We heard through the grapevine back at CTIA that Nokia's elusive
N8 would be
announced somewhere in the wide world this April, and sure enough, it looks as if the handset has popped up over in one of Russia's
eleven nine time zones. Our pals at
Mobile-Review have worked their magic once more on an up and coming handset, this time landing some serious face time with the planet's first
Symbian^3 phone. Despite Nokia
pushing the official reveal of said OS to Q3 (from Q2 previously), we're getting an early look at what exactly is to come here -- and if this review is any indication, Nokia's
woes are about to become even more woeful. In short, critics panned the new system for being little more than a polished version of what Nokia's already offering, and they clearly noted that nothing here lived up to what Android and iPhone OS currently provide. In fact, they even went so far as to wonder who is inside of Nokia purposefully dragging down the brand; granted, it's hard to say for sure how great (or not, as the case may be) the N8 is without touching it ourselves, but to say it's off to a running start would be misinterpreting things quite severely. Have a look at the source link below for more of the machine translated goodness, and don't forget to ogle a few shots of the phone itself.
[Thanks, Andria]
posted April 25th 2010 6:39PM
Is anyone really surprised?
@Mr Poonis
I dont like it.
Murph? You call this a thorough review? This is just a very small preview from Eldar.
@Mr Poonis Maybe they should just use Android? It is free for god's sake....
@David Bailey
Maybe not everyone wants Android.
@Almo I agree, but if symbian3 is the best they can do...
@Almo - yeah, but given their sales in the US, many people obviously don't want Symbian either. Android may not be perfect, but it sure as hell beats Symbian. This version was supposed to be the OS that would fix it all for them - instead it just makes them look even worse.
Nokia is the king of the polished turd. In fact, Nokia phones are like turd filled eclairs - they look fantastic and yummy on the outside, with their 12MP camera and slick design, but you can't get past the fact that the damn thing is filled with poop.
Darren is right - someone within Nokia is purposely dragging the brand down, holding on to Symbian with their last breath.
Yes - they still sell plenty of phones, but in 2 or 3 years it'll be game over for them. They need to make one phone with Android, using their design skills and know-how - and I bet the damn thing will sell like nothing before. I'd buy a well designed Android powered Nokia in a heartbeat.
@scoobydooby Yeah, the OS looks like the iPhone clones of 2 years ago. So unimaginative. Not exciting in the least. The market is swinging towards selling on software and Nokia are still living in the "selling on hardware" past. They aren't out yet though.
@scoobydooby
You all overlook a major fact. Not everyone wants, needs or aims for a multi-functional handheld smartphone. Especially in most countries without 3G or even EDGE. Nokia's fly off shelves in many parts of the world and this one will sell too. The "failed" N97, as shit as it is to you and I, still sold in massive drones to the rest of the world. Yes, we look towards the Incredible and EVO, but the majority of the world doesn't.
Nokia caters to those people and although high-end marketshare is dropping, the rest is doing fine. They don't have to compete with Android, they can do fine on the medium and budget ranges.
@David Bailey
You do know that Symbian has been using icon grids long before the iphone even existed, correct?
@scoobydooby: are you sure it was ^3 that was meant to be the cure-all and not ^4?
Actually, it doesn't really matter either way since it looks like it's going to be just as bad: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/26/symbian-s-4-makes-video-debut-fails-to-wow/
@Mr Poonis
No, no one is surprised, since this is not the real fair review, it's infact no review, just initial thoughts of a biased mind from an unfinished prototype.
@Step666
The saying "First impression is the last impression" does not apply in the world of mobile, especially smart phones. Think about it.
@Almo But evidence shows that other countries will/can/should eventually switch. Look at Japan - for years they were using phones that looked magical to us - and now they are all switching to the iPhone. In many countries, a smartphone has long been a basic Nokia, SonyEricsson or even Sagem. But as those countries get the better HTC and Apple devices, they'll compare them with their Nokia handsets and realize they've been had.
There will always be a massive market for dumbphones - something Nokia excels in. My fondest phone memories are of Nokia handsets My 2110i was da bomb, as was my 6110, 8110 and 7110 - but times have changed.
