Nokia N8 gets lots of stick in early reviews, we wonder why

03 October, 2010
The Nokia N8 started shipping this week and reviews of the Finnish company's latest flagship are spreading like wildfire. Checking out the first batch of those we noticed a certain trend, which we cannot...

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  • A
  • Anton
  • SYK
  • 04 Oct 2010

I don't know why these reviewers wants Nokia to ditch Symbian and use Android. They must be in Google's payroll. Nokia is not trying to be anyone else. Nokia is in a league on its own, moving forward and I truly believe will still be at the top in the global market for the coming years.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • S6p
    • 04 Oct 2010

    Anonymous, 04 Oct 2010i agree but about nokia's performance as a whole.....its... moreName a few functions that you were unable to 'use well or at all'. I'm very intrigued.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • Ika
      • 04 Oct 2010

      [deleted post]not to start an argument but, whats wrong with the ability to have a menu system that a 6 year old can use?

      personally i think its great since anyone can pick up one of the latest smartphones and be able to use it. people who are more advance can tweak the phone in ways that a 6 year old wouldnt know how (jailbreaking/rooting) so you still have that advanced side to the smartphones. also nokia phones dont require a greater thought process to run, its just the UI is not very intuitive. it wasnt built to make getting around the system easy or fun, something that the competition has managed to do, and do well at that. besides, that argument about nokia needing more thought is going to be totally gone in 2011 once symbian 4 hits the market, since they plan on doing a total overhaul and make everything more user friendly. in my eyes, this just one big stall to keep people waiting for the main projects they have coming down the pipe. its probably why the didnt bother changing much of anything visually in the UI.

        • T
        • Tony S.
        • 4Yx
        • 04 Oct 2010

        Hello again,2010 and high tech touch phones it is a good idea,but i think is going to fast and lots of people missing the point of a mobile phone and how to use it and what to expect...however you always have to remember there is a NOKIA and the others...Nokia always going to be the best company out there even samsung or htc put's a 2ghz or 3ghz with all the stuff on there devices...it is just a game,and in the end you will see.....GSMARENA it is the best web site out there...Thanks.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • Ika
          • 04 Oct 2010

          quick, 04 Oct 2010i think to be fair, symbian as a whole can't compete with o... morei agree but

          about nokia's performance as a whole.....its been trash for the last couple years. they "have" a ton of functionality that iOS and android did not have, but the fact that you couldnt use them well, or at all due to lack of memory is what made all of the functions irrelevant. not to mention that the web browser is still the same one from previous generations. i really hope the new QT one shows up sooner than later.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • 4T9
            • 04 Oct 2010

            lol...check this out

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bJ018LZjLc

            See how stupid gizmodo can be!

              • q
              • quick
              • j01
              • 04 Oct 2010

              i think to be fair, symbian as a whole can't compete with other OS such as android n iphone....simply because it do not have eye-candy interface and user friendly enough...but i never doubt its performance. Unfortunately, nowadays people only looking at the UI rather then the performance as a whole. That's what nokia have to improve on and i hope to see a refreshing OS in the form of meego. For the N8 hardware, it's top class...beautiful and classy...not to mention the excellent camera...so to say the camera is equal or worse than iphone 4, that's a downright bias

                • q
                • qbert
                • niJ
                • 04 Oct 2010

                Good article. When comparing cameras on different phones, there's so many variables(aperture, shutter speed, EV compensation, ISO, focal range, focal plane, jpeg compression, sharpening, camera shake, noise reduction, white balance etc.) and all of those that can be adjusted, must be set as close as possible between the phones. Otherwise those comparisons are pointless.

                  • S
                  • Suresh
                  • TL5
                  • 04 Oct 2010

                  Why cant the Tech Blog sites of USA blocked like their video streaming sites outside of America, atleast we will be sparred of the stupidity of their reviews

                    • p
                    • preetman
                    • bJe
                    • 04 Oct 2010

                    love u gsm arena.
                    u r fair as always.
                    thank u n greetings from india...

                      • M
                      • Mato
                      • fu$
                      • 04 Oct 2010

                      Your reviews are always fair. I have used N76, N95 8gb and currently samsung wave and i havent found a significant difference between the phones and your reviews

                        • A
                        • Anonymous
                        • 0C0
                        • 04 Oct 2010

                        Nokia and Symbian 3 UI is not for dumb people. Anyone having problems with the UI is either lazy or stupid.

                        I finally have my N8 and I also have iphone4 and Galaxy S and both can go to the bin. N8 can easily trash the two phones. it's an everything phone, a great media player, no signal issues with perfect call quality, superb 2d/3d graphics for games and oh i almost forgot, viewing a movie in my hdtv from my N8 is really amazing!

