Nokia N81 8GB: The Final Verdict
I think I’ve played with the Nokia N81 8GB enough to render a verdict. If you want to see how I got here, read the following posts:
- Nokia N81 8GB: Let’s Get Physical
- Nokia N81 8GB: That Syncing Feeling–With iTunes on Mac, Anyway
- Nokia N81 8GB: The “Sexy” Navi Wheel?
- Nokia N81 8GB: Podcasts
- Nokia N81 8GB: The Camera
- Nokia N81 8GB: The Battery
In general, I like the phone–enough that I continue to use it as my primary phone. The overall functionality is quite superb, particularly with the TRUE test firmware I am currently using. I don’t find the keyboard difficult to use and I find the hardware quality to be fairly good.The main complaint I have with this phone is the camera. I had a 2mp camera in my Nokia E70 two years ago. I expect better from an Nseries device.
The recent 20.x firmware for the Nokia N95-1 makes the choice far more difficult if it weren’t for one simple fact about the N95: the battery. If I had the N95-3, which has US 3G and a bigger battery, I’d be all over it. I might also be all over the N82, which has a better batter and flash, but lacks US 3G.
In general, I think this is a good music/podcast device. 8GB goes a long way, but they do need to improve the speed at which the device syncs. 600k/s is just too damn slow. To be fair, this problem is not unique to the Nokia N81 8GB, but rather to all currently released Nseries and Eseries devices.
Disclaimer: Despite all recent reorganization, I am still not working for a part of Nokia that has anything to do with mobile phones. I obviously dabble in those matters on my own and these are my opinions. They may not necessarily be shared by my colleagues at Nokia, nor should they be construed as an official “Nokia” opinion.
