Initial N80 IE Impressions

I have had my Nokia N80 Internet Edition for a week now and I thought I would post my initial impressions of using the phone.

Overall, I really like the phone. I am new to slider phones, but it is very straight forward to use the N80 - in both "closed" and "open" mode. Device responsiveness is great - some users have complained about this, but I think the persons in question are used to more "light-weight" devices. Compared to the SE P910i I am used to, the N80 is not bad at all.

Basic phone functionality is flawless and I have also tried video calling without any problems. Before buying the N80 IE, I read about people having problems with texting (sending SMS) being annoyingly slow. Nokia even have a patch to remedy this. Fortunately, I have had no problems of this sort - texting on my N80 is as fast as on other phones I have used.

What I have been using most is the WLAN connectivity and I really, really love this feature. It just works, although there are a few catches when configuring WLAN's. The phone manual instructs you to set up a WLAN by opening "Connect." -> "Conn. mgr." -> "Availab. WLAN"; locate a WLAN; and use "Options" -> "Define access point". If the WLAN uses encryption this will result in the display of a cryptic (no pun intended!) message and you will have to go to "Tools" -> "Connection" -> "Options" -> "New access point" to get up and running. Also, if a WLAN does not broadcast the SSID, make sure to set "Network status" to Hidden - otherwise the phone will not be able to detect the network.

I picked up a book, Ida had ordered from our local public library (there's as blog!) and as I walked through the door, I saw a sign that said something about a public wireless hotspot. I whipped out my N80 and was happily checking my Gmail seconds later. The WLAN connectivity just works…

Integration with flickr is one of the additions of the N80 Internet Edition and this stuff also works great. You first have to set up the phone with a flickr account and then you upload to flickr like so … very simple. As far as I can see, the only drawbacks are lack of support of tags and image visibility (images are private by default - maybe this can be set from within flickr?¹).

I have not used the camera much and I am not a very good photographer. My initial impression is that the lack of auto-focus makes the camera unnecessarily complicated to use. Images taken in plenty of daylight appear to turn out ok, but quality is lacking under low-light conditions. Plenty of daylight is a scarce resource this time of year in Denmark.

1. UPDATE: Yes it can - in your account settings [back]

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