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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549

By | August 16, 2010, 9:37am PDT

Summary: Nokia’s N8 is now available for pre-order - for an eye-watering $549.

Nokia’s N8 is now available for pre-order - for an eye-watering $549.

This is the first Symbian^3 powered handset, so there’s bags of new features there for the hardcore geeks to play with. The N8 also has some nice bespoke features - a nice camera, a nice lens, the ability to record and edit HD video, 16GB of memory (yes, show me a handset that has that much other than the iPhone), and free turn-by-turn navigation, but that price is still really steep. If I were in the market for a handset, that price would cloud pretty much everything else about the handset.

The handset will ship at the end of September.

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Nokia Corp., Nokia N8, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
ganesh.ahire 19th Aug 2010
OMG.........AMOLED touchscreen.........xenon flash 12 MP Carl Zeiss Lens......16 GB MEmory........HDMI support......more n more

this is the gadget
View in thread
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
Theseus 16th Aug 2010
Blech. That's one fugly looking phone.
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
Stan57 Updated - 16th Aug 2010
@Theseus
Really? add rounded corners and it looks just like the iphony lol or any other other cell phone for that matter
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
jkohut 16th Aug 2010
http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/07/15/nokia-n8-in-the-details/
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
jfigge 16th Aug 2010
Why is it only available in black? Nokia have made so much of the new colors and then the cut out the US market?
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
jkohut 16th Aug 2010
Even more details:
http://www.nokiausa.com/find-products/phones/nokia-n8?lid=n8_001&lpos=hm_toppromo&intc=ncomfnpromo-fw-ilc-hm_toppromo-con-na-nokiacom-us-na-n8_001
My guess is the colors will take a bit longer to ramp up production on. They are probably focused on those wanting to get their hands on the device early and figure they will be happy with base color (dark grey instead of black).
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Contributr
Actually $549 is very reasonable
palmsolo (aka Matthew Miller) 16th Aug 2010
A no-contract iPhone 4 16GB sells for $599 and a 32GB one sells for $699 with no support for T-Mobile 3G. The Nokia N8 supports penta-band 3G (first in the world to do so) and thus you can use it with either T-Mobile or AT&T here in the US and around the world.
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Thank you
Economister 16th Aug 2010
@palmsolo (aka Matthew Miller)

for bringing some sense into this debate. Whether it is worth $549 remains to be seen, but at least let us TRY to compare oranges to oranges.

If I can get the smart phone of my dreams for $549 and take it to the carrier of my choice and buy the monthly plan of my choice, I would not complain.

This blog reminds me of a question that has bothered me for a while. Why do people, who have signed a 2 or 3 year contract, expect to be let out of that contract before it ends, without paying the balance owing? To smart phone buyers, somehow a contract is not a contract. Go figure.
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Nice....................................I want one.
Dietrich T. Schmitz, ~ Your Linux Advocate 16th Aug 2010
nt
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
msalzberg 16th Aug 2010
@Dietrich T. Schmitz, Your Linux Advocate

Are you sure? It has a capacitive touchscreen. You may need to use two hands.
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
Agnostic_OS 16th Aug 2010
What a phone!
What price!!
But that's the cost of having an antenna work no matter how you hold it.
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
dpt308 16th Aug 2010
That's a very good price for a smartphone you can use all over the world. and if I can put my whole hand around my Nokia E71 and still have a conversation(but not with myself) I bet the N8 will do even better. those Fin's how smart are they....
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
msalzberg 16th Aug 2010
@dptcreations@...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amPG52DVQuk

http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=14314: "Voice and speaker quality are solid, but can suffer from distortions if you accidentally put your hand over the antenna. Many E71 owners have noted this problem, and it might be hardware related rather than software related."

http://discussions.nokia.co.uk/t5/Connectivity/E71-Tip-to-improve-reception/m-p/353418

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/08/04/nokia-e71-2-reception-issues-mmm/
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
Stormbringer_57th 16th Aug 2010
In most Nokia-dominated markets (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Middle/East Asia to some extent) most phones are sold without subsidies, at which point $549 is just about reasonable.
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
cdcooker 16th Aug 2010
Samsung Galaxy S has 16GB on board.

Any phone using OS other than iOS or Android can't charge this premium price.
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
Stormbringer_57th 17th Aug 2010
@cdcooker With carrier subsidies, it'll probably drop down to about $149, at which point we'll be comparing apples and apples.
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
colhollywood 16th Aug 2010
As others have commented, it's not really a premium price, considering you're getting an unlocked phone that you can transport to other networks. I paid $700 for the N95 and absolutely loved it. I'm only in the market again because I took it for a swim in the bayou by mistake!!
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
Theseus 16th Aug 2010
I don't know, how many apps does this thing have?
Can you get baseball and football score apps?
Can I read an .epub book on it?

How good is the browser?
Also, all the complaints I hear about Symbian phones is that they don't work well with bluetooth and are very buggy, slow and crash prone.

We can expect the same from this?
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
Stormbringer_57th 17th Aug 2010
@Theseus I wouldn't recommend a Symbian phone to an American. Long before iOS vs Android, there was Symbian vs Windows Mobile - and S60 vs UIQ within Symbian itself, but that's another story. The platform has incredible legacy and does have a good variety of apps, but the whole thing is too obscure to be useful Stateside - where the market was basically forced into an artificial duopoly thanks to the copycat strategies of carriers and the stagnant attitude of tech media.
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
nmichaels@... 16th Aug 2010
OK Nokia has a big hit on their hands with cheap pricing like that.
Watch out Apple - Nokia is back - with a real flash, real flash, 12MP camera, longer battery life, better games, better higher contrast screen, memory card slot, proper working bluetooth, ability to read external USB devices like Hard drives and HDMi for F...s ake - amazing !!! and it looks fantastic and its only version 1 - WOW ! good job !
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
nmichaels@... Updated - 16th Aug 2010
OK Nokia has a big hit on their hands with pricing like that.
Watch out Apple - Nokia is back - with a real flash, real flash, 12MP camera, longer battery life, better games, better higher contrast screen, memory card slot, proper working bluetooth, ability to read external USB devices like Hard drives and HDMi for F...s ake - amazing !!! and it looks fantastic and a lot more solidly constructed and its only version 1 - WOW ! good job !
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Dear Nokia. No more Symbian.
akritchie 17th Aug 2010
I'm so fed up with Symbian and its regular reboots that I'll never, ever, ever consider another Symbian device. My recently purchased unlocked E72 was replaced once, but the new one has similar problems. My earlier Nokias had similar problems, but never this bad. I hate Apple and all of its crap, but I need a phone that works, so am biting the bullet and getting a damn ifone. Nokia, you have lost one of your last U.S. loyal customers. Maybe you can make Meego work, but you'll have to prove it on someone else's dime before you'll get another one out of me.
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RE: Nokia N8 - Yours for (only) $549
ganesh.ahire 19th Aug 2010
OMG.........AMOLED touchscreen.........xenon flash 12 MP Carl Zeiss Lens......16 GB MEmory........HDMI support......more n more

this is the gadget

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