The N82 is Nokia’s first cameraphone equipped with a Xenon flash, instead of a standard LED one. This is what Sony Ericsson has been using in its top cameraphones since the K800 and has proved to be the best such technology. Flashes of this type have also appeared in the recently released high-end cameraphones of Samsung (G800) and LG (Viewty).
The Nokia N82 is targeted not only as a high-end cameraphone but as an all-in-one multimedia device. It can also capture high-resolution (VGA) clips, manage audio and video as well as office files, as it is a Symbian 9.2 S60 smartphone.

Design:

Just a look is enough to see that the new N82 is … let’s say different. It doesn’t remind us of any previous Nokia phone, has very different style and design-language as a whole. We may characterize it as hate-it-or-like it style and as a whole it is not among the attractive phones. The entire phone’s body is made of plastic, but unfortunately there is a cheap feeling when using it, although the construction is solid. Still, the weight is pocket-friendly, which has been the idea of the manufacturer.

In the upper half of the phone are situated the lightning sensor, the QVGA secondary camera, the earpiece and the 2.4” display. Although it is smaller than the huge 2.8” one used in the N95 8GB, it is bigger than the K850’s 2.2” which is a success. Although it is not the brightest one, it is still perfectly readable in any environment, something typical for a contemporary Nokia

Packing a large display and a keyboard into a body not that huge, isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, so compromises must be made with both of them. The N82 isn’t huge, the display is large, so the logical conclusion is that its keypad is small. There is some space between it and the display but obviously the technology still does not allow the developers to use it for a larger keypad. As a whole it is not really bad but the numeric buttons are very tiny, and must be pressed with the tip of a finger. Their type is similar to those of the Sony Ericsson K850, but the latter are more convenient to use as they are bigger and with larger space between each.

Untypically for Nokia, the bottom side houses only the microphone and the connectors are moved to the other sides. On the left are the charging connector, the microSD slot (covered with protective door) and the microUSB for connecting the phone to a computer. On the top is the 3.5mm jack, which allows connecting standard headphones and the typical for Nokia power key, while on the right similar to the N95 are: the volume rocker, the gallery shortcut and the shutter key. As they are illuminated, it is easy to find them by looking, but it is not so by touchin

As usual, the camera lens and flash are located on the back side. Next to them is a small slider that opens/closes the lens cover; it is not very comfortable but we prefer it to the bulgy cover used in the Samsung G800 for example.

Interface:

Nokia N82 is using Symbian v9.2 Operating System and S60 Interface 3rd edition with Feature Pack 1, which is what other contemporary smartphones of the brand use (N95 8GB, N81 (8GB) ).

The banner at the top of the homescreen houses all the service information. Just below these is a row of 6 shortcuts which can be personalized to suit you best and the rest of the display is used for “notifications”. This is where missed calls, upcoming tasks (or To-Do in the calendar), received messages are displayed, as well as the music player status (the song that’s played at the moment). Shortcut to a global Search, that will seek in the whole phone's memory, which we find very handy is situated here also. Located at the bottom of the screen are the two software buttons which can also be personalized from the Settings menu.

he main menu can be viewed as a 3x4 grid of icons that can also be displayed as a list (it’s chosen directly from the main menu), but the icons are not animated in both cases. The numeric keypad buttons can be used as shortcuts. Like other Symbian phones, you can rearrange the icons in the menu and move links in folders.

A nice extra of the Symbian v9.2 is that each application which is active has a small circle next to its icon in the menu. For example, if you left any application running in the background, then in the main menu next to "Applications" link an indication would appear. As all other Symbian S60 phones, you can see the running applications by holding the Menu key, and shut some of them off by selecting them and using the C key.

The menu can be personalized by using themes, and if you combine various screensavers and personalized homescreens, two identical phones can look quite different. The operating system definitely provides many good personalization options.

Nokia N82 has a sensor for the orientation of the device, which is used to control the interface. Once you rotate the phone it should go into landscape mode, however, this isn’t the most adequate one we’ve seen. Often, you’ll have to shake the phone, in order the changes to take effect.

