Nokia N8: testing the best Symbian smartphone. Testing the Nokia N8 smartphone Nokia n8 characteristics description instructions

I will build my own Lunapark! Robot Bender, film "Futurama"

Nokia N8 can perhaps be called one (if not the most) of the most controversial and discussed phones of 2010. It was destined for him to become like this - even his announcement was accompanied by a scandal, which the company was forced to do after it appeared on Mobile Review preview. For Nokia, this is a landmark device into which a lot of effort has been put. So let’s try to understand all its advantages and disadvantages.

Technical characteristics of Nokia N8

Apart from the morally old processor with a frequency of 680 MHz, the hardware of the Nokia N8 can be called very interesting. The device has a unique set of characteristics today: a 12-megapixel camera with autofocus, xenon flash and video recording in a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, HDMI output, the ability to connect USB drives to the device and support for the DivX codec. All this, together with the built-in 16 GB drive, makes the model interesting. The weak points of the smartphone include the resolution and display diagonal, which are seriously inferior to the same Android devices, where 4-inch displays with a resolution of 800x480 pixels were already available in the summer of 2010, while sales of the Nokia N8 began only in the fall. The good thing is that the screen is capacitive, created using AMOLED technology (which is also not the most advanced technology today), it supports multi-touch. The capabilities of the hardware platform are supported by the “transitional” version of Symbian version 3. In general, the situation with operating systems now in Nokia, to put it mildly, is not the best. Constant delays and course changes have led to the fact that the company today is chronically behind and, together with Windows Phone 7 has been in a stuck state of catching up with the player for many months now. Symbian was originally designed for use in feature phones, at a time when touch screens had not yet captured the hearts and minds of consumers. Symbian has had and still has no equal in this status. But those glorious times have passed and after the release and triumphant march of the iPhone, the market has changed. Nokia has been preparing a new operating system for a long time, initially created for use in touch phones. Nokia N900 running Maemo 5 operating system showed good potential, but suddenly Nokia changed course and joined forces with Intel to work on the operating system MeeGo system. It will soon be a year since this work has been carried out, but things are still there. Which is very close to the situation with Windows Phone 7, the first devices on which, although they are already being sold in a number of countries, are, as in that joke about the balls, not encouraging.

Nokia N8 equipment

The Nokia package is quite consistent with the idea of ​​a flagship phone. This is a set of cables and adapters (for connecting USB flash drives and HDMI), good headphones with three sets of silicone seals and a remote control that controls the volume and switches music tracks. Taking into account the possibility of charging the built-in battery from USB, the buyer receives two sets of chargers - for work and at home.

1. Box
2. User manual in Russian and Ukrainian languages
3. Quick user guide in Ukrainian
4. Adapter for connecting HDMI cable
5. Portable charger with 2mm jack
6. Adapter for connecting USB drives
7. USB cable
8. Stereo headset with remote control
9. Two additional sets of headphone seals
10. Nokia N8

Appearance of Nokia N8

Nokia N8 uses a new, recognizable design made from solid aluminum with beveled and rounded four corners.

The module with the camera and speaker is mounted on a separate ledge. On the one hand, this increases the size of the device, on the other hand, the phone lying on the table does not muffle calls due to the fact that it always lies at a slight angle, without blocking the speaker.

At the top end there is a power button (you need to hold it for 8 seconds to turn off the phone; if it freezes, it will be much more difficult to remove the battery), a headphone jack and a connector for connecting an HDMI adapter, hidden behind a plug made of polished plastic. A rubber plug would look better, but you are unlikely to use HDMI often - this more marketing than real necessity. At the bottom there is a standard connector for a Nokia charger and a microphone. On the left panel there is a microUSB port and hidden behind tight-fitting matte plastic plugs are slots for a SIM card (hot-swappable, after which the device will reboot) and a microSD memory card. On the right panel there is a camera power button, a paired sound volume control key and a convenient knurled lever that locks the touch screen.

There is a single hardware key on the front panel. With its help, you can unlock your smartphone (confirmation is required by pressing a special button on the touch screen), pressing it sequentially switches the device between the main menu and the main desktop. A long press and hold brings up the running applications manager.

Under the camera window there is a speaker slot used to play music, above the camera is the pride of the Nokia N8, a xenon flash that provides bright white light when taking photographs. Interestingly, the camera itself, hidden behind glass, is covered with a curtain that opens at the time of shooting.

Two adapters are included in the package. One connects to the microUSB connector and allows you to use USB flash drives with the phone. The other connects to the HDMI socket at the top end of the case and then, via a standard HDMI cable, to a TV or monitor for viewing photos and HD videos (including those shot with the built-in camera).

The headset wire is flat and made of soft, pleasant-to-touch plastic. The remote control is equipped with a clothespin and a call answer button, a volume control key and player control buttons. It’s worth saying that when I attached the remote control to my clothes with a clothespin, I almost never managed to avoid catching the music switch keys, which regularly caused irritation.

Chrome-plated headphones are equipped with silicone seals. The delivery set includes three such pairs of seals different sizes to ensure optimal sound insulation during operation. In my opinion, today this is the best option for headphones - they fit well in the ears, do not fall out if you choose the right seals, do not irritate the ears and at the same time cut out external noise.

The question that worries a certain part of people - what to do with a non-removable battery - is actually not that big of a deal. big problem. True, you will need a special screwdriver. However, I easily found it at the nearest market in a set with a good two dozen other attachments. The Chinese set cost me about 25 hryvnia.

Two screws down and now the lower part of the case is unscrewed, and you can pull out the battery. This is much more difficult than simply removing the cover, but in practice how often do you have to remove the battery? Even with intensive use of the phone, it will have to be replaced in the worst case after a year. Once a year, unscrewing two screws and screwing them back is not such a serious problem. Especially against the backdrop of the elegant appearance of the device, which it will always maintain.

Comparison of sizes with what was at hand: Nokia N97 and Sony Ericsson X10:

Nokia N8 desktop and widgets

In general, updating Symbian to version 3 (or should I write ^3? a completely stupid idea with writing, to be honest) looks cosmetic and poorly in keeping with the times. In general, the operating system is the most important (or even the only) problem of this smartphone. Nokia N8 has three desktops, which at the end of 2010 already looked like a mockery - even budget ones have three desktops touch phones Samsung and LG for 1000 hryvnia. Widgets that are one line in size (4 icons) are very inconvenient to use (especially if there is something to compare with). For example, for the mail widget, only two lines with letters are placed, which is very little. And, in the end, there is simply nothing to occupy all three desktops. The only widgets that can be called convenient are the widgets with a player (when the radio is on, it shows radio stations) and with selected contacts - this is the same contacts panel that has been available in smartphones based on the S60 5th edition for more than a year. Desktops can have both vertical and horizontal orientation. You can switch between them with a simple movement of your finger, or you can scroll through them one by one by pressing the middle touch key with three dots at the bottom of the screen. In this case, the white dot shows which of the three desktops is in front of the user.

To customize your desktop, simply press and hold your finger on one of the widgets. Nokia N8 classifies this gesture as a desire to make changes and switches the desktop to edit mode. In it, you can remove any of the six bars or, by clicking on the free plus sign, add it to your desktop.

The good thing is that now you can place as many blocks with application icons or browser bookmarks as you like (the Nokia N97 could have no more than 2). They are all called links. Each bar can contain 4 such links, so up to 24 shortcuts to the user’s favorite applications and sites can be placed on the desktop at the same time. In practice, it will be difficult to type these 24 applications, but theoretically it is possible.

In addition to the list of widgets already installed or used in the Nokia N8, you can download additional widgets from the OVI store, but in practice, of the two dozen widgets available there, there is simply nothing for our user to choose - local services It's just not there. You can also use any RSS feed added by the user as a widget. Although you will be able to see, again, only two headlines.

Some widgets can be deployed on the desktop (for example, a widget with user-missed events) to provide quick access to the required information. Another update in Symbian^3 is the new running applications manager. When you press and hold the hardware button under the display, a ribbon with running applications appears in a pop-up window. You can quickly switch to any of them by scrolling the tape with your finger. Or you can close unnecessary ones by clicking on the cross in the upper right corner. Running applications are now displayed not as their icons, but as screenshots of the screen with the current state of the program. But the main menu remains virtually unchanged.

Despite the apparent complications, everything began to work noticeably faster than in previous versions of Symbian. The operation of the display in standby mode is interestingly organized. The screen is off but shows the time and date. If you touch the hardware key, a touch key for unlocking and information about the battery level and cellular network signal appear.

The main menu, as I already said, is no different from the usual one. Some interest from before installed applications are represented by photo and video editors (more about them later) and games (we will also return to them later).

Reading messages in Nokia N8

The “Message Reading” application has finally become able to read Russian. This may be convenient in some cases (by the way, which ones?) For privacy, it is worth wearing headphones. The program tries to automatically recognize the language of the message. Both letters and SMS are read - everything in the order they were received.

Music player in Nokia N8

The main innovation in the player is very fast scrolling of disc covers. Although the question is more about frills than functionality. Another nice thing is that after you pull out the headphones, the player’s playback stops. Previously, the music continued to play. Now you can “turn off” the player this way. By the way, this method works great with a radio receiver. And if the radio application is not closed, then when you reconnect the headphones, the radio automatically starts broadcasting to the headphones.

Multi-touch in Nokia N8

The entire year of 2010 (and even a part of 2009) was spent by manufacturers under the user slogan “We need a capacitive screen and multi-touch!” Understanding the importance of this was especially difficult for Nokia and Sony Ericsson, who stubbornly and for too long denied the importance of this opportunity for users. As a result, at the beginning of 2011 we have a situation where everyone already sees the need to use such displays and such functions. As a result, Nokia N8 supports multi-touch in the browser, viewing photos, for some reason mail and in OVI cards starting from version 3.06. Nokia itself does not use this concept due to Apple patents, so official documents use the phrase pinch to zoom, which can be translated as “zooming with your fingers.”

Taking photos with Nokia N8

Although a 12-megapixel camera or xenon flash is no longer new to the market, the Nokia N8 in 2010 was the only phone with such capabilities. Which automatically made it the best camera phone of the year (and this is not affected by Symbian in any way, however, Android still demonstrates an insufficient level of cameras in devices). In general, despite the serious history of the issue (at some point in time Nokia became the world's largest manufacturer of devices equipped with cameras), the company had only a few models with good cameras. Off the top of my head, the Nokia N73 and Nokia N95 come to mind. But otherwise, the manufacturer rarely spoiled its customers with first-class cameras. The Nokia N8 is clearly not the case, and its photography capabilities are excellent. You can easily verify this if you look at more examples of photographs and download them in original resolution in a separate photo gallery on Torba. The camera interface has not undergone any significant changes compared to its predecessors. Everything is very familiar, only in the “image quality” parameters a 12MP item has appeared, meaning a shooting mode of all 12 megapixels.

