Introducing the Nokia n8

Do you ever have this feeling?

There is a goal or item you wanted for a long time and you actually thought about it almost everyday. But you do know that in reality, you cannot have it. Not in the near future anyway. And you do not want to have it later as it will no longer be as precious as it would be. Then one day, maybe out of carelessness or, fate intervened, you got what you wanted. But at a price. Or sometimes, with no strings attached. Deep inside, you feel you deserved it but actually, you feel kind of guilty for getting it 'too early'. And so, you forced yourself to accept it and be happy and also, tell everyone a nice story on how you, as a innocent party or humble self, got it.

You know that feeling don't you?

Its the same as being Number one after cheating in an exam. OK, that was harsh. How about this one: You accidentally ate your best friend's KFC but luckily for you, she never show up for the gathering because she had to carry her younger sister to the Hospital, running on barefoot. And yet she paid for her share while you did not.

And that is how I felt, partly because it was also my own fault. My Nokia 5800 broke down on Monday while I was at a customer's place and because of that, I could not make any calls nor do anything else with it except to switch it off. The day before, my Wife has already given me her blessing to get a new phone because the screen was so bad, I had problems retrieving incoming calls. But I disagreed with her because facing the hard facts of truth, the money can be better used somewhere else.

So, in the end, I had to get a new phone anyway. So, I took my 5800 to be repaired while I waited for the n8 to arrive. And while I waited for the n8 to arrive, I had my 5800 repaired. The 5800 being repaired while the n8 is on the way....

Hang on. Hey, wait a minute.... I could just have the 5800 repaired and stop right there! Duh!

But actually, there is nothing they could do except to repair the touch sensors since the LCD is the main problem. So, the n8 is still on the way. In the meantime, they were kind enough to lend me one of their phones so I can still do my job. I tried to stop myself from buying because I know that the n8 released in Malaysia only has three colours out of the original 5; silver, black and green. The one I wanted, which is blue or orange, was not available.

Hah! That's it! I can go in the store, ask them for the blue n8 and they will say, there are none for Malaysia and I can go away happy. Alas, Malaysia now has blue and orange Nokia n8s....

By evening, the n8 arrived and try as they might, they could not transfer the crucial files from my now 80% repaired 5800. So, after more than an hour of trying, I decided to try it myself. At home.

And so, this is the box for the n8. Compared to
the 5800, this box is very very thin.

Oh, and I got a free casing from them. But on second
thoughts, I should have gotten the clear plastic instead
of this smoked black. It made the n8 looked very dirty.

And there is nothing much inside there apart from the
phone itself. Just some anorexic booklets, some cables,
a funky charger and a pair of headphones which I have
no intention of trying. Yes, you read me right. No DVD.

First thing first. Let's have a look at the Nokia n8. Its slightly thinner than the 5800 but because of the design, it looked much thinner. OK, the usual ports are: [1] microSD memory card slot (yes, no free memory card). [2] Slot for your still working GSM SIM card. [3] White LED light which comes on during charging so you know that the phone is being charge or that your charger is working. [4] USB port. [5] Zitron security sticker to prevent you from breaking it and accessing the screw beneath.

Unlike the 5800, where the covers open like
barn doors, if you need to open the cover
for the SIM card, you have to open the one
for the microSD card first.

Here is a closer look at the USB port. Again, this is a new
design which means, if you lose the Nokia cable, you have
to buy it from Nokia and not a normal computer shop.
Or eBay. Really.

The view on the the other side of the phone: [1] Another screw. Bear in mind, these screws are not your ordinary ones so you need to buy those spesial screwdrivers. [2] Camera button. [3] Screen lock sliding button [4] Volume buttons. These are the normal buttons which is similar to the Nokia 5800.

Now, at this moment, the Nokai n8 is the King of Mobile Phones where cameras are concerned. It has a real 12MP camera complete with auto-focus and a Xenon flash. Yep. A XENON flash and not those wimpy Pasar Road White LEDs. Just in case you missed the detail, Nokia has subtly printed the words, "Carl Zeiss", Tessar 2.8/28" and "12MP AF". And in case you are wondering, the little thin slot there is actually the speaker which is very LOUD. Do not try to stick those little transparent plastic tabs into it like what you would do with Made in China electronics toys.

And finally, with the SIM card and the extra microSD cards inserted. Its time to cover it up and there you are, folks. The Nokia n8. Blue.

Oh, and also, see the little square at the bottom right? The hole is for you to insert some cheesy toy strap or a security chain which goes to your pocket.

All done, right? No. Not by a long shot. First thing first is to update the phone's firmware and other software over WiFi.

And next, is to transfer all my Phonebook contacts, SMS messages, etc from the Nokia 5800 to the new Nokia n8. Which is not a problem. As soon as I can figure out how to do it instead of using pen & paper. I mean, with over 1,000 contacts full of addresses and numbers, it will take me a very long time. Then I discover the 'Phone Switch' program in the 5800 which lets you transfer data to the n8 via bluetooth. But you have to transfer one category at a time and not all at once, which is why the girl in the shop failed. By close to midnight, I got the n8 almost working. Without the DVD like the 5800, I just installed everything from the OVI Store. Which is a very good idea.

The Nokia n8 comes in five different colours. If Vee-chai came in orange, I would have take the orange one. Heh. But unlike the 5800 where each phone colour has their own theme (this is built into the phone and you cannot do anything about it), you can manually select any of the five colours instead.

Apart from the Phones internal 16GB memory, you can add a microSd card in there, up to 32Gb, that is. But I am more concerned about the Phone Memory which is about 176Mb. Just like the 5800, the number will go down until it becomes a very uncomfortable single digit. For the 5800, I would just reset the phone and restore the data. Here, I am not so sure.

Had to remove the 8TV, TV3 and other widgets because it keeps accessing through my 3G. Let's have a look at my phone bill next two months and then I'll decide.

How does the Nokia n8 fare? Stay tuned for the next part.