When we reviewed the Nokia N8 yesterday, we really couldn't have been more impressed by the hardware. We'll be bringing you a full review of the Symbian ^3 operating system in the next week, but to find out what the Nokia N8 is like to use when it comes to texting and calling, join us after the cut...
Although Symbian ^3 is a completely new operating system, it bares more than a passing resemblance to Symbian S60 5th Edition. As such, it'll be instantly familiar to existing Nokia owners, while being significantly improved.
One of the areas of change is the onscreen keyboard, and the Nokia N8 is very capable when it comes to texting and emails. As with previous Nokia handsets, there's no QWERTY option when in portrait mode, but for many users the alpha-numeric option is a lot easier, with less need for the handset to try and second guess what you're typing.
Switch the handset to landscape mode, and the keyboard automatically changes to QWERTY. We like the fact it's possible to have predictive text on both options, and the Nokia N8 has a decent go of guessing words, even when they're miss-typed.
You can change the settings to alter the way the predictive text works. You can either set it so the predicted word appears above the one you're typing, letting you tap this if you get something wrong – or so it appears in place of the one you're typing, automatically replacing it unless you click on the alternative.
We like this option, as it comes in handy if typing unusual words, slang or even swear words. With other (unnamed) handsets it's infuriating when the phone changes the word you're typing, even when you've clicked all the correct letters.
The different keyboard options both pop up in a separate screen from the one you're entering text into. This can be a bit frustrating if you're hoping to read something above – from a web page, for example – but for 95 per cent of the time it's not an issue.
The Nokia N8 is also the first Symbian Nokia handset to feature threaded text messaging. It appears under messaging as Conversations, just above the regular message inbox. Click Conversations, and you'll see threads from your different contacts. It's a great way of managing your messages, although again it's a shame that you can't see existing text when entering a new message.
The keys are especially large when used in alpha-numeric mode – and with capacitive technology offering faster responses, we found typing errors happened on very limited occasions.
Adjusting to the QWERTY keypad is a bit more tricky – with the keys proving a lot smaller it's easier to hit adjacent keys. As mentioned, however, the Nokia N8's predictive function is reasonably good, and it's the first time this reviewer has been tempted to ditch the Nokia N97 Mini's excellent hardware keyboard in favour of a touchscreen.
Texting could still be improved then – mainly by the ability to see onscreen text when entering new messages – but we love new features such as the threaded messaging, the new QWERTY layout and the fact that the predictive text is so adjustable.
Check back here in the next week to find out if Symbian ^3 is as good in other areas, and if it's the operating system to go perfectly with the Nokia N8's sublime hardware.
Check out our Nokia N8 keyboard review photo gallery below:
