Nokia N82 Review

The N82 is an excellent all-round phone with an impressive list of specifications despite some niggles that could have been avoided.

The good: Quadband GSM with HSDPA; Xenon flash with 5-megapixel camera; built-in GPS; A2DP; 3.5mm audio jack; microSD card slot.

The bad: Tiny keys; smaller 2.4-inch display compared with the two N95; microUSB port.

Design

When placed side-by-side, probably even a six-year-old will be able to tell the N82 and the N95 apart. In terms of design, the N82 looks radically different from the N95, which is a good move pre-mediated, or not. Otherwise the company will be guilty of bookshelving by introducing several variations of identical phones on the shelves, confusing the consumers (or if you like, giving them more options). This situation is especially rampant in the digicam market where manufacturers produce a single model in a variety of colors.

The biggest difference between the N82 and the N95 is that the latter is a slider-phone, while the N82 is a candy-bar model. So users who previously shunned the N95 due to its form factor now have a legitimate reason to pick up the N82. One of the main concerns was that the sliding mechanism may loosen over time. In our opinion, that's a strategic move because it allows Nokia to capture another share of the market which it was previously unable to.

Moving on, the N82 is of a comfortable size and the even weight distribution means we don't have to worry about the phone slipping out of our hands. As for the choice (or lack) of colors, it's a matter of personal opinion. We feel the metallic shade gives a very "bright" persona to the handset, but it also bears a tinge of industrial construction which may not appeal to everyone.

Just like there isn't a perfect phone, the N82 has a few shortcomings. First off are the alphanumeric keys. Maybe there were miscommunications between the designers and engineers during the manufacturing process, because no one in the right mind would fall in love with such tiny buttons. Our only consolation is that the keys are relatively well-spaced-out, so it's a whole lot better than the ones on the Sony Ericsson W880i.

Still on the issue of the buttons, even though each of the softkeys shares the same button with a secondary function, it wasn't easy hitting the wrong key. That said, we would have preferred the functions to be separate. It could be just our review unit, but the D-pad felt rather loose when we pressed it in any of the four directions and light could be seen escaping from the sides. We'd also like to highlight that the build quality was a little shabby on our set because there was a gap between the left edge and the top face. But like we said, it could just be our unit.

We also didn't fancy the shortcut carousel button between the right softkey and the correction function. In our opinion, this is something that could be left out as we constantly worry about pressing it accidentally. The dedicated Gallery button on the right edge of the phone could have been used for that purpose. Only the camera module is at the back of the phone (not like we had expected it anywhere else). Nokia has opted for a mechanical lens cover which is great for protecting the lens. Sliding down the cover activates the shooter.

This time round, the 3.5mm audio port is on the top edge of the handset instead of at the side. This lets us plug our earphones from the top, so there won't be anything protruding from the sides when the phone is in our pockets. Elsewhere, the microUSB port, microSD expansion card slot and charging connection are found on the left edge, while a pair of stereo speakers, camera shutter, gallery key and volume controls lie on the right.

Features

In terms of features, there's really nothing much to talk about since we've already covered most of it in our reviews of the N95 and the N95 (8GB), so we'll just keep it short and sweet. The most distinct feature in the N82 is the addition of a Xenon flash, like the ones we've seen on the Sony Ericsson K810i and K850i Cyber-shots. Compared with LED lights, Xenon flashes are much stronger and able to illuminate subjects better in the dark.

Next is a smaller 2.4-inch QVGA display compared with 2.6 inches on the N95 and 2.8 inches on the 8GB version. The size of the screen is likely a result of having to share the limited front estate with the alphanumeric keypad since it doesn't have the privilege of being able to stow away the keypad under the slider like t he two N95s. Well, something has to give. It's not a setback, though, because the LCD held up well under the harsh afternoon sunlight. We were able to read text clearly even though colors appeared washed-out. Compared with the K850i, the Sony Ericsson gave us better screen legibility under the same lighting condition.

We mentioned about the microUSB port earlier a nd even we are getting confused as to which size Nokia favors. Besides rendering all our existing miniUSB cables useless, we are also unable to charge the N82 via the PC, unlike the N95 (8GB). Although that's not a big issue, it's probably good to know that you should try not to lose the cable which comes with your set. If you care to know, Nokia has also dropped the infrared option on the N82.

