Symbian in Motion

Landed and Acclimatised - N81 8GB Special Edition Part 1

It’s been 5 days since the N81 8GB Special Edition landed, and ever since then I’ve been busy making the most of it. I’ve had a few requests to review some specific features and I’ll try do my best in trying to answer them.

Firstly lets get the physical done on the N81 8GB. The full technical specification can be found on the Nokia N81 8GB page, there is no point in repeating old news, what I’d like to do is highlight the more interesting features and some that are lacking. There are 4 indications that make it clear Nokia aimed this at a different market than the N95. the inclusion of 8GB Internal Storage, dedicated buttons for Gaming, Music & Video control (including the multimedia button) and the automatic screen orientation in certain menus. There is no point comparing this device with the N95, they are two different models aimed at two different types of consumers. Where the N95 is aimed at the high end of the market throwing punches in each and every direction, the N81 8GB was made for two reasons; N-Gage gaming and Music / Video playback. The lack of integrated GPS, HSDPA, and inclusion of a 2 Mega Pixel camera is clear evidence it should not in any way tread on the toes of it’s all singing and dancing bigger brother, and rightly so!

Build Quality, Buttons and Battery

The two things that stand out immediately are the shiny glossy front and how heavy the actual device is. The heaviness is due to the use of metal around the main body frame. This gives it a nice ergonomic feel as it’s smooth all the round and feels very solid, although the same cannot be said about the back cover. It’s a very thin plastic cover and pretty flimsy to remove and reattach. The device overall fit’s nicely in my hand. It’s aesthetically pleasing to look at and feels great in your hands. As it also does not have a camera lens protector it doesn’t catch on your pockets when taking it in or out. I would still like to have seen a camera lens protector, but as it’s a 2Mega Pixel camera I doubt it’s worth it.

Coming round to the front, it looks great. I’ve personally had reservations about the button layout and the actual design, in pictures it looks very busy and confusing, although in my hand (especially with the key lights off) it isn’t very busy at all. The buttons are decently spaced out although there are a few annoyances when using the device, mainly to do with the “c” and “answer / reject” buttons. The “c” button is annoying and isn’t placed well, even on the N95 it isn’t placed well, I found my self hitting the “reject” button rather than the “c” when inputting text. The problem gets worse on the N81, there are another 2 extra buttons; “play / pause” and the “multimedia key”. In all honesty I’ve never found myself hitting the multimedia key by accident, nor the “play / pause” button, but I have consistently hit the “c” button every time when trying to hit any of the other buttons around it. I’m not sure what the reason is behind where it is, but it needs to be sorted. Placing it under the navi wheel would be a better option in my opinion.

Moving onto the answer / reject buttons; this is very strange, they are placed on either side, right on the edge of the device making them hard to actually press without catching another button or risking dropping the device, and I can say that has almost happened many times. One other thing that may need looking at in the future is the feedback of some of the buttons, pressing the soft keys you get a tiny bit of feedback, this is strange as it feels like it’s stuck and sometimes I’ve found myself pressing it again only to confirm something I didn’t want to. Considering that the N81 will be used for gaming and the navi wheel as a makeshift “d-pad” I can see that the emphasis has been put on these buttons rather than the actual everyday use buttons. From a gamers point of view it’s great. The navi wheel and the gaming buttons working together is seamless, it’s similar to the old NES control pad in terms of a directional button and 2 action buttons. I’ve played the demo’s available on the N-Gage application and have no qualms about this configuration working great.

What’s become evident in recent months is to have any sort of multimedia device you need the power behind to run it. This was one significant problem with the N95 and still hasn’t been solved. Nokia obviously has learnt the lessons and provided a larger capacity battery for the N81, and rightly so. I can report that it is very good, yes very good. I’ve had it on constantly for a day and a half playing music, using Wi-Fi, playing games, installing and downloading applications and I’m glad to say, it passes the test. This is one key element if you are touting a music and gaming device, it needs power. The issue has been remedied with the BP-6MT 1050mAH battery on the N81 8GB, I just wish something would be released for the N95 too!

In my next post I’ll be covering the UI, Music and Gaming, so look forward to that shortly.

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