release date: November 2007

CONTENTS

1. Review
2. Features
3. Prices
4. Similar Phones
5. Useful Links
6. Nokia Phones

RATING

SUMMARY

Feature-packed 3G smartphone with quality camera. Excellent 5 MP camera, great connectivity - WLAN, Tv-Out, GPS and fine media playing features.

Phones with free gifts >>

Review

The Nokia N82 is a feature-packed quad-band 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, 5 MP Symbian OS camera phone. The N82's 5 MP camera is excellent - a Xenon flash makes the N82 better than the Nokia N95 camera.

Nokia N82 vs Nokia N95 8 GB

The Nokia N82 feature-set is very similar to the Nokia N95 8 GB. The key differences are that the Nokia N82 is a bar phone (the N95 8 GB is a slider phone), the N82 has a Xenon flash (making the N82 the best Nokia camera phone), and the N82 supports up to 32 GB microSDHC memory cards (128 MB dynamic memory) vs the Nokia N95 8 GB flash memory. The N82 has a 2.4-inch screen, the N95 8 GB has a 2.8-inch screen. The N95 8 GB has no lens cover.

Both N95 and N82 have 3G, HSDPA, GPS, TV-Out, 5 MP camera (possibly / likely the same camera innards), Wi-Fi and media players. The N82 styling has been ridiculed by many reviewers - some say "butt ugly", "retro", "prototype feel", "cramped / fiddly" keypad). Others think the N82 style is fine, although the numeric keys could be larger.

N82 vs N95 Size: The Nokia N95 is 99 (h) x 53 (w) x 21 (d). N82: 112 (h) x 50.2 (w) x 17.3 (d).The N82 is 1.3 cm taller, 2.8 mm slimmer and 3.7 mm thinner (depth) than the Nokia N95.

N82 vs N95 Price: At the time of writing, N82 is about £350 on PAYG. Nokia N95 is £370, Nokia N95 8 GB is approx. £450. You can buy all 3 phones for "free" on a contract.

Design

Shiny front, chrome, stripy back. A little chunky. Attractive design? Subjective. A retro look.

Left: microUSB port, microSD slot (plastic cover), USB connector, charging port.

Back: 5 MP camera, lens cover (with sliding switch), Xenon flash.

Front: CIF (352 x 288 pixels) camera for video calling (why not a VGA?), 2.4-inch screen, ambient light sensor, ear speaker, navigation controls and keypad.

Keypad: The keys are thick rice-grain sized. They stick out well enough, and are easy to press down, but they're all a bit cramped together. The bottom row of keys are particularly close to the bottom edge of the phone.

This is a personal preference issue - many people prefer bigger keys. The numbers are white - they can be a difficult to see in many light conditions.

Cramped navigation keys: There's a big gap between the bottom of the screen and the soft keys. The Nokia logo sits proudly in the middle. If Nokia moved the navigation keys up, they could've made the keypad keys larger.

The rim on the central navigation key is a little narrow, meaning that unintentional presses of the surrounding keys more likely. The Nokia N95 had the same issue. Working at speed, we would sometimes encroach on another key and select a wrong menu. People with chunky sausage fingers are advised to give the N82 a hands-on testing.

Texting isn't fast with keys like this - too much finger movement required. Less key surface area also means prolonged use is a little .. uncomfortable.

This keypad design seems to be targeted at people who value style over usability. In the name of Zod, usability should take priority over style.

Right: Stereo speakers (1 at the top and bottom), volume rocker (digital zoom), gallery key and camera key.

Top: Power on / off, and a 3.5 mm jack (plug in headphones/earphones).

Bottom: Microphone.

microSDHC memory card support: The N82 has 128 MB dynamic phone memory. A 2 GB microSD card is supplied in the box. The N82 supports microSDHC.

Massive memory card support

microSDHC: SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) supports up to 32 GB SHDC memory cards. April 2008, you can buy 8 GB cards - EG at Amazon. 12 GB SHDC cards have just been announced . Could be some while before 32 GB cards are sold. You can buy a 4 GB card for just £7 at Amazon.

Features

5 MP Camera with Xenon Flash.

The best camera phone to date. Yes maam. Take the Nokia N95 camera and stick a white light Xenon flash next to the lens and you've got a winner.

2 cameras: 5 MP (2592x1944) camera on the back, and a somewhat feeble CIF (352 x 288 pixels) camera on the front. All images and videos are saved in the 'Gallery'.

