All About Symbian - Symbian, Nokia and S60 unwrapped.
What does the internet think of the Nokia N8?
Published by Ewan Spence at 16:09 UTC, April 27th 2010
The announcement of the Nokia N8 has certainly got the internet chattering, more than any other recent Nokia product launch. It’s not an out and out success, but that’s to be expected. No product in the real world can get 100% satisfaction on launch day, but it can get the buzz building from the time the press release goes public (or perhaps before - grrrrr). So what did the internet think of the N8? Lets find out.
The obvious place to start online is the Nokia Conversations blog coverage of the launch. There is obvious bias, but they’re rather proud of the N8 (as they should be) and it’s always interesting to see where companies launching a product want to steer the conversation and buzz to. In the case of the N8, it appears the big points the Finns would like us to discuss are the camera, both for still pictures and HD video (to the point of doing a separate and in-depth post on the camera, just as Steve has done here on AAS). And of course the tie in with all the Ovi Services, but that should be a given for every Nokia phone in the future.
Step outside the corporate walls and you find that the two destination sites in the US, having ran the spoiler story yesterday are saying little more than “here are the specs, they’re confirmed.” Engadget draw the direct comparison to the upcoming new iPhone while making no comment on the relative merits of each device. Meanwhile Gizmodo reckon that the launch today is awkward due to the timing, but are looking forward to getting their hands on it in a few months when it becomes officially available.
Mind you, Engadget editor Chris Ziegler asks if Nokia would like to run his idea for an advertising campaign - "The N8 is GR8" – and he’ll even give the Finnish marketing department that one for free.
I do have to raise an eyebrow when blogs that pounced on the leaks yesterday like a pack of hyenas then write that it’s all about managing expectations and competitive positioning.
In all the argument about the UI layer, are we forgetting everything else? Unwired reckon that no matter if Symbian^3 isn’t fresh or exciting, the price point and hardware in the N8 mean “[it] will be selling like hotcakes…except for the UI paradigm, Symbian^3 is a major improvement over S60 [Fifth Edition].”
European bloggers seem a bit more relaxed with the N8, such as The Next Web., although they are worried that the Symbian ^3 interface may be too similar to the Symbian ^1 interface. Personally I think that the UI changes will be mostly procedural (e.g. sorting out single and double taps, connection dialogs) so on a cursory glance it will feel the same, but at the same time it will all just work and be as intuitive as you would expect in a modern phone. Which also means those reviewers casting a cursory glance will say “nothing’s changed” and move on.
Those who work under the hood, in the guts of the OS, know different.
The memory management and true multi-tasking lead off Electronista’s thoughts on the N8, as well as the hardware that allows the flagship handset to use all five major 3G bands and 802.11n for Wi-fi connectivity and, perhaps rightly, points out the N8 will have an uphill struggle from a more competitive environment than in previous years.
UK journalist Chris Davis picks up that not only is this the first Symbian^3 handset, but it’s also the first to ship with Qt integration. That’s something also picked up on by Phone Report, who extrapolate that decision to highlight the potential portability of Qt apps between the Symbian ^3 and Meego (nee Maemo) platforms.
Electric Pig on the other hand has some more colourful language, going for the style angle and calling the N8 a looker. “That slinky touchscreen design has touches of the N97 about it, but with a few classier angles, and no kick-out keyboard.”
Davis actually carries on in an editorial wondering about Nokia’s strategy and where the current perception of “Nokia is failing” is coming from, and shoots down a lot of the commentary that arose from the review of the prototype that generated the spoiler stories yesterday: “[that review] mockingly described it as a “cosmetic” update, but to some extent that’s exactly what’s needed. Were the N8 running Android or webOS, we’d be drooling uncontrollably; instead, tech bloggers were falling over themselves to decry Nokia’s lack of direction on the basis of a single poor review (and of prototype hardware).” (and with early, pre-release software)
Oh and his answer to Nokia’s problems? Pin down the US carriers, perhaps by leveraging T-Mobile’s adoption of the 5230 Nuron.