The camera feels confident with equal ease both when shooting outdoors and indoors.

Fragment of the image in real resolution. Note the lack of digital noise that is common with cameras built into phones.

Shooting the sky, which is traditionally problematic for phone cameras, gives good rather than mediocre results in the case of the Nokia N8. In the bright sun, it is no longer inferior to ordinary soap dishes.

Another difficult option is night photography. The light from the windows of the Kyiv Central Department Store is enough to get a sharp photo. Try repeating it with another built-in camera in your phone.

Another example is shooting at night on the street in low light conditions.

Indoors, you can combine shooting with or without flash to achieve better results. This picture was taken without a flash, and the next one was taken using it.

When shooting without flash, the colors are more saturated, but there is always a risk of getting a blurry photo due to the long shutter speed.

In this photo, notice the depth of field, which is difficult to achieve during macro photography.

Another example of shooting indoors at close range and with flash. Good detail and no glare from the flash, which ensures even illumination.

And another example of shooting indoors with flash. Every hair of the cat is visible.

And this is a fragment of the previous photo in real resolution. Feel the difference.

This is also a difficult option for automation, which the camera in the Nokia N8 copes with very well: indoors, numerous splashes of water and flash. The photo turned out sharp and without any glare from the flash itself.

Photo editor in Nokia N8

Besides great camera, Nokia N8 still has one of the best photo editors, which I came across on phones. True, the question of the feasibility of such an application should be left outside the scope. But, at a minimum, you can entertain your friends (and yourself) if you are of school or student age. And it’s worth using red-eye reduction (xenon flash is guaranteed to provide them).

In addition to the frame (by the way, there are a couple of dozen of them to choose from), you can use various filters (there are also quite a few of them). Some of them simply color the photo using one tone, others allow you to use artistic effects. A huge field for all kinds of experiments.

An interesting tool is a stamp with a dozen templates and the ability to choose the color of the markings. Please note that along with the image editor’s settings for brightness, contrast, sharpness, and color (you can adjust separately in highlights and shadows or add one color channel), you can use the selection of image fragments. For this, rectangular or oval blocks are used, but you can use a very “adult” “magic wand” tool, which automatically selects a fragment of the same color. In fact, these are the capabilities of professional editors raster images, which are used in the vast majority of cases when editing photographs.

Another fun feature is adding a bubble with phrases. There are several options for cloud templates to choose from. The text is entered in a standard field, and then the vector (!) block with the text can be moved, rotated and resized. Pay attention to the arrows on the right side of the screen, with which you can step by step undo previous actions and return it back.

The addition of vector animation (that is, an animated picture can be enlarged, and it still remains animated) will most likely appeal to teenagers, but for a phone this feature looks simply impressive.

One of the most frequently used functions, red-eye removal after shooting with flash, also works flawlessly. It is worth saying that she perfectly fulfills her role both in full automatic mode, when the search and correction of the eyes is performed automatically. So, and manually - in this case, the user himself selects the fragment of the image that requires correction.

Shooting video with Nokia N8

Probably everyone knows that the Nokia N8 camera is capable of shooting video in HD resolution (1280x720), but few people know about the video editing capabilities that are available to the owner of this device. We will talk about it today along with examples of video shooting that the Nokia N8 camera is capable of. The video camera interface can be called ascetic. This can be explained by the fact that we shoot video with our phones in cases where the shooting is not planned, but something interesting happens suddenly, as they say, here and now. And all you have at hand is your phone, which simply doesn’t have time to set anything up; you need to take it out and start shooting right away. However, in addition to the HD shooting mode, Nokia N8 has the ability to record geotags using the built-in GPS module. And there is a built-in video stabilizer.

Evaluating video capabilities based on a YouTube video is a thankless task, the main thing is that the resolution is 1280x720. This means that you will be able to comfortably watch videos shot by Nokia N8 in the future, when all TVs and televisions will work in this high definition standard.

Video editor in Nokia N8

The video editor built into the Nokia N8 works in two modes, similar in their capabilities, but different in purpose. In the first case we're talking about about video editing. In the second - creating a beautiful slide show with music from your own photographs located in the memory of Nokia N8 and made with your own hands. The first thing the user sees after selecting a mode is the storyboard. All that remains is to add a video and/or photo from the gallery, overlay soundtrack from the music library, add captions with text if necessary, and choose a beautiful option for animation of transitions between video blocks. Although for the most part it is a beautiful toy that has very little practical use. However, you can consider this scenario: you are returning from a business trip (vacation) and on the plane (train, bus, waiting room) you can quickly make a slide show from the pictures you took. Any realistic scenario with video editing does not occur to me at all.

Creating a slide show is fundamentally no different, except that there is no need to cut out the necessary parts of the video during editing (this option is available in the video editing mode). The process of adding photos and sound materials is quick. And as a result, the user receives a slide show with beautiful animation, when the next photo appears effectively against a beautiful background. There is more than enough room for creativity. This means that you can do such operations on the plane on the way home from vacation and return with an impressive “how I spent my vacation” show ready to show to friends (certainly on a large TV).

Using email on Nokia N8

E-mail is certainly one of the Nokia N8's strongest points, inherited from previous versions of Symbian. The mail program has a convenient interface, adapted for use with a touch screen, supports a dozen popular mail services: Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail, Rambler, Yandex, mail.ru, i.ua, can work with mail for MS Exchange and, of course , postal service OVI. This means that to access the mail of these services, you just need to enter the address and password; the program will determine all other settings itself. At all mail client in Symbian^3 is one of the best I've ever seen.

If the service is not in the list, you can configure mail manually. The client allows you to work with several mailboxes at once (I easily used three, two of which receive a lot of mail), easily switching between them, and has a rich selection of settings, providing an example of an excellent implementation of a familiar service on a mobile phone. And thanks to the proprietary (and currently free) Nokia Messaging service, push e-mail becomes available. This is the ability to receive mail on your phone literally a few seconds after it arrives. Here it would be appropriate to say that Symbian in general and Nokia N8 in particular have a much more intelligent system of optimal energy consumption than Android. If for an Android smartphone surviving until the evening after intensive use during the day is equivalent to a feat, then the Nokia N8 is easily able to last a couple of days. At the same time, push e-mail works, in which mail is updated regularly. The three tabs at the top of the interface are buttons. The first one with the envelope icon is intended for creating a new letter. The second is used to select a folder with letters (IMAP is supported) and switch between different mailboxes. To access custom folders, simply select “Folders” from the drop-down list. All messages in the current folder can be sorted by date, sender, subject, priorities and attachments. Separately, you can select unread messages or messages marked by the user.

Letters allow you to set priorities, use lists of copies and blind copies of recipients. The “Check” checkbox allows you to immediately mark a letter so that it can then be quickly found. The mail program supports attachments. at the same time, you don’t need to search for files in the phone’s memory for a long time - file system Symbian allows you to get to the music, photo, video or note that the user is going to attach to the letter with one click. By selecting “Other” you can select any file on the disk.

For each mailbox, you can set your own mail settings. To do this, just select Settings in the Functions menu. And there is the necessary mailbox in it.

Experienced users will love it flexible tools mail delivery settings. Power management in Symbian^3 when working with mail, as I already said, is worthy of all praise - even with maximum settings (delivery as quickly as possible) and throughout the whole week without interruptions, the phone is able to last a couple of days. This time can be increased, for example, by choosing a gentle mode for mail download frequency.

You can add battery life by disabling overnight mail delivery. For example, by selecting the item “9.00 - 21.00” in the loading schedule. When roaming, the function of downloading only titles will be useful. Also in your work mailbox you can, for example, disable delivery of letters on weekends and enjoy a well-deserved rest. The phone will do everything itself. And he'll get back to work on Monday.

You can edit the signature that is automatically added at the end of each letter and limit the number of letters stored in the device's memory. This allows you to use available memory more economically.

Browser and OVI maps in Nokia N8

The browser in Nokia N8 now supports multi-touch, can work with Flash Lite, and has a standard set of settings for phone browsers, the main purpose of which is to optimize traffic consumption and ensure the confidentiality of the user's work. The browser has an integrated RSS client for working with web news subscriptions, which makes it easier to read new materials from your favorite or frequently visited sites. It supports multi-window mode, can block pop-ups and store user site passwords. Although, for example, functions such as selecting and copying text are not implemented in the best way. In the sense that there are more interesting options.

The browser can work in both vertical and horizontal screen orientations, automatically switching between them. The main menu is called up by pressing a button with three lines and offers icons of the main sections that are convenient for pressing with your fingers.

The browser settings have such useful functions as selecting a permanent Internet access point, indicating home page upon startup, automatic addition to the Internet addresses .com, .net, .org, as well as the choice of search service provider - Yandex or Google.

The browser can work with Cookies and store user passwords. Change the font size on a web page, block pop-up ads that are especially annoying when viewing web pages on your phone screen, and disable loading images to save bandwidth. The context menu allows you to find the search word on the page or subscribe to the RSS feed of the site's web news with one click.

It also allows you to work with bookmarks and stores the history of pages viewed. The RSS client as a whole has not changed compared to the previous version of Symbian. This is a convenient and fast way to read site updates. It also consumes minimal traffic.

An alternative is the excellent, proven Opera Mini browser, which optimizes web pages and, as a result, loads them quickly. Its touchscreen version is finger-friendly and has a nice, simple interface.

Opera Mini also supports multiple windows and works in both portrait and landscape orientations.

Simple and intuitive settings allow you to optimize the loading of web pages depending on the speed of your mobile connection. You can change font sizes, influence the degree of compression (and quality) of images, or even disable their loading.

Like all new Nokia smartphones, the N8 comes with Nokia Maps with free navigation. The device has map version 3.04 installed, which today makes sense to update to 3.06. You can read more about the new features in a separate article. The main drawback of the cards is the constant need for activated A-GPS mode (and, accordingly, traffic consumption). You can't go far with GPS alone. The advantages include storing maps on the phone itself, which makes zooming very fast and allows you to search for points of interest offline.

Supports 3D mode, convenient for car navigation. The detail is constantly increasing, and courtyard driveways are beginning to appear on the maps.

