Nokia N8

I purchased the N8 as a replacement for my increasingly tempermental Nokia ExpressMusic 5800. The 5800 reflects my priorites for a phone: no.1 = MUSIC! A long way behind comes telephone calls. And any other functions are welcome but.....

The N8 actually betters the 5800. The stretched out guitar high on the left ceiling in Kings of Leon's 'Manhattan' is firmly nailed there and allowed to wail, whilst the bass line pop's nicely (my wife's Samsung Galaxy totally fluffed this test). Likewise Peter Gabriel's 'Mercy Street' lays out the percussion across the full stereo width, leaving the bassy vocals to go lower than I thought possible. how can anyone call this sound 'thin'?!

The supplied earbuds are so-so. Annoying that the supplied in-line remote is integral to them  Fortunately the remote that came with the 5800 works fine (and they are cheap to buy).

Nokia fixed the key issue with the 5800: the volume sensitivity. On the 5800, zero to full volume was only about 12 increments. It is double that on the N8 and so slight increments in volume are now possible.

Simple summary: the N8 rocks. I did not believe that anything could match the 5800. I'm happy to be wrong.

Disproving the original WhatHiFi review, Symbian has life in it (we're now on 'Anna', with 'Belle' coming) and the array of free and to-buy apps is bewildering. On-screen, everything scrolls smoothly and fast. Agree that the video quality is not great.

I linked to the house WLAN in seconds and internet and other online feeds etc run perfectly.

The Nokia/Ovi software is finally marginally better. It is functional and does the job (I gave up trying to use it with the 5800).

what on earth did you test it with - thin sounding?

it sounds RIGHT

better than any Apple on AAC 320 I have heard

maybe the apple has a bass boost ?

I thought people had given up on Nokia's?  In fact havn't Nokia themselves given up?

They've ditched Symbian and meego, or whatever that mistake was called and moved to windows.

Anyone buying an N8 will be seriously disappointed to find their new phone has been abandoned by the manufacturer.  A pity really as technically they were good phones, just seriously hindered by their software.

My last smartphone (N97) was a Nokia, it was terrible and I now avoid all Nokia phones as a matter of course.  I suggest others do the same.

Why hasn't anyone else commented on this phones style resembling an oversized CASIO watch from the 90's?

Surley I can't be alone. It looks just like my dads watch, without the strap.