FoneHome wins the prize for most innovative way to simply cut and paste the spec sheet with their Top Ten Things you need to know about the N8. Still, if it gets people thinking about the optimised 680MHz ARM11 processor, 720p HD video recording and HDMI option, rather than “look at the pretty icons moving around”, then it deserves that prize. And while Nokia DNA took a more traditional approach, it's always good to have a "just the facts" page as well as more colourful commentary.
Friend of All About Symbian (hmm...) Ewan McLeod ducks the issue completely by stating that “it boasts a specifications page about 8 screens long on my browser” before going on to talk about his excitement and anticipation for the device. It’s another nice mix of fact and commentary at Mobile Industry Review from my namesake. “I think the N8 experience may well surprise and delight. Will it be enough to persuade customers to turn away from a similarly priced iPhone or Android device? We shall see. There’s a lot of love in the room for Nokia.”
The Prodigal Fool hits the nail on the head, and notes that the N8 is all set to reprise the historic battles of the smartphone wars from all those years ago, although the skirmishes have started online already. Fool’s simple observation is that the N8 has the edge in capturing media and the hardware, while the fourth generation iPhone is likely to win from a software perspective.
Blogger C.J. also sums up the thoughts of many Nokia tech bloggers who have been holding off on buying a new smartphone to see what the N8 would deliver. From his perspective “Nokia finally announced the phone that might replace my aging N82.”
Speaking of blogs assassinating the Archduke Ferdinand, let’s end at Mashable. Their big concern? The fact that Symbian^3 has a caret in the name: “Every time I type Symbian^3, my faith in Nokia’s ability to create a great smartphone platform diminishes slightly… it’s an unwelcome guest in the name in the name of a mobile platform.”
Of course the N8 is going to be driving the news agenda for some time, not just on the rest of the internet, but here on All About Symbian as well. Expect more editorial on the N8 and Symbian^3 over the next week or so. This is a turning point for the Symbian ecosystem as well as Nokia's return to the high end. Will it work? Is it what we expected? All that and more, coming up on All About Symbian.
-- Ewan Spence, April 2010.
PS one thing I did notice – Nokia uploaded a lot of videos around the N8 to YouTube that were made public as the device was announced. Nokia Users have the complete collection, but do you know the one that everyone seemed to be using? The one that features hand freestyler Max Vlassenko. We can spot a trend when we have to…
News Discussion
I think far more telling than a lone and unknown voice shouting in the wilderness is to see the general vibe from authoritative voices across the blogosphere and internet, and from comments on various news stories. They're pretty much all overwhelmingly positive, in favour of the N8, and congratulating Nokia on what is clearly an iPhone and Android beater (something which has got owners or fans of those devices seriously on the back foot today). (and as objective Nokia observers know, we certainly can't take seriously Eldar's 'review' at mobile-review, the man's a known Nokia hater, and Nokia have slapped him down for leaks so he has a massive anti-Nokia chip on his shoulder, quite apart from reviewing an N8 with unfinished hardware and software).
I think general consensus is Nokia's on a real winner with the N8.
Shades of the N97......
I have learned to temper my Nokia launch expectations because time after time they surely fail. It is what it is.
Infact I'm still using my i8910 as I think it still holds the best combination of hardware and software for me. However, I'm willing to accept that other offerings from other companies may now be more appealing to normobs.
If anything, that's being objective, not biased.
My guess from watching the Nokia Videos is its a N97 with a Capacitive screen, HDMI and supports both TMobile and ATT in the US with one phone. Not much there, I only switch carriers (if I do) once every two years. So not a big item for me to have one phone that works on both.
{Full Disclosure} I took a hammer to my N97 (it gave me great pleasure) and I now have a Google Nexus One which I like.
The only think I miss from Nokia is my Bluetooth transfer of photos with one click to my pc and my contacts list sync.
The N8 does not wow me.
I'll tell you why - because it's shaping up to be a truly great handset that's why, and those who think Android/iPhone are the next big thing are on the back foot, in full defensive mode. They've realised the emperor has no clothes - that the platforms they've got behind are actually not very good after all and that actually Nokia have just hit back with one heck of a left hook and they're reeling.
The Symbian^3 / hardware specs / price combo of the N8 looks like it's going to really bring back to Nokia all but the most die hard iPhone/Android fans, and good thing too.
