Nokia N8 video overview: Symbian^3 homescreens, messaging, email, and Flash-capable browser on show
By Vlad Savov 
posted May 28th 2010 9:10AM
posted May 28th 2010 9:10AM
posted May 28th 2010 9:10AM
Nokia N810
Symbian Foundation Symbian^3
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@DeanSp
Try it! http://qt.nokia.com/
@DeanSp
Do you know C++ or Ruby or Python?
Then you're fine, download the Qt SDK and give it a look. From what I hear, its a lot better to code for than the previous versions that used Symbian C++
@DeanSp
Qt makes things much more simple.
@DeanSp, brush up your Qt skills, it's a lovely environment and you can develop for Symbian, Maemo/MeeGo, Windows, MacOS X and GNU/Linux using the same code base... Jump to: http://qt.nokia.com/ and give it a try, you'd be amazed how far the development has gone for both, the Symbian and the Maemo (and future MeeGo). I'd argue it's the easiest and most developer-friendly platform at the moment.
Bye Nokia o/
Not another damn landscape only phone smh.....well at least they had the sence to go with capacative touchscreen this time.
@millyman
And you sir have just won the uninformed idiot prize! :-)
It's not landscape only you goof.
Watch some other videos or something.
Hahaha....
The screen is still not respond right on his touches, like N97, the same crap, no progress at all.
@iappsdev
Hmm...? I have no idea what you are talking about. This has capacitive screen and by the looks of it it was very responsive and registered every touch. You might think that he touched the screen when he was just pointing at it. It can be hard to tell between those two since the lack of 3rd dimension in videos.
@Suomaa Well, maybe different but I need to hold one to tell. The UI is ugly and file system pretty slow. It takes a long time to load wallpaper from my point of view this is not acceptable.
@iappsdev
Hey christexaport, do you see what I mean? iappsdev is a geek and he doesn't understand why loading and maybe on-the-fly-optimizing a 12 MP picture for backgroundusage can take a couple of seconds.
But iappsdev, it still works better as on iPhone...
@user47alpha
I question his geek qualifications. Just because you can edit a CSS file and jailbreak an iPhone doesn't make you a geek. Also, not all geeks get it right everytime.
Ask him how long it takes his Nexus One to add a large image file to the desktop as a wallpaper? I'm sure Nokia could make it faster, but seriously, is wallpaper load speed the point of emphasis you're seeking? Or could the full API access during multitasking, free navigation, Flash browser, integrated SIP/VOIP stack, and great optics have so little bearing?
@christexaport
Nexus One is screamer, very fast CPU, pretty fast miniSD card, so it's load wallpapers in second. That was not the point, the whole Nokia's UI is ugly and it's like they still live in the 20'th century and they never seen iPhone's UI, they just can't get a normal UI designers and spend some time and money to usability people. Alcatel done a better job with their UI and Alcatel OT-800 with his price and not bad UI kill Nokia E63.
I like. Looks really easy to use and very consistent. I hope that they manage to some kind of transition effects to all transitions before they launch the device.
what's not to like? looks pretty fluid and well thought-out to me
Anyone who chooses this over a Nexus One is either insane, a delusional Nokia fanboy or both.
@bustafone
That's interesting. What put the Nexus One over the top of the N8 for you? I think I'd prefer the N8, but I'm an experienced Symbian user, so the interface is a comfort, not a hindrance.
What i want to know is, if this has multitasking, can i simply hide the "processing" bar? The same annoying bar crops up when we are installing something, or receiving something via bluetooth. there should be a "hide" button every time. And there are some other small issues too.
But hey! i am ready to overlook tiny irritations coz i am really diggin' this phone!
@boxieblue
Press the menu button when it's installing or something and you can go do something else while it installs, downloads or otherwise farts around in the background.
@boxieblue
You don't have to sit while it works. You can always go to another window and work while the device works. That's the main benefit of multitasking for me. I hate waiting or wasting time.
@boxieblue It is already corrected, notifications and things like that now aren't so annoying as they were...
Said it before, will say it again. This isn't Nokia's flagship for the year. Can absolutely guarantee that. There's two phones 'above' this that will be out by the end of the year
@SecretSquirrel
Nokia's flagship usually costs between $629 and $879 and up. That should be the biggest clue. This is just $125 more than a 5800, their entry level cheap touch device.
@christexaport
5800 costs around $240. So you are telling me that a N8 is only $365? Don't think so.
@Peytral
Without taxes and other stuff, yes - 370€. At least according to Nokia.
it looks the s60 on my n97
I'm a nokia fanboy and my decision process in buying a Nokia these days is summed up well in one acronym called "HTFIID...R?"
Quite simply, it means: How The F**k Is It Different...Really?
I have employed this technique because lately I seem to be getting sucked into thinking im buying a *new* phone from Nokia when it is simply a rehash of something that has existed since the mid 2000's.