                          • R
                          • Ruch
                          • Lyv
                          • 04 Oct 2010

                          I'm totally agree with this article. There are many iPhone fans and Android fans out there, that want to see Nokia at the bottom of the ocean. In my opinion, N8 is a monster on hardware, and after seeing many reviews I can conclude that it is the best in this matter. There is no iPhone that beats Nokia N8. N8 has a best camera, best video record, HDMI output, radio, 3G Pentaband, card-slot, bluetooth v3, and a long etc. However, iPhone and Android beat Symbian with no effort. Symbian is a mess, it doesn't offer social integration at all, non-ovi mail integration is horrible and there are other issues. But on hardware terms is the best phone right now by far.

                            • P
                            • Pink ladies
                            • PFy
                            • 04 Oct 2010

                            I want to replace my N73, but I want to choose which confused between iphone 4 and N8, which is my favorite feature on cell phones is maximal 5 Mpx camera, auto focus, to social networking sites like facebook / twitter is my passion, especially the push notification directly to the phone without having to manually refresh the page. Approximately one could love me suggest to any of the above?

                              • g
                              • gsmarena is biased /
                              • TjB
                              • 04 Oct 2010

                              Lynn, 04 Oct 2010N8 is a good fone but just like Satio,just have a better ba... moreduring the time nokia takes to give out meego, their customer should TOTALLY use S^1, amirite?
                              seriously, why are people so convoluted?
                              i'm not saying you are, but others do.
                              its like microsoft, flopped once on vista, and hey look win7 is also sooooooooo shitty, buggy, laggy like vista, NOT!

                                • J
                                • Jon
                                • qpv
                                • 04 Oct 2010

                                I don't see the big issue. I finally got my N8 and I love the thing! It's a lot different from my old Blackberry, but it's an excellent device I think. I can't say fully if it's a real user friendly device, because it's my first full touch screen phone, and the only other symbian platform I've used was what the Samsung Innov8 had, which is a whole nother world by comparison. It didn't take me hours to figure out, granted I've not gotten into the more advanced settings, the e-mail client I really like though. I kind of perfer it to my Blackberry Curve 8900 (aka Javelin). Things take me longer to do on it but that solely because I'm not familar with it. The camera however, is amazing, by far the best thing I've ever seen on a mobile phone, I used to think my Innov8 was top dog (I perfered it even to the Pixon12 and SE Saito). The N8 could easily replace a standard point and shoot, no questions asked. Yes, I fumble around with it, when trying to type things out, but that's mainly because I'm not used to using a screen (it feels weird to me), and it takes me a while to set things up, but the story was the same with my Blackberry 8900, the Innov8, every phone has a slight learning curve. I'm very pleased with it it's stupid that it's getting bashed so hard. It may lack for insame power of the Galaxy S line up or the lastest HTC Droid army (I'm not bashing I love both of those too), but every on the N8 is stable, and quick. I'm really enjoying the N8, and yeah it could be a little quicker, but for the everyday person do you really need all that power when most people even those with smartphone just update facebook and text all day?

                                  • z
                                  • zaviv nosscire ynos
                                  • PF5
                                  • 04 Oct 2010

                                  i think every phone is good, even though i dislike iphone for some reason i still think its a damn good phone. i own an htc hd2 almost a year now, i hate it....i love it. my friend told me to sell it & buy an iphone, no way. why? cuz its still a good phone. i like this post by gsmarena, it shows their neutral position of reviewing a phone. i dont know what to type anymore........zZzzzZzzZzz

                                    • g
                                    • gsmarena is biased /
                                    • TjB
                                    • 04 Oct 2010

                                    Anonymous, 04 Oct 2010gsmarena is defending so hard n8.. we wonder whyyou can tell they are VERY VERY VERY biased towards nokia! /s
                                    just look at all the reviews for android and iphone! /s
                                    on a more serious note, they judge the phones accordingly, to their opinion, not trying to force thier opinion on others
                                    not unlike all the iphone-worshipping blogs that tend to, you know, review phones

                                      • A
                                      • Anon
                                      • w4H
                                      • 04 Oct 2010

                                      A lot of people complain that they get 'bored' of the Nokia Interface. Anyone using anything for a long time will get bored of it - it's a fact.
                                      I'm a technofreak. When it comes to Cellphones, I've used Alcatel, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Blackberry, SE, Apple, and more. I'm not a brand loyalist, nor would I call myself a fan. Although I do like different things about all those phones, I have found Nokia to deliver more than the rest.

                                      A biased Reviewer should not be termed a Reviewer, but rather just an Opinionator(a new word for them!).

                                      I would definitely like to see what the N8 does and I'm pretty sure I won't be disappoint when it comes to a product of quality.
                                      Any biased review, is NOT a review, whether the bias is intentional or unintentional. I'm pretty sure GSMArena has been guilty of such things as well, since I've come across them, but you know when it's unintentional(overlooked or probably a small miss in experience).

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 98c
                                        • 04 Oct 2010

                                        Gamma sharma, 04 Oct 2010Its the first time gsmarena hasn't been pro apple. The symb... moreIt takes hrs for you to set bth on Nokia phone? Then something wrong with you.
                                        It hardly need less than a minute for me...