Nokia N8 multimedia beast

Nokia N8 (2010 model) is multimedia beast which can be compared with newest multimedia devices as devices for listening the music, radio, devices for taking photos and videos, devices to connect with TV, monitors, big screens and other displays.

1. N8 as compact camera
Year 2013 brought mobile phone models which can be compared by the quality with Nokia N8 (Sony Z1, Samsung S4 zoom). Take Nokia everywhere and make high resolution photos and HD videos.

2. N8 as TV Box
Year 2013 brought TV boxes with android which can be used to play videos, slideshow or play games on TV with HDMI port using wireless keyboard and mouse. N8 was able to do that long time ago, you can use bluetooth mouse and keyboard (some models) or simply microUSB-to-USB (OTG) cable and plug regular USB keyboard or mouse, connect to newer TVs with HDMI or older TVs with A/V cable and enjoy multimedia experiance.

3. Video and audio formats
You can enjoy various audio and video formats on your N8. Even you can play divx/xvid in default program with full support for subtitles (with Belle OS). Use your N8 as portable dvd player :) great and smooth, knowing that android devices can do that but you need at least 1ght + processor, good graphics, hardware encoding and some third party software to play it.

4. Memory is big and upgradeable.
In N8's internal memory of 16gbs and additional memory card up to 32gbs you can store up to:
- 1000 songs (max.quality 8mb mp3 = 8gb)
- 1000 pics (max. quality modded 4mb jpeg = 4gb)
- 100 videos (30fps modded 100mb each = 10gb)
- 20 movies (divx / xvid format = 20gb)
total: 42gb (remaining 6gbs)

5. Listen FM radio or transmit music trough radio
Listening FM radio is old function present in almost all mobile devices. But listening music from the phone on the radio is great option (not supported in several ROMs because of law regulations).

Year 2014 to come. The best cameraphone is model from 2010 or 2012? You decide...

I would try to rank most used options in mobile cameras between this mobile camera giants  Nokia N8 2010 model and Nokia 808 PureView 2012 model.

Picture quality: (1-10)                            
Resolution (details)  N8:8 N808:10 (*maybe is more realistic to give less points to N8 but N8 has unofficial mods for camera with jpeg quality of 97% even 100% giving better quality, less compression and bigger file size)
Noise N8:7 N808:9
Dynamic range/contrast N8:8 N808:10
Color reproduction N8:10 N808:7
Cant save photos in smaller resolution (12mpix) or file size (<5mb) without losing quality, PV mode isnt good enough as full resolution*: N808 -2pts
*photos become soft, too blurry, cant compare to photos of N8
Software related to camera (1-5)
UI: N8:3 N808:4
Users friendly: N8:4 N808:3
Builtin photo editor: N8:4 N808:3 (you can add filters to selected image parts and you could do nice effects)

DRAW RESULT: N8 44 vs N808 44  You decide what is the most important for you in the terms of picture quality. I prefer natural colors and dynamic range rather than details. 

This is N8's photo. 12mpix 4:3

This is N808's photo. 33mpix 16:9

N8 vs compact digital cameras

N8 with its 1/83" sensor size, 12 mpx resolution, two-way shutter key, autofocus, HD video mode is still competitive with most of compact digital cameras, even from top manufacturers as Canon and Nikon. 

(Nokia N8, Delight Rom v6.3, HyperX camera mod with 97% jpeg quality, file size 5.33mb, exposure 1/233s., ISO-100)

Looking at the photo samples of compacts all over the net i am more than suprised with the quality of N8's photos. I've found, now old, Canon SX110IS photos are closest in the therms of details and color reproduction (optical zoom,normally, excluded). Fuji S2940 has artifacts similar to Xperia T or Xperia S, which are seen when we zoom or crop photos. It's resolution of 14 mpix simply could not follow sensor of 1/2.3". Optical zoom is fantastic, same as macro photos, but personally i think we only have need those time to time but not everyday.

How to compare: use this photo above, or take similar photo of some town or city because of variety of colors, different surfaces and shadows, use similar relation between landscape and sky to check if there are normal dynamic range or to check if photo overexposed in some parts.

Search google for this therms:
<name of digital compact camera> sample photo city or
<name of digital compact camera> picture samples landscape
or something like that
Download photo where weather conditions are similar to those on your photo.
Also it is important to download photo with the same or nearly the same resolution as your photo.

Use some photo editor as IrfanView, AcdSee. Crop your photo, for example some area of 500 x 500 px or 300 x 300 px. Leave the window (program) open.
Do it all the same with downloaded photo. Leave also the window open.
Change multiple time windows to check if there are similarities and differences and where exactly. 

And now, focus on camera

Years have passed since battle in this area, area of mobile phone cameras between Sony's Cyber-shot, Nokia's Carl Zeiss optics and Samsung's Pixon.

Then, Android came. Suddenly, everyone forgot about this very important function of mobile phone and interest moved in other direction. Nokia has played the game a little more, until crash. Other players remained on the bench. 