If there are features that are mildly different, a simple face lift or a mere software upgrade, it scores low.If there are features that are an evolutionary, or godforbid, revolutionary change, it scores high.
So applying this methodology to Nokia's N8, let's see what is REALLY different?
* Symbian^3 - Looks like a cross between Symbian and Maemo and mere software upgrade
* Screen size: 3.5" - big deal!?
* Resolution: 16:9 nHD (640 x 360 pixels) OLED - okay, good...
* 16.7 million colours - my symbian phone from mid 2000's could do that..
* Capacitive touch screen - been around for a while
* Orientation sensor (Accelerometer) - N95 from the 1940's had this
* Compass (Magnetometer) - wow, something else that already exists
* Proximity sensor - mmm, fantastic, another feature that already exists
* Ambient light detector - need I say more?
Hmm okay so after examination it looks like it's another HTFIID...R? phone from Nokia after all, not worth spending my hard earned cash on. I think Nokia's design team needs to introduce some fibre into their diets to stop sh*tting phones out thier backsides and come up with something solid! (pun intended).
@telephonejunkie
What are you looking for exactly? Lightsaber? Remote starter for your car? Built in taser? Slide rule? Tape measure? Laser level? Blu-Ray? Automatic connection to your home security system? Throw them some ideas... Really though, the quality of a device is not how much crap you can cram into it, but how usable is the crap. Do you really use every single feature and capability in your device? Probably not. Hell, more people use their iphones to make fart noises and look at bouncing boobs on pictures than to make actual calls with them. I see more Android users amazed by a weather app that makes the screen all foggy and has windshield wipers when it rains, than the actual useful items on the phone. Most Nokia users don't use 50% of the device's capabilities...
@telephonejunkie
Awesome, the company releases its imaging flagship, and none of your points relate to those capabilities. You mention all of the standard fare, but leave out all the juicy hdmi, dolby, web tv, free maps, flash enabled browser, 12 mpx camera, hd video, bluetooth 3, pentaband radio, etc. Come one dude.
@telephonejunkie
I don't comment often but reading what you wrote was perhaps one of the dumbest things I've read in a long time. It's like saying that you won't upgrade from an old car to a Bugatti because:
Both have steering wheels
Similar boot size
Both have four wheels
Both have 2 seats
etc
Come on, the N8...
is the world's fist penta-band 3G device
has HDMI out (only also on the EVO)
Has an aluminium uni-body
is the first phone ever with HD recording and 12MP (combined)
has a sensor which is 50% larger than any other camera-phone in the world
has bluetooth 3.0 (for much faster file transfers)
has USB ON THE GO (YOU CAN CONNECT USB DRIVES TO IT)!
The list goes on.
Wow. This is what Symbian-fans are so excited about?
- Horrid lag when swiping between home screens (from finger swipe to screen actually moving.)
- Slow when adding widgets.
- Very ugly UI / user experience. It looks like it came from the 1990's.
- Scrolling through lists causes screen tearing.
- Browser loads slow, looks awful.
At the very least, the UI needs to be re-done. It looks so archaic.
@Johnny Rockets
"- Horrid lag when swiping between home screens (from finger swipe to screen actually moving.)"
I didn't notice that much of a lag, and considering the homescreens were filled with active widgets the transition seemed fast enough.
"- Slow when adding widgets."
And it's _fast_ in what phone OS? With every widget there is?
"- Very ugly UI / user experience. It looks like it came from the 1990's."
Up to debate, I like it looks a little like the previous versions. And of course you can make it look totally different in case you prefer something else. I probably continue using the same earth theme I use now: http://www.pizero.net/archives/2022
"- Scrolling through lists causes screen tearing."
There's no vsync in every place _yet_.
"- Browser loads slow, looks awful."
You only have to load it once, just leave it in the background. And you should really complain to the web designer, because at least the browse shows the pages as they are designed, you know with flash and all...
@Johnny Rockets
Luckily, ugly is a subjective matter. I would take this over Android any day. Rest assured, the device is screaming fast, and does not display any of the slight lags you described. Note the fact he used a different theme in his N8, multitasking with 15 apps, zero lag:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSSugfrqxNM
I just hope that Nokia will copy Apple marketing, when yhe I phone 4 will be available all the press will mention it although the N8 will be superior than the i phone 4, the press won't be as crasy, why everybody knows Steve jobs and nobody knows Nokia's CEO, come on Nokia, your hardware is better, your design with aluminium casing is better, your software is very good, Flash works ! just make your marketing as good as Apple and the N8 will be a game changer! come one Nokia!
J'espère seulement que Nokia fera un lancement digne du i Phone, pourquoi toute la presse fera les gros titres sur le prochain i phone alors que le N8 lui sera bien supérieur et pourtant la presse ne sera pas autant dithyrambique. Tout le monde connait Steve Job, personne ne connait le PDG de Nokia! le harware c'est bien, mais le marketing réussit c'est mieux, allez Nokia!
Nokia. It's just sad.