28 February 2008 A Photastic Device with Downs: The Nokia N82! On one Side I really like it, as it's a powerful Symbian Device with an outstanding Camera, on the other Hand it has some awfull Downsides, completely useless Things .. It gives you great Joy on one Hand, the next Second it forces you to get it back in the Pocket with loads of Anger. So here we go, let's have a Look at the Nokia N82 .. THE HARDWARE The Nokia N82 is a Candy bar Device in a glossy, stylish (?) Silver Paint Look, measuring 112 x 50,2 x 17,3 mm's .. Quite big you think? Well the N82 features Lots of Function, which needs some Space, so I think it's okay. It is slightly smaller than my Nokia E70, like you can see in the Photo, fits good in my Pocket, if only it has been a bit thinner .. But anyway, the Size is okay and a Weight of 114g is not so bad too! If we look at the Front of the Device, you can see the 2,4" QVGA Screen, again unfortunately QVGA only, which is the Standard in Nokia Phones nowadays .. It would have been nice to see at least 352x416 Resolution Screens in High-End Devices like the N82, but Nokia just refuses to give us more than QVGA. Above the Screen, like in nearly all N-Series Devices, the Front Cam for Video Calls (CIF - 352 x 288 pixels) and the Light Sensor. Under the Screen and Nokia Label, the probably biggest Downside of the whole Device starts, the D-Pad! Coming in a mixture of glossy and matt-finished Parts, the D-Pad surprised me at first, but not in a good Way. The red and green Call Buttons are located on the outer left and right Side, and are a bit hard to press, sometimes they don't react, when I hit them like I would normally.
If we go near the Center the left Side gives us the Menu Key and left Soft key. There is absolutely NO Difference between these two Keys, so try to hit them blind.. On the opposite right Side is the worst Thing I’ve ever seen. C-Key and the right Soft key - they are separated, with the Multimedia Menu Button, that is coming out of the Phone and makes it VERY hard to hit the right Soft key. This is probably the most stupid Design I’ve ever seen in a long Time. I hit the MMM Button about a Million Times, and I’m still not getting used to it. This is definitely something that needs a HUGE improvement! The Number Buttons were the Thing I was most concerned about, so tiny Buttons, never done before on a Nokia Device, but surprise, surprise - they work really good, and I got used to them after 2 Days of playing around with the Device. I never thought that, but maybe that is, because I have quite small Fingers .. I don’t know about People with larger Thumbs .. But for me, it worked well and I’m really happy with it, almost as fast as on my Nokia N95!
But how, how in the blue Hell could Nokia remove the Pencil Button? The Pencil Button was a time-saving Friend with many Functions. I used it a lot to copy/paste .. It is implemented now in the #-Key, but it just isn't the Same .. The right Side of the Phone gives us the typical Nokia Right Side, Camera Button, Gallery Button and the Volume/Zoom Buttons. A nice Improvement are the Stereo Speakers, which are both located on the right Side of the Phone. Nice Move, especially when you watch Videos in Landscape Mode. On Top of the Device we have the On/Off Button and the 3,5mm Headphone Plug, another good Thing, so your Phone can be in the Pocket, the Cables won't be twisted! The left Side features the micro USB Port which supports USB 2.0 and the microSD Slot. I got the N82 ready with a 2 GB MicroSD card, but I think that is different in each Country .. A Thing that's also connected on the left Side is the Charging Plug, located near in the same Region as the Number Buttons. So can please anyone at Nokia tell me, how to type, while the Phone charges? Anyone made up his Mind on this yet?? The Bottom of the N82 is pretty much nothing, only a little Hole where the Microphone is located, so why not put the Charging Whole there?? The Backside of the Nokia N82 comes in a glossy Finish, unfortunately it is VERY VERY slick. I can remember one Time when I was in Bed, the N82 slipped out of my Hand and crashed directly in my Face, which resulted in a nice Bruise, directly on the Nose. But on Top of that is the Thing that makes the N82 one of the best Devices out there: The 5 MP Carl Zeiss Camera with Autofocus and Xenon Flash! Nokia gave the Camera an active Cam Protection, a Slide Shutter, like on the N95 Classic, which starts the Cam Application, when your slide it opens! Good Move Nokia, thanks for that! THE CAM This brings us directly to the most outstanding Feature of the Nokia N82 - The Camera! I'm no Photography Expert like my Friend Mazor or Teo, so I can't tell you any Details about Sensor Technology and such Stuff, and even if I knew something about it, I won't tell much about it! The Tons of Possibilities to edit the Picture on the Phone and the Different Camera Settings are making the N82 a real Competition to mid-Class Digital Cameras! The Camera is probably the Part I’ll miss the Most, when I have to send it back tomorrow.
