After owning an n9, I don't think I can ever use any other OS that doesn't have the Swipe UI. The only thing that I feel appealing on the 808 pureview is the camera.
I've really tried to give Symbian a shot with a few phones over the last couple of years (C3-01, E7, N8, 700), and I still have an N810, N900, N950 (and just in the last few weeks, an N9) but the N900 and N9 have just been head and shoulders above any of the Symbian phones.
I really love the keyboard on the N900, but the N9 has won me over with its CalDav support (I have an MfE calendar, and three Google/CalDav calendars on my N9, finally all my calendars on one device, in the same calendar app), Swype, and it's just a really nice phone.
It would be nice if the N9 had a few more commercial games... current Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, etc... and maybe some clients for DRM content (Netflix streaming or similar), but for all of Symbian's nice improvements lately, I still lose more with Symbian than I gain with Maemo and Meego/Harmattan.
It's a hard decision as the 808 has a few features the N9 doesn't have, such as hdmi out and USB on the go. That camera is very very appealing. Had i not bought a second N9 a few months ago as a spare, I'd be getting the 808 to use as a second phone
I have had Symbian smartphones for a long time and whilst in some ways I felt the N9 was a step down from S^3 handsets (lack of vpn, usb-otg, expandable memory and less "mainstream" app), I still think once you have an N9 and know you are not the app type, it is hard to move away from it.
I pick up an iphone and try to swipe apps or swipe down the keyboard - its not happening. Swipe UI is ridiculously simple yet powerful, elegant and something that makes the phone stand out in amongst the generic slabs of glass out there.
If you are a camera guy, 808 ofcourse but if its a quality nokia handset you want, the N9 - no question.
My n9 slipped out my hand and the screen broke. I can't decided if I should get another n9 or the 808 pureview.
Since I noticed the N9 was not built to be held in human hands comfortably I got rid of it asap before I dropped it too hard.
My ideal phone would be the body, built in connectivity hardware, and camera tech of the Pureview 808 combined with the N9's OS and inherent better screen resolution support.
Granted I haven't tested the 808 yet but it has at least an anti slippery coating and more ergonomic design than the N9.
Having swapped my N9 for the N8 has 3 advantages:
-my future 808 will feel very familiar and great camera software currently available on Symbian Belle will be ported in no time.
-thanks to the N8 I have a lot of great pictures that were a pleasure to take and that the N9 would never have delivered in equal quality and with same ease.
-every day after spending some time with my N8 phone I can feel amazed by the genius desktop computer feel they have squeezed in the N900.
If I was only to use the N900 I would keep waiting for the never coming update.
To take some distance is good for keeping the flame in the relationship
I'm coming from using the N900 from launch to August 2011, then switching to an N8 so that I wouldn't have to carry both a smartphone and a camera while traveling or going to social events. I don't use apps - I've always thought the best solution is to have as close to a desktop-class web browser as you can get on your mobile device (nothing has yet made me forget the N900 in that regard). I use a podcasting client, but that's about it.
My only source of dissatisfaction with the N8 is that I multitask on my phone constantly and my N8 has become prone to fits of extreme slowdown and unreliability as new software (updates to the OS and web browser) has come to ask more of the hardware. I miss many opportunities to use that wonderful camera because it takes too long to load the camera app and to go from one shot to the next. I just need a more powerful device.
I tried the N9 for a few days last week and ended up sending it back. If either the software functionality or the camera had been a bit better, I would have kept the device and lived with the trade-offs.
The image quality of the camera on the N9 is pretty good. It's a noticeable step down from the N8 but certainly more than acceptable in good lighting. However, in low-light the performance dropped much more than I felt comfortable with having come from the N8. Unlike the N8, however, I could rely on getting the camera loaded quickly and taking a lot of shots rapidly (a must for making sure that you get at least one shot that is properly focused, a task I find too hard to do on any small device screen).
The gaps in software concerned media playback and web browsing. I couldn't watch the videos that I'd taken on my N8. Worse, I couldn't even open panoramic images that I'd taken on the N8 because the files were too large. I could perform both of these functions on the N8, of course. What's more, I found Opera Mobile 12 on the N8 to be a much better web browser than anything on the N9.
I could still see myself going back to the N9 if a better browser is released before I get a chance to buy an 808; I'm in the US, so it may be several weeks or even months yet. The limited picture and video viewing will still sting, but I could work around it or come to live with it. The lack of HDMI out will sting, but I could come to live with it. But the browser really has to be as good or better than what the 808 will have. If that doesn't happen, I'll be getting an 808 (and I do not look forward to seeing Nokia Belle's 360x640 resolution on a four inch screen...).
