Nokia N8 Unboxing & First Impressions

September 30th, 2010 • • 35 comments

The Nokia N8 started shipping and we were lucky to get our hands-on the final sales package right away. Check out the unboxing and a couple of first impressions after initial usage. We received the orange one which actually looks pretty good! Watch the video after the jump.

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Nokia N8 Package contents:

  • Nokia N8 mobile computer
  • Nokia Connectivity Cable
  • Nokia Stereo Headset
  • Nokia Compact Travel Charger
  • Nokia Adapter Cable for HDMI
  • Nokia Adapter Cable for USB OTG
  • Quick start guide

The first screen you see after initial startup is a login for a Nokia Ovi account. The second screen asks if you want to transfer your contacts from your previous phone. After that, you are at the homescreen, ready to explore.

IMG_3542

I’ll need some time to play with the Nokia N8 to give a proper review. After a few hours, I can say the device feels really great in the hand. I love the camera. I took some photos and was amazed at the quality. The Symbian^3 OS feels very familiar, yet refined. I’ll explain in an upcoming review. You can watch this Nokia N8 walkthrough I recorded with a Product manager in the meantime.

On the downside, I struggled typing on the Nokia N8 so far. There’s no QWERTY keyboard in portrait view (alphanumeric is available) and the layout of the QWERTY keyboard in landscape view is different. The one you’ll probably notice the most is having the backspace at the bottom right corner instead of the usual top right corner.

Look out for our Nokia N8 review after spending some time with it in the real-world.

  • wat_lacas

    nice mobile. nice color too. usb on the go feature is very unique.

    • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

      definitely a feature that I’ll be testing

  • http://twitter.com/bdogg64 Brandon

    Was that an Android I heard in the background :-)

    • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

      Yes it was! Very observant!

  • Anonymous

    wait so your in the US and you got an Orange one already?! hmmmmmm sneaky sneaky :P

    • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

      I don’t think this review unit was meant for the US market. It came with a European power adapter

  • Andre-BR

    what about the new symbian^3?

    • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

      here’s a walkthrough of the Nokia N8′s Symbian^3

      • Andre-BR

        But will it be avaiable for N97 or other devices?
        If not, Nokia is loosing another user.

        • http://callmelocalhost.com localhost

          No, it won’t be available to the N97. Not via Nokia at least. One could always port the software to the N97, but I doubt it will run very smoothly. These guys are doing some porting already, but only on S60v5: http://pnht.org/

  • http://twitter.com/swathid Swathi

    I wish you showed the OS features than just unboxing.
    Is there any setting to have qwerty keyboard in portrait mode??

    • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

      Unfortunately, there’s currently no qwerty keyboard in portrait mode. For more OS features, I suggest watching our hands-on videos from Nokia World.

      • Anonymous

        error, yes there´s qwerty keyboard in portraid mode.

        • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

          Not an option on my N8. Have a screenshot?

        • Thomas Armstrong

          I Think you can install Sywpe from Nokia betalabs (the S60 5th edition can work on an N8 i’ve been told) – this has a QWERTY in both landscape and portrait

          Hope an official Sym^3 swype app comes soon!

          Have to agree with you on the backspace keys position in landscape, my thumb just doesn’t bend to there easily enough

        • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

          Just tried. File installs successfully, but the swype keyboard doesn’t show up

        • Thomas Armstrong

          guess we’ll have to wait for Betalabs to get a S^3 version ready soon!

    • Eo9824

      Portrait qwerty coming in SW update later this year together with new browser.

    • Eo9824

      Portrait qwerty coming in SW update later this year together with new browser.

  • Terrysky83

    Can the NAM symbian^3 display asian language?

  • Anonymous

    please show engadget fake blurry camera photout they’re noobs..

  • Richard_90

    From the youtube video, i want to confirm that:
    1.The N8 battery is shipped together with the handphone?
    2. they still uses 2.0mm charger?
    3. Is the HDMI output is not 1080p right?

    The Nokia N8 seems to be a very good hanphone. Looking forward to get it.

    • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

      1. The battery is shipped with the phone and it’s not easily accessible without a screwdriver.
      2. Thanks to you, I just learned that the Nokia N8 can charge with the 2mm port at the bottom and the microusb port on the left.
      3. HDMI out is 720p

      • richard_90

        At the end of the day, the battery still can be taken out right with the help of the screwdriver right?

        It is really state of the art mobile phone. Well done, Nokia!!

  • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

    Thanks! I hope to see this in a firmware update.

  • Faisal

    Does It still Give The ” Memory Full” Option In the Multimedia ??

    • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

      I haven’t seen Memory Full messages yet

  • Anonymous

    Hey Mark, does it have built-in skype video call/calling features like the N900?

  • Faisal

    Can U Confirm Nokia N8′s Arrival in KSA…. ???

  • Anonymous

    The keyboard looks like it needs fixing by Nokia.. even the landscape one is not so good. A good virtual keyboard is key on these devices!!

  • Anonymous

    wonder what countries gets the stylus

  • http://twitter.com/ePandu Rajesh

    Can you tell me what firmware version is the phone running on?

  • Brunkhorse

    Mark does the N8 suffer from the resizing of MMS pics that plenty of other “non supported” nokia phones suffer from when using Tmobile?

  • http://www.kleendrybh.com Grout Cleaning Kendall

    Very nice info and right to the point.

  • parker boligrafos

    Great Blog. I add this Blog to my bookmarks
    I really enjoy my visits to your blog.

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