Settings include sections “Internet”, “Navigation”, “Route”, “Map” and “Synchronization”. Using an Internet connection allows you to increase the speed of location determination, which even starts working inside buildings. By default, the resources of the built-in 16 GB drive are used. This improves operating stability.

The most interesting and detailed settings, of course, contains a “Navigation” section. You can select the voice guidance language for driving and walking. Set the coordinates of your home location (they allow you to calculate the route from your starting point to your home with the press of one button). Select the type of route - faster or shorter. Navigation now has the ability to warn you when the speed limit is exceeded.

A distinctive feature of OVI maps are points of interest, sorted into a dozen topics (almost all of them also have their own subsections). Currently, there are several tens of thousands of such points in Ukraine. And search results from the current location are sorted by distance.

A new section in maps is the map Reporter application, which allows the user to take part in the map improvement program. He can indicate an inconsistency or error in the map by selecting one of the specified reasons and send a message to the map developers with the click of a button.

Social network client in Nokia N8

In short, built-in clients for working with social networks have the same childhood problems as those of other manufacturers. No wonder LG abandoned its own application in Optimus One. Because for smartphones this is a completely thankless job - after all, third-party applications for Twitter and Facebook work much better and have an order of magnitude better capabilities. In the case of the Nokia N8, the situation is further aggravated by the fact that to work with social networks, authorization on the OVI service is required. Apparently like this the Nokia way tries to increase usage of the service and thus look better in the eyes of shareholders.

Nokia N8 provides access to popular social networks - Facebook and Twitter right out of the box thanks to the pre-installed Social Center program running through the OVI service. You can update your status, read messages from friends, publish photos taken with the built-in camera and exchange messages. It is worth saying that the social center has its own widget that allows you to monitor the update feed directly on the Nokia N8 desktop. But everything works slowly and the same Twitter client can’t do a lot of things that everyone is already used to. For example, expand lists, show discussions, retweet. The application has three operating options and allows you to read Twitter and Facebook updates separately or simultaneously in the “all operations” mode. The social center can support simultaneous operation of several Twitter and Facebook accounts. The search function allows you to select one friend's feed to read.

In Twitter mode, you can see your entire friends feed or read messages addressed to you separately. It is possible to view favorite (pre-marked) messages.

The fourth button in the top menu is responsible for personal messages. To update the feed, simply select Refresh from the Options menu. The interface is extremely simple, all basic functions are always at hand. Which is convenient for the mobile scenario of using the service. You can literally read the feed on the go by refreshing, reading and scrolling the feed with one finger.

The application can use Twitter's signature feature - the use of a shortening service for long links. The service used is bit.ly. To shorten a link, enter its full address and click the “Shorten links” button.

The social center allows you to publish up to 6 photos at once by selecting them from the gallery. Or you can send a photo to Twitter, taking it right there with the built-in camera. Publishing photos takes seconds. But at the same time, you cannot add any text - only short links to photographs are sent to Twitter, which is no longer so convenient.

The Facebook client is adapted to work with this social network and provides ample opportunities. You can read a general feed, select feeds of specific friends, and select only photos or links posted by friends. Although it’s better to forget about all this, install Gravity for Twitter (although it’s paid) and the official Facebook client for Symbian.

It is possible to view and share internal messages and responding to friend requests and event invitations sent by your friends.

A nice feature is that if you accept an invitation to an event, the application prompts you to immediately add it to your phone calendar. A trifle, but nice.

Facebook updates allow you to add videos in addition to photos, and include your current location in your message using the built-in GPS.

Just like in “real” Facebook, you can like messages and comments.

And, of course, in the OVI store you can always download other clients for working with social services. For example, Gravity, which has been the best Twitter client for the Symbian operating system for several years.

Pre-installed 3D games in Nokia N8

What the Nokia N8 definitely does right is install two 3D games: the 3D space arcade game with elements of the economic strategy Galaxy on Fire and the racing simulator Need for Speed ​​Shift. Thanks to the touch screen and accelerometer, you can get a completely new gaming experience with unusual controls. And the built-in 3D accelerator provides vivid impressions of modern 3D games. Especially if the user has not had similar experiences on other platforms.

It is worth saying that in addition to pre-installed games, the Nokia N8 has the ability to download games, applications and themes through the OVI store. This is a service, access to which is provided by a special program. In Symbian^3 it has a new design, and the structure has been changed to be more convenient and to correspond to the increased number of applications in the store. As you remember, in January of this year paid applications in OVI became available to Ukrainian users.

The store operates a recommendation system that offers the user exactly those applications that, in the system’s opinion, may interest him. The more programs you download, the more accurate the recommendations will be. All materials are divided into 4 categories: applications, games, audio and video, personal settings. IN personal settings you can see a list of applications and settings already downloaded and installed through the OVI store account.

When you go to a category, you can select popular (most often downloaded) applications or new ones recently added by developers. Above top menu there is a special category application that is recommended by the service at the current time.

For example, one of these recommended games is the most popular game Angry Birds, which became a real hit this year. It is already available on Symbian^3. By going to the application page, you can see screenshots from it (they allow you to evaluate the graphics and usefulness of the program), as well as get acquainted with the comments of users who have already used this program.

Another useful innovation - now in your account settings you can choose where to install applications: in system memory device or to the built-in storage.

Galaxy on Fire

Frankly, this game is truly beyond praise. It has excellent game balance - it doesn't get boring thanks to a large number of different tasks and economic elements. It also does not require long missions. In a word, everything is done so that you can get maximum gaming pleasure in your spare time. Galaxy on Fire has two game types - the so-called survival mode, in which, like in Tetris, the number of enemies and their speed gradually increase. And a full-fledged campaign with its own storyline. There are few game actions in real time - you need to fly to a specific goal (don't forget that we are talking about three-dimensional space - this is not a two-dimensional arcade game). Along the way, shoot opponents, dodge large asteroids and destroy small ones. In appearance, everything is simple, there are two types of weapons and an acceleration mode in order to quickly cover distances or flee from superior enemy forces.

Like a good simulator, Galaxy on Fire has an economic model. For completing missions, the player receives credits that can be spent on planets to purchase more modern weapons. You can also engage in trade, thus earning money, if the player has a talent for negotiability.

The player is assisted by in-game dialogues, which provide logic for the plot development and give advice, especially useful at the initial level of the game.

Of course, as the game progresses, the user moves to new levels, collects trophies left over from destroyed opponents and receives credits for successfully completing missions. After each of them, the game is automatically saved. To which you can immediately return if your ship is destroyed.

Need for Speed ​​Shift

To say that the racing simulator Need for Speed ​​is the de facto standard in the gaming industry is to say nothing. This game is available to all Nokia N8 buyers. Before starting the game, the user can adjust the volume of sound, music and sound effects (the engine roars so loudly that no one will notice) and select the type of race.

As in the “big” version of the game, as the player develops gaming skills and wins races, new cars and new tracks and cities become available to the player. At the start there is only one car - the Volkswagen Golf GTI.

The game's controls are extremely simple and natural - you just need to tilt the phone right and left, imitating the movements of the steering column. First-person view and a large screen perfectly convey the atmosphere of the race! And graphics and sound provide complete immersion in the game. While driving, the game records the masterful entry into the turn and shows the ideal trajectory with arrows. If the player follows it, the blue text "Ideal Trajectory" appears on the display. By sticking to it, the player will ensure victory.

Each race ends with a variety of statistics, which take into account overtaking, driving style, speed and accuracy of movements.

It must be said that screenshots poorly convey the level of graphics, so it’s worth seeing how it looks live on video.

Watching videos on Nokia N8

One of the key features of Nokia N8 is the ability to work with external drives (USB function On the Go) and connect to your TV via an HDMI connection. In this case, you can play files on the TV directly from a connected USB drive. It is worth noting that no other smartphone on the market has such a combination today. As you know, it is better to see with your own eyes once than to read a hundred times. Therefore, let's move on to a visual demonstration of these interesting possibilities.

When you connect a USB storage device to your phone via a special adapter included in the package, a new item “Remove USB device” appears in the system menu. It is necessary to safely remove the flash drive. On the menu USB settings a system message “accessing the phone’s memory card through another device” pops up, and the file manager recognizes the new drive (in this case G) and allows you to work with it like any other memory, including video playback.

The built-in media player supports DivX and can handle large files (I easily played 1.5 GB video files in HD). Declared support for H.263 and H.264, MPEG4 and WM9.

Bottom line

Without a doubt, Nokia has managed to create an outstanding product with a whole range of unique characteristics. Its weakest point is the Symbian operating system, which initially had no concept of touch screens. All these subsequent add-ons (for example, UIQ in earlier versions) have always been half measures. Therefore, today Symbian obviously loses in convenience and flexibility of operation to operating systems originally created for use with touch screens (iOS, Android and bada with Windows Phone 7). But for the huge army of fans of the brand (of which there are still many, despite the fact that their number may sharply decrease in the very near future), the capabilities of the Nokia N8 are a real discovery. The main irritating factor is the damned inconvenient switching of layouts (in 4 clicks, whereas a mechanism for doing it in 1 has long been invented) is partially solved by the released under New Year Swype for Symbian with Russian language support. Although there is no Ukrainian language yet (for example, Swype for Android already has it). The strengths of the Nokia N8 are certainly its camera, and those for whom this is a key factor will not be able to ignore it. All this time that Nokia N8 was in my hands, I could not decide whether the device was worthy of an editorial award gg. On the one hand, the phone has a rather high price, for which the user has the right to count on maximum capabilities. On the other hand, Symbian in this case is simply the root of evil, despite the cosmetic improvements. In the end, a solution was found - we give the Nokia N8 a “we recommend” award, but with a caveat - for Nokia fans. Anyone who is looking towards other more advanced operating systems (provided that they do not need the ability to shoot indoors - as you can see, there are continuous reservations) is unlikely to like this phone. Nokia managed to create an outstanding device. But it is outstanding only within the framework of a parallel universe, where there is nothing but Symbian. This is your own Lunapark.

