Nokia N82 Review

BACKGROUND.

I had a Samsung G600 before my Nokia N82. Coming from many years of the Symbian operating system (from the original 6600 to the Nokia N73, and most Nokia models in between), I felt that the Samsungs ‘dumb’ operating system was lacking in too many areas to ignore (despite an excellent camera). The lack of 3rd party applications bugged me and I sold the phone after only a few weeks.

I bought the N82 and with it an 8GB Sandisk microSDHC card (which I can confirm works perfectly). I have used the phone for more than a month, so my review should give a good indication of long term usage.



THE OUT OF BOX EXPERIENCE.

Opening the box of the N82 is a pleasant experience. The phone is presented first with a short description by Nokia, with the accessories underneath. The box includes a headset, TV out cables, a 2GBmicroSD card, battery, and wall charger. This is quite a generous selection of accessories, as is common for high end phones such as this.




PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

My first thought when picking the N82 up was how light it was. Not being
able to demo it before purchase, I expected that a phone this brimming
with features would be a little heavier. I would prefer the phone to have
a little bit more weight and to feel more substantial in the hand, but
many people would disagree.

The thickness of 17.3mm is perfectly acceptable (if not a little thick
compared to some other phones on the market), and the other dimensions
(112mm x 50.2mm) make for a comfortable footprint. The glossy cover on the
back means the phone is somewhat slippery in the hand and you really need
to grip on to it to avoid dropping it when extracting it from the pocket
(luckily I haven’t dropped it yet, *fingers crossed*). The glossy fascia
on the front is attractive and there is what appears to be a scratch
resistant plastic layer over the whole front surface of the phone. This
means that the screen is well protected and that dust will not accumulate
in gaps between the screen and the casing (as is usual for phones with
recessed screens). The front facing camera for video calls is also
protected by this plastic layer.



The rear camera is slightly recessed into the casing and contains a
mechanical switch directly to the right of the lens. This switch is
amazing. It is spring loaded and protrudes just enough so that flicking it
without looking at it is very easy to do (think dark situations). It is
satisfying playing with it and I sometimes find myself doing it
subconsciously.

The main reason for choosing this model over other similar products is
probably the Xenon flash. The Xenon flash is located just above the lens
and has an infrared sensor imbedded into the top left corner of its
housing for low light focusing.



The right side of the phone has the volume rocker, as well as the
dedicated camera button (with half press for autofocus) and gallery key.
The stereo speakers are also placed here, and provide decent quality
(though not as good as the Nokia N73).


The left side of the phone contains the charging port, and the microUSB
port where the data cable connects to the phone. Hopefully Nokia will
eventually use a combines port that can be used as a charger and as a data
interface. It would also be nice to see a universal interface for data.

Nokia has used pop-port, miniUSB and now microUSB. If they would just use
the one type, it would make much more sense. I can see the benefit to
microUSB, as it takes up only a small physical space but provides all the
features of a USB connection. Let’s hope Nokia sticks with it.

The microSD/HC card slot can also be found here, with an excellent cover
to keep it dust free. The card is a little tricky to get in at first, but
after a few goes you get the hang of it.



The top of the phone contains a 3.5mm jack (which is always great to
see!), and the typical on-off switch (which also allows for the selection
of profiles).

The bottom of the phone only contains the microphone and is nothing
exciting.




THE KEYPAD.

The keypad is located in a very small physical area (probably the biggest
disadvantage of the ‘candybar’ design) and so sacrifices are necessary.
Nokia decided to go with calculator style keys, similar to those on my old
N91. This makes it far easier to locate the keys blind compared to phones
where it is just a block of keys (such as the Nokia N73).



However, the keys themselves require a fair bit of force to press and tire
ones fingers faster than more spacious keypads. Their small physical size
presents a bit of a problem for me, being 6’4 with gigantic hands. I
often find myself hitting the wrong keys. It is a keypad that one gets
used to though, and nowhere near as bad as the Nokia N73/N70 style keys. I
would not recommend this phone for people that spend a lot of time
texting.

The titanium colour of my phone, though attractive, brings along its own
problems. Nokia, unwisely, decided to make the text for the keypad white.
It is hard to distinguish the text from its background without the
backlight. The reflective nature of the shiny front means the text is hard
to read in sunlight and presents usability problems.


THE DPAD, AND SOFT BUTTONS.

The DPAD has gotten a pretty bad reputation from many users on the
internet. Problems of stiffness, awkward positioning on the handset, and
being too recessed into the phones chassis are common grumbles among
users.