Serious mobile phone photographers igrnored megapixel race. Putting unnecessary high resolution of 8 or 13 mpix to a small sensor size 1/3" led to great expectations and big disappointments.  

 

(HTC One X 8mpix cropped, left - Sony Xperia S 12mpix cropped, right)

Resizing to 5 mpix only makes sense. There are lot of artifacts, noise there. Sensor size could not handle passing too much light and making high resolution photos is absolutely unnecessary.

Year 2013 brought fresh players on the court.  

Manufacturers have finally started thinking in the right direction. Sony Z1 brings bigger sensor size and resolution, Galaxy Zoom brings first optical zoom. Good and noticed effort from Apple's 5S and HTC One.

Let the battle begin!

Galaxy S4 Zoom. Heawyweight

Heavyweighter in both ways, Samsung came with decent camera w. optical zoom and sure it is in top league shooters, but unfortunately its weight exceed famous limit of 170 gr which must not be crossed if we going to put that phone in pocket and still be unnoticeable, considering that lot of compact digital cameras from top companies Canon or Nikon have less weight than S4 Zoom. 

Couple of reviews show photos of S4 Zoom to be too post-processed as photos from S3 or S4. Colors are vivid, pleasant but not natural, borders of objects are emphasized by software and photos looks very nice if you going to make usual "family size" photos for 15 cm x 10 cm frame. Try to crop or zoom more than 200% and you will see the stuff i have mentioned before.

Is there a good reason to buy? If you search for OS with unlimited possibilities and you need an optical zoom. Then yes. 

Sony Z1. Finally, decent camera from so called "camera brand"

So many times, disappointed, from this brand in the therms of camera quality. I have used many models (Xperia Arc, Arc S, S, T,...) reading articles about superb camera but everytime the same story. Lots of artifacts, overexposed, bad color reproduction, even on newer models with camera of 13mpix.  Lens size was unchanged and i dont see any point except marketing one, putting higher of 5mpix resolution with some senzor of 1/3.2" size.

Sony Z1 finally brings bigger sensor size in the same, slim housing, which is great improvement.

                                       camera quality *       phone thickness and weight       total

Nokia N8                                 8                              8 13mm 135gr                        16 

Nokia 808 Pureview             10                             6 14mm 169gr                        16

Lumia 1020                             9                             9  11mm 158gr                        18 

Sony Z1                                   8                              9    8mm  170gr                       17 

* sensor size, UI, HDR, quality of photos, etc.

From this point of view Sony is in second place after Nokia (Microsoft) Lumia 1020

Amateur photographers, seriously consider this model!

Year 2013: Nokia N8 still the best. Why?

What is stopping me to make a transition to Android OS or Windows? Because i have everything i need in this phone... It is one of the most completed phones ever.

Any android phone including most of the 2013 models has not (not even close) all of the functions required by demanding users. N8 has.

1. Great and persistant aluminum housing that will last longer than every iPhone or Android phone on the market. Android phone usually made of plastic, polycarbonate, glass. N8 may have straches but interior, even with large drops, stays untouched. 

2. Small size (in 2010 medium size) 3,5" AMOLED screen has great sunlight legibility. One of the best. Sure, can be compared to newest Android models. Resolution isnt great but acceptable for this screen size. Nokia 808 on the other hand had to be improved. For 4" screen size resolution of 360x640 is, can be said, thinly. Screen is much more responsible than previous Nokia models.

3. 680 mhz processor done an excellent job in practice. No lags between processes. With custom Delight v.6.3 ROM (BELLE OS), you will forget to ask about the processor speed.  It is flawless in the transitions between home screens, menus etc.  

4. Android has great market with lot of free applications but almost everything you need Symbian Belle already has. With couple of additional $ you can buy rest of. Looks funny, operating system Belle Refresh OS not far behind Android. Think about that. You have more than one home/today screen, you have lots of widgets, with different size. Belle OS has Divx/Xvid player with support of subtitles, great music player, FM radio, N8 also has FM transmitter, thats great stuff, gallery is not perfect but you have great and cheep PhotoBook program on Nokia's shop, also builtin gallery has great editor but there are plenty of other good photo editors. SpbTV is good for live tv streaming. For business users i reccomend using widgets like calendar (QooCalendar recommended for 1$), weather (builtin or QooWeather), rss reader (QooRss), favourite contacts and couple of shortcuts and maybe email widget with list of read/unread emails. Very handy. N8 has three or four good office editors and viewers, QuickOffice is very good one.

5. World's top 1 camera. Great optics produce outstanding photos for one pocket size mobile phone. Carl Zeiss 12mpix 4000x3000 and HD video, Xenon flash etc. Photos are natural looking, as i say "what you see is what you get", shutter speed is great and there is shutter key.

6. Beside fantastic optics and very big 1/1.83" lens, this mobile has compact size and fits in every pocket.

7. Audio quality is great, both speakerphone and loudspeaker are loud and clear. Great improvement from previous models as N97 for example.