6 reasons to buy Nokia N8

1. DivX and HDMI support out of the box
2. Camera with xenon flash and HD video recording
3. Good screen with multi-touch support and protective glass Gorilla Glass
4. Possibility of connecting USB drives
5. Familiar familiar Symbian
6. Pleasant aluminum body in every way

4 reasons not to buy Nokia N8

1. Outdated Symbian
2. Low screen resolution
3. Conditionally non-disassembled housing
4. Tiringly annoying keyboard layout switching

If you hold it in your hands, you will not be able to part with it for a long time. It seems to bewitch with its elegance and beauty of design and the clarity of the display (16,777,216 colors), which does not fade even in the sun. The high-level performance of the smartphone with an ARM 11 processor with a frequency of 680Mhz is quite enough to ensure fast work with applications. Concerning Nokia N8-00 cameras then he has one of the best among all phone models. 12 MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics and powerful xenon flash allow the smartphone to take quite professional pictures, both day and night. Video shooting of Nokia N8-00 in high quality HD format with a resolution of 1200 by 720 pixels can be easily watched on a TV screen. The smartphone is powered by a 1200 mAh BL-4D battery, which will allow the phone to operate for 12 hours of talk time and 390 hours of standby time. The smartphone is available in five colors: red, black, green, silver and blue. The smartphone's large memory of 16GB and microSD 32GB will allow you to transfer full-length movies for viewing without additional recoding. Nokia N8-00 is equipped with a receiver GPS and free cards from Nokia. For mobile lovers games It will be a pleasure to play on the large and bright 3.5-inch display. Here, it is probably impossible to describe how pleasant it is to use the N8-00 phone; you have to hold it in your hands to appreciate its magnificence!

Full specifications of Nokia N8-00.

• Operating system: Symbian^3
• Processor: ARM type 11/ CPU frequency 680 MHz
• Battery capacity:1200mAh/ BL-4D 3.7
• Standby time 390 hours (2G)/400 (3G)
• Talk time 12 hours (2G) / 5.8 hours (3G)
• Main camera: 12 MP./ 3000 x 4000 pixels/ Zoom 2x/ Xenon flash/ Face detection/ Picture editor/ Autofocus/ Geotagging
• Main video recording: MPEG-4 / 1280 x 720 / 30 frames per second / zoom 4 X
• Camera two: VGA for video communication / 15 frames per second.
• Memory RAM 256 MB / Built-in memory 16 GB / Possible to expand microSD max. up to 32 GB.
• Browser: XML/ HTML/ CSS/ AJAX/ JavaScrip/ XHTML MP
• Instant messaging services: Yahoo! Messenger/ Nokia Chat/ MySpace/ Google Talk/ AIM/ Windows Live Messenger
• Local Connections: Micro-USB/ HDMI/ 3.5 mm Audio Jack/ 2.0 mm Charger Jack
• Data transmission: 2G EGPRS/ 2G GPRS/ 3G HSUPA/ 3G HSDPA
• Wireless: WLAN IEEE 802.11/Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
• Operating range: Four 2G bands / Five 3G bands / Possibility of automatic switching between WCDMA and GSM
• Audio capabilities: Yes player / Stereo FM radio with RDS function / FM transmitter
• Display: Diagonal 3.5 inches / Resolution 640 x 360 / 16,777,216 colors / Touch capacitive
• Navigation: GPS receiver (A-GPS) built-in / Nokia maps with free navigation
• Dimensions: H.113.5 mm/W.59.0 mm/T.12.9 mm
• Weight 135 g.
• More features of Nokia N8-00: Touch control/ Music playback max. 50 hours/ Video playback max. 7 hours/ Video recording max. 3.3 hours/ FOTI, FOTA software updates/ Voice recorder/ Calculator/ Calendar/ Notes/ Task list/ Voice dialing/ Voice commands/ Conference calling/ Video calling/ HTTP 1.1, WAP 2.0 protocols/ Video editing/ Energy saving mode/ Video streaming/ Playing high definition video on TV

Quick transition to other Microsoft / Nokia models.

Lumia 430 Dual Sim Lumia 650 Dual Sim Lumia 650 Nokia 230 Nokia 230 Dual Sim Lumia 950 XL Dual Sim Nokia 222 Dual Sim Lumia 950 Dual Sim Lumia 550 Lumia 540 Dual Sim Lumia 640 XL Dual Sim Lumia 640 Dual Sim Lumia 532 Dual Sim Lumia 435 Dual Sim Lumia 535 Dual Sim Lumia 830 Lumia 730 Dual Sim Lumia 735 Lumia 930 Nokia X2 Dual SIM Lumia 630 Dual SIM Nokia X Dual SIM Nokia XL Dual SIM Lumia 530 Dual SIM Lumia 1520 Lumia 625 Lumia 1020 Lumia 1320

The most anticipated device of this year among fans Nokia company was and remains the N8 smartphone. Large touch screen, cast metal body, 12 megapixel camera with autofocus, new Symbian^3 operating system - all this is about it. We have the opportunity to tell you in detail about the most modern and functional Nokia smartphone. So what is this Nokia N8 like?

No other device from the Finnish company has caused as many controversial opinions in the press as a smartphone Nokia N8. Some scolded him, others swore their love for him, and still others soberly assessed his capabilities. And now sales of this device have begun.

Nokia N8 tried to bring together all the advanced ideas inherent in a modern mobile phone. And indeed, the device has something to surprise you with. This reliable metal body, large capacitive touch screen, 12 megapixel camera with autofocus, HD mode, video playback without conversion, free navigation and much more. At the same time, the interfaces of the Symbian^3 operating system, under which the smartphone operates, were criticized by some experts. They found them too simple and outdated. We will try to find out whether this is true in our test review.

Dimensions. Contents of delivery.

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The first thing you feel when you pick up the Nokia N8 is... metal body and reliable assembly. Nothing is loose or fastened anywhere, and there are not even gaps between parts of the body. This is very pleasing and captivating.

The weight of the device is 135 grams. It's not too heavy, but you can feel it in your hands. At the same time, Nokia N8 has a relatively small thickness of 12.9 mm. The dimensions of the touchscreen are 113.5x59x12.9 mm. The shape is a parallelepiped with beveled corners. The smartphone can be comfortably carried in a trouser pocket, in a jacket or bag.

The scope of delivery includes:

• Nokia N8-00 phone
• Battery BL-4D 1200 mAh, lithium-ion
• Charger AC-15
• Cable for connecting to a computer Nokia CA-179 (microUSB)
• Stereo headset Nokia WH-701 (3.5 mm jack)
• Adapter cable for HDMI CA-156 (for connecting to TV)
• Adapter cable for USB OTG CA-157 (for connecting external media memory)
• Silicone case Nokia CC-1005
• Quick Guide

Design, construction.

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Nokia N8 has a memorable and moderately strict appearance. Although what kind of rigor can we talk about if there are five body colors available: dark grey, silver, blue, green and orange. As you can see in the photo, our editorial office visited the device in a dark gray design.

The slight thickness emphasizes the severity of the lines. The 12 megapixel camera module, which protrudes slightly above the rear surface of the device, could not fit into such dimensions. But more about her a little later.

The body is made of cast sheet of anodized aluminum coated with paint. It looks almost like a perfect rectangle, the ends at the top and bottom are beveled and not rounded, as is often the case. This form enhances the perception of the model as whole and unified. The feeling of monolithicity, by the way, is not deceptive. Only small areas at the top and bottom were made of plastic, because antennas, transmitters and a navigation module had to be installed somewhere.

It is worth noting that the metal case is attached to the board of the device itself using two miniature screws. They can be seen on the sides of the Nokia N8. This means that you cannot simply open the battery compartment and, for example, remove the battery. You will need the appropriate screwdriver. But for 98% of users there is absolutely no need to open the touchscreen. If someone is worried about the inability to turn off the smartphone without removing the battery, then this is not a problem. Hard Reboot or The device can be turned off by long pressing(8-10 seconds) buttons to turn the device on and off. We'll tell you more about the features and special keys later.

Most, if not all, of the front side of the Nokia N8 is occupied by a 3.5-inch touch screen. Above it is a speaker for voice calls. In the upper left corner you can see the lens of the built-in front camera for video calls, as well as a light sensor and an accelerometer. The first adjusts the intensity of the display backlight. The second allows you to transform the image on the display depending on the position of the device in space [landscape or portrait image orientation].

There is a single button located under the screen "Menu". Pressing it for a long time brings up the application manager; pressing in any of the applications returns to standby mode.

On the right side surface there is a volume button and a display lock slider, as well as a camera key. Slots for SIM cards and memory are located on the left side of the Nokia N8. There, but just below, there is a microUSB connector for connecting to a computer or connecting flash drives and hard drives. Next to it is a small LED that lights up while the device is charging. On the bottom edge there is a hole for connecting a standard charger.

At the upper end of N8 there is HDMI connector for connecting to a TV, an on/off key, as well as a 3.5 mm audio jack for connecting headphones.

A camera with a 12 megapixel sensor with Carl Zeiss optics is located on the back surface of the touchscreen. It has autofocus. The seriousness of the situation is indicated by a xenon flash. She's clearly not here just for show =))

There is only one external speaker in Nokia N8, and it is located next to the camera, on a ledge. Its quality and volume are at a decent level. Melodies are played in high quality and at high volume. The external speaker seems especially advantageous when playing NFS Shift. Well, you can guess what I mean. MP3 ringtones also sound good. The only difficulty arises if you place the smartphone with the speaker on any loose surface, fabric or clothing.

Once again, I repeat that the build quality and reliability of the case deserve the highest marks. There is nothing to complain about. Nokia N8 is assembled at a plant in Finland.

Screen. Graphics capabilities.

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Nokia N8 has a large 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen display. It has a resolution of 360x640 pixels (16:9 - nHD), displays 16.7 million colors. The display is made using AMOLED technology: a large reserve of brightness, high contrast, rich and clear colors. The existing matrix provides viewing angles close to maximum. Even in energy saving mode (at minimum brightness), the picture will be very vibrant and juicy. When exposed to direct sunlight, the screen fades a little, but remains easy to read.

As noted earlier, the Nokia N8 screen is capacitive. If we go into technical features, then the surface of the display is coated with a special oxide, which reacts to contact with fingers by achieving an electrical potential difference. It is worth noting that neither a stylus nor other accessories are suitable for this work. But this type of screen provides a number of advantages. Firstly, no strong pressure required. The screen responds even to a light touch. Secondly, multitouch support, which improves the ergonomics of device control. All you have to do is pinch-to-zoom with your fingers to get the picture closer. N8 became the first Finnish touchscreen that supports multi-touch.

In general, the display is a strong point of the device at the level of other advanced models.

Keyboard and information input

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Entering information, as well as writing texts and dialing numbers, occurs using touch screen. Thanks to gentle vibration, any user receives a response when pressing the touch keys.

Nokia N8 uses two schemes for typing text. First, classic mobile phone keyboard. That is, you can type both numbers and letters. The T9 function works in this mode. This type of keyboard is automatically activated in portrait mode (portrait).

