BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

The U.S.-based blog gives a fairly thorough review of the N8. Any actual N8 users, what say you?

http://www.bgr.com/2010/11/02/nokia-n8-review/

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

I read it fast and looks like that they liked many things in it but I would have appreciated more detailed analysis about software. Now it´s pretty much on level "It's not sexy". Right :| It's not! Tell me something new genius.

Actually that was pretty bad review. This page is in finnish but I hope that it gives some idea about how to make reviews and do WORK on subject:
http://www.puhelinvertailu.com/uutis...a_etta_pahassa

.edit
There is just too much opinions without really opening and analyzing stuff deeply. Makes at least me sad. Maybe good for people who do not like to read lots of text :|

..edit
They didn´t even mention usb-otg or fm transmitter. Did they really use that phone?

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

The most throughout and professional reviews I know belong to GSMArena.
For example, here's their N8 review.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Aw man I remember reading that review just days before I managed to nab a N900 for myself. Just found my self reading through it again. Damn I love this phone.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

I agree, the BGR review doesn't dig deep enough, but it works for the average American who has an attention span of a gold fish :) (I KID, I KID!)

Though, from the Finnish N900 review, this made me chuckle a bit:

"Maemon tulevaisuus on kirkas. Nokialla on käsissään oma jo nyt vahva, mutta tulevaisuudessa vielä vahvempi alustansa. Maemo 6 tuo tulee tuomaan mukanaan joitakin merkittäviä uudistuksia, sekä varmasti myös paljon pikkuhiontaa, jonka myötä Maemosta tulee "valmis"."

[For the non-Finns: "Maemo has a bright future. Nokia has an already strong platform which the future will further improve. Maemo 6 will bring along some notable improvements as well as some bug fixes, through which Maemo will become "complete".]

Yes. Not so much. Great success, I very excite.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Please refrain from stereotyping whole--Hey, look! A kitty!

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Sometimes GSMArena is way off with subjective nonsense and geekish projection of what 'the average user' want or even need, but on average they are one of the best together with Cnet Asia

Edit: It is also interesting to see the comparison of different devices from the reviewers and users. Obviously the N8 is highly liked by the users, much more so than other phones.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

This... again?

American "this" or American "that"... you guys are tireless with that. Perhaps the tech blogs in your native or well-liked countries need to be more known.

I'm off to start the bestest tech blog in Kyrgyzstan

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

i have an n8 and an n900. right now i am posting this with n900. would i post this with the n8. maybe, if i had to. i really like the hardware keyboard type devices.

tomorrow i am driving two hours and will be in like conference type shouw for a few hours at a time, tomorrow i will be taking the n8. better battery life, better one handed email, better nav.

the n8 is quite sexy to me, very nice metal and glass construction. i have used symbian before so i am used to it, but even so with shortcut widgets you can basically make it like an iphone if you wanted to(just shortcuts icons on a desktop).

not to mention the camera and the photo and video editing software...

overall i think the n8 is a superdevice. two huge areas i think it can improve:

portrait qwerty
more modern and optimized web browser(supposedly this is in the works with qtwebkit based browser)

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

As an Australian living in the US and married to an American I can honestly say that the attention span of the average US citizen is poor. The problem seems to be that they have been so convinced they need to multi task and split their attention, that they can do a bunch of things really badly instead of one very well.

Don't get me wromg. I love the USA. It has been very good to me and the people have been nothing but nice for the most part. But I do worry for the future when it seems like getting a person to concentrate on the here and now, instead of the next thing coming, is next to impossible.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

You misspelled wrong ;)

See... I paid attention.

As an American that's lived half his life abroad and in different cultures, I agree. USA sucks in terms of attention span.

Attention span has very little to do with a review typically. Either people like or dislike the product they're reviewing. And it's up to the reviewer to be in-depth or shallow in what they regard for a product.

Ever thought that the product just isn't as universally appealing as other folks have come to think it should be?

Or better yet... that other folks might just have a varying opinion than what some people label as their "preciousssssssssss..." and life doesn't hinge upon a review on a blog where there are plenty of other blogs out there?

