Nokia N8 with Symbian Anna - Better late than never [Review]

This is the classic case of a device realizing its potential much after we expected it would. The Nokia N8 has been around for about a year now, but the completely undercooked Symbian^3 OS had ruined what was a superb phone, at least as far as the hardware is concerned. However, that has changed now, with the Symbian Anna update.

Look & Feel
The design of the phone has been left unchanged, but a new colour has been added – hot pink. Maybe that’ll help appeal to a wider demographic!

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The 3.5-inch touchscreen takes up almost all the space on the front, with just enough left for a hardware key, for the Menu. The SIM card and the microSD slots are on the left side panel, along with the micro USB port. The right side panel has the volume rocker, the display lock slider and camera key. Turn the phone over, and there is no battery cover that can be opened. Nokia went the Apple way and made the battery inaccessible to the user. While that is a good thing since there are less number of moving parts on the phone, but does pose a bit of an inconvenience when the battery needs to be replaced. The 12MP camera does sit in a platform that bulges out. Quite understandably, since the massive camera needs space and the extremely slim form factor definitely didn’t offer enough space. However, since one complete side of this raised platform bears all the weight when the phone is kept on a flat surface, it will get scratched and the colour will wear out quicker. Are we back to the days when the kept the likes of the Nokia 6600 face down, mostly to prevent the battery from getting scratched?

There is no doubting the solidity of the phone. And at 135 grams, it isn't the lightest around. However, the 3.5-inch display means that the phone fits in very comfortably in the same hand that may be used to type out an SMS. Maybe that Menu key could have been a touch sensitive one.

Features
The biggest update this phone has received is the Symbian Anna update. And a breath of fresh air is has been. The Symbian^3 that had originally come with the N8 was sluggish, prone to freezes and crashes, and immediately killed any expectations that it was the real iOS and Android beater. With Anna though, the phone does feel lighter, and less stressed. Minor UI improvements include icons with rounded edges and slightly redesigned menus. However, the promised update to allow widgets of multiple sizes has been left out. That’s a huge disappointment since the very limited size means Facebook and Twitter widgets are out of question.

When this phone was launched towards the end of last year, the 12MP camera was the best around. We expected the competition to catch up in the space of a year, but no. This 12MP camera is still pretty much the best we have seen in smartphones.

Performance
With a 680MHz processor powering the N8, it was never going to be the fastest smartphone around. However, post the Anna update, it does feel a lot faster. The UI is smoother, apps respond quicker, and even flicking though the home screens and apps list is relatively stutter-free. Now relate this to the experience with the original Symbian^3. The phone was extremely sluggish, would refuse to open apps until its mood was made up, there were constant OS freezes and crashes – and the inevitable reboots.

If this is the amount of development that we have seen with Anna, Symbian still has a bright future. Provided Nokia can pair it up with faster processors and generous amounts of RAM.

Thanks to the slicker UI experience, the touch response has also improved. Typing out messages is a delight now. The on-screen keypad has been tweaked slightly, but we still find it more comfortable in the landscape mode.

If you use the phone to click a lot of pics, this camera will surely impress you a lot. The 12MP one is still the best around, even though it has been almost a year. This one does well even in not so good lighting conditions. 720p HD video recording is worth its salt.

We had praised this web browser when we had reviewed the Nokia E6, and it is just so much better to use on a bigger display. Pages render quickly even on a slow EDGE connection, but some pages don’t really snap fit well. However, that is a minor niggle, and we really wont be too bothered about that.

Battery life, however, is what makes our eyes well up with tears of joy. The battery on the review unit that we received lasted us three days from full charge to complete discharge. And this when it under load of quite a few calls, lots of WhatsApp chats, continuous web connectivity (EDGE or Wi-Fi), doses of web browsing and even sessions of Need for Speed. Reminds us of the days of the N95 and the N82, those batteries lasted a week before we plugged in the charger.

Our Take
The Nokia N8 is a smartphone reborn. The much-needed OS update breathes a fresh lease of life into a device that was floundering despite its rock solid hardware. At around Rs 23000, the N8 does make sense as a smartphone, now. The excellent 12MP camera, much improved OS performance and excellent battery life should work in its favour, when you consider the options.

Price: Rs 23867

Specs 
Platform: Symbian Anna; Processor: ARM-11 @ 680MHz, 256MB RAM; Display: 3.5-inch AMOLED (640x360 pixels) capacitive display, Gorilla Glass; Storage: 16GB built-in, microSD slot up to 32GB; Camera: 12MP with 720p HD video; Battery: 1200 mAh; Extra features: USB-on-the-go feature for file transfer from USB devices, HDMI out

Ratings
Features: 7
Performance: 7.5
Build: 7.5
Value: 7
Overall: 7

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Brand	Nokia
Model	N8
Street Prices (Rs)
Price (MRP, Rs)	23867
Features
Physical Specs
Form Factor	Bar
2G Network Bands	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network Bands	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
Screen Resolution	360 x 640 pixels
Screen Size (inches)	3.5 inches
Maximum Screen colours	16M
Touchscreen / Dual Screen (Y/N)	Touchscreen
Battery Rating	1200 mAh
Dimensions (L x W x H)	113.5 x 59.1 x 12.9 mm
Weight	135 grams
Expandable Memory Type	microSD
RAM (in MB)	512 MB
SoC (CPU, GPU)	ARM 11 processor, Broadcom BCM2727 GPU
CPU Clock speed	680 MHz
No. of CPU cores	1
Hot Swappable (Y/N)	Y
Available Colours	Dark Grey, Silver White, Green, Blue, Orange, Pink
Other Features
Operating System (Tested with)	Symbian Anna
Charging via USB (Y/N)	Y
Hardware Keypad (Regular/QWERTY)	N
Accelerometer (For auto rotate)	Y
Address Book Capacity	Unlimited
No of calls in register	Unlimited
Talk Time / Standby Time (3G) *	6 hrs / 400 hrs
No of Profiles # / Customisable	6 / Y
Offline Opearability (Y/N)	Y
Inbuilt GPS / A-GPS support (Y / N)	Y / Y
Connectivity
Browsing (GPRS/EDGE/3G)	Y / Y / Y
EDGE max speed (in kbps)	237 kbps
3G max speed (in mbps)	10.2 Mbps
Connectivity (WiFi/Bluetooth/IR/USB)	Y / Y / N / Y
Bluetooth Version/A2DP support	3.0 / Y
Camera Specs
Camera Resolution (Mega Pixels)	12
Video Capture Resolution	1280 x 720
Auto focus / flash	Y / Y
Type of flash	Xenon
Secondary camera for video chat	Y
Mirror for self portrait (Y / N)