Goodbye_n81I would like to say a few words about the N81, as I feel that some reviews have been a bit harsh on the device, but honestly I can’t blame them because with devices like the N95 8GB and N82 around, everything else seems like they are lacking in some way. As the trial is now over I can come to a short conclusion about Nokia’s music-based smartphone. Let’s start with the good points. From the first time I hooked my Etymotic ER-4 earphones to the N81 I could clearly hear a difference between it and the N95 and now even the N82: the sound is amazing! This is N91 territory what we’re talking about here and that’s a good thing. The N91 was the best sounding Nseries and could easily compete with or even beat most MP3 players out there in audio quality, now it’s clear that N81 has caught up. This means that it not only sounds better than the N82 or N95, but has a higher volume reserve. Another thing I liked is the key lock switch: this is something that should come with all devices in the future. As a music device I found it handy that I could lock or unlock the phone without ever having to open or close the keypad and while the music keys are bit too close to each other causing some accidental key presses, it comes in handy to have music keys. Being a smartphone there’s no need to open the music app to control your music, you can be performing other task and just use the music keys to control your tunes, something that even the N82 lacks. While the N81 8GB isn’t that future-proof it’s always nice to get a device out-of-the-box with so much memory, besides there’s always the cheaper microSD card version if you plan to upgrade in the future. When it comes to gaming I have to say that I feel that N81 delivers a better experience than the N95 8GB or N82 just for the fact that it has dedicated gaming keys. Playing Asphalt on the N82 just doesn’t seem the same without the two dedicated keys. When it comes to build-quality I complete disagree with many reviews that have been saying that it feels cheap: The N81 feels substantial and feels solidly built, despite a slight rattle heard inside. It’s built like a tank

On the negative side the camera on the N81 sucks and I really mean it as I’ve shown here. While I can understand the omission of GPS, missing TV-out is unforgivable and would have provided a much better experience for such a gaming device. And why on earth is it so glossy and slippery?

The N81 was aimed as a music and gaming device and the N81 succeeds admirably well in these two areas. No it doesn’t have GPS, or an ultra super duper 5megapixel camera, otherwise it would have been called an N95 or N82! To me the TV is only true unforgivable omission.