Re: Who's considering the N8
 

I mostly used the N900 as a regular phone until today. My phone needed a reflash, so I figured once I backed everything out I should try a couple of things I've been postponing for a while.

First I installed titan's custom kernel and overclocked it to 700Mhz with the XLV profile. Not a huge performance increase, but for some reason it was noticeable. It was still stable at 850Mhz, but since I'm planning on keeping the N900 for a while, I decided to play it safe.

Then I installed the SSH daemon and client, and connected to my N900 from my laptop through wifi. I used apt-get to install a few CLI apps, like bash 3 and midnight commander.

Although I've owned the N900 for half a year now, I am absolutely, completely sold on it again. Whatever phone will replace it will have to offer similar freedom.

I am NEVER going back to Symbian, with its stupid signed apps and clunky ancient UI. I am not going to iOS either, because I hate the way Apple controls everything unless you jailbreak their iGadgets. There are two options for the future. Meego or Android...

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

It makes me sad to see ppl not actually understand the strengths of Symbian and the needs of others that don't have the financial ability or actually want to own a smart phone.

For starters Symbian is a proven technology. It is mature, and very suited to what it is designed for.

Secondly that 40% of the market that Nokia shifts to, buy low end phones because that is what they can afford. Did you see the reports about the sales of the C3?

http://thenokiablog.com/2010/08/10/n...ietnam-launch/

http://thenokiablog.com/2010/06/07/nokia-c3-indonesia/

Apart from Bada I can't think of a mobile phone OS that can sit happily on low end phones and still provide higher end functionality.

Finally you have people who rely on their phone for their business. One of the main advantages of Symbian is that the buggers keep going even if you have it hooked up to exchange with a contant connection. I can't afford to have my phone go down on me, so I can't afford to not have a phone that isn't actually designed around battery life.

Therefore I personally think Nokia hold onto Symbian because they are not short sighted and blinded by the latest fad where people are willing to compromise real functionality over what essentially are expensive toys.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Are N8 and N900 comparable? Really? Besides HW.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Stop dissing Symbian. An OS is more than eyecandy. It beats N900 for bare phone functionality and is more fit for purpose than its rivals. Read the specs on symbian.org, get educated for a change !

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Don't think I'll be adopting the N8.
I'm enjoying the total freedom that my N900 is giving me.
1 of the big features that swung me to the N900 from the N95-8GB was the none branding of the O/S.
I got sick of the "No you can't use that on your phone" and the restrictions that providers use to cripple their devices, and all the "No you can't have the latest firmware, because WE don't think you need it".

It's a good O/S for mobile. very versatile, and I liked some of the apps that were made for it, and Nokia's acquisition of the Kastor UI breathed new life into it. Just see what making it open source does for it.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

I don't think i'd ever touch another Nokia....

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Right, if it's made by Nokia, I've learned my lesson to stay away.

Symbian isn't eye-candy (notice the hyphen for correct English grammar) and it barely beats an old desktop AT&T Princess telephone from circa 1990.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Right on bro! I've own the so called "Flag Ship Phone," the "N97." Crap garbage! If that OS or "Symbian" is any indication of what the future will hold..., I'll pass! "Meego" looks interesting and "Android" is a OS that finally "Honors" the brand or term "Smart Phone!"

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Was goingt to buy a C6 as an extra phone but after playing around with the Phone / OS for about 1 hours was so disapointed by the os that I would not consider any symbian again. Bought a HTC wildfire instad (same cheep price and got to use Android)

PS: Would pick the N900 over the HTC Wildfire every time.

Markus

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Proven and mature? In some ways yes, I guess, but I don't think any firmware of Nokia Symbian phones was exactly known for their maturity when the phones first hit the shelves. AFAIK adapting Symbian to even slightly different hardware is hell, which must be why they manage to make every new phone more unstable than a botched win95 installation on a bad day. Whether or not it is the fault of the OS itself (sure, any OS is bound to have some bugs when adapted to new hardware) it's still a reason to stay away from Nokia's Symbian phones if you wish to use the latest hardware. Maemo has worked a lot better regarding that matter, at least according to my experiences.

Fit for purpose? It was, but now it's pretty outdated to be used anywhere else but low-end phones. A complete UI rewrite might or might not be enough to make it credible again. We'll see.