The second scheme full-screen QWERTY keyboard, which only works in landscape orientation (landscape). In this mode, the buttons are large and allow you to type text without any problems. The keyboard is comfortable to use. The only downside that upset me was the very long chain of navigation through the menu in order to change the input language. There is simply no quick button for changing languages.

Menu. Interface and settings

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Nokia N8 interface is built on an updated operating system Symbian^3, to which, according to Nokia itself, more than 250 improvements were added compared to previous versions. In fact, this is a polished platform that was also used on and.

In the future, Symbian^3 updates of certain applications, service programs and utilities will occur automatically without any special Service Packs.

If you make the update automatic in the settings, then when this opportunity appears, the smartphone will offer to install the appropriate service package. During our testing, one critical update was installed this way.

It is worth noting that the changes in the OS have certainly been beneficial. Thus, in standby mode, the user has access to three desktops with the ability to add numerous program icons or widgets. You can navigate through the screens either by simply swiping or by clicking on the three dots at the bottom of the display. As for widgets, then maximum amount

, which can be installed in one screen - six pieces. Each widget is assigned a rectangular shape that cannot be resized. This layout does not allow the full potential of widgets to be realized; some of them could be much more informative. In order to configure widgets, you need to long press anywhere on the desktop to call context menu

, or do it through the functions menu. Thus, you can change the desktop layout beyond recognition. The desktop appears as in horizontal and vertical orientation

. The position of the widgets, accordingly, can be six in one row, or three in two rows. In standby mode, the user sees the main desktop, which displays information about signal reception and battery charge. Next to them you can see the time and date. At the very bottom there are three: touch buttons

"Features", "Switching between desktops" and "Dialing". In addition, Nokia N8 has pop-up status menu , which can be activated by pressing the right. The status menu is represented by three icons: “Communication” (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G connection settings), “Alarm clock”, “Power”. The status menu simplifies access to some of the device's useful functions.

The main menu can be accessed by pressing the single button below the display. The main menu is represented by 12 menu items, as before.

Operating the touch screen is easy. You click on the item you need once and you are taken to it. The field for entering information is pressed, and a keyboard immediately appears. In all menus, you can turn the phone over, then a large QWERTY keyboard will appear.

The user has the opportunity to rearrange all menu items among themselves. To do this, click “Functions” - “Arrange”. After this you can start moving shortcuts.

Like previous version Symbian^3 is multitasking. Dispatcher running programs can be called up by long pressing the menu button. Moreover, all programs appear in miniatures. In order to close them, you need to click on the “cross” in the thumbnail window.

To open the running program manager It is necessary to press the central button under the display for a long time. Applications are displayed with icons in two columns. You can close all applications or individual ones. The positive aspect is clarity, easier navigation between applications. The disadvantages include a smaller number of icons simultaneously displayed on the display.

Among the useful functions, it is worth noting that when you receive a call, an alarm clock or an event from the calendar, you just need to turn the phone over so that the sound is muted. The profile of the device does not change. And here is the mode speakerphone can be configured so that during a call, placing it on the table automatically activates speakerphone mode. In addition, you can set a clock on the screensaver, which will be effectively displayed in sleep mode.

Each user can configure the phone's operation and individual applications, personalize the smartphone interface. This is done from the menu "Options". This subsection includes all options related to working with the network. cellular communication, wireless interfaces, including bluetooth and Wi-Fi, data synchronization. In addition, settings for profiles, display, time, menus and widgets, security, phone memory and other service information are also available here.

Telephone features

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To start dialing, you need to press the button in standby mode "Call"(right). At the same time, from here you can access contacts and call logs.

IN "Contacts" stored detailed information about numbers and subscribers. You can choose one or another data presentation option. The list is displayed by names, to the left of them is the subscriber's photo and phone number; to view the contact details, you need to open it. Any name can be used as a picture graphic file, as well as your photos or videos.

Records are sorted in order: first, all contacts in Russian, then all names in English. About 2000 names are stored in the phone's memory with all numbers and data filled in. The search for contacts is carried out character by character. That is, you first enter the first character, then the second of those available, and so on, until the search is reduced to a minimum. I found this to be a very convenient tool.

In point "Messages" contains all options and options for working with SMS, MMS. There is a mode for displaying messages in classic form and in chat form on both Apple iPhone. Settings for working with all types of messages are also concentrated here. Unique feature sends a message at a specified time. After writing a message, you can specify what time and what day to send it to the recipient.

In addition to the standard lists, there is an item "Conversations", where the correspondence is formatted as a chat between two subscribers.

Email, internet and social services

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Email is a built-in email client with support for /IMAP4/SMTP/APOP protocols]. This is the Nokia Mail email client version 2.2.0. The main difference that the company talks about is the appearance of HTML support in letters.

The Mailbox Creation Wizard allows you to quickly set up your mailbox for work. If you are using a well-known service, for example, Gmail or Yahoo or some other familiar system, you must indicate your password, email address - and that’s it. From now on you will be able to work with the box. In addition, there is the possibility of customization inside corporate mail, including over a VPN connection.

Standard internet browser certainly not the best, so it was almost immediately replaced by Opera Mobile (installed for free from the OVI Store). It provides full support for WAP resources and other functions. You can call up a panel with frequently used functions: a list of links to visited resources, map display, page reload and search. But I personally like Opera many times more.

Access to social services can be configured from the application "Social media", which allows you to manage accounts on the most popular social resources: Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The client's interface and functionality are satisfactory and easy to use. Updates can be displayed in the corresponding widget directly on the main screen. The client's weakness is the loss of status when it is impossible to update it (due to network loss, for example). It is also not entirely clear why the developers installed such a thin and therefore not very aesthetically pleasing font. If you don't like this application, you can find many alternative free and paid clients in the OVI store.

Office applications

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I would include a to-do planner, a calendar, programs for viewing office documents, and book readers as office applications. Nokia N8 has all this.

"Calendar" allows you to view events by date, time and action. The program is a high-quality planner-organizer, all in one. All events can be divided into four groups with corresponding fields: “Meeting”, “Memo”, “Anniversary” and “Affair”.

In point "Watch" two utilities are concentrated at once: alarm clock and world time. World Clock displays the time for selected cities.

"File Manager"- built-in memory manager. It displays the contents of the phone's memory, memory card or external drives in the form of folders. The program allows you to rename, move and run various files. In the settings you can display folders in a list or in thumbnails.

Among the installed applications, the most interesting looks Quick Office. The program allows you to view, but not create (you need to buy a license in the OVI Store) MS Office format files (for example, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint) on your phone. There is also Adobe Acrobat (PDF), an archiver, an English-Russian dictionary and a calculator.

Musical Features

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In Symbian^3, which is installed on Nokia N8, the music player has been updated. If this is practically not noticeable in the vertical orientation of the screen, then in the horizontal orientation you will find a lot of interesting things. AND The player interface is very similar to what is implemented in the Apple iPhone. Graphic track covers, descriptions, and submenus look extremely attractive and modern.

In general, the music player supports mp3 files with various bitrates, including high ones, as well as WMA, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB. When playing a song, the display shows information about the track, album, and artist. The controls are clear, anyone can understand it. There is support for random or sequential playback of files. Sorting by artists, albums, genres, composers is available.

You can minimize the player and continue working with other applications. The player interface is specially adapted to the capabilities of the touch display. The central buttons are responsible for playback settings. A long press on the scroll bar allows you to rewind a specific track.

In addition to the player in Nokia N8 there is also FM radio. The user can search for radio stations in the range from 87.5 MHz to 108 MHz. There is automatic tuning of all stations; you can assign your own name to individual channels. The radio also works in hands-free mode. The radio is running in the background. The RDS function shows not only the title of the radio station in the general list at the top, but also other information. Radio broadcasts can be recorded in the phone's memory.

Camera. Photo and video capabilities

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The built-in camera is one of the trump cards of the model. Nokia N8 has a 12 megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom and autofocus. Large 1/1.83" optical format image sensor, 1.75 micron dot size. Other characteristics:

• 16:9 full-screen viewfinder with easy-to-use touchscreen options;
• Xenon flash
• Face detection software
• Focal length: 5.9mm
• 2x zoom (digital) for images
• 3x zoom (digital) for video
• Second camera for video communication (VGA, 640 x 480 pixels), image and video recording
• ISO 100, 400, 800, Auto
• Focusing from 10 centimeters (macro), from 20 to infinity in automatic mode
• Face detection in a photo
• Red-eye reduction

The volume buttons are responsible for zooming in/out of the image. Automatic contrast allows you to achieve good quality images on a bright sunny day. IN manual mode ISO settings available: 100, 200, 400, 800. The following shooting modes are available: custom, macro, portrait, landscape, night mode, sports, face detection.

In terms of image quality and image clarity, the Nokia N8 camera beats most other mobile phones. But it’s still impossible to call pictures from a phone better than those taken with full-fledged cameras.

The phone supports video recording in mpeg4 format for maximum resolution, and in the settings you can specify whether the video will be recorded with or without sound. All settings are comparable to those for photographs, but the video resolutions are different, plus effects are supported. Maximum resolution - 1280x720 pixels, also available 720x480 pixels (30 frames), or resolution 640x480 pixels (30 frames). Two additional resolutions - 320x240 and 176x144 pixels.

The recorded video is not bad. It looks great on a phone screen, and it looks great on a computer too.

Photos can be viewed from the menu "Photo". Pictures are displayed as thumbnails, the list opens very quickly, there is no delay even with a large number of pictures or images. You can scroll through photos in the gallery.

The built-in player is responsible for viewing video files in Nokia N8. It supports codecs: DivX, H.264, MPEG-4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark VGA 15 fps, Real video 10 QVGA 30 fps. Video streaming: H.264, Flash Lite 4, Flash 10 video compatibility, On2 VP6, Sorenson Spark.

It is worth noting, The smartphone allows you to watch movies without any problems, for example in .avi format, as well as video in HD format. N8 can show videos not only on its own screen. To broadcast them to an external large monitor, the device has an HDMI interface. Connecting your smartphone to the TV occurs without additional settings: as soon as both parts of the wire are connected, a copy of the phone screen appears on the external display.

App and music store

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Missing programs, utilities and widgets can be downloaded from OVI store. The application store is organized in the same way as the Apple Store. All applications are divided into categories: programs, games, themes, videos, music, etc., there are lists of the most popular free and paid applications, keyword search.

Similarly, you can purchase and download music and video content. To work with the Internet service from your computer, you will need to install OVI Player.

