[Updated – 01/07/2011]: @WOMWorld has provided me with a replacement unit. Brilliant. Thanks Chris!

I continue to feel mixed emotions when I use this phone.

Symbian is like an old glove—it fits so well, but it feels a bit worn.

The continuing standouts points for me about this phone are:

• The Camera – Stunning
• 720p Video is amazing outside (it would be better if it had continuous auto-focus and 30 FPS recording … without hacking the firmware).
• The VoIP SIP Client integration – This is like a hidden gem. If Nokia could improve the setup of the client, it would be huge. Hell, they could offer their own VoIP service and take on Skype. Roll this client out to the developing markets and you’d create an immediate disruptive technology. Why let Google take all the credit for including it in 2.3 Gingerbread?
• Media player – It plays MKV and divX out-of-the-box

Everything else is so-so in comparison with the other devices that I use.

• The music player sounds great. Built-in preset equalizer and some nice cover-flow animations. That said, there is no gap-less playback
• Another pet-peeve: Phone manufacturers need to standardize on the 3-pin iPhone/iPod accessory standard. I have a nice pair of in-ear-phone + Mic that I would like to use across ALL of my mobile devices. The N8 is the only one which it isn’t compatible, and the included in-ear headset isn’t as nice as my own. RIM, Palm, HTC, Samsung all have started using the standard. They may not fully implement the standard, but I can at least take calls and pause/play music.
• Latency in the UI – some poor choices by Nokia make the UI feel sluggish. I’m told that this will be fixed.
• Speed of the device – That said, it’s not difficult to make the device slow down.
• Apps are just not where they need to be. With exception of a few like Gravity—I’m not feeling it. Windows 7 Phone is already starting to surpass apps built for S^3.

Don’t get me wrong, all of this stuff works—it’s just not the type of stuff that I could fall in love with.

Miscellaneous observations:

• Charging over USB is eratic. The device seems to stay powered, but is not charging (although the charge indicator seems to work). I have to cycle the power to get the phone charging properly.

• Use the Nokia USB cable—my Kindle micro USB cable is not up to the task when transferring large amounts of data.

I was at my parents house that has horrible 3G service.

I would like to say that my Nokia was unaffected, but it really has bad receptions—on EDGE most of the day. It really ate up the battery too. Died by 8am, but I think there were charging issues and I was on VOIP all the time.

One thing that I want to point out is that Bluetooth is as solid as ever on Nokia. They are the only vendor to do it right in my opinion. They support the full OBEX push and file browsing. I don’t know why other phone manufacturers don’t support this.

However, here is an example of how half-baked the UI is for S^3.

When I connect my BT headset to my other phones and make a phone call, I’m given the option to use the phone rather than the headset. However, if I wait, it defaults to the headset.

Now a headset typically is worn while driving or commuting. In this case I was at my parents house. I had taken my headset off but had neglected to turn it off…

I had to call my wife on the phone, but completely forgot that I needed my headset. For the life of me, there is no option to switch the voice/input and output on the phone.

Horrible.

There is some weird stuff with the battery monitor. you can read more about it here:

Google results for N8 battery monitor

I am really impressed by the battery. If I am not filming or using the camera flash, I easily get a full-days worth of use on the phone. This is with push email on all the time. My iPhone is still tops, but my Nexus 1 barely lasts the day.