Review: A Week With The Black Nokia N82
On Monday, I received a black Nokia N82 to trial. As soon as I got it out of the box, I was in love. Read on for my initial impressions as well thoughts on the form and function.
Initial Impressions
The phone looks amazing. The black color and slippery casing make it feel like a luxury device. It fits well in my hand; the weight of the device feels just right.
Buttons. A lot has been said about the keypad. Most people see the small number keys and say that’s a horrible design decision. I love these buttons. They are little stiff from being new, but I definitely prefer the Nokia N82 keypad over my N95-1. The only knock against them is they have a white back light. I’d have preferred blue.
The number keys aren’t the only buttons that are stiff. The multimedia button is hard to press. I often have to use a fingernail to get enough precision pressure to activate the button.
The camera button doesn’t stick out much compared to my Nokia N95. On the N95, the camera button has a lot of give, so a gentle press activates the autofocus. With the N82, it takes a bit more force.
The directional pad is a joy to use. It performs like a joystick with a hat on top and is very responsive. I love having a large center button. The layout is excellent. I have not had any accidental presses of the either menu or multimedia buttons like on my N95.
Input/Output. I don’t like the placement of the charger port. It makes it impossible to use the phone one handed while charging. It is also a hindrance when watching video, since you can’t prop the N82 against something with the plug on the side.
I don’t have a problem with the change to micro-usb. It creates a very snug fit, there’s no worry it will fall out like on the old Pop-Port cables.
Lanyard Hole. I don’t like the placement of the lanyard hole. It forces the N82 to be worn on the left hand and forces two handed use.
Form and Function
Multimedia Menu. I’ve enjoyed the new multimedia carousel menu. I really love the integration of each item. Gallery shows your last picture and quick access to albums. Music has the last played track. Videos shows the last clip viewed. Maps goes to the last placed you looked up. The Contacts page can be set up like a speed dial. I do miss the ability to hold down the multimedia button to load the music player.
Music. As a music player, the Nokia N82 is great. I plugged in my Grado SR-80 headphones and was incredibly relieved to find the hiss from the N95 was gone. I’m a fan of the playback buttons on the N95 and the N82 is a little limited by its lack of such buttons. The AD-54 makes a suitable replacement; the N82 had no problems using it. Another workaround is to use am A2DP headset. Paired with the Nokia BH-601, music performance was great and the playback buttons worked fine.
Video. Video playback has been a joy. Opening a clip from the Video Center always goes to fullscreen. I love this, since the Nokia N95 won’t do this if its in portrait mode. The placement of the speakers really excels here, as the video experience is better in stereo.
Games. Gaming with N-Gage is flawless. On the N95, transitions between screens would seem glitchy. Games would start in a random orientation; one game starts in 180 mode, another in landscape, another in portrait. This is gone from the N82. Transitions are seamless and the orientation is always in portrait.
Camera. Here’s a funny fact about the camera. It loads and performs with the same speed as my N95-1 (with v21 firmware). The daylight picture quality seems a bit better. The auto mode on the N82 probably has been better tweaked. The integrated location feature is great. It seems like every time I started the camera, it already has a GPS lock.
Multitasking. I’ve been floored by all the multitasking I’ve been able to do. On Wednesday, I tested out the Sport Tracker application. I took a walk around the neighborhood and was able to take pictures while also have the music player running. My N95 could never pull this off reliably. A record of my photo walk can be found here.
Final Thoughts
That’s been my first week with the Nokia N82 Black. I absolutely adore this device and look forward to testing it out at a sporting event over the weekend and some night events over the next week. If you haven’t read it yet, also check out Mark’s review on the silver Nokia N82 and the review of the Nokia N82’s 5 megapixel camera.
Apostol Apostolov on 18 May 2008:
You didn’t say a thing about battery life. There’s when thing sgo down - my N82 barely makes a day and I have to recharge it every night. The worst energy suckers are the radio and intenret radio, and media player as well.
Al Pavangkanan on 18 May 2008:
I hadn’t really tested the battery until last night. I was saving battery life for my next report.
In my experience, the N82 will last a whole day before needing a charge under my typical use. My N95 will be lucky to get halfway through.
Charging once per day should not be a concern. That’s kinda standard nowadays for multimedia phones with a billion functions.
If you can’t make it to the end of the day, you should be worried.
Jorge Dinis on 19 May 2008:
Although the many words defending N82 against N78, I think a newer device is allways better…
Mark Guim on 19 May 2008:
The N82 is starting to grow on me. The silver one is getting less uglier to me too.
santa on 20 May 2008:
Good one very impressive having all the features in it.I will prefer the newer device is always better.
Watch Cane Online on 20 May 2008:
Yes it is good phone, it may be better than the N95, but I am 100% sure that the N95 8GB is far better in everything except maybe the camera photo quality.
Mike on 22 May 2008:
@ Watch Cane Online,
only thing better on the N95 is the screen and NAM 3g. everything else is the same on the n82, and a lot have reported that even the firmware is faster.
Great review Al i’m loving the n82 black as well.
Phnom Penh Paul on 7 June 2008:
Well, I’ve had my N82 for exactly a week (updated from the N73), and I still can’t put it down!
My primary reason for buying it was the GPS feature, which in a country like Cambodia is a godsend!
I paid $5 for the Garmin map of Cambodia, and all I can say is WOW!
Whoever did the mapping has spent an unbelievable amount of time on the project, which I can vouch for by goiung into the countryside around Kandal province, and getting intentionally lost!
The Garmin map has every little village/commune and two house settlement on it.
The camara is well better than the 5 megapixel job which I bought last year, and the video is 1000% better than my N73’s (with excellent sound pickup).
I could go on for ages about how happy I am with the N82, but I think it speaks for itself.
As regards battery endurance, I just bought a 2nd battery for $9, which sits in my wallet nicely, and hasn’t been needed yet, even though I leave the GPS reciever on all the time.
The ‘Geotagging’ feature is amazing, and I now just snap away, when I’m buzzing around, then open all my pics into Copiks PhotoMapper, which reads the automatic GPS location data on the photo, then displays it and the location directly in Google Earth!
I went for the N82 as a toss up between that and the N95 8Gb, because of the bad reviews re battery of the N95, and the fact that it’s not a slider, which can get more easily damaged.
No bugs to report (it’s wayyyyyy faster than my old N73 with all applications), and has had NO Freezing problems to date.
I think that there is an updated firmware version now, but in my opinion, “if it ain’t broke - don’t fix it!”, so I’ll leave it as per out of the box for now.
I’ve just installed “sportstracker”, and had a walk around the office building to test it, and it’s great to see your route directly overlayed on Google Earth.
Tomorrow I’m off out again to play with “sports tracker’.
Sorry about the emphasis on the GPS side of things, but that’s my main use of the phone.
Have a good day.