Connectivity:

Just as the Nokia N95, the N82 cannot really be considered a global phone due to its crippled 3G support. Although the quad-band GSM/EDGE receiver allows it to be used worldwide, the 3G UMTS/HSDPA will be limited only to regions with 2100 MHz coverage (Europe and Asia).

There are three methods for local connectivity: Bluetooth (v2.0 with EDR), WiFi and USB. Bluetooth will most commonly be used for connecting to other mobile devices or phone accessories; WiFi is most convenient for connecting to local wireless networks and using them as a source of Internet; while the USB is the preferable connection to a computer. Once the microUSB cable is attached, the phone asks you to select one of four connection methods:

1. PC Suite used for synchronizing the Contacts, Calendar entries (To-Do) and the Notes with most popular systems: Outlook (Express), Lotus Organizer, Lotus Notes, Vista Contacts.

2. Data transfer opens the memory card (if present) as mass storage device, for easy and fast transfer of files.

3. Image print is used with compatible printers, to print images without a computer being necessary.

4. Media player is used for more comfortable transfer of multimedia files to and from the phone.

Internet:

As other S60 phones, loading and viewing a standard HTML web site is a pleasant and easy job. The phone has no problem rendering all pages and reading phoneArena's news was a pleasure as the text fields are shrunk to fit the width of the display. Scrolling left-to-right and top-to-bottom is done with the phone's d-pad, and a mini-map indicates, which part of the page you are looking at. The pages loaded pretty fast and as a whole, we had a great experience with the browser. Another great idea is the history: when you use 'back' to see pages you've seen earlier, you see the pages as thumbnails, instead of just as names. The browser can load RSS feeds for even faster access to information.

Camera:

The N82 is advertised mainly for its camera capabilities, featuring 5-megapixel resolution, Carl Zeiss lens and Xenon flash. According to the Product Manager of the phone, new algorithms are used for the images, due to the new flash that delivers white-colored light. As it is much stronger too, the results should be much better.

And this is true – when shooting in dark environment using the flash, the N82 gives excellent for phone results, similar to the K850 which also uses Xenon. The two phones surpass the competition with well lit photos, more realistic colors and better detail. Even in complete darkness, the object will be in focus thanks to the very strong assistance light. It creates a large red “spot” where the phone is pointed, which may be unpleasant for the others but does its job excellent. Although both Samsung G800 and LG Viewty have Xenon flashes, they both have mediocre performance next to the N82.

The photos during the day are not bad at all either. They are very similar to those of the N95, which is one of the good cameraphones on the market. The detail and noise levels are good and so is the exposure, with the only problem being the unrealistic color representation in some situations. Still, we would have liked to see improvement over the older models also here, but we guess this will happen with the next generation high-end cameraphone of Nokia.

Performance:

Although it is not as fast as the Symbian phones with 369 MHz processors, the N82 can not be referred as to "slow". The only times when it slows down is while opening and previewing a large image, which isn't a very easy task for any phone. Its speed is pretty good for a smartphone, especially when compared to its Windows Mobile rivals. We are also pleased with the quality of the sound during a call: emblematic for top-shelf Nokia phones it is very good. The strength in both directions is sufficient, the voices are clear and pretty realistic with the only drawback being that they are slightly muffled . but it has Dual ARM 11 332 MHz processor; 3D Graphics HW Accelerator

Conclusion:

Are you looking for a multimedia phone? You've been reading the right review then: the N82 will offer you everything you would expect. Its camera is top-notch, upgrading what the N95 offered with a real, powerful Xenon flash with excellent focus assistance. The rest of the multimedia (music, videos) is typical for the Symbian 9.2 in the N-series phones and is very good. Of course as in every phone there are some minor drawbacks, like the imperfect design and keyboard, or the sound through the speakers, but overall the N82 offers a lot, in pocket-friendly dimensions. In addition, it is a smartphone, which gives additional advantages over the rival 5-megapixel models, so we highly recommend it.