The Nokia N82: The Rightful Heir to the N72 Throne

Author: Moby
Filed under: Nokia
Date: Feb 22,2008

Nokia N82
After the overwhelming success of the N72, Nokia has come up with another handset which they hope to become the next N-series bestseller. We find it to be a noteworthy successor of the N72, and we won’t find it surprising if it becomes an instant hit as well. This is also partly because the N82 is relatively affordable as compared to the rest of the N-series. In fact, it is by far the most affordable of all the feature-rich Nokia camera phones.

The Nokia N82 is a candy-bar type phone with a comfortable size and a good weight distribution. The back side of the N82 becomes interesting as it houses a 5-megapixel camera featuring Carl Zeiss optics and a Xenon flash. It has also an autofocus feature and a dedicated camera key making things more convenient.

The N82 has one major shortcoming, though: its unreasonably small Keypad. Let us just say, they’re not the type of keypad most people in their right minds would like. However, we will give them an average rating on this aspect since they allowed ample spacing in between the keys. We still believe Nokia could have done a better job. The backlighting is not strong enough, but it can actually do a decent job.

The audio port of the N82 is found on the top edge, which is rather unique - no more worrying about protruding sides when you put your phone in your pocket. On the left edge are the microSD expansion card slot, port and the charging connection, while on the other side lies the stereo speakers, shutter, volume controls and gallery key.

If you are familiar with the N95, then there really is nothing new to talk about. The only thing most notable is its Xenon flash and a smaller 2.4-inch display. It runs on the Symbian S60 third edition so it should be easy on Nokia users.

When it comes to performance, the N82 is quite impressive. First, we believe that the Xenon flash in the N82 is one of the most powerful ones we’ve seen so far in a camera phone, which is a great thing. We also liked the larger capacity battery which allows talktime of 260 minutes and standby for over nine days. Third, it is also worth noting that the N82 is equipped with a 128MB RAM, which makes responses very quick. We have tried running different applications on the background and noticed no stalls.

In terms of picture quality, N82 shots are among the best we have seen so far, even better than the Sony Ericsson K850i on many instances. It is unfortunate though that this unit can’t stand on its sides like normal digicams. Night shots are pretty impressive too, thanks for the Xenon flash.

The N82 deserves to be considered as the successor of the N72. If you wish to upgrade, then this is probably a great option. It is excellent as a camera as well as an all-around phone. It does have its imperfections, but we still highly recommend it.

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