I've been a Symbian fan for years so the N8 was a natural upgrade from my N97. A lot has been written about the camera and it's all true - there is no better camera phone. The multimedia capabilities of the N8 are very strong, Dolby 5.1 surround, HDMI video out, 720p video recording, \"play via radio\" (the absolute killer feature now copied by others). The N8 has a 3d graphics processor so gaming is very good, connect it to your telly with the AV lead and play racing games using the accelerometer as the steering - who needs a Playstation? It has USB on the go too, you connect memory sticks, hard drives, keyboards and even a mouse! So overall I think this is a phenominal technical achievement for Nokia, I love it -BUT now for the downside: Battery life, can't call it more than adequate, you get through the day, just (I'm a heavy user so others may do better). The on screen keyboard, it's all there - character preview, haptic feedback but they put the cursor forward and back keys either side of the space bar, so more often than not when going for you hit and then the cursor jumps to the begining of your text - this frustrates the hell out of me! Those are the only two things I can think of to criticise, It's a wonderful device

The N8 is a fantastic alternative to your camera and camcorder. It has a 12 MP camera and HD quality playback. This was the main reason why I purchased the N8 and from this perspective it has not failed to live up to my expectations. Other good points is the WiFi capability that allows you to make use of WiFi hotspots to prevant your network data allowance being used up. Downloading speeds are a lot quicker on WiFi however at times reception is poor on pure reliance of network reception for downloading. There are plenty of apps to download in the OVI Store but it is poor compared to itunes (I also own an IPOD touch) and if you wanted to purchase a phone for apps i would recommend the iphone on experience of itunes. The N8 however is a good alternative to the iphone, battery life is better, the sat nav embedded in the phone is excellent and is on par to my car sat nav, and the camera / video capability is out of this world. The N8 is your one alternative to your camera, camcorder, mp3, and sat nav all in one device. There is one massive downside to this phone - if you are a lover of predictable text you will find that the touch screen often mistakenly brings up menus when you are typing away your text to change to number mode or a differnt language mode - it is a difficult phone to get used to texting especially with one hand!

Feels nice in weight and the aluminum case is solid enough. Smallish in the hand.

The camera has 12 megapix and video recording in 720p and can upscale to 1080i via the HDMI port(cable included)

The lens is great and has an actual mechanical shutter for high speed photography which worked amazingly.

The main screen now has 3 home screens customizable. The contacts widget now can have a list of 20 attached to it that can scroll along.

The battery has a design fault; the batter is not removable as its screwed into the handset. The Nokia N8's battery isn't meant to be replaced by the end user. This is made clear by the fact that the device is sealed and held together with screws - oh, and Nokia says not to in the user manual. However, some new pictures have surfaced, and it looks like swapping out the N8's battery is as simple as removing two screws and popping off the bottom.

Battery life lasts around 20 - 24 hours depending on usage.

Good points: three home screens, big screen to watch videos, good sound when listening to music and video.

Bad points: Battery and battery life