Navigation capabilities

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As basic program Nokia N8 navigation package uses "OVI Cards". This application can be launched from the phone's Maps menu. The latest updates and maps are available for download on the developers' website. It is worth noting that detailed maps of Russian cities are available here.

When you start the OVI Maps program, information from the operator’s base stations about the location, current time is downloaded for some time, and maps are downloaded. After receiving the coordinates can be determined where in this moment You are at. In the program menu there is a search for objects by text information, address, geographic location, history, contacts stored in the phone. All objects on the map are displayed with a corresponding icon. It is possible to display street names and other information in Latin. There is support for searching in Cyrillic.

The user can choose the map display option - 2D or 3D image, day or night mode. In addition, a “satellite view” display option has been added, it is similar to what we see in Google Maps.

When navigating with large bold arrows display a pre-designated route. Among the pleasant features you can find information about the weather, the situation on nearby roads, etc.

In general, navigation using the OVI Map is similar to other navigation services.

Memory and speed.

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For storing files and other data in the internal memory of Nokia N8 there is 175 MB (Disk “C”) and 16 GB(Disk “D”). In addition, thanks to the microSD memory card slot, you can increase the memory capacity by another 32 GB. This will clearly be enough.

The package includes an adapter for connecting external USB memory devices (for example, flash drives). By connecting a USB flash drive, you can copy data from it to internal memory phone, launch a music or video file. External memory visible in file manager as an additional disk. When I tried to connect an external hard drive to the Nokia N8, the connection did not happen. Apparently, this is due to lack of nutrition.

Nokia N8 has an ARM11 processor with a frequency of 680 MHz, RAM 256 MB. In addition, the phone has a dedicated DNSe chip, which is responsible for audio processing. The interface works quickly without any freezes. This is truly the most fast smartphone on Symbian OS.

Communication capabilities.

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Besides standard connection Nokia N8 to a computer via microUSB is supported Bluetooth 3.0. This touchscreen is one of the first devices with Bluetooth 3.0, also called High Speed. When transferring files to other devices that support this technology, Wi-Fi 802.11 n is used, and the theoretical transfer speed is about 24 Mbit/s. Bluetooth provides wireless connectivity peripheral devices: For example, A2DP/AVRCP stereo headsets.

When connecting to a USB port, there are several connection options: "Data Storage", "OVI Suite", "Print and Multimedia". “Data Storage” (Mass Storage USB) - mode for displaying phone memory like a flash drive. OVI Suite - work with the OVI Suite package to access and synchronize data on your phone. “Print and multimedia” - photo printing, MTP mode.

The model supports packet data transmission using GPRS and EDGE class 33 technologies, as well as third-generation UMTS networks with HSPA support. The phone can be used as a modem, which provides incoming traffic speed 10.2 Mbps.

Nokia N8 supports the standard Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. The maximum speed is up to 54 and 11 Mbit/s for incoming and outgoing traffic, respectively. In standby mode, the user can run the wizard Wi-Fi networks. It can search for them in the background and, if necessary, connect to such networks.

Duration of work.

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Nokia N8 has a lithium-ion battery capacity 1200 mAh. According to the manufacturer itself, the device's talk time ranges from 5.5 to 12 hours of talk time, depending on the network, and up to 390 hours of standby time.

In our testing, with 25-30 minutes of calls per day, listening to the player and browsing the Internet for an hour, the device worked for two days. If you use your phone less and also use the power saving mode, you can count on three days of operation for sure. Charging accumulator battery a little in more than two hours.

Video

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Results.

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Nokia N8 deserves the title the best multimedia phone on Symbian OS. The touchscreen can be really interesting. This includes high-quality assembly, a metal case, fast interfaces, multi-touch, rich functionality and an adequate price.

Now let's talk about the design of the device, the main features of the new OS version, Symbian^3? I'll repeat it a bit. key features smartphone. This is a capacitive AMOLED screen with glass protection and multi-touch, a hardware 3D accelerator, the ability to shoot HD video with stereo sound, and so on. What went wrong with last year's flagship N97 is fixed here. N8 was brought up to the level of the flagships of other hardware companies, plus they added good camera(12 MP with xenon), chips USB type OTG (connecting a flash drive or even a hard drive to the phone), viewing unconverted video (mkv, avi in ​​720p play without problems), HDMI connector, Dolby Mobile 5.1 sound, 16 GB of internal memory + card slot, metal body made of anodized aluminum with one from five color options. The starting price is less than 20 thousand rubles.

With such pricing policy and characteristics, appearance Nokia N8 removes from the market delayed, comparably priced Android smartphones such as Motorola XT720, SE X10, HTC Legend, and also casts doubt on at least some success of a number of upcoming multimedia devices, in particular, the replacement of the first bada smartphone from Samsung, the Wave model II. You can make various arguments that the Android OS is somehow better, or the screen resolution is higher, but based on the totality of the characteristics of the N8, it is now out of reach, it is difficult not to admit it. Camera, memory, video processing, free navigation, and so on and so forth. I have no doubt at all that this device will become an unconditional bestseller from the first days of mass sales; in fact, the huge number of pre-orders received and contracts from European operators only confirm this. All other devices in this price segment remain in the shadows; their sales volume will drop by an order of magnitude. Here I’m talking not only about competitors’ devices, but also Nokia’s own models. Against the backdrop of the perfectly balanced N8, the Nokia C7, which will cost comparable but is functionally weaker, makes no sense. Also out of stock soon previous flagship N97 mini, the regular N97 is already disappearing. For the coming months, N8 will take the place of the best multimedia smartphone not only in the Nokia line, but also in the market as a whole.

Nokia N8 Specifications:

· Networks : GSM / GPRS / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 UMTS / HSDPA 900/1900/2100

· Display: AMOLED 3.5”, touch, capacitive with multi-touch, 640x360 pixels, 16M colors

· Camera: 12 MP, autofocus, Carl Zeiss optics, video 1280x720, 25 fps, xenon flash

· Memory: 16 GB built-in, micro-SD memory card support

· Communications: Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, TV-Out ( HDMI)

· Built-in GPS module, free navigation OviMaps

· USB on the go

· 3.5 mm headset jack, DolbyMobile

· Battery: BL-4D, 1200 mAh

· Talk time - up to 12 hours

· Standby time - up to 400 hours

· Operating time in player mode - up to 50 hours

· Size: 113.5 x 59.1 x 12.9 mm

· Weight: 135 g

· Price: 19 990 rubles

· Beginning of October 2010

Design, convenience

I am pleased with the new design concept - beveled corners, minimalist design, noticeable metal texture. N8 is the first smartphone in this style; later similar variants will appear, first of all, E7. If earlier the same design could be found within one line (for example, N78-N81-N86, or E51-E66-E71), now the naming system has changed and devices belong to lines only according to their characteristics. Hence similar devices in different series, they are united by the release time.

Regardless, the N8 is a nice step up from the previous plastic Nseries, excluding the most recent model (the N97 mini). The device is metal, made of aluminum sheet, only on the top and bottom there are small plastic inserts that match the body. There will be 5 colors in total - black, silver, blue, green and orange. Diversity color solutions- a new trend for Nokia, most devices come in bright colors, and I honestly like this trend - the standard black, white and silver options are pretty boring. Besides, diversity is always a plus, not a minus.

The build quality is excellent, with no gaps between the metal and plastic as seen on some other devices. The one-piece body is also a plus in terms of build quality. The problem (or rather, a related feature) is the non-removable battery. The Nokia N8 reboots by holding down the power key for 8 seconds in case of freezing, but no such problems arose during use. When dropped, the plastic ends can be damaged; I saw an N8 where cracks appeared, but this was due solely to a fall from a great height. If used carefully there will be no problems.

Compare with Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and Tag Heuer Meridiist GMT:

The slot for the memory card and SIM, respectively, are external, covered with plugs; they can be changed on the fly, but a reboot is required to search for a network. Right there, on the left side, there is a micro-USB connector with a small LED. Below is another charger socket (2 mm), compatible with older chargers. On the right side there are volume buttons and a camera start/shoot key, plus a very convenient lock slider. At the top end there is a standard 3.5 mm jack, a power button and a mini-HDMI under a flap. The location of the connectors is quite convenient, there are no complaints, except for the plugs for the memory card and SIM pretty tough.

There is a single button on the front surface, which is responsible for calling up the menu and switching between applications. Receiving/hanging up calls is virtual, which is not very convenient - for example, you can’t disconnect a GPRS connection by holding the end call button.

What else I would like to note is the very good quality of the surface coating. I noticed a video online where a smartphone is scratched with an iron coin, after which there are no marks left on it. During the operation of several prototypes, plus a commercial sample, no scratches appeared on the surface.

Screen

The screen is large, 3.5 inches, 43x77 mm, has an aspect ratio of 16:9. That is, the same size as the N97, but made using AMOLED technology, capacitive type, glass protection, and so on. That is, completely modern characteristics. Resolution is 640x360 pixels, qHD, compared to WVGA screens the picture is not as smooth, but you shouldn’t find fault with this resolution - pixelation is in any case imperceptible, for 3.5 inches this resolution looks good.

Color reproduction is excellent, as are the viewing angles thanks to the use of an AMOLED matrix. This is not Samsung's Super AMOLED Galaxy models S, which has higher brightness and higher resolution, but the difference in perception is minimal, even if you compare these screens head-to-head. Well, when you buy it in a store, the Nokia N8 screen will seem perfect to you, or close to it. Indeed, this time the company managed to make an excellent product in terms of screen, after a couple of years of lost leadership in technology. Behavior in the sun is also excellent, the information is completely visible, there is a reflective transreflective layer.

Everyone has already seen a comparison of screens in the Samsung Galaxy S; here is a comparison with the Sony Ericsson Satio (same resolution, size, but TFT technology). The advantage of N8 is obvious: colors are more natural, there are no overexposures in light areas.

There is a light sensor that adjusts the intensity of the screen backlight, as well as a proximity sensor. When you approach your face during a call, the screen is blocked; the description of this feature is standard and is used in many touch solutions. But you cannot force the maximum brightness; the phone will adjust the brightness depending on the lighting conditions, this is done to save more energy.