I personally find the DPAD much better than the joysticks of old, as it is
less straining on the thumb. There is no doubt there are problems with its
implementation though. As mentioned, it is far too recessed into the
casing, which makes pressing it at the edges more uncomfortable than it
needs to be. Stiffness is not a problem on my particular handset after a
few days of usage. The soft buttons to the left and right of the dpad
cause problems, as their close proximity and awkward design (the buttons
are in a vertical rocker design) make usage very strenuous.

This problem is magnified by the poor placement of the multimedia key. A
small, rectangular key similar to those on the numerical pad, the
multimedia key is far too easy to press when reaching for the right soft
key or the cancel key. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that it barely
protrudes from the other keys. I don’t understand why this key is even
needed.

The 'turnstyle' multimedia menu that opens when you press the key
(accidently or otherwise) does not add any extra functionality to the
phone, nor does it make getting to the core functions of the phone any
easier. If you need the gallery of photos that you have taken, there is a
dedicated key on the side of the phone next to the camera button that
makes much more sense. I think Nokia would do well to make the main menu
much more user friendly in the next generation of handsets than to tack on
the multimedia menu. If there was a setting that allowed me to turn off
the key so that I wasn’t pressing it by accident and leaving the
application I was already in I wouldn’t have such a problem with it. I
don’t know any symbian users who use this key.



SCREEN.

I am going to be honest here and call this screen a disappointment. It
isn’t a deal breaker, but there are some issues with it.

The QVGA resolution of 320 x 240 pixels is now pretty standard on most
phones. The resolution is alright, but is pretty low compared to some
Nokia phones that appeared long before this model (off the top of my head
N80, N90, E60, E70). I owned both the N90 and E60 before the N82 and there
is a huge difference in screen quality. The ‘old’ resolution of 352 x 416
pixels on a 2.1inch screen made for one sweet viewing experience. You
could not make out single pixels on those displays. These newer models
have larger screens (the N82 is 2.4inch) with a far lower pixel resolution
(and therefore density) allowing individual pixels to be seen and text is
not quite as clear. The situation is even worse with the N95 and N95 8GB
with even larger screens at this resolution, resulting in even lower pixel
density and physically larger pixels. Web browsing on QVGA is no longer as
easy as it was on my E60 as more scrolling is required and it isn’t as
clear.


The N82 screen is also pretty dull compared to most other screens
(including the N73 screen) even at full brightness. Now here is the weird thing. At startup, when the Nokia logo comes on, the screen is really bright. As soon as the operating system
loads the screen becomes dull. This is obviously a software related
restriction, possibly due to Nokia trying to make the battery life longer.
I would rather take the battery hit and get the full brightness. At least
we should be given the choice Nokia.

The screen really shines when viewing photos though, where the resolution
isn’t as pronounced. Viewing videos on the screen is not too bad either,
though not in the league of larger, dedicated PMPs (or my old iPod touch,
for that matter).

It is obvious from the Nokia ‘tube’ that has been leaked, that Nokia sees
the future of screens being larger, with a higher resolution, and touch
capable. This QVGA screen will be going the way of the dinosaur in less
than a year from higher end models (though the N96 is still pushing this
resolution, strangely). I hope it is the last ‘flagship’ from Nokia with
this screen resolution. I for one love the screen on the iPhone/iPod touch
and would love for Nokia to better its resolution in the coming models
(WVGA anyone?).


GPS.

This phone has an integrated GPS unit of very high quality. This was one
of the features I was looking forward to the most. Nokia are pushing their
own ‘Maps’ application but they want a subscription for voice navigation.
I honestly did not even try it out as I have used Garmin XT before and was
happy to install that (and it supports the integrated GPS too!). I also
installed the 2008 Australian maps that Garmin provide. It is a pretty
pricey application, but is wonderful for navigation.



The integrated GPS was a little slow at first (on older firmware) but the
20.0.062 firmware changed all that (at least for me). The assisted GPS
grabs a lock in only a few seconds from cold start up. I prefer not to use
it though, as it is pretty pricey with my service provider. Without
assisted GPS, the GPS takes from 10 seconds to a minute, depending on
interference, my location or satellite location (I am sure there are other
factors too).



I haven’t had a single issue with GarminXT, and honestly would recommend
it. Some other people might prefer just to use Nokia maps and pay for a
prescription. Or if GPS is really high on the list of requirements, Nokia
have a dedicated GPS phone with Route66 already installed (6110 Navigator)
that might suit other people better.




MUSIC PLAYER/QUALITY.

Getting music to the phone is just a simple case of drag and drop. I
create a playlist in iTunes, and drag the contents into the music folder
on my memory card. I like using iTunes for my music and because it uses a
special type of album art, it is not carried over to the N82. There are
other ways to get album art on, but really I am not fussed. Nokia probably
provides some software to get music on there, but I haven’t really needed
to even look at it.