The once mighty AAS is losing all credibility.
Have we forgotten the N97 fiasco? On this very site it was proudly proclaimed to be the next “killer” device. And we all know how that has turned out.
Don't get me wrong, I would love for this to be a success and shut up all the iphone zealots, but the truth is that recent history is not on Nokia's side. We'll see.
Of course you can say you're not happy to wait and find out, but I think, given what they've gone on record and said about the N97, its probably fair to give them the benefit of the doubt.
My personal feeling is that I think Nokia have learnt from their mistake, but how much they have learnt is open to debate. Some people are never going to be happy so I don't think there'll ever be complete happiness on this issue. I can certainly understand a 'wait and see' attitude, but the 'dismiss out of hand' attitude seems short-sighted and dogmatic.
The N8 does look nice but I'd recommend people to wait for 6 months or so after it's release before buying. I'll bet good money this device will not work properly as advertised on release and we'll have an N97 debacle all ovr again.
I for one won't be burnt again.
If OPK came out and said publicly: "hey everyone, we sold you shit and will continue to do so" you would still say: "give Nokia benefit of the doubt, they learned their lesson". Living with Nokia is like being in an abusive relationship where we are promised that we learned this time and won't do it again. But as sure as AAS will be a Nokia apologist, Nokia too will disappoint. That is not to say the other phone guys have their short comings, they all do, but Nokia seems to excel at them and AAS is right there to rub their back and say: "is't okay. they don't understand you".... You guys have really lost quite a bit of credibility. In effect, you are no better than the Apple zealot-wingnuts on the other side.
If nokia didn't learn their mistake (yet), they will release this device last december.
well, nokia is learn BOTH of their mistake. bad product and wrong pricing.
the pricing of N8 make the world stop spinning for 1 minute.
great job nokia.
I think you should be thankfull that nokia were constantly updating the N97 firmware, and giving new ability with each firmware. That's alone show that nokia is really serious about N97.
about pricing.
yes N97 is too overprice, but at that time it was launched that's the price, and it's normal (compared to competitor).
The one is not normal is the N8 price. but it's a great price, i won't complain.
Compared to the current high end Symbian devices, bearing in mind that the i8910 was announced and released more or less a year before the N8, we have:
Improvements:
- HDMI - This is something I would actually make good use of and am quite excited to see. I notice it can play back H264, VC1 and MPEG4 - hopefully in a DivX/Xvid wrapper. It would be great to carry HD films on your phone & just plug them into a TV to watch them.
- Camera - Looks like the Satio's camera, but the 12MPixels and Xenon are a step up from Vivaz and the i8910. From the specs I suspect that it will better the Satio's camera, and probably as good as we can reasonably expect in 2010.
- Symbian^3 - Hopefully an improvement over S60 5th. Time will tell how much better it is - I suspect it will start out rather disappointing & get better and better with new firmwares. It will also be interesting to see if we get any custom firmwares for the i8910 based on S^3 when the N8 is released.
- Nokia support & software - This is certainly going to be better than Samsung / Sony Ericsson, notably all the Nokia apps just working without having to hack them in and much better & more frequent Firmware updates.
- Price - This is actually a very good introductory price for a high end mobile.
Negatives:
- I am not too keen on the looks. Not quite as nice looking as a Vivaz, or even i8910
- Screen is nothing special - just a 3.5" version of the 3.7" i8910 display.
- I am left feeling that Nokia is still a little behind the times in terms of hardware compared with Samsung and HTC and even SE. Simplistically it is a i8910 with a Xenon flash and HDMI output, but with a slightly worse screen, released 1 year later.
It's certainly quite a significant improvement compared with 2009 Nokia Symbian devices, but perhaps not quite enough to wow Vivaz or i8910 owners. If the N8 had a higher resolution screen I would certainly consider this for my new phone. As it is, I may still be tempted away to Android or Bada. For the price, however, I feel Nokia has done a very good job.
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Originally Posted by Berty
Benefit of the doubt! Maybe an appology for some of the recent devices they have released and people like myself and others who shelled over £500 for something that simply didn't work properly.