Slide the lens cover open to activate the camera. Same interface as the Nokia N95. Lots of options: red-eye reduction, auto-focus assist (red light), scene, flash mode, self-timer, sequence mode, picture quality, white balance, exposure compensation, sharpness, contrast, ISO setting, auto-focus, macro mode, 20x digital zoom...

Image quality is good, for a camera phone.

Video capture: 640 x 480 pixels (VGA) at 30 fps. Good stuff.

Gallery

Folders contains your media files: images and video, tracks, life blog, sound clips, streaming links, presentations. Scroll through the files, zoom, slide show, image editor, video editor.

TV-Out Support

Connect the Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (in box). Images are displayed full-screen on the TV. SVG files (vector graphics) scale up to the TV display size.

Connectivity

EDGE, 3G, HSPDA, Assisted GPS (A-GPS) Wi-Fi (WLAN - 802.11 b/g), UPnP, USB 2.0 via microUSB. Fast Internet downloads with 3G and HSPDA. Wi-Fi is a breeze to set-up.

Web browser

Nokia Web browser. 2.4-inch screen (not bad) with 3G HSDPA offers a decent Web browsing experience. A bigger screen would have been nice.

A-GPS

As with the Nokia N95, the Nokia N82 has a built-in GPS receiver. UK and Ireland maps are pre-installed. If you need more Nokia Maps, download using your home/office broadband connection (transfer from your PC, or transfer direct using Wi-Fi). You don't want to transfer the large map files using the mobile network's data connection - costly.

Assisted GPS (A-GPS) is an enhanced version of GPS. A-GPS retrieves assistance data to help pinpoint your location. A-GPS should get a fix on the satellite quicker and more reliably. The Time To First Fix (TTFF) should be quicker.

N-Gage

The Nokia N-Gage application is available. Pre-installed game trials include Asphalt 3: Street Rules and EA Sports Fifa 07. You can trial any game before buying, at the N-Gage Web site. Download the game to your PC, then transfer to your phone.

Music Player

Pretty good. The stereo speakers are top and bottom of the right side of the N82. All the usual settings including equalizer, playlists, shuffle, repeat, visualisation. The supplied earphones sound fine. A 3.5 mm jack in on the top of the phone, so you can plug in your own earphones.

Nokia Music Store: Search, browse, and purchase music to download to
the Nokia N82.

Symbian OS

Download applications, document viewers, organiser tools and other smartphone features.

Summary

Feature-wise, the Nokia N82 is superb. Style/beauty is debatable - the N82 is a bit of a "polarity" phone - lots of love/hate comments. If you don't mind the small keys and slightly-cramped navigation area, the Nokia N82 is an excellent choice. Best camera phone on the market. All in a candybar form factor. Yummy.

Nokia Phones

  =   coming soon

• 3600 slide  
• 5310 xpressMusic
• 5320 xpressMusic  
• 5610 xpressMusic
• 6110 navigator
• 6210 navigator  
• 6212 classic  
• 6220 classic   new
• 6288
• 6300
• 6500 classic
• 6500 slide
• 6600 fold  
• 6600 slide  
• 7373
• 7500 prism
• 7900 prism
• 8600 luna
• 8800 arte
• e66   new
• e71   new
• n73
• n78
• n81
• n82
• n95
• n95 8GB
• n96  

Prices

Prices coming soon.

Cheap phone contracts >>

TAGS: 3g, hsdpa, music, gps, wi-fi, smartphone, 5.0 MP camera, bar phones

Useful Links

Official Site:	Nokia N82
NSeries N82:	NSeries N82
Nokia Maps:	Nokia Maps
GPS Tips:	GPS Connection Tips
YouTube Videos:	Nokia N82 Videos
Images:	Nokia N82 Images

Nokia phones, Samsung phones, LG phones, Sony Ericsson Phones, Motorola Phones, HTC Phones, Blackberry Phones, O2 Phones, Apple Phones, Mobile Phones

Fashion Phones, Music Phones, Camera Phones, Smart Phones, Touchscreen Phones, 3G Phones, HSDPA Phones, GPS Phones, Wi-Fi Phones, Slider Phones, Bar Phones, Flip Phones, Coming Soon Phones, Lightest Phones, Slimmest Phones, Thinnest Phones, Best Camera Phones, Top Phones, Big screens, Best Talk Time