@hary536 even so, it looks exactly like the N97. Makes you wonder what nokia has been doing for the past year.
@brrip
Looks exactly like N97? Dude, I'd recommend you to see a doctor as soon as possible, you seriously have a problem with your sight & perception.
@scoobydooby
Those Japanese phones are still magically to us, marketing does help and Apple is willing to spend the money.
I also own an NTT Docomo N906i made by NEC. It's amazing, too bad I have to use a hypersim to get it to work here.
@David Bailey
In what way is Android better than Symbian? Everything that the former OS can do, the latter has already been doing.
@JFH Yes. I didn't say it WAS an iPhone clone, just that it looked like the ones we saw two years ago. Which it does.
@Almo
"Maybe not everyone wants android"
BLASPHEMY
Its freee! Why wouldn't anyone want it? Its the land of honey and bees where the milk flows FREELY!
@Almo Just like the C5 this one falls on the not so glamorous device. Opinions. http://bit.ly/nokia-c5-latest-update
@Almo you have a valip point
@JFH and Windows 3.1 before that!
@Almo N8 is marketed as their "flagship" device. When a flagship device is half-baked thrown to their users, it creates a bad rap for the company. I recently bought a X6, my first Nokia touchscreen and was soo disappointed with the UI.
Frankly speaking 12 MP camera, 4.1" amoled screen, multi-touch really doesn't make any sense when the underlying UI is not smart enough for users to feel comfortable.
A lot has changed in terms of UI in the past 2-3. The UI makes the phone complete. A device can have a killer spec, but when you put a bad OS/UI on it...it's not going to generate a lot of sales in niche market..especially when you are selling it as your "flahship" device.
@scoobydooby I've yet to come across a Nokia phone that had worksmanship issues though. They go through some tough hell and still work. My N95 from 2yrs ago is still kicking and before that my 7210. But yeah S^3 is a bit load of crap
@TheLondonExchange
Symbian is just as free, and doesn't struggle with processors under 600MHz. It can serve consumers in devices from $100-1000 with equal skill. Its phone centric, and far ahead of Android from a feature and architecture point of view.
This device will do fine. The real test will be in 6 months anyway, when S^4 drops.
@TheLondonExchange
Do you know Symbian is also free? Did you know Symbian is also open source, and so is Maemo and so is Meego.
@christexaport 6 months is ages in the smartphone market.
@Mr Poonis If Nokia doesn't sell in the high-end market, they still sell well, in fact really well on the low end market, so there's no loss here.
@Mr Poonis
Well no considering an immediate step between Symbian^1 and Symbian^4 and that Eldar actually says it is 'just another high end phone' and doesn't actually pan it - his disappointment is that it isn't appreciably different from the other high end phones out there.
Finally he also admits that it's going to sell and sell and be really successful.
So... panning it? Uh no.
That said, if it turns out to be shit I'm not buying one.
@Mr Poonis
Well it's Eldar. Do i need to remind that he thinks that Bada is best thing ever and will kill whole competition in smartphones and when iphone came out he gave it so bad review that mobile-review site was taken down for 2 weeks by Apple fanboys. "Iphone at best is a toy that will never get popular".
Just to remind. ;)
@Mr Poonis
Well it's Eldar. Do i need to remind that he thinks that Bada is best thing ever and will kill whole competition in smartphones and when iphone came out he gave it so bad review that mobile-review site was taken down for 2 weeks by Apple fanboys. "Iphone at best is a toy that will never get popular".
Just to remind. ;)
@hary536: there is a certain amount of truth to that statement but you seem to be ignoring the fact that one bad experience with a phone can be enough to sour a customer's opinion of a manufacturer for life.
Don't believe me, ask Sony Ericsson - there are people out there have been using their phones for years without a problem, then they have a bit of trouble with one of the more recent, less reliable handsets and that's it, they'll never buy SE again.
Because of the fickle nature of people, their market-share has dropped and they've been losing a lot of money (the last quarter not withstanding).