The N8 does look nice but I'd recommend people to wait for 6 months or so after it's release before buying. I'll bet good money this device will not work properly as advertised on release and we'll have an N97 debacle all ovr again. I for one won't be burnt again. |
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
@Rafe,
If OPK came out and said publicly: "hey everyone, we sold you shit and will continue to do so" you would still say: "give Nokia benefit of the doubt, they learned their lesson". Living with Nokia is like being in an abusive relationship where we are promised that we learned this time and won't do it again. But as sure as AAS will be a Nokia apologist, Nokia too will disappoint. That is not to say the other phone guys have their short comings, they all do, but Nokia seems to excel at them and AAS is right there to rub their back and say: "is't okay. they don't understand you".... You guys have really lost quite a bit of credibility. In effect, you are no better than the Apple zealot-wingnuts on the other side. |
Oh and I don't think OPK would use bad language in a public statement.
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Originally Posted by mwarner
It's certainly quite a significant improvement compared with 2009 Nokia Symbian devices, but perhaps not quite enough to wow Vivaz or i8910 owners. If the N8 had a higher resolution screen I would certainly consider this for my new phone. As it is, I may still be tempted away to Android or Bada. For the price, however, I feel Nokia has done a very good job.
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But thank you for providing a thought out comment!
It's not like nobody cares - Nokia clearly care, they've apologised, and they've reorganised and redesigned and restructured to improve quality control, design, management ethos etc. OK? They've changed.
AAS care, other owners care. But for goodness sakes, you weren't sold rubbish. The N97 is a good handset, you knew the hardware specs when you bought, and the software has had upgrades and improvements. It had a few not-very-big teething troubles. So what? Show me an iPhone or Android that hasn't. In fact, show me an iPhone or Android that offered anywhere near the spec for the price. You didn't get burned by the N97. Nobody did. You simply built up your expectations too much and then Nokia failed them slightly. Get over it.
Anyone criticising the N8 at this stage (and unless when it gets released it is really, genuinely, objectively compared to the iPhone and Android, actually rubbish) is speaking from one of 2 things: 1.) self pity at an N97 that failed to live up to YOUR expectations and/or 2.) defensiveness because you've bought an iPhone or Android and now realised the N8's hardware spec makes them looks overpriced and underpowered, and that actually the Symbian^3 software might just be better than the iPhone UI experience (shock, horror!) and better than Android. And THAT my friends is why it's easier for some people to slag off the N8 rather than admit it looks bloody amazing on paper, and in real life is likely to be a really big competitor to iPhone and Android.
So N97's crap, right? Symbian's rubbish! Nokia are dying, S60 5th edition is the worst touch UI out there, nobody likes it and nobody wants to use it, no one will buy the N8! What the US blogs (despite being totally ignorant) say against Nokia and Symbian is right!
- That's why pre-Christmas Nokia grew Global smartphone marketshare by 5%. iPhone? ZERO growth.
- That's why 1st quarter of this year (post Christmas is always slow across the whole market) Nokia grew smartphone marketshare by 1%. iPhone? ZERO growth.
- That's why the total smartphone market was flat from Q4 last year and sold 52.6 million units. Yet Nokia grew unit sales 3% to 21.5 million smartphones - and grew market share to 41%. (iPhone? ZERO growth - you get the picture)
- That's why while Android sold a whole 7 million phones last year, Nokia/Symbian sold well over 10 times that!
Tell me Nokia/Symbian critics, exactly what sort of fantasy land do you live in? Because you DO live in one...
The mini is by far the best-built phone I've ever had, and like most high-end Nokias, it is very functional, but five months into my ownership and I'm sorely missing RAM and a faster CPU. The N8, in those departments, don't really seem to have improved for what the top 2010 devices have already come out with: 1Ghz processors and 512 RAM. Other than that, though the N8 looks fantastic, except for the part where it looks ugly. Still, I could be assured that Nokia would support my device once I purchased it, I'd be all in. The HTC Desire and the Samsung Galaxy S are really looking great right now. I've used nothing but WM and Symbian devices, but I told myself that I would be willing to give Android a try once they updated their hardware specs, and boy have they ever. Why is this so hard for Symbian? I understand lower clocked CPUs tax the battery less, but when the OS lags in return, where's the joy?
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