Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a 'Demonstrator' N8 at my local Nokia Store and I have to say I was not as impressed as I'd hoped to be.

The case does not impress and feels cheaper than N900, IMO. You never get a second chance to make a first impression and I really think they got this wrong.

The UI is a big improvement over Symbian1, but is nowhere near as smooth or responsive as my unclocked N900. The 'dashboard' to display open apps is not as intuitive as N900.

The screen looks good, but not amazing; and of course does not have N900's resolution.

Ovi Maps looks great, but I won't hold my breath for it coming to N900 anytime soon.

The biggest dealbreaker for me is the lack of HW keyboard, despite the undoubtedly fabulous camera.

I had hoped E7 would resolve this but the fixed-focus EDOF camera is a turn-off for me - I'm just beginning to have fun with Fcam and BlessN900 HDR and would miss the extra functionality.

Overall, I can see the sense in N8 and E7, but perhaps Maemo5 has given me so much I have outgrown Symbian - and I rarely go near the xterm as it is!

My N900 is stable and smooth. I'ne only had to reflash once after a crash and I do play with stuff from the top-shelf repositories when I perhaps should not...

N8 is a great product, but no match for my N900 - for me, at least.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

imho n8 is a step back from nokia.they keep developing this crap sytem insteed to move towards maemo/meego.symbiag got a bad opinion and will have always.nokia should admit failure and abandon this.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

Thanks for your reply mate. Whilst nothing will come near the N900 I was wondering if the N8 would be good to use as my main phone?

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

At the end of the day if you feel it is the right phone for you then go ahead and get it.

The n900 is now a niche product geared towards people who want to tinker with their device.

For me that's perfect I'm keeping mine but I can understand if other people want a better-supported platform with more mainstream apps to play with.

At the moment the N8 has the most up-to-date version of Symbian and well-supported by third party application developers.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

Looked again and you are correct. It seems to be possible to scroll with it.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

Thats exactly how I feel. The N900 is an awesome phone. I love it, but I do feel that its just "too much" for me lol. I have never had a phone that is basically capable of doing whatever you want! Who needs a lap top!

I feel like I will never use the N900 fully, and the lack of good apps, is also a downer imo. There are great apps out there, but I personally dont need to use them.

I like how the N8 looks like, and I was thinking about it for a long time now. I also like the E7, but I no longer want a physical keyboard.

I am on a 30 day rolling contract with T Mobile now, so its not like I NEED A NEW PHONE, but I do have the opportunity to get one! I can wait for the N9 as an example, but the current leaks out there, I am not too impressed tbh. I think the phone looks ugly, and big, and its not really any good tbh. Plus Meego is a long way off. I am pretty sure the first release of Meego wont be THAT good, and we will have to wait for Meego v2 or v3 before it becomes a proper high end operating system.

Eitherway, I am not abandoning my trusty N900, nor Meego. Maybe just taking a short break :)

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

I'd avoid like the plague if that is the only video around, but can't all be like that. Surely? Nokia has to have learned something from the N900 debacle, even if it is on another OS, they can't be that stupid? But as I am never touching Nokia again I am bias, once bitten twice shy and all that.

Symbian seems seriously out of it's depth in that phone, which sums up Nokia's logic of shipping so much stuff but not letting the OS support it and rushing what OS there is to cope with the massive HW supplied. (N900 face camera being an example)

I am looking at the HTC desire Z, it is the HTC Desire with a slide out keyboard and a few extras. Apart from TV out (Which I see no real use in ever, never mind HDMI out.) It lacks on board memory of the N900 (it is so much faster however), but 9 months on I am yet to have a word processor for Maemo, so I haven't missed what I actually got the N900 to do which was some document editing. So going back to a supported and proven phone I think is the key.

You should take a look if you want something that works with a track record outside Nokia.

Good luck if you do go with the N8, me thinks you might need it.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

Hey Twig,

Thanks for your post. Regarding your Word Processor, I have been using AbiWord for a few months now, and it works great. Just like Word in Office.

Not too sure how you missed it, but download AbiWord.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

One option is using the full blown desktop version of OpenOffice via EasyDebian on the N900.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

I used abiword but it kept crashing, and when it crashed it left little pink formatting marks thoughout my text. Ruining it as I don't have time to correct a hundred pages where every paragraph had a start and an end in pink. It was the HTML kind of markings?

It happened every time I used abiword, so I steered clear to preserve my headaches.

I might give it another look as it was a few months back and things move quickly, though jakiman mentioned easy debian and open office. I might give it a look see as I like open office.

:)

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

I'm also hoping for a change when and IF I get out of my vodafone contract! More than anything I find myself wanting to use the N900 one handed and the phone is obviously designed primarily for use in portrait mode.

