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Nokia N8 anyone?

Rawfa

Active member
At the present moment there is no other cellphone with a camera that as sensor this size...it's about the size of the sensor on the Canon S90. I was super enthusiastic about buying it....but then I've started reading the reviews regarding the N8's performance as a cell phone...it appears that although it's not a bad cellphone it cannot really compete with the likes of the Iphone, HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy and so on. I've downloaded some photo samples and I was VERY surprise with the high quality. You can easily use this phone as a compact camera...but I don't want a phone that is good with pictures and bad with everything else. On the other hand all the other high end phones are very good as smartphones but cannot really compete with the N8 picture wise (dynamic range, high iso, shutte lag). Does anyone actually have this cellphone here? Please share your thoughts.
 

Lili

New member
I have had the G1, MyTouch and now have the HTC HD2 and the Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy-S). Love the HD2 as a phone and browsing device. The Sammy is awesome for apps and the camera is really quite good. The N8 uses Symbian and the browser maybe not so good as the Opera 9.1 on the HTC or the rootkit one on the Vibrant.
But I still want one too... ;)
 

Rawfa

Active member
I see you're quite the cellphone collector, Lili :)
Do you have any samples of photos taken with the Vibrant? How is the shutter lag on it?
 

Lili

New member
I see you're quite the cellphone collector, Lili :)
Do you have any samples of photos taken with the Vibrant? How is the shutter lag on it?
Here is a slide show of images and vids from my Vibrant.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colette_noir/sets/72157624607696004/show/
The lag is pretty decently short esp if one prefocuses.
The camera on the HD2 uses far more compression than the Sammy, more NR, but the images have look I very much like in the HTC as well ( plus the native format is wider than ever 35mm full-frame).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colette_noir/sets/72157623864927485/show/
HD2 slide show
"Hi my name is Lili and I have a phone problem..."
^_^
 
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Rawfa

Active member
Those are some very nice photos, Lili. These samples were an eye opener for me. I had no idea the Samsung could make such nice photos. I might just go with the Samsung. I have found the compression on the HD2 to be too much though.
 

Lili

New member
Those are some very nice photos, Lili. These samples were an eye opener for me. I had no idea the Samsung could make such nice photos. I might just go with the Samsung. I have found the compression on the HD2 to be too much though.
Thanks!!!
Here is shot from today with the Vibrant
 

mazor

New member
I have a N8 and find the camera is indeed very good. As eveyone has said the OS symbian feels archaic compared to the likes of iphone and android, but as a phone, it performs well.



and surprisingly good macro with xenon flash enabled here



As you can see the camera optics are indeed very good. It definitely deserves the Carl Zeiss labelling. The 12mp sensor shows us that low light higher ISO 800 images are possible and usable from a`mobile phone.

Interestingly the N8 does not have a variable aperture but rather has a built auto sliding Neutal density filter for those especially bright days.

mazor
 
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mazor

New member
another N8 shot I took today.

I call it Beeline



taken, cropped and color adjusted on the
nokia n8

mazor
 

Rawfa

Active member
I´m not sure if you are aware of this, but there is a hack running around the internet that allows the picture quality on the N8 to be set to 100% (as you may see by the jpg files sizes the images are being very compressesd for a 12mpx file)
 

mazor

New member
hey Rawfa, thanks for that info. I already got the hack! It by hyperx. Not only does it make files over 5x , but it will ad 30fps HD video recording over 25fps and supposedly continuous autofocus video recording, although I was unable to enable that feature.

100% jpg feature is a nice feature, and the differences are ever so slight, but noticeable for cropping and enlargements. Because of this slight improvement in details, it gives the perception of a sharper image. too which is nice.

The beeline shot was taken using this new hack, but once edited on phone, the quality drops back to standard. Guess though you end up with a good digital negative to play in the first place.

mazor
 

Rawfa

Active member
Mazor, I´m impressed with the image quality. I´ve downloaded a couple of jpegs from the N8 to play around on PS and I can say they can take a considerable amount of treatment without falling apart...to be honest I have found the files to be better than some compactss´. The N8 is a cellphone that I REALLY wanted to like because of the camera, but it´s memory is bellow average for a top smartphone and it´s OS (symbian 3) is really no match for android. If this phone had the same memory as the Galaxy and had android it would be a no brainer and a very strong contestand to be a huge hit.
 

mazor

New member
true, Rawfa, Symbian has really been a let down, and it is a pity Nokia has invested so much into this defunc OS. As for the memory, Symbian being as archaic as it is really does not need that much memory to run. The 256Mb RAM will seem massive for any symbian device as programs generally take up alot less pace than the likes of Window Mobile, iphone ios, or android. What does need some upgrading is the CPU! Its fast enough to most people, but then compare it to an Iphone or Android and the competition will blow it away. But lets look on a positive side. The slower CPU does equate to amazing battery life, and admittedly I have found the N8 outlasting iphone 3gs and 4 by leaps and bounds. Iphone has excellent standby time, but then use it for any period of time, ie turn it on, and you can literally see the battery gauge drop! With the N8 I can be emailing, txting, as well as using the camera, and after a days use will still have pretty over half my battery left. The iphone on the other hand is continuously looking for a power outlet or some form of external charge after half a day usually, which in my opinion is acceptable for a notebook, but not acceptable for a phone.

Interestingly, when playing 3d games on the N8, it plays real smooth, which I suspect is due to a good 3D GPU in the N8 rather than CPU..

So basically what I am saying is as long as you don't compare against other devices you will not disappointed at Symbian. It does everything the competition has on offer, plus it does have a pretty amazing camera which trumps most phone cameras out there.

MAzor
 

Lili

New member
At the present moment there is no other cellphone with a camera that as sensor this size...it's about the size of the sensor on the Canon S90. I was super enthusiastic about buying it....but then I've started reading the reviews regarding the N8's performance as a cell phone...it appears that although it's not a bad cellphone it cannot really compete with the likes of the Iphone, HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy and so on. I've downloaded some photo samples and I was VERY surprise with the high quality. You can easily use this phone as a compact camera...but I don't want a phone that is good with pictures and bad with everything else. On the other hand all the other high end phones are very good as smartphones but cannot really compete with the N8 picture wise (dynamic range, high iso, shutte lag). Does anyone actually have this cellphone here? Please share your thoughts.
I just ordered mine, it will be here today. The phone is said to work quite well as a phone, excellent sound quality. Fewer apps than Apple or Google, but life is, contrary to comercials is NOT all about apps ;)
 

mazor

New member
Congrats Lili! the n8 indeed does record sound with amazing clarity, thanks to the dual mics recording in stereo. Image quality is excellent for a point a shoot everyday camera. Just ensure you install the mute shutter app. It will allow one to disable the annoying shutter sound when taking images, like a real cam.

mazor
 
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