I've owned various (Nokia) Symbian phones and I've been a (hobbyist) Symbian coder, and all I can say right now is "never again". S^3 and S^4 would have to be pretty damn amazing to change that.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

I'm enough for Nokia N Series and Stop thinking for new Phone device for couple years.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

I don't like the look of the N8... looks like an iPhone in a protective case to me.

Also I don't understand peoples beef with symbian. I never developed for it so I can't appreciate that point of view, but as an end-user, I'm happy with OS and range of apps... on my 5th symbian phone now! I mean it's no linux obviously, but IMO it's comparable (in ability at least) with iOS and Android (although I can only comment on non-touch symbian).

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Again with the whole world needs = my needs. How would a UI rewrite help on a candy bar phone?

Also as a Symbian coder, surely the idea of selling cheap apps to the huge amount of Symbian low end phone owners is a little mouth watering? Ofc you need to come up with an app people want to buy :D

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/18/ovi_price_cuts/

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Symbian^4 is not just an UI rewrite, it completely replaces the application layer. It means a completely different (easier, prettier, further-reaching, etc) development cycle, from tools to end-user experience. Of course it's too early to tell just HOW good it will be, but know that any conclusion you make based on an S60 Symbian experience WILL be wrong.

Actually, the money is in the services, not the apps. Think Eurovision, X Got Talent and similar. Think about SMS as an IM app. It is bog simple and stupid, and it rakes in billions of dollars in revenue exactly because it's omnipresent. If you make a Symbian app for a service that manages to increase revenue just by 1% you earned more money that the super-3D-fancypants appstore #1 bestseller. Admittedly less cool, but business is not only about cool. Just sayin'.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Great point! It just pains me when people compare Symbian to iPhone or Android (when talking about UI), as Symbian caters for a much larger market then that.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Good point attila77!

Also i have to say meanwhile as spoiled geek freaks yell for amazing 3d superhyper applications that cost quite a much money to develop people are making lots of money with "stupid, boring, who still pays for these" ringtones and other pretty simple content:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2004/01/61903
http://moconews.net/article/419-ring...egory-by-2010/

If this was surprise please stop reading engadget and other blogs that..hmmm..make you think that world is spinning around your superamoledreddragonqwerty etc. 500$ mobile device.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

A great example is:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...can-dragons.do

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

I kind of made an assumption that a candy bar phone = low-end phone... Based on how the phones with smaller screens generally leave a lot to be desired in terms of web and multimedia experience, features that many (most?) high-end phone owners would consider essential today.

It depends on the application. With the introduction of Qt to Symbian creating an app that runs both on Maemo/MeeGo and Symbian might be easy enough to be worth the trouble, but the hardware of the low-end phones could also be a limiting factor.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

getttin my gf one...the colors n all are an attraction.

i'll wait for the n9

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

High-end phone owners consider essential, but low-end phone owners can't as cost limits them.

Hence I believe to be a good strategy from Nokia of MeeGo high-end and Symbian low-end.

There is a huge market for low-end phones, the only problem with it, is that it is so hard to make a profit from it, but I'm pretty sure that all the people living in countries like India and China, etc would want to have the choice to be able to buy an affordable phone rather then be forced to use all their money on a smart phone.

Gone are the days of good coding. Lets just throw hardware at a problem!!! Anyway a killer app is all about finding that idea that hasn't been thought of and that everyone wants.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

3 reasons I won't consider N8

1) Lack of Physical Keyboard
2) After getting my hands on Advanced Maemo, I will never turn back to Symbian
3) As mentioned in the one of the previous thread, its look sux, as if someone placed n iPhone inside a case

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

I agree with that. I just tried to explain the reasons why I and many others have abandoned Symbian.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

not me..
i love the n900 hardware.. the software might be a prob.. so im jus waiting for meego/nitdroid.. perhaps both :D

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Ah fair point, my apologies if I sounded combative!

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Well, Nokia insists on using Symbian in every single phone they make except the N900, from the very high end to the lowest end. So it's fair game to compare it to anything out there, as long as the devices are in the same class (e.g. N8 vs iPhone4). You know the saying "Jack of all trades, master of none"?

