Keepin' it real fake: Nokia's Android N8
By Vlad Savov 
posted August 6th 2010 9:19AM
posted August 6th 2010 9:19AM
[Thanks, Ludger]
posted August 6th 2010 9:19AM
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I'd have this KiRF over the original any day!
@Marko - and if the touchscreen is capacitative, it is better than many current 'mainstream' android offerings!
@Marko
Depends on the price, this thing could very well get into the $300-400 range. Don't presume all KIRF's are cheap.
I remember an HTC MAX 4G KIRF that cost $439:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/24/keepin-it-real-fake-part-clxxvii-hto-hd-satisfactorily-apes-t/
Specs there weren't too shabby either. (For the time)
@Marko
Yeah, sure, this piece of crap will fall apart in about a month or two. I better wait for the real thing.
@Marko
CPU is last gen rockchip, I forget the clock but its underpowered
@Marko rockchip processor is worse than a g1 soooooooooo not really but pretty damn close to being just as good
@patp - Still, I'd rather have a poor CPU than a poor OS (:
@Marko Me too... At last... KIRFs are getting better than they non-KIRF counterparts!!! They may don't have the liberty to read this blog (i don't know for sure, any chinese please correct me here) but they have a rock solid foundation to become tech leaders in the world.... be prepared to see original nokia handsets doppleganging chinese ones.... ;-)
@Marko OMG!!! You saw what it says on the back!? Those guys are Android fanboys (i can say, for sure, i'm one Android fanboy too lol)
@Marko So you're this guy who says he bought the N8 direct from Nokia ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO1KYoITdJ4
@Marko
Please describe to me the things Android does better than Symbian or, alternatively, why you think Symbian is worse than Android to the point where it's 'shitty'.
Hint: Don't confuse a UI with an OS because that would be daft.
@Marko Wow really? This thing isn't better than the N8, and it sure as hell isn't better than the Android offerings over at HTC and Motorola. This thing will probably never get 2.2, and fall apart by the time Gingerbread is out. Meh, whatevs...
@Scrubs Underpowered is a relative thing. I'd rather have a 5 day battery then a CPU capable of decoding the Matrix just for a bit of browsing and maps.
@MarkAnderson - said poor, not shitty. Why would I separate UI from OS? It may be that symbian has very good underlaying OS structure (although it had very poor multitasking management last time I had one), but this is pointless if you deliver a poor user experience. Compering, say, N97 to the iPhone or a modern Android device makes you think if these were made in the same century. Fingers crossed Nokia can manage to find its way in the future!
@MarkAnderson
On a smathphone the UI is what makes a phone. I would care less whether it runs some bastard version of linux, windows or mac os. If the UI is fluid and intuitive the phone is a winner. OS only matters to devs who further enhance the user experience. The UI is what made windows mobile 6 horrid. But symbian seems to be catching on with modern fluid UI's..
@Marko said:
"said poor, not shitty. Why would I separate UI from OS?"
Well, because the UI is a simple affair to design. Its usually done by artists, not engineers, because its an art project less than something techical.
Also, in Symbian^4 onward, the UI is totally customizable, so it can look however you want it using the Qt UI Toolkit. You may see HTC with Symbian devices that mirror the UI of Sense on Android, and the Qt UI Toolkit makes that possible. That is part of what Nokia has been working on the last few years.
You may be willing to put the UI above technical merits, but that would be a foolish endeavor for a computing platform. You assume the underpinnings and infrastructure don't matter, but that is exactly what decides how good and complex a breed of apps will appear. Notice how iOS' apps all had limitations when they didn't have multitasking. Now they've added some APIs to the background to cover it up, but the fact remains, they're still too inefficient to allow full real time multitasking, so plenty is still impossible for iOS apps.
Once the UI's of the competition catches up, which is has, all OSes will be judged by the internals. The iPhone's UI is better than Windows 98, but guess which has the capability to support more cutting edge software and features? Think about it. I doubt you'll run Nuendo, ProTools, or Photoshop on your iOS device in the same manner as Win98, because its not ready. Now ask the same for Symbian and MeeGo....
"It may be that symbian has very good underlaying OS structure (although it had very poor multitasking management last time I had one),"
Symbian was the leader in multitasking prowess, and always has been. WebOS and MeeGo are better now, but WebOS' task manager doesn't allow you to see much at a glance. But I always ran 12-25 apps at once on my N95 back in 2007-2008. Maybe you should revisit Symbian, and realize that hardware has an effect on multitasking.
"but this is pointless if you deliver a poor user experience. Compering, say, N97 to the iPhone or a modern Android device makes you think if these were made in the same century. Fingers crossed Nokia can manage to find its way in the future!"
N97 was underpowered for RAM, since it was supposed to arrive with support for virtual RAM but didn't. Big mistake for them, and it cost them. But Symbian supports virtual RAM now. And the N97? It STILL multitask in real time, not pausing and selectively using a few APIs in the background. So the N97 trumps the iPhone for multitasking. Two different animals.
@Marko
The N97 is a shit phone. That doesn't mean Symbian is shit especially as it doesn't even use Symbian^3, rather a version of Symbian^1.
Symbian remains a very powerful, lean OS. The UI needed quite a lot of work and, from what I can see of S^3, that appears to have happened.
Will it be as smooth and as intuitive as the iPhone or HTC Sense? Probably not but I think that it'll be close enough that no-one will really care.
Gentlemen, gentlemen please stop saying KIRFs are bad. I prefer paying $200 dollar for this phone rather than paying $700 dollar for an old Iphone 3GS or $800 dollar for a Motoblur cell phone or $1,400 dollar for an Iphone 4G or even $200 dollar for a old-fashion Samsung Corby.