The addition of the 3.5mm jack on the top of the phone is a really welcome
feature. Being able to use my Shure E4s with my phone without any adapters
is really fantastic. I had a problem with the phone resetting sometimes
when I plugged in my earphones on the old firmware but that problem is now
resolved. I would recommend anyone using this phone to update their
firmware to 20.0.062 (or whatever is the most recent at the time you use
Nokia Software Updater).


The music is pretty standard and includes filtering options for songs,
playlists, albums, genres and composers in your music collection. There is
also a podcast option in the music player but I honestly haven’t used it.
You can also search through all entries in each category (song or artist,
for example), which is pretty accurate and you are not limited to the
first letter.




Music quality is pretty subjective and depends on what headphones you are
using. First off, any headphones with high volume requirements (high
impedance) will not work well with the Nokia N82 as the output volume is
fairly low. My Shures will work at 10% volume on most mp3 players I have
used and sound loud enough, but my N82 has to be pushed to at least 40%
for adequate volume. I don’t have a problem with this obviously, but
others might find it a problem and it is worth mentioning.

The music quality is pretty awful with the supplied earphones, which lack
clarity and bass response. Plugging in my Shures improved things
considerably. Music quality is not terrific (the Nokia N91 is the best mp3
player I have ever heard) with sound slightly compressed and subtleties in
the instruments sometimes missed. Classical music is represented the
worst, with pop songs actually sounding pretty fantastic (though not as
good as my old iPod touch or Nokia N91). It is nice to have 8GB on my
phone though. I hear the Nokia N81 sounds as good as the old Nokia N91 and
would love to give it a listen sometime but for now, the N82 is a good
compromise for its other features.


CAMERA.

The camera is the main draw card for the Nokia N82 and it offers the best
image quality of any camera phone available today. It is pretty sweet to
have a camera this good in your phone, though dedicated cameras will
always offer better picture quality.

The phone features many adjustable settings in a side bar within the
camera application. The camera starts in about 3 seconds, which is
extremely fast for a phone and rivals some dedicated cameras. This means
you can whip it out and start shooting quickly, and are less likely to
miss a shot.

The following settings are available for the camera:
Scene modes, flash modes, self timer, sequence mode, colour tone, show
viewfinder grid, white balance, exposure compensation, sharpness,
contrast, and Iso settings for light sensitivity.



Video mode offers 640 x 480 VGA video recording with 30fps (though the
actual frames will dip below this number when recording). Scene mode,
white balance and colour tone are all offered settings for video
recording. Video quality is fluid, clear, and good enough for showing
through the TV out to a larger screen.

The Xenon flash can light up entire rooms with ease and is GREAT for
parties and other nighttime activities. The infrared sensor provides the
focusing in lower light, before the Xenon releases two bursts of light.

The first is lower in brightness and is for making the subject’s pupils
dilate (and therefore reducing red eye), while the second flash is the one used for the
actual photograph. As far as I know, no other phones flash can come
anywhere near the brightness that this one offers. It really is
incredible, and is miles ahead of the usual LED flash used in most camera
phones. The Xenon also offers a really realistic color tone to pictures,
and not the washed out blue look associated with LED flash.

Noise is present, and at full resolution pictures aren’t terribly
detailed, but they are leagues better than most camera phones can offer.
They are good enough for blogging and facebooking, and for small prints.

There is also a bit of a problem with red eyes, as the lens is physically
too close to the Xenon flash.




Outdoor shots are clean and offer great detail. The autofocus is pretty
accurate too.






The camera now offers geotagging with the latest firmware. This allows GPS
coordinates to be added to the photographs, so you know exactly where you
have taken the photos. I don’t really use this feature because it hits the
battery too much, but I can imagine it being quite useful.


PHONE RECEPTION/CALL QUALITY.

As is usual for most high end Nokia phones, reception proved to be
stellar. I get full 3G reception in most places where 3G is available, as
well as good reception on GSM networks where 3G is not available.

The phone keeps a decent signal in areas where some phones struggle, like
underground car parks. I tested this with a Nokia N80 and the N82 had
slightly better reception. Call quality is clear and sounds very natural.
I have asked a few people who I have called what I sounded like to them
and it was always very clear. No problems with reception or call quality
on this model.


BLUETOOTH.

The phone features Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, which makes connecting with
devices such as stereo Bluetooth headsets, normal Bluetooth headsets,
computers, and other phones a breeze. I connected the phone to my pc and
the connection was fast, about 100 kb/s. Connecting to a friend’s phone
(N73), so I could send them a photo I had taken, was similarly fast.
I tested a Nokia Bluetooth headset and there were no problems there
either.




BATTERY LIFE.

