1 March 2011
I agree that Android shows a lot more promise than Windows, but Nokia is led by ex-MS guy and MS was willing to open their pockets more. But there are some people who think that in a few years Nokia will end up on Android bandwagon.
Going to be interesting to see what Nokia will do to low- and mid-range phones, don’t you think? Android scales very well but all Windows phones right now are higher-end.
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El Guapo
1 June 2011
Wow. Prescient call, Chris I. It’s ugly out there for Nokia.
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Sure is.
But – I will say this: from what I’ve seen of the latest version of Windows and what I know about Nokia’s hardware design, I do think that the Windows / Nokia partnership has the potential to delivery a truly killer device.
The real question at this stage is whether they can deliver it before it’s too late.
By the way – at this price, picking up some Nokia stock wouldn’t be the stupidest thing you could do right now. Especially is the Microsoft M&S rumours pan out…
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Ivan Y
28 February 2011
Wow, a fifteen-minute video review of N8? That’s pretty epic. And, unfortunately, way more than N8 deserves.
Nokia hasn’t been able to make competitive software, they needed outside expertise. Since Nokia missed out on Palm, Windows was a more appealing option that Android. Microsoft is a lot more desperate than Google to strike a deal and less companies make Windows phones at the moment, so it’s easier for Nokia to stand out. Excellent Nokia hardware + decent Windows software = not the worst idea ever.