I am sure it was said before, but Nokia should have kept Symbian for the low end phones and the non-touch screen phones like the E73. For high end and touch screen phones they should have gone exclusively with Maemo/Meego.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Nokia have stated that the N8 is the last of the N series with Symbian... Lets wait and see if that is the case :rolleyes:

I couldn't have seen Maemo as a replacement for the Nokia smart phone during the N97 fiasco. Personally I think Nokia basically didn't have anything that could fulfil the "smart phone" role until now.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

To answer the original question: yes.

In fact, I have one right here (for work), and I think it's a nice phone. Nice feel in the hand. The camera takes great photos. Maps and navigation are good. I think it's the best s60 so far.

Did I mention it comes with Qt?

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Interesting....

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

no keyboard. no care. lol

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

I went for galaxy s because N8 release was taking so long. Camera on N8 looks amazing, but OS wise loving Android.

My hope is that the Nokia's Harmattan-MeeGo phone will offer me both by the end of this year.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Nokia was once a good company but lately I have seen a huge disappointment among tons of users here with the N900 (although, some really do like it). I don't like how they just gave up on it so soon and went into another field. I would not buy another Nokia Phone unless it had good specs, and came with Android. I want a phone that can do a lot and has a HUGE community support base. I don't mind the size of Maemo's, but the way we use our phones is evolving, and they don't just run tiny apps anymore.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Here's what is gonna happen with the N8.

1. Nokia will release it to much fanfare. Fanboys will run and spend 600 dollars to get it.

2. The handset will be plagued with OS problems. Nokia will be deaf to complaints.

3. A forum of geeks, freaks and wanna-bes pops up to shoulder the burden of fixing software issues. The site will be called talk.meego.org.

4. Nokia bows to criticism of the Meego OS and announces that they will discontinue the development of Meego and switch to the Android OS.

5. Nokia also announces the the 5 month old N8 will not have official support for Android.

6. Fanboys insist that they don't need "official" support because the Meego community is (and I quote) "awesome".

7. Talk.meego.org collapses under the combined weight of trolls and fanboys.

Does any of this sound familiar guys?

HTH :)

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

I find it amusing all the people who are jumping in and hastily criticising people for dismissing Symbian and reminding us how good it is for the low end market. To these people I say "re-read the OP's question". The question is not 'is the N8/Symbian good for any market' or ' is it good for Nokia or end-users'. The question is 'Who's considering the N8'. This is our opinion about whether or not WE want to buy the N8 based on currently released information ;)

You are entitled to your opinion on whether or not you want the N8 but you are not entitled to tell others that their opinion is wrong :p Their opinion may even change in the future but that doesn't make their original opinion wrong, just different.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Kinda one sided statement isn't it? How about the people who jump in and say how bad Symbian is? How about telling them to re-read the OP? Because as you say it is about are they considering buying the N8 and not about how bad Symbian is and how unsuited it is for market.

Which leads me onto your second statement...

So when someone else's opinion cover's my choice (and a lot of others), for example:

So I'm not allowed to voice my opinion of why I don't think they should kill Symbian therefore removing my choice of a product?

Personally I think if you want to get on a soap box then do it properly!

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

I won't get the N8. My wife will probably get it as an N97 upgrade. I'm more attracted to the X3-02 as a nice little second phone (not that I really need one) :rolleyes:.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget....b2352nokia.jpg

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget....1282036883.jpg

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

To answer the OP, if it's still a Nokia branded device... I'll pass until I have better information about Nokia improving their business/support structure and more presence in the US. I'm much more likely to look at Intel's offerings, under the circumstances.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

So you are saying that people who critizes symbian are OK but people who try to make point by opening world little bit to these critzers are not okey because they should read OP message.

You have weird sense of logic.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

i was considering it. it has pentaband 3g for tmobile, att, and the rest of asian/euro bands. the hdmi out and 720p recording seem nice. if the 12mp camera is any good then it might be a point to shoot camera replacement.

for web i will enjoy opera mini and skyfire. for navigation the free ovi maps. and for getting around in the city, the google maps app.

the design is slim. i know n900 is more powerful, but symbian gets things done a lot faster..

also all you need to stfu about n900 not being supported. the meego team is releasing a open sourced image of meego for n900 and a closed one that should work fine. minor bugs would probably have to be fixed by the community but for the open image nokia will provide the closed drivers for the battery management and opengl (or of the sort) which should do fine until someone comes up with something opensource.

Re: Who's considering the N8
 

Nope, I'm not getting an N8. I like it, but after half year of using Maemo, I don't want to go back to Symbian.