I guess I'm of a different mind. The reviewer didn't go in-depth enough to warrant regarding his/her opinion. I wasn't informed by much in that review and ultimately, I'd fall back upon my personal opinion and experience instead of falling behind that review in lockstep.

Y'all take **** way too serious. It's just a review. Read it, agree or disagree with it... no reason to sling around unnecessary stereotypes that have very little to do with it... especially if you come from a penal colony or have the disposition of Pauline Hanson or worse.

Bis dann.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

I've been using the N8 for about 2/3 days, but it's not mine so it won't replace the N900.
Symbian^3 has come a long way from Symbian^1, from tearing galleries to ones that are on par (or maybe even faster) than the iPhone's, kinetic scrolling is a LOT smoother than on any Nokia device I've had.
The camera is just plain awesome, I was a bit disappointed you can't focus in videos, so the N900 wins here.
HDMI is a nice touch, if only it was a full HDMI port, anyways, it's good to have.
The USB port seems to be sturdy, and the cable is very tough to take out, so they might have double checked it won't come out this time, just a note, don't use it in the N900, it's pretty tough to take it out.
The speakers (or should I say speaker) is meh-y, loud, but it's mono, so this part fails.
The screen's resolution is a bit low, things can get very cramped in landscape mode, but the quality of it is wonderful, vibrant colours (and a more powerful graphics chip) made Angry Birds a bit more enjoyable.
Charging can be done via the 2mm charger port, or the microUSB port, so this is epic win for me.
The browser is ****, nuff said.
My QtBrowser didn't work on it, and that pissed me off a bit (Qt eh...?)

Anyways, just a short review, might get into blogging and write a proper one, but not sure if I have the time.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

I guess my point was that many reviews I read from US tech blogs tend to be big on "Show me the shiny thing" and short on "It's capable of this".

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

I am trying to get the extra money to get my N8. I currently have 4 Nokias: N900, N82, E73, 5230. The N8 can technically replace the latter 3 and I'll end up with 2 powerhouses.

Thanks for the quick rundown of the pros and cons. Truth is better than Spin any day! :)

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

It's a phone. It makes calls. The review talks about OS, the CPU, the camera, and the screen.

Those bits add on top of the "phone" experience. I'm not defending the review; I just don't see a better example from your observation nor why it even exists. Sure, a distinction can exist, but when there are sites like ArsTechnica out there; I start to see that people are just complaining about the major sites that have long since gone downhill to a point of them in need of being what they need to be taken as: microwave journalism (read: blog) that skims way too much and informs of not much more than just opening the box, reading the sides of the box and perhaps touching the item for 15 minutes.

Regardless, don't like "American" anything, then don't read "American" anything. I've been trying, rather unsuccessfully actually, to get more detailed spots of what people are expecting, but all I get are Finnish links and esoteric links that would approve anything by anybody that makes a product of their company of choice. Sites that scream out "Nokia fan", I'll continue to avoid. They'd applause a brick of **** from Nokia is if came with the right number on it. No better than Apple fans in my book.

And that's a whole 'nother discussion.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Um not to be pedantic - but I often see gsmarena mentioned as a reliable source of review and arent they a UK based site?

As far as the Nokia fanboys there is the flipside of that coin as well. Those who pretty much bash anything and everything they do. As I have said before Gebrick, pretty much every post you make here has some sort of negative spin against either the N900 - or more commonly Nokia itself. I question why you bothered to

a) get an N900
b) Continue to read a forum which so obviously annoys you.

I should also point out that this is my first Nokia phone in many many years - so I hardly fall into the fanboy category. Several things Nokia have done recently have annoyed the bejeebus out of me. However I am still capable of being objective and open to new items etc from them.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Ahm.. Haven´t seen Nokia "fan"sites for years if you like to define fan as Maddox does.

Some rare reviewers have ability to analyze things and tend to say "I do not like this because of X but person Y would like it because of Z" or "I do not like the way X is implemented and I would like it to do it in Y way instead". Of course you can always say that it doesn´t "shine", isn't "sexy" etc. But that doesn´t give you any information. At least to me or actually it might tell me more about reviewer him/herself than product itself.