Its pretty much the same story as a lot of people with the N900, there are things I like and things I don't but I think it will be nigh on impossible to find the "Perfect" phone! I don't think such a thing exists, end users and designers alike all have different opinions on how things should work and no matter how good an analyst is at carrying out a UNA, designers always have that underlying urge to do things the way they are used to or the way they think it should be done!

I think everyone could pick bits from different OS's that they like and if you could stick it all in to one device with your choice of hardware (lets be honest we'd all love dual core 3ghz processors and Leica camera hardware with 1080p video!) then everyone could have their perfect phone, but it's not likely to happen any time soon!

I think the best thing anyone can do is go in to a phone shop and use a phone for half an hour and see for yourself before you buy, no matter how good a review other people give a device it doesn't mean it's going to suit you. or anybody else for that matter. A bit like Blue Nails Lady... I'm sure she'd be better off with a resistive screen with those talons!

I intend having a play with the new Motorolla Defy and the HTC Desire HD when they come out, both run android and seem to be pretty well specced, HTC in particular seem to know what they are doing hardware wise. Although I kind of get the feeling that the sheep are separating in to two camps with Google and Apple and sooner or later Android devices are going to have a certain stigma attached to them... anyone else get that feeling?

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

i once said that "if the N8 will have a qwerty keyboard, i will get one" (which would be the E7). and looks like im going to eat those words.....

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

What makes you think S^4 would be any better, you still have:
- the same developers who can't write quality code which doesn't crash, freeze or is fast
- the same testers who allow software to be released which is buggy
- and probably the same UI designers who think its a GREAT idea to have the just 'OK/Cancel' button take u 20% of a small screen!
- the same icon designers who design icons like high-school kids

Unless they replaced the majority of the people, its gonna be the same POS

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

The problem is Symbian has served Nokia will over the years - a standardised mobile OS they can deploy to Nokia handsets (which were low-spec and cheap to manufacture).

That was fine until Apple said "Mmmm look at al that market share - I'm hungry - let's eat"
Then Google said "Hey that looks tasty - I'm eating some too".

It's hard for Nokia to change its behaviour because it worked well a few years ago but not now.

Symbian looks fine from the back - long shiney hair, long shapely legs and a fine little a*se.
Until it turns round and you realise your are looking at your mate's 90 year-old granny.

Time to move on..

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

IMO they should switch the emphasis, put the company power behind Maemo/MeeGo and have open sourcing Symbian and making devices running it be a hobby project

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

The lady in that video was using her Nokia and expecting instant feedback, she should be on the testing team :)
take a look at this video of the same lady demonstrating on another massive Nokia Symbian product:
the X3 touch and type.

she is just as punishing on it, but the system kept up with it well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVJ552BNeKY

Nokia devices are robust and she has fast fidgety fingers and cool set of nails.
I bet she can out-type any of us at SMS messaging.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

@Snaps:

With an N8 as a second 'phone/device I would extend to you my utmost jealousy..!

I just don't think I could justify swapping my N900 for N8, E7 or anything available right now - and I've never been in that position with a mobile device before. I'm not a prime candidate for N900 as I have next to no linux or programming experience, but I love how it stretches my abilities and holds my attention. (My wife claims it's become an obsession)

If I had the luxury of a second device, I think I'd go for the antithesis of N900 - something with buttons, a small screen, good battery life and fully functional SatNav.

I've always rather liked the look of the E55 - pretty much a slimmed down E72 with half-qwerty keypad, huge 1500mAh battery and all the business software you can eat.

That would make the perfect companion to my N900, but then again, I am strange...

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

So someone posts the worst video of the N8 they could find anywhere and the usual Symbian hate comes spewing out. Nice.

The more you spread Symbian hate, the less chance there is of developers adopting Qt or porting their apps over from other platforms. You're really helping the "community" there.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

I've dismissed the n8, but pondered the E7, mainly because of the Keyboard, HDMI and USB Host.

However, I swore I won't buy a Nokia after the N900 and I don't break my word.

They can talk all they want about "improvements under the hood", but not a single video showed praise worthy performance with only 2 weeks left till launch.

Reviews might say it's good, but good for a Symbian, not good compared to something else.

I've decided to save up for a Galaxy S or Tab or Desire HD. Or even a Win Mob 7 phone if a good one was out.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

@maluka: cmon dude, we've all agreed (quickly enough) that Ms. Blue Nails is the bug in all those videos.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

I would view it the other way:

The more Symbian "reality" (replace this with the word "hate" if you're a fanboy) that is spread increases the chance Nokia put more and more resources/focus on Meego.

I mean, how much longer can you drive a old car before admitting you need to buy a new one. You can polish, repair, repaint all you want but eventually you need a new car built with 2010 specs and technology. It may have served you well 10 years ago, but times have changed...