Camera

Nokia N8 has the largest list of hardware specifications among top camera phones to date. 12 MP resolution, Carl Zeiss optics, increased matrix size (1/1.83”), 28 mm wide-angle lens, xenon flash, mechanical shutter, HD video with stereo sound (two microphone system), extremely high speed. We checked the quality of shooting using many examples, compared with competitors, you can read all the conclusions about the camera in a separate material:

Battery

Nokia N8 comes with a B battery L-4D (capacity 1200 mA*h), this is a standard in the current line - exactly the same batteries in Nokia E7, C7, E5, and N97 mini . In some modes, the device shows record results: 45 hours of MP3 playback, more than 6 hours of video playback, 4 hours of games, 6 hours of browsing WiFi , 5 hours of GPS navigation.

That is, the difference with the previous type of battery (1500 mA*h) is compensated by another optimization of energy consumption. And I have to admit that Nokia some of the best in this area, at least switching to N8 after a long time of use Android -a smartphone brings only positive emotions in terms of advantages in operating time.

For most users we get two days of stable operation, this is subject to active widgets, listening to music for two to three hours a day, using a camera, GPS, Wi-Fi and so on. Not a bad result for such a functional device, sufficient for many. If some activities are reduced, the work time may be 3 days.

Communications

Traditionally, there is a built-in Wi-Fi module, only 802.11 n has been added to the b and g standards. There is also a WLAN Wizard, a simple assistant for setting up a connection. There are quite a few options; if there is any network, it is proposed to create a connection, define a default access point, and there is network filtering. Security standards – WEP, WPA, WPA 2. The settings also indicate the scanning time for the presence of WLAN networks.

The USB standard is 2.0, Full Speed ​​(data transfer speed is about 4 Mb/s), so the smartphone in this parameter is quite comparable with other Symbian devices, N97 in particular. There is support for Mass Storage mode, you can choose in what capacity to use the device - disk drive, PC Suite, Image Print, Media Player. How removable drive Both the memory card and the built-in 16 GB flash memory are visible. As I already said, for the first time for phones have a USB function from the go, that is, the ability to connect a regular flash drive. Some people will obviously like this option, at least other manufacturers have no analogues. I note that you can connect not only a flash drive, but also hard disks, the only limitation is that FAT 32 format is required, although, most likely, NTFS support will be added in future firmware.

Bluetooth version, according to specifications, is 3.0 + EDR, all major profiles are supported. Nokia N8 becomes the second device after Samsung S8500 Wave with this version of Bluetooth. The most important thing is that the data transfer speed is much higher, but the receiving device must also have this technology. There are only a couple of such phones on the market.

One of the main features of the Nokia N8 is its video capabilities, in particular, a mini-HDMI output and video transmission to a TV screen, and even a regular (!) cinema screen.

Yes, this is not an exaggeration at all; a demonstration of this process can be easily found on the Internet. This does not require any settings, the HDMI cable is included in the kit, all you have to do is connect the device to the TV and start the movie (or photos, any video, games - your choice). When playing video, the Dolby mobile 5.1 setting works - as the name implies, this is 5.1 channel sound. Naturally, the effect is audible if there is an appropriate system. Great feature, I tell you. You can watch movies from a flash drive or hard drive; they don’t even have to be stored in the N8’s memory

. In general, this is the first time such a device has appeared that combines such capabilities. Illiterate observers may argue that before the N8 there were devices on the market with an HDMI connector (for example, Motorola XT720, Acer Stream), but can they still do the same in terms of video playback? No, they don’t, and this is a fact that is difficult to argue with. The latest feature is a built-in FM transmitter that can broadcast audio to compatible system

, for example, in a car.

I would like to draw a little attention to the hardware platform. What was used in the Nokia N97 could not cope with many tasks, the speed of operations was unsatisfactory. As I said, N97 is the first Single CPU smartphone in the N9x line, without a hardware graphics accelerator. The Nokia N8 uses a different processor, which is quite adequate for most tasks. This is ARM 11, 680 MHz, and when it comes to graphics acceleration thanks to the Broadcom N8 co-processor, it is in the lead, ahead of many modern flagships. Scrolling and redrawing are performed at a speed of 60 fps, 4 times faster than in the same N97 and all other Symbian^3 smartphones.

The amount of RAM is 256 MB, the memory allocated for launching the application (Heap size) and the size of the executable Java application (Jar size) are unlimited. The volume of built-in memory is 512 MB, of which about 360 MB are available to the user, plus there is 16 GB flash array and support for micro-SDHC memory cards (up to 32 GB). Quite a sufficient amount of memory in current realities. Not the maximum, but compared to the meager 2 GB of internal memory in the Samsung S8500 Wave and the lack of flash storage as such in Android smartphones HTC, Sony Ericsson, Motorola is a big plus.

There is an accelerometer for automatically rotating the interface depending on the position of the smartphone, silencing calls, everything here is similar to the N97 and other models. But, unlike its predecessors, the reversal occurs without delay, the interface is redrawn smoothly.

A GPS module, accordingly, is also available, Ovi Maps version is 3.04 (in the future - 3.06 with multi-touch support when scaling maps), free voice navigation is also available. Actually, maps in Nokia smartphones and free voice navigation are a good bonus; other manufacturers do not have this (I don’t consider online Google Maps with navigation for some countries here, although they have their advantages). We have repeatedly talked in detail about the capabilities of Ovi Maps and navigation; there is no point in repeating ourselves, so I will give screenshots of the new version from Nokia N8.

A few impressions: this version of Maps works much more stable and faster than in N97, where speed was the biggest problem. As a result, the N8 is quite good as a navigation smartphone. The only thing that upsets us is the detail of the maps and the lack of house numbers (this, however, is true for Russia, but in Europe the situation is different). The traffic jam service is already operating in 22 countries around the world, Russia is still next in line, but next year, I think, the service will be launched here too. In a word, given the free navigation, this is an excellent addition to the functionality of Nokia smartphones, especially useful in other countries where online services like Google Maps are simply useless due to roaming tariffs.

Program organization

The key differences from a user point of view are that Symbian^3 uses a single-click system, scrolling speed has increased 4 times, and the task manager has been changed? Many applications have been redrawn, but in total there are more than 250 changes. Not all, of course, will be noticeable to users; many relate to the organization of the work of individual applications, so we will look at the most important ones.

For me, Symbian^3, after the first acquaintance with it, turned out to be a suitable OS for most tasks. This is far from the S50 5th Edition in N97. The speed has increased significantly, smooth kinetic scrolling in all menus without delays, a single touch of the screen to select one item or another (the double-click system did not suit many), many applications have been redrawn, primarily multimedia, 2 additional desktops have been added where you can place widgets. Also important to me is the bonus in the form of free full-fledged navigation and offline Ovi maps stored in the phone’s memory, a very good calling service (Android is extremely inconvenient in this regard). But a little more about everything.

There are three desktops in N8, this is the first difference from Symbian^1. Some people think that three is too few, but I don’t think anyone uses 10 desktops in the same Samsung Wave. Two desktops were enough for me to place the necessary icons and widgets; I disabled the third. The number of widgets that can be placed is fixed, as is the size of each. These are five rectangular windows, in vertical or horizontal mode, which are arranged in the correct order. The windows do not overlap each other, the desktop looks neat, but the small number of simultaneously accessible widgets on the screen and their small size are a drawback. This becomes especially noticeable when you work with a widget social networks, only one message can fit on the screen. Widgets can be either online (automatically update information) or offline if you do not want data transfer always on.

In addition to widgets, there are traditional panels of quick access icons and favorite contacts; they can be placed on the screen along with mini-applications. There can be 8 quick access icons (two panels of four shortcuts each), two contact panels.

The main menu has not changed, I don’t really like the icons, they are too similar to the first representative of touch smartphones, 5800 XpressMusic. True, due to the bright AMOLED screen, the icons on the N8 look much nicer, but they do not reach the level of rendering in the iPhone. As usual, you can change the order of items, create folders, change the font size. Good level of customization overall.

I liked that the horizontal mode was redone, virtual soft buttons are now located at the bottom, and do not occupy a significant part of the screen on the right, as was the case in Symbian^1.

The Application Manager has changed. It has become less convenient (only one mini-window of the program can fit on the screen at a time), but more informative and beautiful. It is still called by long-pressing the menu key.

Entering text. The virtual keyboard has not changed much since the days of Symbian^1, and accordingly, the ease of input is at an average level. There is no QWERTY layout in a vertical screen orientation, there is no separate button for switching the input language (this is done in three clicks), there are no punctuation marks on the main keyboard, only a period. In general, the HTC keyboard is far from ideal in terms of typing.

Browser. The browser is based on the same Konqueror project; it supports HTML 4.01 (full work with tables, frames, forms), JavaScript 1.5, CSS 1 and 2, RSS, flash content. Browser localization includes support for 46 different languages, however not all languages ​​are supported on every phone. As in firmware, there is the concept of a “language pack” - a set of supported languages ​​depending on the region where the phone is sold. Russian language is fully supported (KOI-8R, Windows-1251, UTF-8). But everything that was good a few years ago now looks outdated, the browser interface is the main drawback of current smartphones with Symbian^3.

No normal operation with several windows, pop-up submenus, the bookmarking service is archaic and inconvenient. In a word, the browser is bad. The only good thing is that it supports multi-touch and fully understands flash content; objects load quickly and there are no problems.

Social media. There is (finally!) its own pre-installed client for the social networks twitter and facebook, with its own widget. The client looks beautiful, but in the first version it has a number of shortcomings, such as a small number of loaded messages and the absence of any settings. However, there are practically no functional clients other than Gravity, so this pre-installed and free option will suit many. I would like to wish it further refinement, since the design is already quite good, only additional functions are missing.

Active Notes. Notes in the usual sense of the word were only text documents, the options for working with them were printing and sending. Now with the Active Notes application, in addition to text, it is possible to insert any objects - images, sound, video files, contact business cards, other files, type the resulting file is XHTML. Such an extended note can be opened using an Internet browser, and also sent via SMS (in this case, only the text of the note is sent), MMS, Bluetooth and infrared. A note can be associated with a contact or a group of contacts, and in the application settings menu there is an item to display a note during a call.

Office. QuickOffice application for viewing Microsoft Office files: Word(*.doc), Excel (*.xls), PowerPoint(*.ptt). You can view files from various Office versions(97, 2000, 2003), however, the availability of document editing options is reserved for Nokia Eseries business devices, so for editing on the N8 you will have to install the full (paid) version of QuickOffice.

OviStore. The version of the Ovi application store in Nokia N8 is updated, it is much more convenient than the previous one in the same N97. This applies not only to the speed of work, but also to the general organization, sorting and search of applications. Quite a good client, although there are, of course, ways for improvement. I’m glad that there is operator billing; you don’t have to pay for applications only with a credit card, as in Android. The prices for programs are not encouraging, so I hope that with the advent of more programs, their prices will change, because now the competition is not so high.

