Nokia Moves a Step ahead..

THE NOKIA N82 is the latest from the Finnish phone manufacturer’s ever-improving N-Series stable. The candy bar design phone packs a punch with goodies that range from a 5 MP sensor camera with Xenon flash to a GPS function. It has almost everything the N95 8GB has except for the smaller 2.4 inch screen and it only comes with a 2GB microSD card.

We like its standard 3.5 mm jack port, vibrant display that supports up to 16 million colors, screen orientation that changes from portrait to landscape depending on how you hold the phone (iPhone-anyone?), sliding camera cover that switches the camera on and off and a host of rich connectivity features.

The body has a chrome finish that is mostly made up of the plastic the phone owes its light weight to. The build quality is decent and its size is a few millimeters longer and wider than the older N73 but it is a lot slimmer.

If one has to complain about the design, it would be the thin and unconventional keypad that Nokia has employed. If you send a lot of text messages, you may find this inconvenient. Also the white key labels are not the easiest to read either against the shiny metallic finish, especially under bright sunlight. The placement of the buttons did not pose much of a problem but the shortcut button right next to the flat navigational pad that launches media interface tends to get in the way. The TV-out function is a bonus and can be connected to your TV at home, and the connection port that doubles up as a headset port is conveniently located on the top of the phone. It uses micro-USB and a Bluetooth 2.0 for data transfer. Since the former is not yet used in many devices, make sure you keep the cable safe.When it comes to phone

functions, the N82 performed basic phone functions effortlessly. That said,the messaging features may not please everybody. Its 128MB RAM let us carry out multitasking without any delay and delivered what it promised. Its much touted 5MP camera outperformed many of the 5MP camera phones. The auto-focus outclassed the N95 8GB camera, it produced warmer pictures than the Sony Ericsson K850i, and sharper and richer colors than the Samsung G800. When it came to low light shooting, the Xenon flash was one of the best. Its macro mode shooting is above par. But while it maintained rich color reproduction, pictures lacked details but that is only when it was compared to the stand-alone mid range digital camera.

Its video capturing capability at VGA resolution is also praiseworthy and the audio recording also had a lot of clarity. Apart from its imaging capability, its music player pumped out decent sound. FM radio worked fine and reception was exceptional. Its onboard speaker volume was not too loud but was far from dismal. The usability of the A-GPS feature with bundled Nokia Maps depends on the network from your cellular provider.

While it may not be fully featured as the Nokia Navigator, it let us view our current location and search point of interest and voice guided navigation is available at extra cost. Its rich connectivity features that include 3G with HSDPA, EDGE and WiFi support mean you get more than one way to check your mail or browse the versatile built-in browser. Its Symbian S60 v3 with Feature Pack 1 ensures you are not running out of applications even if you are not satisfied with its pre-bundled applications like Quick Office, PDF reader, Zip utilities, Barcode scanner etc.

N-games preview is available but it may not be the best control tool considering
the not so friendly keypad design. Its battery lasted for 2 days under normal usage which is average. Overall, the performance of the N82 is impressive and for the price and features, we highly recommend it if you are still in doubt over which camera phone to buy without compromising on other functions.