Nokia N82 review

[Guest Thumper Net]

Having been a windows mobile user scince the original spv things have now changed , mainly due to the lack of new models of windows mobile devices , yes there has been new models but with the same operating system , these phones are not cheap and only to upgrade to a newer look is not worth the money or signing up to a new contract.

So i decided to jump ship to the symbian software phones also to have a fresh operating system to play with .

The first phone i got was the nokia 6120 classic , this is a small hspda phone full of features but this suffered on build quality and a very poor camera , a 2mp camera with photos worse than the htc phones , adding to that the poor quality of the phones joy pad which is silver and chipped within a week of use , it was a shame as the phone itself was a nice small power packed device which suffered also from the same problem as the nokia n95 a one day life on the battery , so having had that one for 2 weeks i decided to go for my second nokia the N82 and the following is a review of the phone .

The N82 is a phone that has all the features of the N95 but in candy bar form , a bit wierd looking but it has a full spec that should be included in modern windows mobile phones which it sadly is not.

The specs for the device are the following .....

Operating Frequency

• WCDMA2100 (HSDPA), EGSM900, GSM850/1800/1900 MHz (EGPRS)

• Automatic switching between bands and modes

Dimensions

• Volume: 90 cc

• Weight: 114 g

• Length: 112 mm

• Width: 50.2 mm

• Thickness (max): 17.3 mm

Memory Functions

• Up to 100MB internal dynamic memory* for messages, ringing tones, images, video clips, calendar notes, to-do list and applications

• Hot swappable microSD memory card slot

*Dynamic memory means that the available memory is shared between dynamic memory functions. When any of these functions is used, there is less available memory for other functions which are also dependent on dynamic memory.

Power Management

• Battery: Nokia Battery (BP-6MT) 1050mAH

• Talk time: up to 190 minutes (WCDMA),up to 260 minutes (GSM)

• Stand-by time: up to 210 hours(WDCMA),up to 225 hours (GSM)

• Still images: up to 290 pictures (with flash)

• Video capture: up to 110 minutes (VGA, 30fps)

• Video call: up to 120 minutes

• Video playback time: up to 200 minutes (VGA, 30 fps)

• Music playback time: up to 10 hours(offline mode)

*Operation times may vary depending on radio access technology used, operator network configuration and usage.

Display

• 2.4" LCD QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) TFT color display with up to 16.7 million colours

User Interface

• S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1

• Automatic screen rotation

Call Management

• Logs: keeps lists of your dialed, received, and missed calls

• Voice dialing (with Speaker independent name dialing (SIND)) and voice commands

• Nokia Push to talk (PoC)

Messaging

• E-mail (SMTP, IMAP4, POP3), MMS, SMS

Data Transfer*

• WCDMA HSDPA 2100 MHz with simultaneous voice and packet data (PS max speed DL/UL= 3.6Mbps/384kbps, CS max speed 64kbps)

• Dual Transfer Mode (DTM) support for simultaneous voice and packet data connection in GSM/EDGE networks. Simple class A, multi slot class 11, max speed DL/UL: 177.6/118.4 kbits/s

• EGPRS class B, multi slot class 32, max speed DL/UL= 296 / 177.6 kbits/s

• GPRS class B, multi slot class 32, max speed DL/UL= 107 / 64.2 kbits/s

*Actual achieved speeds may vary depending on network support.

Imaging

Imaging and video

• Up to 5 megapixel (2592 x 1944 pixels) camera, Carl Zeiss Optics: Tessar™ lens, MPEG-4 VGA video capture of up to 30 fps

• Direct connection to compatible TV via TV-out or wireless LAN/UPnP

• Front camera, CIF (352 x 288 pixels) sensor for video telephony

• Video call and video sharing support (WCDMA network services)

• Integrated xenon flash

• Slideshow from gallery

• One-click upload of photos & videos to web

• Nokia XpressPrint: direct printing via USB(PictBridge), Bluetooth connectivity (BPP), and WLAN (UPnP) or via online printing

Mobile Video

• Video resolutions: up to VGA (640 x 480 pixels) at 30 fps

• Recording indicator

• Audio recording: AAC (AMR for MMS)

