Nokia N8: Imaging-intensive smartphone has a cool connection tool

03rd September 2010
Nokia N8: Imaging-intensive smartphone has a cool connection tool
Nokia N8: Inset shows how the USB on-the-go cable works

Anand Parthasarathy  tries out   the Nokia N8Nokia’s upcoming N8 smartphone, the first to run on the latest iteration – S3 – of its Symbian operating system, is arguably the most advanced imaging device offered by the company till today.

A 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss wide angle f 2.8 optics, high definition ( 720p) video capability, a manual shutter and a Xenon Flash, makes a separate camera redundant for all except the most hard core professional shooter.
Sixteen GB of storage (expandable to 32 GB) and 135 MB of internal memory, gives the phone a portable PC- like computing muscle – which is cannily exploited to whip together a selection of social networking options like Facebook and Twitter to ensure a seamless experience.

The 3.5 inch display may not seem like the size to view all this fancy video content – but the sound is Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound and the HDMI connectivity allows one to use the phone as an input device to a home theatre system exploiting the bundled Web TV options – a sure sign that the mobile phone tail is now wagging the home entertainment dog.
Connectivity–wise, the N8 is a full 3G ( Wcdma/ multi channel GSM ) with GPS and world wide satnav through Nokia’s own OviMaps.
In one way or other, these features will soon appear in other competing phones – but we liked one simple yet very useful add-on that the N8 launches for the first time on any hand phone: It’s called USB On-The-Go. And it allows users to plug USB devices like flash drives, external hard drives and card readers into the phone with the help of a special adapter that comes with the phone… in otherwords, you don’t have to ‘ go through a PC’ to exchange files with your pen drive or external hard disk, the N8 acts like a PC in this regard. A caveat: external hard drives can be plugged in and accessed only if don't need more than 200mA: the phone can’t deliver more current. Still a great new add-on that may be one small step as far as hardware is concerned, but a giant leap in convenience.
The N8 is due to be available in India by end September. The price is likely to be around Rs25,000 – we are guessing from the euro price. 

Do see the video on our home page to understand how  the N8's  USB On-the-go works

Sep 4 2010