Hi Everyone

Me and my Mrs are thinking about getting a nokia n8 each because our contracts are up next month.
We have always had nokia for the last 5 years with really no issues, Some people say they are rubbish and some say they are great but I cant make up my mind.
Has anybody had any experience with this phone??

Good and bad points welcome.

Many Thanks

Mark..

They have great cameras, but run Symbian which is abit dated and clunky by todays standards...if only Nokia used android on their phones..

The N8 doesn't just have a great camera - its leagues ahead of any of the competition, its pretty much the only current mobile with a camera thats truly better than that in most compacts. And surprisingly its 720p video recording is better than the others with 1080p video.

Symbian isn't really that clunky either - and if you've used it before (say on the 5800), the version on the N8 is definitely way slicker.

There are only 2 things I don't love about my N8:

1. Battery isn't removable, so I can't charge up a spare to carry around with me

2. There's only one speaker and it's on the back, so if I lay the phone down with the screen upwards any noise it makes is muffled and I sometimes don't hear it ringing.

Other than that, it's great.

The Nokia N8 runs on software called Symbian, Nokia is running this down (N8 is probably the last top-end Symbian phone). They are transitioning to the Windows Phone platform (nothing like the Windows Mobile you might have seen in the past).

So you can buy the N8 now and get one of the last symbian phones or if you are willing to wait 6 months, you'll be able to get one of the first new Nokia phones running Windows Phone 7.

If anyone tells you there are things missing in WP7, they're right, but the Nokia phones will come with the next update built-in which fills in almost all gaps. If you want a clue as to what you'd be waiting for, go to an O2 store and play with an HTC HD7.

If you don't care about the camera too much (i.e. half-decent is fine, the best is unnecessary) then Nokia has some other phones recently released (the X7 I think?).

I had the N8 earlier this year for about a month and I found it just too damn frustrating.

On paper it should have been really good. The still-camera far surpasses anything else you'll find on a phone and seriously, don't let anyone tell you differently. The HD recording is pretty good too.

The problem is with the interface. I never had a problem with it restarting (I think mine did it just once), what I didn't like was Nokia making things pointlessly difficult and awkward. I went from an HTC Desire to the N8 and on the HTC most features could be accessed with one, possibly 2 presses. For some reason the same kind of actions on the N8 need3, 4 sometimes 5 button presses to get to. Not a massive problem but after while it get frustrating.

The N8 feels great in your hand, it has a very business-like feel to it. Call quality and audio was great, no problems there. Just don't expect much from the Ovi Store, if you're in to that sort of thing. There's very little of use there, a lot of 'apps' are simply icons that take you to a website - basically a bookmark.

The Symbian OS as I said earlier was never really a problem for me but it does look outdated. The menus still look very similar to the N95 from 2006. Again if you're not bothered by looks then this probably won't be a problem.

I'm a big fan of satnavs on phones and I had the very latest version on my N8 but it still let me down occasionally, telling me it couldn't find an address while my OH's Android satnav found it instantly.

All in all the N8 didn't live up to expectations for me. OK the camera was amazing and will take some beating - I doubt you'll find a better one this year. But Nokia seem unwilling/incapable of listening to what people want. It's almost as if they have the "We'll decide what our customers want" mentality. Whereas they've often got it right with that way of thinking, they missed out with the N8.

Hope this helps.

I'm not saying that isn't a problem cos it is. especially if it's on something soft....

but the thinking was that it was meant to bounce of a hard surface. you can hear it, if it's playing music it sounds best with a hard surface behind it.

Nokia phones are well known for their high quality hardware, which is leaps and bounds above the others, including the iPhone. Speaker sound quality is outstanding, the N8 is tough and solid and the processor is cleverly built for the OS giving users a good battery.

What's let the N8 down has been its operating system Symbian 3's graphical interface which appears dated. However, any week now Nokia is due to upgrade this to Symbian Anna, which is pretty decent in this wooden appliance's opinion.

My advice is get one.

Horrible phone. Symbian is so old and clunky vs Android, you'd be better off getting a Sony Arc

Nokia and WP7 will not be seen this year. Expect to see their phones Q1 2012 at the earliest.