For a lot of people, using an S60v5 handset (and, therefore, a Symbian^3 or ^4 one, since there seems to be no discernible differences in the OS/UI) can be enough to sour their opinion of it - and rightly so, it's just shoddy.
Yes, technically Symbian is a capable OS but someone needs to teach them how to optimise it for a touchscreen because they just don't seem to have a clue. And the problem is, by the time they do work it out, it may well be too late - other OSs such as Android are growing their market-share all the time, even MS have realised that change is necessary and are completely overhauling WinMo/WinPho whereas Symbian is just treading water and nothing that we've seen about ^3 or ^4 suggests that's going to change any time soon.
@Step666
I am guessing you have never handled a S^3 device yourself, when you say there are no discernible differences. I am guessing you are talking about icon design.
@livindreamer
Agreed: in many ways Nokia's hardware specs are certainly quite impressive, but the software base is simply not up with what people want these days. MeeGo is the future...and the future needs to be here now.
@Almo
If something is multi function smart phone N8 is. Symbian can do more much more than Android.
@David Bailey It's not the best they can do, Maemo (now MeeGo) is (or more correctly, will be soon), in my humble opinion anyway..
@Step666
I don't think nowadays people are taking their own decision when it comes to buying a phone. The online blogs and reviewers like Eldar Murtazin and Engadget are taking the decision for them, and people just blindly follow them.
For ex: Symbian ^3 and Symbian ^4 are still not out in the market on any single handset officially, but you still proclaim there is no discernible differences in OS/UI. So, you view based on what? online blogs and biased reviews and you already made your decision on which phone to buy or not to buy?
So you see, it is very easy for people nowadays to switch brands. All it needs is a good/bad review on similar sites like this.
@iLoveApple
He barely said anything about the actual device in his preview and his track record speaks for itself. Eldar has a lot of hatred stored up for Nokia since the days he used to work for them
@hary536 Agreed...and this guy Eldar seems to have retained a chip on his shoulder since Nokia apparently fired him awhile ago. If I were OPK, I would conduct a min-purge of my Russian affiliate office...taking out whomever retained a close working relationship with Eldar...for he/she is a mole that needs to be excised. Corporate espionage is unfortunately more common in this particular market. OPK already stated S^3 would be delayed because it was below Nokia's expectations. Eldar stated the obvious, in a rather acerbic and predictable manner.
@JFH heh...nah, let him run with it. It is funny to watch them run straight into walls like that.
I like the hardware
@koolerz1569
Same really liking the hardware.
I'd rather Symbian died so that Meego/Maemo can take over.
@M3
+1
I don't think Android & iPhone OS are suitable of system software type applications that power users require Symbian excels at this.
With Iphones 4g's Htc evo 4's and Window 7 phones round the corner Nokia Samsung and Sony phone's don't excite me anymore
@Original Nosebleed Samung's dumbphones aren't exciting, but Galaxy S>=exciting, at least to me. Super AMOLED + hummingbird + Android....um that >= exciting.
I know consumers have been burned by Sammy, I might be next, but ignoring that fact that's maybe too large to ignore this phone is just so under-reported. I go elsewhere to get updates. It might go to 4 carriers, latest rumors/revelations have it having a front-facing camera for video in addition to it's 5mp on back.
@juanvaldez: no flash on the camera though, that's just poor.
And I'm sorry but Samsung's UI is awful - they drag everything down to the level of their dumphones, making it look like it was designed for a child to use.
The only Samsung worth buying would be either an Android handset, so you could put on something decent like Sense or a WinPho7 handset, because they wouldn't've had the opportunity to screw the UI up.
@Step666 Yeah, well, I happened to bring up an Android device...If I were into WP7 I would be willing to wait to see what both Samsung and HTC put together, but Windows is obviously still working out the kinks even if they have some good things going on.
@juanvaldez
I owned a Samsung feature phone and I now have the Omnia i8910. In short, I'm done with their abandon-ware. Samsung makes excellent TVs and refrigerators, but they don't seem to understand the needs of maintaining a smart phone with customer post sales support. These things often need multiple firmware updates to fix initial bugs.