Is it worth buying a Nokia smartphone (compared to Android or iOS)?

The Nokia N8 seems (to me personally) to be outstanding in terms of the hardware. However, having never used a smartphone before I would like to know what are the advantages (and disadvantages) of Symbian when compared to Android or iOS.

One obvious advantage is definitely in the number of apps that are available for each platform (there seem to be very few for Symbian3).

What do you guys think?

So far i have had no real problems with my N8, everything works fine but i am already used to symbian (my previous 3 phones all had symbian). I have had to restart him more then my previous phones already though (once a week/2 weeks or something).
The camera of this phone kicks ass of all other phones same with the free navigation with downloadable maps.

If u dont care about this 2 points, I have played with a samsung galaxy s, and i have to admit everything works smooth, fast and easy. Its just what you expect and want from a phone.

Personally, I get good shots with my n8, though flash usually isnt something I need seeing as lightsources usually are plentiful.

As for symbian^3 vs android etc... Iunno, only having used the n8 as far as symbian3 goes and had little play with iphone4 and droid (unless nitdroid for n900 counts ).

But I will say that its pretty snappy, homescreen changing is fast if you disable the theme animation thing which is useless anyways, it multitasks well enough, the webkit browser isnt as horrible as people make it out to be, but hell... thats getting a replacement next fw update anyways, same with qwerty for portrait mode which enables swype..

As for "better than", I dont know. For me, personally, it fits the bill as good as any phone when it comes to UI. Only UI I prefer over it for a mobile device is Maemo5, so lets hope Nokia takes some cues from their Maemo team when they keep updating symbian^3 as theyve promised.


tldr: I dont know, I like it.

Yes, noone other than nokia have the occational faulty device... Mine works flawlessly. And Nokia is picking up pace atm. I mean hell, if this february FW update doesnt deliver, Ill agree, go get gingerbread. But personally, I enjoy the n8 as a phone. Fast, no troubles, bit hard to use browser (which is being fixed in february fw update). the GUI reminds me of symbian s60v5 (apparently being changed in february fw update), I havent found an email client that can handle my hotmail account yet (mobile documents claim to support it soon, as doesnokia mail iirc?), it takes great photos and video, it lacks a bit at the social part compared to Maemo 5 (fully integrated seamless fb chat/msn/etc into contacts and conversations)... what else... Oh yeah, it doesnt have Hermes (which it should have, IMO).

Personally, Id love to see a few changes to be more like Maemo 5 in several regards. Browser, multitasking, fb/msn chat integration, home screen freedom. But overall I really like the N8.

Cause it claims "Unable to connect with settings provided" when the settings are good (email adress and password), thus wont create the mailbox.

hehe i hope you find yourself comfortable with you choice. Like I said, I think you made the right choice.

@Slai: Have had the same prob after i deleted it once. You should try again a few times, then it works great.

I fully appreciate this, my biggest cripe is not that phone does not work sh1t happens but Nokias stick our head sand and hope he goes away attitude to fixing or replacing it.

Anyway all sorted now (eventually) they have a agreed to replace my handset, I just hope the new one works better than the old one, it should not be to hard to achieve.

Even without a flash you pictures looks horrible. Maybe your lens is dirty? Because it looks like it is not clean. Thats a little minus that camera is not covered with something, like was previously mine C905. And it constantly gets dirty.. So try cleaning it.
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=198752&start=165

Thats the pictures that N8 can do.
As for the OP.. I have mine N8 about month now too, and i'm fully happy with it, and don't regret it.
About OS advantages.. As for now - android > Symbian, because now android is on hype now, many developers, many android phone buyers, many games and etc etc, buut its all about what you need. N8 had the hardware i needed, and symbian is great too, there is apps, there is games too, android phones had android, but their hardware is kinda shitty for that price that i wanted to buy N8(i was choosing N8 vs HTC Desire, but desire has just too many minuses, and that one big plus(android) is not enough). Soo in the end.. Its all about price and what you need from the phone