The sooner Nokia dump Symbian for high-end the sooner the company can turn around.. In my opinion, they wasted precious r&d resources/time on n8,e7 when they could used them for N9

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

Btw.
Here is little bit better presenter showing N8 on Nokia World 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EseCWFUzo1A

Ah.. Do not post information that ruins people carefully made point and agenda. Lets just say that you didn´t say that :P

And if they made they didn´t do it as I wanted :D They blew it. Right? :)

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

coming from an N90 over the N95 8GB to the N900, I think I will never buy an Symbian phone again. The jump in OS's from symbian to maemo feels like the jump from Win 95 to Win Xp or Win 7.

Even if I'am not that linux guru and the N900 is my first linux device and experience I like to learn always new things and over the last few month I got used to the command line interface. I like the ability to change nearly everything I want and to run programms where most other smartphones / IT's would show me the middle finger.

I'am excited about what the new generation of phones will be able to when my vf contract ends in 1 1/4 year.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

One major feature not mentioned on here ,I dont think, is the fact Symbian v3 supports USB OTG straight out of the box which is cool I suppose.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

Symbian 3 sucks just as much as Symbian60 v5. The video is a testament to that.

The more Nokia pushes Symbian, the more damage they do to their Qt adoption rate. Hopefully the guy from Microsoft will have more brains than his predecessor and realize that.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

The N97 is lookin' pretty good right about now.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

This article sums up Nokia nicely. Nokia can come back strong with Meego.. firing every employee who thinks Symbian is "currently" competitive with iOs, Android, Palm would be a great start too... They are dead weight dragging a great company down... Nokia needs to look forward

http://www.intomobile.com/2010/09/20...bling-buffoon/

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/20/n...-final-amends/

Seems N8 has been delayed a few weeks for some final fixes. Knowing Nokia it will still get released with loads of bugs. They can never seem to release a device on time and when it is released late it is still buggy. Will not be suprised if they use early adaptors as guinea pigs once more.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/20/n...-final-amends/

Edit: damn, beaten to the punch again!

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

funny, I don't have those kind of problems shown in the video with my N8... but then again, I actually use my phone as a phone but also for development, and not just spastically clicking randomly like someone too cranked up on caffeine and in a hurry.

I would recommend the N8 to anyone. In fact, I plan on getting one for my wife.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

ALL software has bugs. All hardware has bugs too. Most people don't realize how complicated these phones actually are and how much work it really takes to put one of these together.

I would suffice to say that all manufactures have delayed releases. It only really becomes an issue for consumers when the company has announced a release date...

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

Thats just an excuse.. all software DO have bugs, but bugs that are visible to an end-user after a few days (hours in the case of Nokia) are just completely unacceptable.

Here's an example of a Nokia "bug":
after PR1.2, if you get an incoming phone call (and you have phone mode set to Portrait - the default mode) then the screen will blank out and the answer button moves causing the user to be unable to answer the call.

Acceptable bug while in development cycle, complete F-UP when seen by end-users..

BTW, if the n8 camera is as good as it looks in 'real life' usage, it will sell like hotcakes in Europe, Asia. Camera priority users will care less about a crappy OS

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

I've not read the whole thread, so sorry if this has already been posted, but check this video out made on the N8. I hope the N9 can do this...

http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Sept2010/noki...ted-movie.html

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

Very cool stuff indeed! I think any mobile phone can do that, but it's still a wonderful bit of marketing.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

I would be tempted to buy the N8 if only for the great Camera module and HD video support.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

Symbian in itself is absolutely fine with low hardware requirements. As a mobile phone OS its perfect. But Nokia is trying to push it further into the smartphone field and they shouldn't be doing that.

If Nokia wants to continue to make Symbian phones that's fine but don't try and sell it as a smartphone and expect users to pay top-end prices for it - it's bad value for money and bad for Nokia's reputation.

Nokia abandoned a perfectly working smartphone OS (maemo) and decided to start again with Meego - a "new" OS with new bugs on a new device. Effectively they've lost the momentum they had at the end of last year and back at the beginning again.

Nokia will have a tough few months trying to be credible competitor in the high-end smartphone market and hopefully they can turn things around.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

This can do the N900 as well. Look at the end of the Video. There is a additional lense before the N8. And you need not more than a software and 640x480pixel resolution. This Video is only a well with hard and a lot of work made video.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

The video is just a testament how eagerly people want to say Symbian^3 sucks, without considering that they are seeing a device that has taken who knows much abuse. Honest, having seen the demo live, in most whoosh/fade/scroll/eyecandy things it's clearly snappier than the N900 (as much as it pains me to say that). Not that you should judge any phone by it's whooshes or icon sets.

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

i just tried using my fingers with fingernail guitar pics on my capacitive screen device and yes the device acts like the n8 on the video so yes, Ms. Blue nails nailed it :D :rolleyes:

Re: Goodbye N900. Hello N8!
 

That's your opinion. I happen to think the N8 is a really good "smartphone" - whatever that means. I would not consider any phone that does not send mms to be a smartphone.