A while back the nice people over at Nokia gave me one of the first Nokia N8′s to give away to my readers, soon after the competition was over I also received one to test out for a while.

It’s been just over a month since I got the Nokia N8 and although I did not use the phone for the whole month there was 2 weeks where I decided to swap my favourite Android phone for the N8.

Opening the box I was presented with a beautiful lime green Nokia N8 carved from a solid block of anodised aluminium, and one can feel this solid construction when holding the phone.

Setting up the Nokia N8 was a breeze except when I had to transfer my contacts over from my Android phone, seems like Nokia has no support to import contacts from your Gmail account, luckily I found a nice workaround from our friends over at WebAddicts where you can set up an exchange email to sync with Gmail and then also sync your contacts.

For me the biggest features that stood out on the Nokia N8 was the 12 Mega pixel camera capable of taking absolutely stunning picture and high definition videos, and to complement that the Nokia N8 has a HDMI output to view your pictures and video in all of HD glory on you HD TV.

The Nokia N8 features the latest Symbian OS, Symbian^3 and although it looks really sleek there was times that it was a bit sluggish as I flicked through pictures or delayed actions when pressing icons, but all in all if you do not have a particular preference when it comes to OS choice then you would not really have a problem with Symbian^3.

The Nokia N8 unfortunately does not stack up to the high end smartphones like the iPhone 4 or Samsung Galaxy S but one can see Nokia is really starting to make moves into that high end smartphone market. The Nokia N8 I would say is a good phone for those looking at making the move from feature phone to smartphone.

Even though the N8 does not stack up to the best in the market does not mean you do not get your money’s worth, Nokia has thrown in 6 months of unlimited OVI music downloads to sweeten the deal and then you also get lifetime free navigation, which works really well on the N8 if I may add.

All in all I see the Nokia N8 as a must have phone for the digital junkie always looking to take snaps on the go, or transfer files around or even watch the odd movie or episode now and then.

Every die hard Nokia fan has been waiting for the arrival of the Nokia N8 for months now and it seems that the days are closing in. Like promised , Nokia will be selling a limited amount of units online.

Cash orders for the Nokia N8 are now open through www.nokiastuff.co.za. The good news is that the Nokia N8 will retail for R4799 through the website and that includes shipping, all Nokia N8′s that have been ordered online will be shipped from the 25th of October 2010. If you are waiting to get the Nokia N8 on contract, you will be able to start upgrading also from the 25th of October 2010.

If you are one of the first 1000 people to order a Nokia N8 online then your device will be delivered to your door by a butler who will assist you in setting up your brand new Nokia N8 and demonstrate all the cool features such as the 12 Megapixel camera and HDMI output.

To order the Nokia N8 online and be one of the first South Africans to own a Nokia N8 visit NokiaStuff.

Nokia has just launched the all new Nokia N8, and in celebration I am giving away one of the first 8 Nokia N8 mobile phones right here.

The Nokia N8 is packed with features such as:

• A 12 Megapixel Camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash.
• HDMI output to view all your photos and videos in 720p high definition on your TV.
• Symbian^3 operating system with support for multi-touch, pinch zoom and flick scrolling.
• 16 GB of internal memory

This is just a few of the cool features the Nokia N8 has, so how do you enter?

To enter and claim bragging rights of being one of the first 8 persons in South Africa to own the Nokia N8 all you have to do is head over to the Nokia N8 Competition Page and follow the instructions.

Please note that the competition closes at noon on Sunday 19 September 2010, entering the competition is subject to acceptance of the term outlined below.

Terms and conditions for Nokia N8 competition

• To enter the competition, simply tell us what your favourite feature is on the Nokia N8.
• By entering, you approve that we may post a facebook status update on your behalf promoting the competition.
• Winners will be contacted via their Facebook email address.
• The delivery of the prize is subject to the arrival date of the device in the country.
• Entries received after 12:00pm 19th September will be disqualified.
• The competition is open to everyone living in South Africa except employees and immediate family members of Nokia, Fleishman-Hillard and iGeek.
• Please note that if you are a winner on the Nokia Ringaz Blog you may not be eligible to win another Nokia Ringaz competition for a period of three months.
• The winner will be selected at random by the judges, no correspondence will be entered into.
• Entry into this competition constitutes acceptance of the above rules.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have had a hands-on session with the all new Nokia N8. I must say that I was really impressed with the device and consider the Nokia N8 as the next level in multimedia smartphones.

For those of you interested in whats going on under the hood of the Nokia N8, here is a more detailed breakdown:

So what do you think? Is this the phone you are waiting to get your hands on?

Three months ago Nokia announced that they will be introducing a new revolutionary phone to the multimedia cellphone market, and today I got the chance to have a hands-on with the soon to be released Nokia N8.

My initial impression was WOW, carved from a solid block of anodised aluminium the Nokia N8 has it in the bag when it comes to looks, sleek with curved edges and available in nice bright colours.

The Nokia N8 certainly means business when it comes to multimedia, the 12 megapixel wide-angle lens camera takes brilliant snapshots, even in low light conditions and through windows the quality of the pictures did not disappoint through the large 3.5″ AMOLED screen. The 12 megapixel camera also enables the N8 to records videos at 720p at 25 frames per second.

The one thing that really impressed me about the Nokia N8 was the fact that it had a mini-HDMI port, allowing you to just plug your N8 straight into your HD TV with the supplied HDMI cable to view all your photos and video in its full HD glory.

But wait, there’s more. Yes Nokia has decided that giving you 16GB internal memory is not enough, so they added this nice new feature that allows you to plug in a USB drive or stick into the N8 through the provided mini-USB to USB cable and allows you to transfer files between the phone and USB device or even play media directly from the USB device. What this basically means is you can use your Nokia N8 as a home multimedia device when combined with the HDMI out.

The N8 is also the fist phone that runs the all new Symbian 3, I must admit I have never been a huge fan of Symbian but must say that Symbian 3 really stack up against the likes of Android and IOS. Symbian 3 on the Nokia N8 has also reverted to a homescreen approach such as Android and Apple have done. The new Symbian gives you 3 homescreens to customise as you please with the options of adding widgets, folders and shortcuts.

Obviously the N8 is not all play, with support for exchange, Office and PDF documents it is certain to appeal to the business man with style also.

The Nokia N8 should be available early October in South Africa, and you can expect it to retail for about R5500. Nokia will also sell 1500 units from their Ringaz blog for those that really want to claim to be the first to own a Nokia N8 in South Africa.

Nokia announced their latest smartphone the Nokia N8, a smartphone that intuitively connects to the people, places and services that matter most.

With the Nokia N8, people can create compelling content, connect to their favorite social networks and enjoy on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store apps.

The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from the Ovi Store.

The Nokia N8 also features impeccable social networking integration, something that is crucial in this day and age. Users can update statuses, share locations and photos and view their live Facebook and Twitter feeds all from the N8′s home screen.

Free OVI Maps walk and drive navigation is also bundled with the Nokia N8 ensuring you will always find your way no matter where you are.

The Nokia N8 is powered by latest version of the world’s most used smartphone software, Symbian ^3.  Symbian ^3 introduces several major advances, including support for gestures such as multi touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalizable homescreens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. The new 2D and 3D graphics architecture in the platform takes full advantage of the Nokia N8’s hardware acceleration to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface. Symbian^3 also raises the bar in performance by delivering greater memory management allowing more applications to run in parallel for a faster multi-tasking experience.

What do you think, does the N8 have what it takes to compete with the likes of the new HTC Desire or iPhone HD soon to be released?