Video Recording is done at VGA Resolution (640x480) at 30 fps. It can be compared to the N95 Video Quality, Playback is very smooth and is even cool to watch at the TV Screen!
For the full Comparison, CONNECTIVITY Same like the N95, the Nokia N82 is a Connectivity Beast. We not only have 3G for Data, but HSDPA as well up to 3,6 Mbits. Data Connections were always fun to use, everything reacted superfast, Web Sites are opening wery fast and looked nice in the integrated Web Browser. We also have WLAN (802.11 b/g) on Board, which works like a Charm as well. One Thing I didn't like: When I was at Home and started browsing and the Web Browser asked for Connections, The N95 always gives the existing WLAN AP ("Home" WLAN at my Home) as separated Access Point, while the N82 needs to search for WLAN. What else do we have? Bluetooth with A2DP stereo audio, UPnP Technology, MicroUSB with USB 2.0 Support .. A full Package, even visible on your TV - TV OUT is the Magic Word! GPS NAVIGATION While I had the Nokia N82, Nokia has presented the Beta of Nokia Maps 2.0, which I installed immediately, after I tried it out at the N95, with Assistance of the Nokia LD-4W Bluetooth GPS Module. I decided to leave the LD-4W out of the N82 and was just using A-GPS, the assisted Navigation Option, which requires Web Connection on your Phone.
The Web Connection helps to do a quicker Lock with the GPS Satellites. In the Practice, this worked fine, and just required a few Kbs each Time. The Lock took me about 20 seconds, after that the GPS worked fully. Still I’m not completely satisfied, there are some Cuts in the Navigation which needs re-connection .. So I suggest here also, the Nokia LD-4W! MULTIMEDIA/MUSIC Of Course Multimedia is also present, starting with the redesigned Multimedia Menu, which I already posted about on my Ex-Nokian Blog some Time ago, when I trialed the N95 8GB! The Multimedia Menu is not looking so bad, but it's VERY far away from the Functionality of the MM on the Nokia N95. It can't be modded this easily, so it's not that much Joy. Music Player, FM Radio, Podcasts, and the new Nokia Music Shop making the N82 a Multimedia Device of first Class! ACCELEROMETER The N82 is the first Nokia Phone that features automatically 90° Display Turns, using the Built In Accelerometer. This comes in very handy for Web Browsing, Gallery Watching etc .. But what I’m missing is a Hotkey, like Rotateme. The Function to switch it on/off is deep in the Settings of the Display, which is a long Road to go .. N-GAGE GAMING N-Gage Gaming has also worked nice on the N82, the Demo Application was pre-installed and ready to rock. The well known FIFA and Asphalt 3 worked very very smooth. I didn't install the first Access Mod on the N82, but as I said, the Demos worked really well! The 3D Gaming Hardware is also built in the N82 and makes gaming a real nice Experience! Conclusion Although the Nokia N82 is far away from perfect, it surely has some good Points as well. The Fact that it is a Candybar Phone, reduces the Risk of getting some loose Parts to nothing! Feature Pack 1 adds some nice Features as well. The definitely best Part of this Device is the impressive Camera. The Xenon Flash rises Mobile Photography up on a new Level and improves the Quality a whole Lot more, than on the Nokia N95. In normal Daylight the 2 Phones are doing near similar Shots, whilst on Lower Light or Night Shots, the N82 shows it's real Power. Most of the Comparison Shots has been made in the Evening, so you can see the TRUE Power! On the other Hand the Nokia N82 has the most un-useful, un-comfortable Design I’ve seen in a long Time. The D-Pad is near a Catastrophe, the Multimedia Button is on the worst Place ever!! I have also noticed that the Buttons are quite loud when you press them, which is also not too good. The Screen Resolution could also be better, at least 352x416, but I guess we're far away to get this! .. Also the slick slippery Backside of the Phone is a downside for me! Overall I like to give the Nokia N82 6/10 Rating .. The Downside are taking over the Phone, and I just can't get a Phone cause of the good Camera. Sure I will think back about it, whenever I take a Pic with my N95, but well .. the D-Pad, the slippery Backside, the wrong Charging Position, .. It's just too much! It is definitely not a bad Phone and it deserves the Tag "Photo Flagship", but some Downsides and the bad Design are taking the No. 1 Title away from this Device! Links:  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Main Camera of the Nokia N82 is a 5 Megapixel Camera, with the well known Carl Zeiss Optic Parts and Tessar Lens. The biggest Difference between the N95 and the N82 is the integrated Xenon Flash, which beats the N95 Cam 
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