• Digital video stabilisation

• Video file format .mp4 (default), .3gp (for MMS)

• White balance, scene and colour tone setting

• Zoom: Digital up to 10x (VGA up to 4x)

• Front camera: CIF (352 x 288 pixels) sensor for video telephony

• On-device video editing

Mobile Photography

• Image resolution: up to 5 megapixels (2592 x 1944 pixels)

• Auto focus

• Amber coloured auto focus assist light and recording indicator

• Still image file format: JPEG/EXIF

• Auto exposure - center weighted

• Exposure compensation: +2 ~ -2EV at 0.5 step

• White balance: automatic, sunny, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent

• Scene: automatic, user, close-up, portrait, landscape, sports, night, night portrait

• Colour tone: normal, sepia, black & white, negative, vivid

• Zoom: digital up to 20x (5 megapixel up to 6x)

• Xenon flash

• On-device photo editing

Camera Specifications

• Sensor: CMOS, 5 megapixel (2592 x 1944)

• Carl Zeiss Optics: Tessar™ lens

• F number/Aperture: F2.8

• Focal length 5.6 mm

• Focus range 10 cm ~ infinity

• Macro focus distance 10-50 cm

Music

Music Features

• Digital music player - supports MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA/M4A with playlists

• OMA DRM 2.0/1.0 & WMDRM support for music

• Integrated stereo hands-free speaker

• Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz) with Visual Radio support

• Nokia Stereo Headset HS-43 in-box

• Bluetooth wireless technology 2.0 with A2DP Stereo audio

Video

Video Features

• Video player - supports MPEG4, AVC/H.264, H.264, H.263, RV

• OMA DRM 2.0/1.0 & WMDRM support for video

• Resolution: MPEG4 VGA @ up to 30 fps scaled to QVGA on device or VGA in TV-out mode

• Transfer your videos from compatible PC: Windows Media Player, USB mass-storage file transfer or Nokia Nseries PC Suite using full-speed USB 2.0 connectivity

Video Center

• Pre-configured video services and dynamic expansion with new services

• Video podcasting: find, subscribe, download, view with mobile device

RealPlayer media player

• Full-screen video playback to view downloaded, streamed or recorded video clips

• Supported video formats: MPEG-4, H.264/AVC, H.263/3GPP, RealVideo 8/9/10

Navigation

• Integrated Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS)

• Pre-installed Nokia Maps application and free downloadable maps*

* The service is available free of charge, although any data transferred over the network will incur charges from your network operator. To check the availability and cost of the service, contact your network operator or service provider.

E-mail

• Easy-to-use e-mail client with attachment support for images, videos, music and documents

• Compatible with Nokia Wireless Keyboard SU-8W (sold separately)

Browsing

• Full web browser support (HTML)

Digital home

• Play video, music and photos on home media network - compatible TV, stereo and PC over WLAN/UPnP

Other Applications

• Personal Information Management (PIM)

• Advanced S60 PIM features including calendar, contacts, to-do list and PIM printing

• Settings Wizard for easy configuration of e-mail, push to talk and video sharing

• Data transfer application for transfer of PIM information from other compatible Nokia devices.

• WLAN wizard

Connectivity

• Integrated wireless LAN (802.11 b/g) and UPnP (Universal Plug and Play)

• Bluetooth wireless technology with A2DP stereo audio

• USB 2.0 via Micro USB interface and mass storage class support to support drag and drop functionality

• 3.5 mm stereo headphone plug(Nokia AV Connector)and TV out support (PAL/NTSC)

• Nokia Nseries PC Suite connectivity with USB, and Bluetooth wireless technology

• Local synchronisation of contacts and calendar to a compatible PC using compatible connection

• Remote over-the-air synchronisation

• Send and receive images, video clips, graphics, and business cards via Bluetooth wireless technology

When you buy the phone you get the following in the box

• Nokia N82

• Nokia Battery BP-6MT

• Nokia Travel Charger AC-5

• Nokia Music Headset HS-43

• Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-101

• Nokia Video Connectivity Cable CA-75U

• Nokia 2GB microSD Card MU-37**

conclusions ( so far )

The built in gps works perfectly and gets the signal within seconds , the phone comes with nokia maps included with a free 3 month trial , but i found the application not as handy as tomtom or route 66 to use .

