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The Nokia N82 is solid bar style 3G Smartphone which oozes appeal & is packed full of high speed technologies for the travelling business user. The N82 is a member of the N series which has been designed by Nokia & includes a number of popular Smartphone’s including the Nokia N73, Nokia N77, Nokia N81, Nokia N92, Nokia N93, Nokia N93i & the Nokia N95. The N82 comes in a smooth & stylish silver coloured casing which comes with a large colour screen. The screen is crystal clear & provides up to 16.7 million colours on a LCD QVGA screen. The screen is 2.4 Inches in size & the user can view information in either horizontal or vertical mode depending on the feature being used. The Nokia N82 comes with a beautiful keypad which provides the user with small metal effect keys which are slightly raised which makes the keys easy to locate. The Smartphone comes with a smooth navigation key which allows the user to smoothly switch between menus & features easily. The handset is easy to hold, carry & operate in one single hand as it measures 17.3mm in depth by 112mm in height by 50.3mm in width. The handset feels good to hold in the hand which weighs 114 grams & has a solid & high quality feel.

The Nokia N82’s appearance does not stand out. I always show off to my friends, family, and even strangers the phones I carry around. Noone jumps out and scream, “I love this thing.” The general consensus on the Nokia N82 is, “it looks okay.” Matt agrees by saying, “it is not the prettiest thing in the world by a long shot,” in the Nokia Geek’s Nokia N82 initial impression. To fully appreciate the Nokia N82, however, is knowing what it’s capable of.

Design
This is not an attractive phone. It may come packed with features, but the N82 is ugly. It literally looks like it’s fallen off the production line too soon. The silver front and silvery grey casing combine to create a flat, uninspiring look.

It feels solid but lacks the quality feel of the Nokia 6300 and is rather plasticky. Things don’t get better when it comes to the keypad, which although usable, features rice-grain like keys that are a too small for our liking.

There’s a small shortcut key nestled in between the right soft key and cancel key that feels out of place too — but all is not lost in the design department.

The soft keys and navigation key are large and easy to press, and the camera keys are equally straightforward. The camera cover uses a simple switch mechanism and the expandable memory card slot is easy to get to.

In a massive improvement over the N95, the N82’s 3.5mm headphone jack is placed on the top of the phone instead of the side. Another noticeable difference is that the N82 has no moving parts, so taking it out of or putting it into your pocket won’t accidentally activate anything.

Features
The N82’s most impressive feature is definitely its camera. You may be thinking that on paper there’s no significant difference between it and the N95’s — they both boast 5 megapixels — but we think it’s much better. It’s possibly even the best camera on a phone so far.

Flick the cover open and you’re ready to go. Auto-focus works very well and most importantly so does the xenon flash, which the N95 doesn’t have — it really illuminates scenes well in low light and even in total darkness.

But as with the N95 it’s not just about the camera, the N82 packs GPS and we managed to find a satellite within minutes of stepping out of the office. The GPS just works and doesn’t feel as clunky as the GPS on the N95.

In terms of media, not much has been modified from the N95’s offerings. You get a very capable music player that supports a variety of formats, an FM radio, video playback and a demo of the new N-Gage 3D gaming platform.

Add to all of the above HSDPA and Wi-Fi, combined with Nokia’s own Web browser, and you can do some real Web browsing damage. You can also download programs such as Opera Mini or Google Maps to bolster this phone’s array of apps.

Performance
Audio during calls was loud and clear without any noticeable distortion or muffling. The loudspeaker was equally sharp and we were impressed by the stereo speakers, which really were surprisingly loud.

Picture quality from the camera was truly superb and worthy of adulation. Never have we seen such crisp pictures in a variety lighting conditions. It’s the best camera phone available to buy now and worth inspecting if you’re after an all-in-one solution.

Battery life lasted for over a day with moderate use, but needed recharging if we hammered the camera, GPS, HSDPA and Wi-Fi for more than a few hours. Overall though, we were impressed with how long it kept going.

Conclusion
Nokia makes the Nokia N82 the imaging flagship in their Nseries lineup and while it certainly lives up to that title, it doesn’t look like one. The Nokia N95’s form factor looks closer to an imaging phone. The Nokia N82 is also not a beauty queen, but people will buy this phone because of its features. Is the N82 basically the Nokia N95 in a candybar form? Yes and no. They share very similar features, but buyers will need to decide what they use more. Love taking pictures escpecially at night? Go with the Nokia N82. Otherwise take the Nokia N95 with the bigger screen for better overall experience in watching movies or browsing the web.