Other pre-installed applications include a YouTube client, Adobe PDF (for viewing the corresponding files), a ZIP archiver, a dictionary with downloadable databases, a photo and video editor, search by device, as well as on the Internet (version 5.00, a very useful application), Here and now (an application for displaying nearby restaurants, cinemas, weather, using GPS and cellular network data).

Nokia N8 is one of those phones that can be considered perfect until you come across something “even more perfect”. It seems that there is nothing special to complain about, but in the process of getting to know the model, the caustic aftertaste of the “belated” announcement does not go away. If Nokia had rushed to release the N8 within a year, there would have been no price for this handset.

Detailed list of characteristics in our catalog: .

Webcast iXBT TV, which shows and talks about functionality Nokia N8 smartphone, which we will not focus on in this review, so as not to repeat ourselves:

Contents of delivery

Nokia N8 comes complete with charger, USB cable, HDMI cable, silicone case And wired headset and instruction books.

Exterior

Nokia N8 has a design... so classic for communicators that you won't immediately understand where to start describing it. You can, for example, from a button on the front panel. If you put a silicone case on the handset, the button becomes almost invisible, despite the fact that in normal mode it periodically winks at the user with a backlit rim.

The dimensions of the model will seem familiar to those who have ever used communicators from the mid-2000s. On the one hand, the phone is small: it was not possible to fit a large display within the model. On the other hand, it’s not so small: even in a jacket pocket, the device will become a serious burden due to its plump body.

The silicone case, which can protect the device from scratches, excess moisture, and shock from a fall, deserves special mention. This simple accessory will also protect you from prying eyes: in a case, the smartphone becomes not very beautiful. By the way, silicone is a completely non-slip material, and therefore the “dressed” N8 holds very securely in the hand. By the way, recklessly placed in the front pocket of your jeans, the phone will successfully turn it inside out the first time you take it out.

If you remove the cover, the device may seem quite nice. There was no room for exotic designer solutions, and therefore the model looks very strict and cultural. The body of the N8 is cast and gives the impression of something very reliable: no squeaks or wobbles. back cover. Of course, this solution also has the obvious disadvantage of a permanent battery, but in these days of overflowing landfills, who would think about replacing the used battery in an old phone instead of buying a new one?

The “back” of the phone, however, has its purpose: it is here, on a small elevation, that the lens of the 12-megapixel camera with a xenon flash is located, as well as the main “music” speaker of the smartphone.

The front panel of the phone is mostly occupied by a touch capacitive display. Its resolution is low: 360x640 pixels with a diagonal of 3.5 inches. The model uses an AMOLED matrix, so the phone provides a bright, contrasting picture. Under the glass shared with the display is a camera lens for video calls and a proximity sensor.

On the right side of the case there is a mass of hardware controls. Here you will find a speaker volume joystick (only works during a conversation and listening to a player or radio), a lock lever, and a camera button.

At the top end there is a button to turn on the device. That's right - in a diminutive form, because she is very small and, judging by the difficulty of finding her, very shy. Here, at the top, there is an HDMI port for connecting to home theater and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The plugs for the MicroSD memory card and SIM card slots have found their place on the left edge. By the way, if you think that this position of the SIM card implies the possibility of hot-swapping it, then you are deeply mistaken: when you rearrange the card, the phone reboots the system.

And finally, the bottom line. There is a connector for the power supply, an eyelet for a lanyard and the inscription “Made in Finland”, which indicates a rare assembly of European origin these days.

Communications and network

Nokia N8 is equipped with wireless Wi-Fi modules and Bluetooth. WLAN settings allow you to enable automatic search for all available networks online: in fact, at any time you can simply select the desired network from the menu without wasting time searching for available points. This behavior of the phone is not rational (in relation to battery resources), but, nevertheless, this particular mode is enabled by default.

The Bluetooth interface offers a standard set of settings (on/off, access level, name), as well as the ability to enable remote access to the SIM card.

The process of setting up a USB connection turned out to be very obvious and convenient: through the menu you can select one of several options, “tailored” for specific task. Among the options: Nokia Ovi Suite (for managing the Ovi library from a computer), Storage (like a regular flash drive), transferring media files (synchronization with Windows Media Player or Nokia Ovi) and connecting a PC to the network (for the phone to work as a 3G modem).

The smartphone has a GPS module and its own software for laying out routes. The phone finds its coordinates very quickly. But the “Maps” navigation program cannot be praised: information about roads in it is downloaded from the network and is extremely large scale(in practice, only the main transport arteries of cities are displayed).

Phone settings

The first thing a new smartphone owner will encounter is the process of searching for a menu. The author of this article still remembers with a smile the 5 minutes of getting to know the handset, when over and over again, instinctively clicking on the “Functions” menu in the lower left corner of the main screen, she ended up in a gloomy list of four items (See. Open Applications, Change main Screen, Widgets without network, Guide). Nothing more suitable for the role of the main menu was noticed, and the only hardware button on the handset was cleverly hidden under a silicone case and was not noticed at all.

Well, our process of getting to know the device began with... the manual, ashamed as a mobile phone tester in Russia may be to admit it. The only justification here can be that the reason to open this menu item was banal curiosity: we have not seen anything like this in similar phones (at least in such prominent places).

The leadership turned out to be lush, spreading and spreading, like a hundred-year-old oak. Literally every smallest step, every breath of the user towards the handset was carefully and with dignity examined by a Nokia technical writer.

However, if we return to the topic of the main menu and still talk about its location, then everything turned out to be very simple: we press the hardware key and a screen appears with several icons displaying the main software capabilities of the smartphone.

Among the main menu icons there are: Calendar, Contacts, Music player, Internet, Messages, Photos, Store (downloading applications from the OVI service), Maps, Video clips, Settings, Internet TV, Applications (all programs that do not fit on the main menu screen). The list, as you can see, is not very large, and therefore it fits on one screen without requiring scrolling.

The settings menu consists of Profiles, Themes, Phone, Application Manager, Call, Communications and Application Options. Here, while exploring all the items in search of something interesting, we discovered a very interesting thing in the “Communication” menu: an FM transmitter. It is the transmitter: you can set any arbitrary frequency and broadcast your playlist entries on it using a media player. This function works on a short distance(up to 2 meters) and may be useful for motorists.

Among other interesting points, the developers' attention to the phone's operating modes was of particular interest. With all the abundance and variety of profiles, the user has the opportunity to create his own, fine-tuning the phone’s reaction to every imaginable signal.

SMS: write and read

The messages menu is quite standard, with the exception of a separate “Conversations” item, as well as the location of delivery reports in a separate folder.

A new message is entered into separate window, consisting of two fields: the recipient’s phone number and text. To enter a number, you can use both your own memory and virtual numeric keypad, and the contact book (call button notebook located at the very bottom and in mode manual entry numbers are hidden under the virtual keyboard).

You can enter a message in two handset positions: portrait or landscape. By holding the phone vertically, you use a virtual semblance of a classic mobile keyboard. By placing your smartphone horizontally, you will enable the QWERTY keyboard. By the way, the handset can only rotate in one direction (counterclockwise): the Nokia N8 ignores clockwise or “upside down” rotation.

You can attach images, video or audio clips, slides to outgoing messages, you can create voice recordings, video or audio recordings directly from the message editor, and also send ready-made templates, notes or your own business card.

SMS reading is available in both classic and conversational modes. The first gives the user the ability to reduce or increase the font of the message, and the second allows the user to open the interlocutor’s card or add additional recipients.

Contacts and calls

The smartphone allows you to use both the handset's own memory and a SIM card as a notebook.

The set of fields for a new contact is quite large: First Name, Last Name, Mobile, Telephone, Email, Address, Image, Alarm melody, Video call, Internet phone, Organization, Position, Synchronization type.

As for contact groups, it is suggested that you create them yourself to suit your taste. However, the “set” of parameters for the group consists of one single name, so you can’t go wild with the settings here.

During the work, an original feature was discovered: at the moment when the vast majority of all phones, when you click on a contact number, opens a dialog box with the question: “Shall I dial such and such a number?” — Nokia N8 is already starting to dial it, displaying the familiar conversation interface on the screen. At first, such a sparkling reaction is a little scary, but after a couple of days it becomes familiar.

The log turned out to be standard: three tabs for missed, dialed and accepted numbers. They are displayed in chronological order without repeating names, that is, each newly dialed contact is moved to the top of the list and is not duplicated.

As already mentioned, the manufacturer offers many profiles for the phone: Normal, Silent, Meeting, Outdoor, Pager, Standalone. They can be supplemented with your own settings.

Business applications

Business applications in Nokia N8 are scattered across all menu levels. In the root directory we found a calendar and an Internet browser, in the applications menu there was an entire “Office” folder, a separate email client and note-taking.

The calendar can serve as a diary: here you can create all kinds of records about meetings, affairs and other important events. The note editor allows you to add an arbitrary text entry to the device’s memory.

The Internet browser deserves special words, which can rightfully be recognized as... one of the most inconvenient, which is especially offensive in the context of a serious smartphone produced in 2010. However, judging by the Ovi application store, Opera Mobile is popular with users, so the owner of an N8 should not have problems surfing the Internet.

Office suite includes: File Manager, Dictionary, QuickOffice, ZIP archiver, Calculator, AdobePDF, voice message reader and Voice Recorder. Original and strange, but true: we couldn’t find a stopwatch on the smartphone.

Entertainment

Media content is managed through applications: Music Player, Photos, Video Clips, Internet TV, Photo or Video Editing, Radio. There is also its own Ovi store client and a separate link to music from the same service.

The music player has a familiar organization today: music is loaded into a music library, scanned and displayed by artist, album and other meta-information. We did not find a music browser as such, so to create a collection of different artists you will have to “sweat a little” by setting the general name of the album.

The phone photo editor will entertain its owner with the opportunity to make fun of friends in photos, distorting them with funny smiles and other expressions of emotion.

The option described in the previous paragraph may also be liked by users because the smartphone does not have a single pre-installed game! Perhaps, in the age of Internet content downloaded in a matter of seconds for every taste and color, the lack of games will not be a big problem, but include at least a couple of banal ones in the standard set standard games It wasn't superfluous at all.

Camera performance can be described as "acceptable" if you intend to use the phone to take photo notes for blogs. The camera is not suitable for more serious purposes due to the unresponsive shutter button, unclear autofocus and extremely high level noise when shooting indoors.