With the latest route 66 version 8 which now has support for built in gps phones as well as the older phones that require the loose gps unit . version 8 is as quick to pick up the gps as any other software the built in gps finds the satellites quicker than the bluetooth version from tomtom which is also an added bonus .

The phone comes with a 5mp camera with a real flash and photos are crisp and sharp , even taking a photo in the dark gives you a clear and sharp image something htc need to work on .

The phone comes with the latest symbian software which includes a video centre which contains apart from your own videos also utube and internet videos which can be updated to include more services.

The music map comes with a music player and the nokia podcasting application , which sadly cannot find the modaco podcast mainly due to the podcast not being available on all the services as all the other podcasters are on , hopfully paul will update this and make the podcast available to all and not a selected few. There is also a nokia music store as well which is simular to itunes but nokia owned , at the moment the music store is not available in all the countrys but the uk version is live and offers downloads and even free tracks as well.

The device also has a nice screen flipping extra , when the phone is turn on its side the screen switches to that which gives a wide screen vision .

The phone comes with 3g and hspda as well as wifi so you are covered on all your internet needs.

With stereo speakers it makes watching a film or video enjoyable as well.

The most important thing is battery life with heavy use i have managed to get 3 days on a single charge , by using the phone for phone calls and checking emails and surfing the net for 30 minutes i have managed to get 5 days on a single charge this increases to 8 days if the 3g mode is switched off and only the gsm is used.

So far iam impressed with the preformance of the phone its fast and has a great camera and a good battery life with support for a mico sd to 8gb as well , it features all the requirements i require and as yet there is no windows mobile phone that tops it , when that comes i will most probably jump back on the windows mobile , but htc have along way to go to catch up.

[Guest frankquattrone]

Hi, I am thinking of jumping from WM to the N82. The big thing for me for WM is the ability to sync my Outlook calendar correctly. I use it to keep track of my meetings and need it to be 100% reliable. I had a SE K790 a couple of years ago and had to get rid of it because it wouldn't sync recurring meetings correctly. Specifically, if you changed just one instance of a recurring meeting and not the whole series, that wouldn't show up correctly. I don't really know anything about Symbian or S60 so I don't know if the N82 will have a similar problem. Have you tried this with the N82? The N82 has everything I want, especially the camera but the calendar thing is a deal breaker for me. Hopefully this isn't a problem. Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

[Guest shadamehr]

Hi, I am thinking of jumping from WM to the N82. The big thing for me for WM is the ability to sync my Outlook calendar correctly. I use it to keep track of my meetings and need it to be 100% reliable. I had a SE K790 a couple of years ago and had to get rid of it because it wouldn't sync recurring meetings correctly. Specifically, if you changed just one instance of a recurring meeting and not the whole series, that wouldn't show up correctly. I don't really know anything about Symbian or S60 so I don't know if the N82 will have a similar problem. Have you tried this with the N82? The N82 has everything I want, especially the camera but the calendar thing is a deal breaker for me. Hopefully this isn't a problem. Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

Symbian (Series 60) Nokias such as this CAN receive recurring logical repeats, along with standard dated repeats.

Logical repeats are those type of meeting that occur not a certain numbered day of the month, such as the 20th of every month, but rather, those that occur to a logical patter: The third Thursday of every month for a board meeting, for example, or the second Tuesday of each month for a Staffing Meeting.

These can indeed be synced over to the N82 from Outlook, IF CREATED ON THE PC.

But there is STILL not a facility to create these on the phone itself using the inbuilt Calendar Application.

Third party Organiser tools CAN however allow you to create them on the phone.

Series 40 Nokias however, standard basic Nokias that is, cannot handle these type of repeats synced over at all and still drop them.

This is probably the only area Nokia lags behind, and have done for at least four years of me complaining to them about this, but no desire for them to change it it seems.

