Nokia N8 goes official: 12 megapixels, Symbian^3, shipping in Q3
By Darren Murph 
posted April 27th 2010 6:33AM
posted April 27th 2010 6:33AM
Update: Here's a look at a few sample images from that 12 megapixel camera. Thanks, Matija!
Nokia N8. Connect. Create. Entertain.
April 27, 2010
Espoo, Finland - The Nokia N8, Nokia's latest smartphone, intuitively connects to the people, places and services that matter most. With the Nokia N8, people can create compelling content, connect to their favorite social networks and enjoy on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store apps. Available in select markets during the third quarter of 2010, the estimated retail price of the Nokia N8 is EUR 370, before applicable taxes or subsidies.
The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from the Ovi Store.
Social networking is second nature to the Nokia N8. People can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.
The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, guiding people to places and points of interest in more than 70 countries worldwide.
Symbian^3 in action
Powering the Nokia N8 is Symbian ^3, the latest edition of the world's most used smartphone software, which introduces several major advances, including support for gestures such as multi touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalizable homescreens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. The new 2D and 3D graphics architecture in the platform takes full advantage of the Nokia N8's hardware acceleration to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface. Symbian^3 also raises the bar in performance by delivering greater memory management allowing more applications to run in parallel for a faster multi-tasking experience.
Getting Qt for Developers
The Nokia N8 is Nokia's first device to be integrated with Qt, a software development environment that simplifies the development and makes it possible to build applications once and deploy across Symbian and other software platforms. Nokia has also made the powerful and simple to use Nokia Qt SDK available, in its initial beta, to enable developers to start realizing the potential of Qt.
Wow 370 euros!! That's pretty amazing. Will be around 420 euros around here in Germany.
Dobly surround from HMDI port...loving this. Looks like a winner.
@KarlP
It even has a Dedicated MIC for Video recording !! :O
everyone said how nokia makes brick thick mobiles off plastic... in your face haters !
12.9mm , made from anodized aluminium !
@KarlP
my thoughts exactly! This smartphone is crazy wicked and now that the specs are out it's quite obvious that Nokia haters and bloggers alike were not knowing shit about this device.
12 Megapixel camera, HD video recording, HDMI, Qt for development, widgets in multiple screens, real multitasking... this thing blows the competition away!
NOKIA IS BACK FOR GOOD!
@Nokia N900
I wonder how thin rest of the body is as the 12.9 is from the camera part.
Really impressed with this one. Hopefully we see some actual live videos of this rather than rendered.
@KarlP
Check out the microsite: http://events.nokia.com/NokiaN8/
@KarlP Yes, very nice price for great specs.
There is going to be a "Make your app" competition where winners will get their own N8 in september.
I'd gues it'll be awailable sometime after that.
@newone
well, at least it will have one app then
@KarlP You realize you're all agreeing with someone paid by Nokia to say positive things about their devices right? Check KarlP's comment history, he's a shill... and this phone is going to be the definition of a non-event because by the time it's out almost everything will be outmoded by htc, the new iphones, and all the windows mobiles phones...
@KarlP Wow, this is pure win.
@nickyP
Actually, that is not true at all nickyP. If you would have paid attention, you would know, it does several things that only 1 or 2 devices can do anytime this year. Hater.
@nickyP Man, you really believe in fairy tales...
Sucks to be you and your conspiracy theory shit.
@nickyP
And we know you aren't paid by some phone manufacturer how???
It's hard to tell if commentators are paid or not. I once noticed, not here but on a european forum, that there were people praising iphone on comments, but only from 9 to 5. After 5 o'clock they disappeared. Might be a coinsidence, or might not.
@Mr w00t click his name and look at his previous posts... and look at nokia's operating system, or read the initial impressions, or I don't know, look at recent history. The only delusional people are the ones thinking this is going to be a big deal.
@nickyP Maybe it will.. maybe it wont.
Unless you predict the future not even you know...
For me it looks okay, but I want to use one before commenting anything. People give too much opinion to the stupid stuff mobile-review, engadget or some guy commenting here says...
Before I use it I have actually no idea how it is...
@KarlP: Wow. 370 Euros. For Symbian. Let's wait for it. Here it comes. Hahahahahahaha.
@KarlP
meh. Resolution doesn't look that great. Looks kinda slow and no fluidity when flicking. Definitely are better phones for 420 euros available today(HTC Desire).
@KarlP
did you see the pictures taken from the camera? They are stunning!
@KarlP
here are some pictures taken with the (pre)-Nokia-N8: just type "first-12-megapixel-sample-photos-shot-on-nokia-n8-untouched" into google, and hit the first link. they are looking awesome. (i can't post urls on engadget, don't know why).
@KarlP
i found that iphone 4g mention totally unnecessary. this is an awesomely rare package that you cant find in anything else out there! ALL 5 3G BANDS??!?? for cereal??? im seriously still trying to comprehend that . . . . . . .
