Today we catch up with Chris Bennetts for the final installment of Nokia’s N8 walk through series. have been making alot of noise about the addition of cover flow to Symbian ^3 but based on the wealth of options on offer, it would appear this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Due to launch towards the end of the year, the is shaping up to be the complete , a pleasant surprise from a sleeping giant who’ve undoubtedly been off the pace over the past year or so. Watch out Apple and co., Nokia are back and they ain’t taking prisoners! to register for updates and we’ll let you know as soon as the Nokia N8 is available to pre-order!
Over to Chris Bennetts again today, Senior Production Manager at , to tantalise us with yet another video preview of the upcoming . Today it’s the turn of the photo gallery and editor to go under the microscope. We all know the N8 boasts a 12 Megapixel camera (and a pretty good one at that based on samples we’ve seen) but capturing the magic could just be the start of the story based on the ease and level of customisation on offer. Enjoy and be sure to check back on the next week for the final installment. And, if the N8 has caught your eye and you want to know more, to check out Nokia’s flagship Symbian ^3 in more detail.
were quite late to join the party with the Nokia N86 8MP and whilst the slider was one of the best camera phones we’d seen, other manufacturers were already breaking new ground in image resolution and video capture. Now, once again are set to launch their first entrant in the 12 Megapixel space whilst two of their key rivals, and , have both had on the market for over 6 months. Of course, the N8 has some key advantages over its rivals (HD Video/ HDMI output/ all new Symbian OS) but how does the still camera measure up?
Well, Nokia hope to have answered this question by releasing a series of still photos captured with the and from what we’ve seen so far, the Symbian ^3 device will be well worth the wait. Feast your eyes on the following photo sample, completely untouched (though we’ve had to resize it to get it on the , the is actually more detailed!) and taken with a not even running final software. And, if after seeing that you want to find out more about the Nokia N8 or register for updates, .
The , announced last week, is shaping up to be a pretty tasty piece of kit. Sporting a 3.5 inch with multi-touch, the newly revamped Symbian ^3 OS, a staggering 12 Megapixel camera and 720p HD video capture; it’s hard to think of anything that’s actually missing from this upcoming smartphone.
But, it’s all very well and good talking the talk but can this thing actually walk the walk? Well, see for yourselves. Nokia have released a short video clip showing off the N8’s shooting skills and you know what? It looks mighty impressive. Reserve judgment until you’ve seen the clip but after seeing this, in our opinion the N8 definitely looks like it’s going to walk the walk. to register for updates on the Nokia N8.
have officially lifted the lid on their next flagship smartphone and for once, the mill appears to have hit the nail on the head in terms of specifications and even the name of the device. Leaked as the Nokia N8-, it seems the whole industry had all assumed a second digit would be added to the name in keeping with Nseries tradition but it seems Nokia were looking to buck the trend and have officially unveiled the .
Reading the list of features for the Nokia N8 is like reading a fans wish list. First and foremost, the N8 is a touchscreen device with a traditional candy bar form factor. Sporting a 3.5 inch AMOLED display, Nokia are clearly very confident in the touchscreen experience on the N8 as they have opted not to include a slide out QWERTY keyboard (as seen in the and ). The display uses capacitive technology which enables multi-touch (!) so the N8 will feature pinch to zoom in maps, the web browser and more. We’ll reserve judgement till we get hands on with the N8 but this easily looks set to become the best touchscreen Nokia ever released.
With the N8, Nokia clearly had their sights set on breaking boundaries. The phone is Nokia’s first to feature and a (and the first phone to combine both). Video is captured in 720p HD and the N8 also boasts an HDMI port for connecting to an HD ready TV and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound for audio quality to match the excellent visuals. The N8 also includes an intuitive built-in editing suite letting users edit videos and add images, text, music and transitions. Equally impressive is the still image capture thanks to the built in 12 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, powerful Xenon flash and large lens that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Whether its HD Video or still photography you’re after, the N8 has got you covered.
As good as the feature set of the N8 is, this simply isn’t enough if it’s running on an out of date operating system. Symbian as a OS as we know it has had its day and, truth be told, there are so many competing (and better) operating systems out there. Equally, Nokia’s new OS MeeGo (or Maemo as it was) is too rough around the edges for a mainstream device, so what do Nokia do instead? Choose the N8 to relaunch Symbian of course! The N8 is running the all new Symbian ^3 operating system which offers multiple home screens that can be customised with apps and widgets (ala’ ). 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 and Symbian ^3 also benefits from greater memory management allowing for faster and smoother multi-tasking. We’ll save our in depth look at Symbian ^3 for another day but it certainly does look promising and a far cry from what we’re used to on touchscreen Nokia phones.
The N8 comes with all the trimmings you’d expect from a flagship ; HSDPA and Wi-Fi, 16GB memory plus expandable (microSD), GPS with Nokia’s free voice guided SatNav (Ovi Maps), ARM 11 680 MHz processor and much much more. Whether they can reign in all these features and deliver a user friendly phone to match the headline grabbing spec sheet remains to be seen but at the very least Nokia have got off to a very promising start. Slated for a Q3 2010 launch, to register for updates for the Nokia N8 and keep an eye on the Blog for more info.
Way back when (ok, December) we told you of a leaked claiming to reveal a phone in the pipe line. Well, in the following months, it’s been pretty quiet on the subject with not so much of a blurry spy shot to get our teeth around and no major presence from Nokia at last months Mobile World Congress. Well, that is until now!
We’ve just caught wind of a new sighting of the fabled 12 Megapixel and the leaked photos seem to reveal a whole host of exciting new specs. The 12 Megapixel camera is supported by a Carl Zeiss lens and a large Xenon Flash. The image doesn’t seem to show any kind of protective lens cover but this could all change when (or should that be if?) the phone sees the light of day. Even more intriguing is the possible inclusion of 720p HD video capture and an HDMI port to play your HD videos on an HD ready TV.
The phone has been dubbed both the N98 and N8– so it seems unclear what line this is set to supersede. On the front, the phone sports a huge touchscreen display (rumoured to be in the region of 4 inches, putting it in / territory). The should also be easy on the eye with AMOLED technology and excellent to use with Capacitive technology (with support for multi-touch) both rumoured to be on board. Obviously take this information with a rather large pinch of sodium chloride but if they prove accurate, the N98/ N8– could easily be the best touchscreen Nokia have released.
Most interesting of all is what’s rumoured to be hidden inside the phone. Nope, this isn’t plain old or the recently unveiled MeeGo, what we’ve got here is the brand spanking new Symbian 3 operating system. Symbian 3 has yet to be given the hands on treatment by pretty much anyone but is expected to be a much more finger friendly experience compared to current versions. We’ll reserve judgement till we get our hands on a Symbian 3 but for now, we’re just hoping against hope that this thing turns out to be the real deal.