Nokia N8 Review

We take a look at the eagerly-anticipated Nokia N8, the Finnish manufacturer’s first smartphone to run on the brand-spanking new Symbian^3 OS.

The Nokia N8 is Nokia’s most exciting handset since the introduction of the Communicator range. Moving away from Nokia’s boring mid-range portfolio, the N8 definitely brings a new lease of life to the Finnish manufacturer.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the S60 operating system has been scrapped in favour of Nokia’s newest platform, Symbian^3. It’s an evolution of S60, but brings in elements of the Maemo UI so it is much more usable. We found it to be pretty stable, especially considering our N8 is a pre-production sample. Symbian^3 is very similar to other touchscreen operating systems. There are three homescreens and each can hold up to 24 widgets, bookmarks and shortcuts.

Apps are downloaded from Nokia’s Ovi Store, but it still needs a lot of work - the selection available is limited in comparison to Android, but this isn’t surprising considering Android has been around for a couple of years and the N8 is the first Symbian^3 device. Apps developed for S60 5th Edition should be compatible with Symbian^3.

Nokia's bundled web browser is finally good enough that you don't need to downloaded a third party browser, such as Opera. The N8 supports multitouch gestures, so you can pinch your fingers to zoom in and out of web pages.

The browser also supports Flash - hurrah! Although it uses the cut-down Flash Lite engine instead of the full Flash Player, in our tests most Flash-based content rendered almost perfectly. Google is set as the default for search, but this can easily be changed to Bing in the browser settings.

One aspect that is missing from the Nokia browser is the ability to open up multiple pages and switch between them using tabs. This is already present in the BlackBerry OS 6 and Opera browsers, so it’s a shame to see such a basic feature missing from an otherwise proficient browser.

Typing with the onscreen Qwerty keyboard is comfortable, although it's much easier to use in landscape mode since this makes the keys bigger. What is missing is multitouch within the messaging apps, so you can use shortcuts like a normal hardware keyboard.

The Nokia N8 also supports tethering, so you can use your phone as a modem for your laptop when you're out of range of a Wi-Fi connection. It’s a feature offered by an increasing number of manufacturers – Apple offers it with the iPhone and it will come natively with Android 2.2, providing your network supports it and you've paid any subscription fees. Setting up this feature was very easy and didn't require fiddling around with the network settings. You can't turn the N8 into a MiFi-style portable router though, as you can with Android 2.2 phones.

Although Nokia’s email application may not be as advanced as the one on BlackBerry phones, it does support a wide range of services, including webmail and Exchange. The latter is dependent on Nokia’s Mail for Exchange app (MfE) which keeps your mail, calendars and contacts synched between your phone and Exchange server. MfE is simple to set up and use. You can view your calendars and email or create a new email by tapping on the drop down tabs at the top of the screen.

Overall, the Nokia N8's hardware feels just as impressive as its operating system. The front of the smartphone is dominated by the touchscreen, with just one hardware button below the screen that doubles as both the home and menu keys. The AMOLED screen measures 3.5in and has a resolution of 360x640 pixels. It looks crystal clear and it feels responsive and accurate.