@KarlP
Expansys have it up for Pre-Order Already...... SWEET!!!
Irish Site - http://www.expansys.ie/d.aspx?i=199499
UK Site - http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=199499
@KarlP I believe the body is 12.9 without the camera part ;)
@JFH
I like the music :)
It has face recognition as well :)
@KarlP
Take a look at this http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/04/27/one-of-our-children-is-missing/
@HellFlyer
That is funny as hell. :)
@KarlP
loving this please nokia release it early q3 would be a good present before i go back to school!
@skyblaze Yes, I was initially skeptical about that too because it's out of the Nokia "tradition" w/ variants in different combos of 3G bands support. Then when I dig up the FCC filing documents... https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=1272323&native_or_pdf=pdf "The EUT is a 9-band (GSM850/900/1800/1900) and WCDMA Band (I/II(1900)/IV(1700)/V(850)/VIII/) mobile phone with GPRS, EGPRS, HSDPA, HSUPA and WLAN and Bluetooth and FM transmitter." 5 3G bands in 1 Nokia, finally!
@HellFlyer hehe yes... that guy from mobile-review.com just lost his credibility totally...
Nice to see that Engadget followed the lead of mobile-review and mocked an unreleased phone with unfinished software.
Kudos Engadget, you guys hilarous.
@Mr w00t Great piece of article:
www.slashgear.com/nokia-misguided-or-misunderstood-2783298/
@HellFlyer
Thanks for the link!
lol, I mean, compare what fuss Apple created about the loss of its prototype with that of Nokia. Apple went Bat-shit Insane, Nokia just went, "So you stole our prototye and dissed it? No problem, just hand it back" From their official statement
"However, whilst we are determined to protect our intellectual property and maintain the surprise when a shiny new gadget is introduced, we are not going to do so at the expense of the working conditions we enjoy here at Nokia. We are not the Secret Police, and we want to maintain our culture of openness. We won’t let days like yesterday alter that.
So now that the official news is out, we’d like our prototype back. Please."
It's the little things like these that build Nokia's goodwill all over the world. Its willingness to admit mistakes, its insistence on build quality despite the bulge and clunky looks, its customer-freedom attitude...
(Though secretly, I wish Nokia had done to Eldar Murtazin what Apple did to Gizmodo... That would have been funny)
Oh, BTW, N8 had one big-ass camera sensor:
http://blog.gsmarena.com/how-large-is-the-nokia-n8-12-megapixel-large-image-sensor/
No wonder it picture quality is so good.
@KarlP If they can lower the price a little bit more then this would be good, also a little bit more work on the S^3 performance -- judging from the video, I think there's a lot of room for improvement here.
Reactions. http://j.mp/nokia-n8-compiled-impressions
@Nokia N900
Agreed...I'm ready to upgrade.
@KarlP
Finally, a Nokia phone to rule them all.
@JFH
Why are the text elements are in Flash?
@GFL minus an "are"
@GFL
I am not sure what you mean. What is your question?
@KarlP
Well, this is good! All points indicate that the GPU in N* is part of this:
http://www.broadcom.com/press/release.php?id=1057720
Do not be fooled by the date. This thing apparently pushes more polygons than the Iphone 3GS, and 4 times more than the droid. 32 Million! Woot!
:)
Singe piece anodised aluminium body? Nice. :)
@xbit I dunno.. I think it looks nice as a camera, but not as a phone.. If that makes any sense..
@xbit does that mean it's an inbuilt battery?
@xbit
Yeah!! and see Engadget didn't mention that in their post!! saying that there is nothing much we didn't know about it!! lol, earlier everyone was expecting plastic.
@xbit
hardware and specs great..agreed
Software? still very questionable, and that's all that matters in the end..
@brrip The battery is attached at the bottom, rather than inside a back plate.
Nokia FTW. 12 megapixel, HDMI etc etc for 370 euros. I am definitely buying it. Bye bye iphone.
@symbian: 370 Euros? Are you out of your mind? I wouldn't pay a single Euro for any device running Symbian. Oh, hahaha. You're into Symbian. Apologies. Sucks to be you all the same.
@symbian I want to see the UI in a real world scenario and not a rendered video. Sorry, but Nokia pulled this stunt with the N97 and I don't trust them anymore. Show me the money, Nokia!
one f*king hell of a device !!!
Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound and HDMI
WLAN IEEE802.11 n !!!
2 way TV Out !!!
XENON !!
USB OTG !!
12.9mm thick !!
@Nokia N900
USB OTG? That would be most handy.
The N8 doesnt look like the most earth shattering device but it will sell like hotcakes and be step up for those who currently use feature phones.
There will be more devices, maybe N9 and of course Meego for you high end types.
@Nokia N900 I have N82 so I know the importnace of Xenon Flash, its cool more natural photos than LED flash and way better than "app flash" like in iphone
That's it! Bye, bye Nokia N80. I'm getting Nokia N8!