Don’t be fooled by appearances. The Nokia N82 might have the outward form of one of Nokia’s sleeker and shinier multimedia computers but inside beats the heart of a pure digital camera. Imaging is powered by a smooth 5MP CMOS sensor and backed up by a bevy of photo enthusiast features such as autofocus (with assist lamp), custom white balancing and multiple exposure modes. That’s not to say it doesn’t leap at the chance to venture outside its shell, thanks Wi-Fi and HSDPA data links, one-touch photo upload and Bluetooth 2.0. Framing and playback (including a full RealPlayer media player) is managed on a pin-sharp 2.4-inch screen, or through the N82’s TV out socket. Naturally, it has A-GPS for use with innovative S60 apps like Nokia Sports Tracker, and N-gage gaming for your time off. Ease of use is kept intuitive thanks to 3D multimedia menus and an orientation sensor that automatically flips the screen between portrait and landscape modes.
What we say
What they say
“When we first handled the N82, it was the best phonecam on the market. Guess what? It still is.”
Steven Leckart, Wired
If you only do one thing
Make photography part of your everyday life with the Nokia N82’s powerful 5MP camera, Carl Zeiss optics and real Xenon flash. 2GB of storage lets you snap nearly a thousand images, or film a multiplex-friendly 84 minutes of high quality VGA video.
Miscellany
Xenon, a colourless, odourless noble gas, is key to producing the crisp, natural light in the N82’s flash unit. Here are four facts you may not know about this mysterious miasma:-
- Xenon can be used as an surgical anaesthetic, putting less stress on the heart than other anaesthetic gases and protecting neural cells.
- Xenon chemical symbol, Xe, is the new name for the controversial private military company previously known as Blackwater.
- Isotopes of xenon (Xe-133 and Xe-135) are common by-products of nuclear explosions, and have been used to confirm test detonations (for example, by North Korea).
- Because of its relative rarity (just one part per eleven million in the atmosphere), xenon is about ten times more expensive to obtain than krypton and fifty times pricier than neon.