The Nokia N82 offers pretty average battery life. The main thing is that
heavy users should be able to get through a day before recharging. The
battery will last about 10hrs while playing music at 50% volume, a few
calls, and a few sms. Wifi and GPS hog the battery at an obscene rate and
if you use them a lot you will want to get a spare battery.


ACCELEROMETER.

A neat feature with high end Nokia models is the inclusion of an
accelerometer for detecting the position of the phone relative to the
ground.

The accelerometer on the N82 works to adjust the screen to landscape mode
when the phone is turned to landscape. While this is great in theory, it
is a little too sensitive and I sometimes find that it rotates the screen far too
easily. You have to give the phone a good shake sometimes to get the
proper orientation. You can always turn it off if you don’t like it
though.




PC SOFTWARE.

Nokia have a proprietary software suite for the N82 called Nokia PC Suite
which includes a pretty generous amount of features for installing
applications, backing up the phone, and syncing information with Microsoft
Outlook.

The software is pretty good, and I would recommend using it to make a
backup of the phone. I do not use its other features but it seems to be
pretty good.

It is probably worth mentioning for Mac users that Nokia have a plug-in
available for the N82 to use with iSync, which I found buggy with Mac OSX
Leopard when I tested it. It took a few connections, but it worked just
like one would expect eventually, syncing contacts and calendar events
with the Mac.

Nokia software update, or NSU, is a way of upgrading your phones firmware
from the comfort of your own home. Back in the day (roughly two years ago
or more), you had to take your phone to a Nokia Service Centre for a
firmware update. This way is much more convenient.

Updating the firmware is pretty nerve racking but the software makes it
all pretty straightforward. It downloads the software from a Nokia server
after detecting and identifying your phone. While installing, if anything
goes wrong it will brick your phone and you need to take it to a Nokia
Service Centre. I experienced this the hard way with my Nokia N73 a year
ago, due to a lousy connection with its pop port. Luckily, the microUSB
port on the phone is very sturdy and it is hard to lose the connection
without really pulling on the cable.

The USB connection is really slow though. Transferring anything between PC
and phone takes a magnitude longer through the cable than with a memory
card reader. I would definitely recommend using a card reader for
transferring large amounts of files, such as music and video, to the
phone.
I am not sure why Nokia have such a slow connection through USB.


SYMBIAN/ 3RD PARTY APPLICATIONS.

Being a Symbian user for many years, I am used to the operating system and
find it fairly easy. Someone who has never used Symbian before might find
the learning curve a little sleep. Many people that play with my phone
cannot even figure out how to get into the menu (n00bs :P). It isn’t the
most user friendly operating system, but you do get used to it and it is
good for installing 3rd party applications.



This phone is much faster than previous phones running the same operating
system. This is due in part to the massive amount of ram available to the
end user. Nokia have finally listened to those who were plagued with the
‘Out of memory. Please close some applications first’ message and doubled
the amount of ram. This means there is roughly 90mb of free ram after
booting the phone. It is basically impossible to use it all up. I
literally had all applications on my phone opened and there was still more
than 30mb or ram free.

The phone also has a very capable CPU running at 332MHz with 3D graphics
acceleration. This is one fast phone, and provides excellent gaming
performance in GLQuake for instance ((you can find out more about this
application at the wonderful symbian-freak.com ->
http://www.symbian-freak.com/news/008/02/quake_s60_open_gl_es.htm).



Installing applications is easy. You either install through Nokia PC suite
or place the .sis or .sisx files on to the memory card, and then open them
through the file manager on the phone.



There are a plethora of applications available on the internet for the
Symbian operating system (they have to be made for the S60 3rd edition,
older versions of Symbian are incompatible). Some I would recommend are
Handy Taskman, Y-browser, Weather, and for anyone interested in gaming on
the platform vBoy, vBag and the new Ngage platform.



The web application for browsing over a network connection or over WIFI is
pretty capable, but limited by the resolution of the screen. It is
probably second only to the very impressive safari browser in the
iPhone/iPod touch. The Nokia browser now has flash lite support too, for
webpage’s that use flash.

Contacts, messaging, and phone functions are all extremely capable and
feature all the features anyone would need.






The clock functionality has been improved since previous versions of the
operating system and finally multiple alarms can be set.



The gallery for viewing music and video is nice and supports widescreen
orientation.



The calendar offers day, week, and month views and is more than capable of
managing a busy schedule.




CONCLUSION.

The Nokia N82 is a feature-rich phone marred by a few hardware issues. To
me, the excellent camera with its Xenon flash, and the GPS, make up for
the inadequacies of the design of the phone. I would probably recommend
you have a play with the phone before you buy it though, in case you find
it too uncomfortable to use.

I was planning on the review being brief but there was so much to write
about. Anyone care to comment on the phone? I am interested in some other
opinions.

Sam