The N82 runs on the third-edition Symbian S60 platform with Feature Pack 1, so it should be familiar to most Nokia users. Porting over data from their existing S60 phones can be done via the onboard Switch application. We've mentioned before that the Quickoffice app is a read-only version on the earlier N95s. The same goes for the N82 we are reviewing. So for users who have an absolute need to create Word, Excel or presentation documents, they'll have to look elsewhere, unless they are willing to pay for the upgrade.

Performance

With a larger-capacity 1,050mAh battery, the rated talk and standby times are higher than the N95 with a 950mAh cell, though its still less than the 1,200mAh BL-6F option on the N95 (8GB). According to the literature, the N82 has a talktime of 260 minutes and standby of slightly over nine days. Based on our typical usage pattern of making phone calls, sending text messages, taking pictures and listening to music, the N82 was able to keep us entertained for about 2.5 to three days before it winked out.

The N82 comes with 128MB of RAM like the N95 (8GB), so we've come to expect a similar kind of snappy response. Truth is, with that amount of memory, it's hard that it will ever be depleted and most of the preinstalled applications can be running in the background without stalling the phone.

As for picture quality, it's one of the best we've seen, on par and better than the Sony Ericsson K850i on some occasions. Although the K850i gave us a better preview of the image on the phone's LCD, the snaps right out of the N82 when viewed on a PC appear more saturated, carry more punch, but sacrifices details. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but one thing to note is that the flash on the N82 is brighter than the one on the K850i. It's a pity that the N82 isn't capable of standing on its sides without any support unlike the N95 (8GB). That could be really useful if we are taking night pictures and want to minimize camera shake by using the timer function. The N82 records VGA-resolution videos at 30fps in MPEG-4 format. There's also a front-facing CIF 352 x 288-pixel camera for video calls.

Nokia N82 Specification

Date Announced 2007, 2Q Network Technology HSDPA/ UMTS/ GSM 850/900/1800/1900/2100 Dimensions (mm) 112 x 50.2 x 17.3 mm Weight (g) 114 Display Screen Size : 2.4 inch, 240 x 320 Screen Color : TFT 16.7 million colors Design Type : Candybar Antenna : Fixed Internal Memory Internal(MB) : 100MB Expansion : Micro SD (T-Flash), Hot swap Battery Battery Type : Li - Ion 1050 mAh (BP-6MT) Stand-by (hrs) : 225 TalkTime(min) : 260 Entertainment Ringtones Polyphonic : MP3 Yes A2DP Yes TV Receiver Null FM Radio Yes Video Record up to 110 minutes (VGA, 30 fps) Video Support 3GPP, H.264/AVC, MPEG-4, RealVideo 7,8,9/10 TV Out Audio Support AMR, WAV, MIDI, MP3, Real Audio, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ Direct connection to compatible TV via TV-out or wireless LAN/UPnP Voice Support Command, Speaker independent name dialing (SIND), Recording, Speaker, Talking ringtone Games Yes Messaging SMS Yes MMS Yes EMS Yes Email Yes Connectivity HSDPA Yes, 3.6Mbps EDGE Class 32, up to 296 kbps Bluetooth Yes, ver 2.0 3G Yes GPRS Class 32 Infrared (IrDA) No USB Port Yes WIFI/WLAN IEEE 802.11b/g/w wireless Internet access Software Java (J2ME) Yes ,MIDP 2.0 + CLDC 1.1 WAP Yes Ver 2.0 Platform / OS - Series 60 user interface, 3.1 Edition Browser HTML Predictive Text Entry T9 PIM Application Advanced S60 PIM features including calendar, contacts, to-do list, and PIM printing Other Application GPS satellite positioning, U-function. Java expand, Data Interface, PC Synchronization Personals Themes Yes Caller ID Photo Caller ID ProfileID Yes Camera Lens Type CMOS, Carl Zeiss Optics (Tessar lens), 5.0 Megapixel Digital zoom 20x Max. Resolution 2592 x 1944 (Secobdary : 352x288) Flash Yes Night Mode Yes Extra Features Auto focus, Macro Mode, Xenon Flash, video Call, White balance, Exposure compensation: +2 ~ -2EV at 0.5 step Photo Format Video up to 110 minutes (VGA, 30 fps)