[Guest xerxes]

Hi, I am thinking of jumping from WM to the N82. The big thing for me for WM is the ability to sync my Outlook calendar correctly. I use it to keep track of my meetings and need it to be 100% reliable. I had a SE K790 a couple of years ago and had to get rid of it because it wouldn't sync recurring meetings correctly. Specifically, if you changed just one instance of a recurring meeting and not the whole series, that wouldn't show up correctly. I don't really know anything about Symbian or S60 so I don't know if the N82 will have a similar problem. Have you tried this with the N82? The N82 has everything I want, especially the camera but the calendar thing is a deal breaker for me. Hopefully this isn't a problem. Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

I moved from Windows Mobile to S60 (N73 then N95) about 2 years ago. I have never had a problem with syncing via PC Suite. All the info gets synced correctly and I am a VERY heavy PIM user (agenda, contacts, notes and tasks).

I would say the built in PIM functions on S60 are roughly equivalent to those on WM Smartphone, but not as fully functional as those on WM PPC. If you want more agenda functionality take a look at Handy Calendar from Epocware. It's very similar to Papyrus on WM Smartphone.

I would say S60 is not quite as strong as WM Smartphone in terms of PIM functions but it is miles ahead when it comes to actual phone use. Signal strength, voice quality, Bluetooth, voice recognition, and texting (particularly in T9) are all much better with the Nokias than with any WM phone I have used (and I have tried out 6 or 7).

[Guest Thumper Net]

i have set up my email account on my N82 and it works well , even windows live email comes in ok as well , the email app on the standard windows mobile is better but there are also other apps that work as well as that for the symbain phones , i never thought i would leave windows mobile for a nokia but it was a move that i dont regret , the camera takes photos better than some 10mp cameras and with an 8gb support for micro sd cards thats also a bonus , with the built in video center you can play movies in full screen , divx on coreplayer , and the good battery life seems to be a winner , now also in black which looks very cool as well, windows mobile has to really push something original and not just minor changes to tempt me back :D

[Guest frankquattrone]

Hey guys, thanks for the info. I'm really waiting for the black one to come out and almost ready to make the plunge. I love the camera and realized the only thing I really used from WM Smartphone was the calendar syncing. Do you guys have experience with these specific types of meetings? First is the recurring meeting (say every Wed) but a specific occurrence is changed (like this week's meeting changed from Wed to Thurs). This was what my K790 couldn't handle. Second is a meeting invite sent from someone in another time zone. I have quite a few conference calls with colleagues around the world so this would be important. I didn't actually try this on my K790 but thought Symbian might have trouble with the different time zones. I guess the only other thing I'd miss from WM is the dialler. I can't believe no one else has copied this. NOthing easier than just tapping the numbers and the dialer showing you all possible letter combinations for each number and the matches your contacts. Thanks!

[Guest Thumper Net]

When you set up your device it downloads to the phone all the data from outlook , phone numbers tasks and calender is done so really all , if you change or add a date the following sync will add it or delete it should that be the case. the black version is available from nokia.com , by operators you could be waiting until afeter the summer according to other forums. as for the dailer if i type in a h all the h names apear simular to win mo , the high ended nokias symbian s60v3 does have all you miss only thing you miss is the windows mobile boot up logo , but you can replace the nokia with one should you miss it :D

[Guest Confucious]

Do the Nokias do Exchange Push email? How is the web browsing?

[Guest shadamehr]

Do the Nokias do Exchange Push email? How is the web browsing?

Web browsing is arguably better than ANY device bar the iPhone due to the excellent in built Safari based browser. Mail for Exchange is available for Symbian Nokias, though I have never used it to know what it is about.

BUT...

Despite my high post count here, that is from days of old alas... Because as many of you might know, I gave up on Windows Mobile devices to move back to the dark side long ago. And I have sworn by Symbian religiously since then.

Curiously, the only thing (and I pretty much mean ONLY thing) wanting on a Symbian, compared to a WM device, is Calendar sync. It works - it's just not as 'polished' as WM is.

But rest assured, you can sync everything across now.