It´s not SEXY to write review or blog that is actually analyzing and reviewing device&product in traditional "scientific" way. To get hits as much as possible blog writers tend to write utter garbage and keep on saying same stuff what other blog writers have already said.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

The same GSMArena that had Java listed on their site for the N900? It's oft-cited, I've read it... hit or miss. But that's any site.

But let any American site miss something... holy f'n war breaks out.

Does it really matter to you? How about this. Buy my N900 or honestly learn to understand that I am not negative as much as I am realistic about my expectations (low) from pretty much any company, Nokia included... and I own their stock.

Do I need to explain why I did that too? You're asking questions that I don't have to really answer; you were not part of those decisions to buy the: N900, N810, 770 or the Nokia stock. Want to know my reasoning, I'll treat it like a poker game - you're going to have to pay to see my reasoning. Simply put, don't like me here, that's your problem. Not mine.

It's not the board that annoys me, it's the territorial people that worship each and everything by any company that annoys me. Sadly, this place has gone from the ITT days of being helpful to where blind praise is the norm.

Please quote where I called you a "fanboy". To my knowledge, I haven't called you one. So that's a label I've yet to place upon you - and if I did, it shouldn't matter just like your continued usage of calling me "negative" hasn't impacted me.

I'm still open, and honestly hopeful about MeeGo and their future offerings. I just refuse to have yet another "step backwards" type of feeling from any manufacturer, Nokia inclusive.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Please take notice of the "quotes" I used. Nokia fansites have been dropping in number for quite a while; however those people with "Nokia fan" mentality are peppered here and there on certain sites. That stated... I just don't like blind brand loyalty from any brand.

Don't get me started on Apple fanboys... they're up there with Trekkies on the annoyance scale.

Totally agree.

Probably why I cited ArsTechnica. They tend to (sometimes at least) go in-depth with the technical aspect of a review and go deep enough to where I won't lose my religion with marketing rhetoric.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

"America sucks" tag? Really?

gerbick, I like your analytic approach to things, and I too like reading Ars Technica among some others (occasionally drop by at your blog also).

I sitll stand by my "jab" at the average American's attention span, not because I think generalizing things does anyone favors, but because I like to take few jabs here and there. So, as a return of favor, you may now take a jab at the average Finn. May I suggest some of the following:

1. The place is too dark and cold most of the year for any living creature. Only way out is alcohol. Lots of it.
2. If you got a dollar for every word a Finn says over the course of a week, you'd still be a dollar short of a grande at Starbucks.
3. Most common emotions during a day: envy, ill will followed by apathy.
4. Finnish cuisine is better than English. Because we have pickled herring and reindeer pizza.
5. You can't sleep in the summer because the summer sun never sets. Only way out is alcohol. Lots of it.

Now back to your originally scheduled programming.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

lol... that was me and my dark humor. Blame me.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Yes, this always bugs me, too. I lived in Russia for a few years and I found that Americans aren't the only ones with flaws.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

[On product leaks...]
"They didn't have the final hardware/firmware/software! This is illegal!"

[Upon the first previews...]
"This guy doesn't know what he's talking about!! Let's wait for the official mainstream reviews!!"

[When it's officially released and reviewed...] << YOU ARE HERE
"WTF?? All these clueless bloggers do is just compare [the product] with [the major competitors]!! And THEY'RE ALL AMERICAAANN!!!
If it ain't positive, I don't believe them!!1"

---- wait 6 months -----

[When all is said and done...]
"The world is wrong!! We were wronged!!!"

http://paulrobertson.mechafetus.com/trex_idle.gif

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Fair enough. I will put you into the whiny prick category and leave it at that. We now return you to our regular scheduled commentary without contribution.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

*grabs popcorn*

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/cat_proximity.png

My Hobby: inserting xkcd comics into threads that need them...

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

Sure thing. Enjoy being placed in my passive-aggressive jackass category.

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

forum wars are like the special olympics....

Re: BGR: "...the N8, at $549, is a disappointment"
 

I think the feeling is that US tech sites are too biased in favour of Apple and most here hate Apple. I can't stand engadget because of that but unfortunately they are the top source for gadget news. I am sure Korean tech sites would be just as biased in favour of Samsung and LG and Finnish sites would be even more biased in favour of Nokia.