@Marko
The N8's main feature is the 12 mp camera. So, you basically outshone your intelligence if you seriously think of wasting even a dime on this knockoff. If you're talking about OS, who cares about Android when you compare it to MeeGo goodness, which will be coming courtesy the N9. My personal choice is between either the N8 or the N9; the N8 for the awesome, monster camera and cool colors, while the N9 for MeeGo and the best internet and gaming experience on a phone.
Also, I'd like to reiterate that Symbian^3 is looking to be a fantastic OS, and it's really amazing how some people are quick to judge something that hasn't even been released. Don't let some brainless fanboys on a bandwagon fool you; there is absolutely nothing that Android has on Symbian. I for one am very excited and look forward to seeing what the original smartphone OS has in stock for the coming two-three years.
Keep it cheap, and fastboot enabled; my gf would LOVE an Android phone in these sort of colors.
@Level 5
Agreed and I'm not saying it's better or anything but this KIRF phone is more relevant to me than the original.
@tobsmonster2
Again, a pretty dumb and moot argument. The MAIN feature of the N8, for most observers and people with brains (obviously sans OS fanboys [*really*?]), is the massive, monster 12 megapixel camera, which features the biggest sensors ever seen in a smartphone. So, if you think that's irrelevant, then why not buy some other nameless, soulless Android phone? If you're talking about UI experience, then obviously MeeGo trumps all in that department; the N9 will be the best internet and gaming phone on the market. Moreover, Symbian S^3 hasn't even been released, so why this negative, prejudiced bias when you haven't seen or experienced it? Seriously, this belies common sense.
@tobsmonster2
Again, a pretty dumb and moot argument. The MAIN feature of the N8, for most observers and people with brains (obviously sans OS fanboys [*really*?]), is the massive, monster 12 megapixel camera, which features the biggest sensors ever seen in a smartphone. So, if you think that's irrelevant, then why not buy some other nameless, soulless Android phone? If you're talking about UI experience, then obviously MeeGo trumps all in that department; the N9 will be the best internet and gaming phone on the market. Moreover, Symbian S^3 hasn't even been released, so why this negative, prejudiced bias when you haven't seen or experienced it? Seriously, get a brain or two.
The CPU is the only bad thing (that we know of) about this phone.
@SolidSnake
hardware choice is a big deal. Look at the HTC Hero/Eris. It shows Android isn't strong on that hardware. Imagine with this junk...
Do not want.
I'll rather wait for the real thing, thank you very much.
@Rev
Let's just hope the Symbian ^3 UI on the real N8 is smooth and responsive.
@aubreyq
Check YouTube. It's exceptional.
make it capacitive and I'll have one for my gf the next day!
@Mekkakat
It is. "..throws in an upgrade of its own by going with a higher-res 800 x 480 capacitive panel"
Just when through the pics at the source, you never see the keyboard exposed. Does it have one. This can a great gsm companion to my evo if it support aws t-mobile 3g.
Specs are one thing, build quality is another. It'd probably fall apart after a month's usage and I imagine there's no warranty to use when it does.
its creative.but why it must looks like something?
It might actually be worth it with Android...
RK2808 FTW! According to the announcement on mobileuncle or clonedinchina it is a capacitive screen. This is just the beginning of what I'm sure will be a flood of RK28 android phones.
I want this, especially if it as a good battery life. Dear Nokia...
I went to the website. Translated capacitive 3.5 wvga but who knows how the quality will turn out
A copy of the N8 with a useless camera.
lol
OMG, people in US are so lame about Android, that they forget that the phone has to have warranty, has to offer decent overall specs, call and build quality, has to work with all the accessories. So they are ready to buy some chinese crap over a well build phone just because of their misconceptions. Way to go.
@jenjaman
Unless you have had one of these apart and compared the quality of components in it to a legitimate n8... I'd have to say shut the hell up.
Does the phone HAVE to have warranty? I don't know about that. And how hard would it be to flash the phone back to its original OS? Naught.
I would bet that Nokia, and whoever manufactured this phone get all the accessory plug ins (HDMI port etc...) at the same place.
@A25i Goush, one more crap lover. I have already seen the N8 prototype in Moscow Nokia office, and it is very well build and has way more bonuses apart from hdmi - it has wi-fi n, bluetooth 3.0, accelerometer, compas, one of the best GPS chips, USB Host, fm radio, fm transmitter, 16 Gb of built in storage plus microSD card. And it is really very well build.
In Russia we have tons of thes KIRFS sold out in little outlelt stores - and they are very cheap, but they fall apart almost in hours, they loose GSM signal, they loose batery power very qiuck etc.
So shut your hole, and listen to people who have laid their hands on stuff before you.
@jenjaman
Plus of course that beautiful camera with huge sensor, xenon flash and carl zeiss optics and graphics chip that leaves Droid X and Evo 4G in the dust...
http://www.glbenchmark.com/compare.jsp?benchmark=glpro11&showhide=true&D1=Nokia%20N8&D2=Apple%20iPhone%204&D3=HTC%20Evo%204G&D4=Motorola%20Droid%20X
@jenjaman On the warranty side, I'm not bothered at all - it's not like I've had a phone for more than a week or two without immediately voiding it. As for accessory compatibility....as long it has Bluetooth, the rest is built into Android. Other accessories are more or less proprietary, unless there's something I'm not thinking of.
@gophergun Oh, I forgot, you are tha Master of the Universe, and this is up to you to decide, which phone is good or not. I am so terribly sorry.
Seriously - waiting for your meeting with such chinese crap, don't look amazed finding bluetooth 1.0, which is not functional.
800x480 is nice. My 1 has that res, and it looks good.
My x1*** that is.
honestly, what is the difference in price if they put like a 600+MHZ decent proc in there? 20-50 bucks? At least give it a chance to not suck!
decent kirf, but ill stick out the wait thanks