Design/Construction
After a 53-day experience with the Nokia N95 8gb I can't possibly avoid comparing it to my new N82. The N82 is just like most candy bar phones but with tiny keys. I find the N82 easier on the grip and the 14 grams lost from the N95 8gb is very much evident especially during heavy texting.
The N82 is not a perfect phone in terms of quality but neither is the N95 8gb.
Keypad/Keys
I personally like the quality of the the keys and it reminds me so much of my Nokia 8850 before. Frankly, the pics and some reviews lie because the quality of the keys came as a surprise to me coz I never expected it to be this good. Initially, texting could be a bit of problem but that's only for a few days. You just have to get used to the tiny keys but after that there wouldn't be a problem at all.
Display
2.4" display is another surprise. The 2.8" screen of the N95 8gb is obviously larger but while most people would prefer the larger screen let me tell you that it may have some disadvantages too. One would be some colors would not appear as sharp as it would appear on a smaller screen just like in the case of the N82. Colors are crisp, solid and very natural. There are a couple of themes that would appear ugly in the N95 8gb that are now looking great on my N82 despite the fact that both models have a screen resolution of 240 x 320 pixels.
The N82's screen contrary to reviews cannot be classified as dim. I can't understand why they tagged the screen of the N82 as such. Sure the N95 8gb has a brighter screen due to its screen size advantage but the N82 still manages to produce crisp and clean color reproduction.
User Interface or OS
User interface is just like your typical Symbian S60 OS-based phone. Same user-friendly interface and I can't find any fault as far as the interface is concerned. As expected with 128mb of RAM and speedy ARM11 332Mhz processor the N82 performs very well even if there are numerous apps running in the background.
Multimedia
As for audio quality the built-in speakers is good at best. Even at max volume the speakers cannot possibly match the N95 8gb's deep, thunderous sound. However, the bundled headphones is very impressive and there is no need to look look for a new set of headphones. In fact, the overall sound quality of the N82 with headphones is superior to that of the N95 8gb. Again, I don't understand why and I am basing my comments on my own experience with both models.
Connectivity/Browser
Browsing in the N82 is pretty much like the N95 8gb sans the larger screen. I can't find any faults with this phone's ability to display large web pages even those with flash animations.
Camera
The N95 8gb took clear pictures and took some tweaking for perfect shots. The N82 in contrast needs no tweaking and all you have to do is point and shoot that's all. If you're looking for a phone that could take the place of your point and shoot digital camera or DSLR for those casual shots then the N82 is definitely worth looking at. I am truly impressed with the N82's cam output and I can safely say that it can give my Olympus 8MP digicam a run for its money. Nokia has done a truly excellent job with the built-in cam of the N82.
Performance
As I've already mentioned above the N82 pretty much performs just like the N95 8gb. Battery life is obviously inferior to that of the N95 8gb's but I haven't really maximized the potential of the unit because I've spent less than 48 hours with it. In my own experience battery life improves after a charge and drain cycle of about two weeks.
Conclusion
The N82 is a steal imho. While its price plummets really fast I would it give it a higher value for money rating than the N95 8gb. It has most of the N95 8gb's features except for humungous capacity of course but I will probably wait until the 8gb MicroSDHC becomes locally available. :)