8. There are free map application with great maps and GPS works perfectly. You can download maps for free for almost all of the coutries in the world. GPS application works very fast, stable and you have 3D and satellite view, too. Even famous buildings, monuments etc. covered. Absolutely great!

9. HDMI port. You will be able to watch movies or other stuff from your phone on the TV.  Supported resolution is HD, not only basic one. 

10. Design, ok it is subjective relation to something. I like business look, classic models. Anyway, you have to admit there are no differences between design of android models except Sony and Oppo stand out a little bit. Nokia designers paid attention to design of all three models announced in that time, N8, E7 and X7. N8 feels great in your hands, there are also lot of keys, for volume, lock and two way shutter from the side. There are curves on the aluminum body and colors of housing are great, too. Personally, i like dark colors for example dark grey.

11. Built in memory of 16GB and additional slot for extra microSD card gives you space to save your work with no need to sync your photos every day.

Advantages of N8 in regard of other phone models and OSes                   Nokia---BB---Android mid range---Android top class---iPhone---Windows
Size            +            +                ~                                 ~                         +            - (usual heavy big size)
Screen       +            ~(usual.small)  ~(bad sunl.legib)            ++                      ++               +
Apps          ~             -                ++                                ++                       ++              +
Camera     ++           ~                 -                                   ~ to +                  +                +
Sound        ++           ++               +                                  +  to ++               +               ~ to +   
GPS           ++           ~                ~ to +                         ~ to +                   ~              ~ to +
Speed        +             ++                +                                  ++                      ++                ++

+ great ~overall ++the best -not so good 0-N/A

Advantages/disadvantages in regard to 808 PV
(more points for camera functions, less points for other functions)

MARKS 1-5 (Camera) 1-3 (Other)
                                                   N8        808                N8     808 Camera details (resolution)                    +                   4        5
Colors reproduced                    +                                  5        4
Absorbing light/scenery/exsposure/noise*        +                  4         5
Close-up (macro)                      +                                  3        4

Depth of field                                             +                  3        5
Viewfinder                                                  +                  2        3
Possibility of HDR                                    +                   1         2
Night shoots (flash)                                                         5        5 
Camera updates (unofficial mods/quality im + provements)                           1         0  


Size                                             +                                  3        1
Weight                                         +                                  3       1
Build quality                                 +                                  3        1


n8 28+9=37 808 33 + 3=36

5 reasons to use N8 instead of digital camera

1. No doubt that the quality of photos can't leave you indifferent. Even, photos are so good that many comparisions between N8 and digital cameras give advantage to mobile phone. For example: http://www.fonearena.com/blog/24096/nokia-n8-vs-canon-ixus-130-camera-comparison.html or even DSLR at this post http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/12165_Nokia_N8_vs_a_Canon_DSLR.php

2. Size matters. Nokia N8 is 113.5 x 59.1 x 12.9 mm and 135g and fit into every pocket (jeans, jacket, shorts). Those digital cameras with compact size with same ability to put it in your pocket, rarely have good optics. Those with good optics you must keep in some kind of backpack.

3. Time to shoot. On purpose i've not indicated the shutter speed but time to shoot. Why? N8 has great shutter speed and hardware shutter button but many of compact digital cameras and all DSLRs are faster shooters. But if you want to catch unforgettable moments in a sec it is easier to pull your N8 from your pocket, point and shoot instead of pulling camera from some bag, turning it on etc. Time to shoot between unprepared devices are: N8 (2,5 sec), compact digital camera (5 sec), DSLR camera (more than 10 sec).

4. Digital viewfinder/screen is big (3,5"), and it is in front of lens. With digital cameras viewfinders are usually smaller and placed little bit lower of lens which force you to use normal viewfinder.

5. Memory size is great. Built in memory is 16 gigabytes and you can add memory card up to 32gb which is 48 gbs in total. Lot more than any compact digital camera.

Will Lumia 1020 impress?

Years after introducing photographers mobile phone gadgets as Nokia N86, N8 and 808 pureview, at the same time when Nokia announced that is official over with symbianOS support the next year, Nokia (read: Microsoft) launched Lumia 1020 equipped with similar camera as Nokia 808 pureview which held the throne.

Smaller senzor size (1/1.5"), same photo resolution (38mpix 4:3, 33mpix 16:9), great output judging from the photos from Flickr(R) etc. with all other functions (big screen, big screen resolution, social network integration...), i might say THIS COLUD BE IT!

N8 still the best

Today i've tested oldtimer Nokia N8 again and again. 

*Nokia N8, Carl Zeiss tessar 2.8/28mm, 1/1.83" lens, 12 megapixels resolution 4000x3000 (4:3)*

The reason why i back to the old school is because in the year 2013 i still didn't find appropriate substitution for Nokia's great camera. 

Price of Nokia N8 is about 100eu on black market (oct.2013)

Dimensions of N8 are 113.5 x 59.1 x 12.9 mm with 135gr. weight.

Great deal, if you consider small pocket size of this device with capabilities to shoot great photos comparable with most of compact camera devices and even with some DSLR cameras.