Nokia N8 pre-orders go live in the US, $549 for 'end of September' delivery

Itching to get some hands-on time with Symbian^3? Or maybe it's the promise of a 12 megapixel camera that's drawing you? Whatever the case may be, you might be interested to know that Nokia's US outpost is now ready to take your name down for an N8 with availability expected at the "end of September 2010." In the past, Nokia has often bundled goodies like Bluetooth headsets for anyone willing to pre-order well ahead of time, but not so much this time around -- $549 will net you the phone, and that's it. Heck, they're not even throwing in free shipping. Maybe waiting for the actual release isn't that bad of an idea, eh?

[YorchArturo Posted Aug 17th 2010 12:57AM]

720@25fps
12MP camera
16GB + microSD (up to 32GB)
GPU
256 RAM
USB OTG
HDMI output

I like this phone! USB OTG is a big for me, I use my phones as laptop replacement while at work trips. The price seems right.

For those claiming low RAM or process power, remember Mac computers, those always have less RAM, less processor horsepower and less of almost anything compared with Windows PC's, but still outperform in many ways, if you have huge hardware (not in size but in terms) but a heavy OS, the device will be sluggish.

I thinks it is a great phone, and I'm not against Symbian, I don't think is old, nor better or worse than Android, I think this are different, and if you think the UI is old or bad, remember that Symbian is cutomizable in UI.

[zob Posted Aug 17th 2010 5:08AM]

@YorchArturo erm macs have the same cpus and ram as "pcs" (macs are pcs btw)
certainly they don't outperform anything, too much coolaid perhaps?

on the other hand, symbian has an history of being always out of memory when nokia puts low ram. and there, they've put low ram again so most are awaiting some real tests for that (yes that includes all pro nokia news sites and blogs)

Finally symbian ui cutomizable.. you can change the colors and the wall paper....

[zob Posted Aug 17th 2010 5:09AM]

@zob you'd be impressed to know that linux performs better than macosx in most tasks and windows better than both in some tasks (and worse in others)

[JFH Posted Aug 17th 2010 9:11AM]

@zob

You are a dev and dont mention ram paging? pffff

[futurerockett Posted Aug 17th 2010 1:17AM]

@vpuik thank you.

[neoanime Posted Aug 17th 2010 1:58AM]

Right now this phone looks to be a very good competitor for my next phone. However, there is only one thing i hope will be good when it is released: the on screen keyboard. Any thoughts?

[Ajcag723 Posted Aug 17th 2010 2:23AM]

This will never come to carriers. If it did it wouldn't be worth it. I'd pay full price to see this os without any carrier tampering.

[vpuik Posted Aug 17th 2010 9:50PM]

@Ajcag723

Quote from the big boss "Yes, we will launch the N8 in the US, but we haven't announced any carriers yet." Whether that means TMo, ATT or both, we'll find out.

[d3vmax Posted Aug 17th 2010 5:52AM]

Most of you seem to have forgotten/ missed out on the best feature.
You can connect your bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse to this phone, attach the phone to your TV via mini hdmi. You have your own little media center in your pocket and and can browse the net on your tv on the fly or watch videos, listen to music , view photos, etc.

[OMG1977 Posted Aug 17th 2010 9:50AM]

Hectic! First Nokia I'd consider buying since N95!!! I don't think it's an iPhone Killer - but a great alternative - and at that price - its half the price outright of the iPhone 4 - and in that context, its great value and the feature set is pretty awesome. I'd use it for 6 months then ebay it.

[sighclops Posted Aug 17th 2010 10:59AM]

still the ugliest phone of the year....

[JFH Posted Aug 17th 2010 1:18PM]

@sighclops

sigh.

[sonaatti Posted Aug 17th 2010 1:31PM]

I'm so angry at nokia, the N8 costs 499€ in Finland on preorder. That's 642 US dollars. f*** off nokia.

[nasula Posted Aug 17th 2010 3:06PM]

@sonaatti

And you never thought of VAT? (ALV for you). That makes the finnish price actually lower than the U.S. price (642 USD vs. the U.S. price + finnish VAT = 675 USD).

[N8XX Posted Aug 17th 2010 3:21PM]

@sonaatti

amazon.de sells it for EUR 479,50. Black only for now. Cheapest in Europe?

[vpuik Posted Aug 17th 2010 10:28PM]

@zob

If N8 really is the only S^3 phone, still sales goal of 50 mill units is not bad for a single phone.

To be more precise, no one ever said N8 would be the only S^3 phone and it makes me laugh that people like to throw that urban myth around trying to make some kind of a point.

[kenosando Posted Aug 18th 2010 10:32AM]

@vpuik The Symbian^3 line of devices are expected to be a mid-to-high-range of smartphones (N8 apparently being the top of that echelon). Honestly, I though S60v5 was gonna die, but with the newly releases C6, it may be around a little longer, since the S60 project has been closed for a long time now. I wonder if this new slide-out QWERTY, N8-like phone is just a high-level E- or C- series.

[Saber Posted Aug 20th 2010 1:04PM]

This thing' seems more incredible than the HTC Incredible. I think I'm tossing my name in the barrel. It comes unlocked so I guess I can simply use it on my ATT data/voice account. Switch the SIM card and go?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N8