ADDITIONALLY, and something I always blasted WM for despite the bizarreness of it's own limits for it's own software, that other companies DON'T have with it...

You can set up Symbian Devices to sync with ANY folders on your pc - by that I mean in terms of contacts or calender or notes sub-folders. With WM and it's own access to Outlook, you CAN'T.

So on my PC, with Symbian devices, I can sync my phone, my partner's phone, and my brother's phone, all on the one instance of Outlook, as we can each point to our own specific Contacts folders for the sync.

With WM this is impossible, as it can only use the default Contacts folder.

So in actual fact, Symbian is BETTER in some many respects, for synchronizing to Outlook, than WM devices.

For every other feature and aspect, Symbian just wins hands down...

Camera... Web browsing... Bluetoothing... MMS creation... Gallery... Music Playing... Calling...

It's just easier, more intuitive, and better.

So I never looked back, when I went back to Symbian however long ago, and my Modaco posts since have mainly been in relation to my MDA Pro, which after that was still used as my CoPilot sat-nav. But now even that has been given up, for a true TomTOm Go 720. So I have little role in WM nowadays, despite still owning a Vario, Vario 2, and MDA Pro.

And now owning the N82, arguably the most advanced SmartPhone there is, things are supremely ace.

Give it a try - it's a culture shock (I recently sold an N95 to a friend new to Symbian. After a week, he was demented, as I warned him he might be. After two weeks, he had bought FM transmitter accessories, car holders the lot for it, he wouldn't part with it at any price now).

So try Symbian, persist (it's not HARD to use, just different at first).

And after two weeks I reckon even the WM die-hards will like it!

Edited April 12, 2008 by shadamehr

[Guest frankquattrone]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm all in. I'm going to ditch WM and go to the Dark Side as well. The N82 just does everything I need in a phone. Appreciate all the feedback. Makes the decision easier.

[Guest Confucious]

Having just flashed AP 4 on my Athena I think I'll stick to that for now. But nice to know there is a viable alternative to WM - might try one out one day.

[Guest xerxes]

Do the Nokias do Exchange Push email? How is the web browsing?

In case anyone is still interested, Nokia provides a free download called Mail For Exchange which is an Exchange Activesync client. It works perfectly, exactly the same performance as the built in Activesync on my XDA Exec, except that it only syncs your default folders; Inbox, Drafts etc, not sub folders. It is also worth pointing out that this free download is only free if you use an E-Series or one of a small number of N-Series. The N73 and N95 can download it for free so I expect that the N82 can as well.

If Mail For Exchange doesn't provide enough functionality or isn't available for the phone you choose there is another alternative called Roadsync. Roadsync provides full sync capability (any folder etc) and is available for just about any Symbian S60 phone but I think it costs about $50 so I haven't bothered to try it out as Mail For Exchange is quite adequate for me.

[Guest Confucious]

I'd forgotten about this thread!

I now have an E90 - had all sorts of problems with certificates and MfE until I upgraded to my firmware to the latest version - now it all works fine. Web browsing is excellent as well.

[Guest chucky.egg]

I just got an E51 for the GF, so that I could see what Nokia, MfE and Symbian are up to these days.

It's a very nice handset, not sure about the OS (but I only played for an hour or so), and MfE setup was not "obvious" (but then, I only played for an hour or so!)

[Guest xerxes]

I just got an E51 for the GF, so that I could see what Nokia, MfE and Symbian are up to these days.

It's a very nice handset, not sure about the OS (but I only played for an hour or so), and MfE setup was not "obvious" (but then, I only played for an hour or so!)

Chucky,

You should be able to install the client from the "Downloads" application, which is an on-device software store. Alternatively you go here

http://www.businesssoftware.nokia.com/mail...e_downloads.php

and the download will be self explanitory.

Once you have the software you will have to run Mail For Exchange and create a profile. This should be very similar to what you're used to on WinMob.

I hope this helps,

Xerxes

[Guest Confucious]

Provided you have a valid cert it's not a problem. If it is a self issued cert I had major problems on my E90 until I upgraded to the latest FW - then it worked.

Good luck.