Nokia N8 or Galaxy S

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Ok then, I have the option of either an N8 or an SGS. Any opinions on which I should go for, been using the Galaxy for the last week, overall very nice, but I am not a big fan of the build quality (feels very light/plasticy) and the gps reception is shocking I've tried the fixes mentioned on xda dev and the phone is running 2.2.1 and at best it is flaky, one moment 8 sattelites locked in then 0 the next whilst standing still outside :confused:

The N8 despite the critics I find quite nice to use and the materials used give it a nice quality feel, I know there are ways to get most of the google services running for it so that isn't an issue, only real issue I have seen while testing one was the push email could be hit and miss. a fix for that is supposed to be coming in the next update (supposedly along with a load of improvements including new browser and various other improvements.

Camera wise the N8 wins hands down, battery life also seemed better.


Any opinions?

Cheers :D
 
Didn't Samsung release a market app which resets the gps or summat? + There's absolutely nothing wrong with a plastic chassis to create a light phone... just a shame it's that crappy glossy plastic finish.

Personally I couldn't live with Symbian, lets hope rumours about Nokia using WP7 are true :)
 
As an owner of the N8, I'll gladly recommend it. Build quality is second to none. The only 2 issues I have with it are the lack of a portrait QWERTY keyboard and sub-par web browser (although Opera Mobile fixes this) and as you mentioned, the update in January will bring those fixes (plus lots more). Also you have to shell out £3 for the full version of angry birds where as Android users get it for free (ad supported) and iOS for £0.59 :(
 
nokia n8 has a free sat nav (which recently just got yet another update) which means you can be reassured they constantly work to improve it.

i have used the gps and sat nav a lot on the n8 and its a lot better than older nokia's. in fact its a lot better than some sat nav's you have to pay for.

camera quality is also second to none.

i use my phone for occasional music (built in fm transmitter is also very good), taking pictures, sat nav, but most of all as a phone.

it does all of these jobs perfectly fine. the ovi store is also getting regular free apps and updates.

if you want apps get an android, if you want a phone/camera/sat nav get an n8.
 
There is no situation in day to day use where I could see myself saying "Gee, I wish I had chosen a Nokia N8 over my Galaxy S".
 
Psycho Sonny said:
nokia n8 has a free sat nav (which recently just got yet another update) which means you can be reassured they constantly work to improve it.

i have used the gps and sat nav a lot on the n8 and its a lot better than older nokia's. in fact its a lot better than some sat nav's you have to pay for.

camera quality is also second to none.

i use my phone for occasional music (built in fm transmitter is also very good), taking pictures, sat nav, but most of all as a phone.

it does all of these jobs perfectly fine. the ovi store is also getting regular free apps and updates.

if you want apps get an android, if you want a phone/camera/sat nav get an n8.
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Doesn't Android have a free sat nav too? Google Navigation?
 
SubFocus said:
Doesn't Android have a free sat nav too? Google Navigation?
Click to expand...

It kind of does but not 'full' sat nav - its not v good for driving & it uses data the whole time.

The N8 hardware is the ****** but the software is dire, as a result the Galaxy is far better than the N8. The browser (even with upcoming improvements) is poor, I just wouldnt touch it unfortunately. In 6 months time folowing updates the N8 may be worth it but we just dont know.
 
Not a Galaxy S comparison but it is the same OS..:

One thing I must note, testing my brothers Galaxy S I did notice slowdowns which are very annoying (even though its one of the fastest android phones out). Android need to sort out those issues. The new Android Google maps 5 is superb.
 
Christo said:
Gosh so it is, just had a look on youtube. I should stop talking out of my behind.:D It still uses data which might be an issue for some (not most people though however).
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You can cache the data now. Not as good as Nokia's solution but better than nothing right?
 
w1lliam said:
You can cache the data now. Not as good as Nokia's solution but better than nothing right?
Click to expand...

Google Nav has always pre-cached the map when it calculates the route, only now it caches potential wrong turns and also keeps all map tiles on the SD card as well. You can even tell it to cache in the background while you're going about driving so accidental turns etc are already in the system beforehand.

I've done over 10,000 miles in Google nav and have used all of the big name Nav software and hardware over the years, this has certainly been the easiest to follow voice direction wise and the mapping especially with satellite overlay is super impressive. It does stuff other satnav units do too like zooms all the way in to show lanes at junctions on the motorway as you apprach then zooms back out. You also get compass mode in the maps which rotates as you do and so on.

Even if you have to use data to download some map info for whatever reason it's all vector based now so map tiles are no more and the sizes of maps are much smaller so downloads are faster and data bandwidth is not consumed.

Coolness!
 
Are you saying that Google Nav (i didn't think it worked in the UK with full turn by turn voice navigation?) can run without the need for a data connection once you've set your route in it?
 
Correct. Full turn by turn has been in the UK for many months now. Before version 5 it only needed a data connection if you strayed off course as it needed to reroute and download map data but version 5 does this at the very start anyway and since it's vector based mapping it does it very fast and it can also do it in the background for potential routes where you might stray off course as well.


That's from April 2010, improvements have been made since then of course but that gives you an idea.
 
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