A good alternative to the N95, the N81 offers very nearly the same features, but at a significantly lower price. It's a classic-style smartphone with GPS navigation, an outstanding 5 megapixel camera, media player, wireless LAN, a 2 Gbyte memory card and HSDPA for accelerated 3G connectivity.

The Nokia N82 measures 112mm x 50mm x 17.3mm (4.4" x 2" x .7") and weighs 114g (4oz). The N82 is one of the first Nseries candy bar phones since the Nokia N73.
The Nokia N82 feels great in the hands. It is very solid and does not feel cheap or rushed to production. The entire phone’s body is made of plastic, but unfortunately there is a cheap feeling when using it, although the construction is solid. Still, the weight is pocket-friendly, which has been the idea of the manufacturer.

The display on the N82 is a 2.4" 16.7 million color TFT screen, with 240 x 320 pixel resolution. The display is mounted flush with the front of the handset, and is protected by a polished layer of plastic. This causes some readability issues in direct sunlight due to glare, but otherwise, the N82's display is bright and easy to read. Above the display is the speaker, an ambient light sensor, and a front-facing VGA-resolution camera for video calling (where supported). This front-facing camera is also handy for self-portraits and MMS video messages.

The N82 is Nokia’s first cameraphone equipped with a Xenon flash, instead of a standard LED one. This is what Sony Ericsson has been using in its top cameraphones since the K800 and has proved to be the best such technology. Flashes of this type have also appeared in the recently released high-end cameraphones of Samsung (G800) and LG (Viewty).

The Nokia N82 is targeted not only as a high-end cameraphone but as an all-in-one multimedia device. It can also capture high-resolution (VGA) clips, manage audio and video as well as office files, as it is a Symbian 9.2 S60 smartphone.

- Standard battery: Li-Ion 1050 mAh (BP-6MT)
- Stand-by: Up to 225 h
- Talk time: Up to 4 h 40 min

The music player is another good Nokia N82 application. There are no dedicated music keys but controlling it with the D-pad is just as easy and you won't miss them much. A huge number of audio formats including MP3, AAC, eAAC+ and WMA, are supported. The M3U playlists are also managed flawlessly and files are added to the music library by simply choosing the refresh option.

Sorting your songs by artist, album, genre and composer is automatic and searching tracks by gradual typing is also available. Transferring tracks to Nokia N82 can be achieved via Bluetooth, USB or by simply downloading them from the internet. You can also use a card reader for that purpose and transfer them directly to your memory card.

Upon completing a USB transfer, the phone automatically prompts scanning for new music tracks and, if allowed to do so, adds the new ones to the music library.

The player comes with five equalizer presets, which is a good count by any means. If it still seems insufficient, you can edit them or create new ones in a matter of seconds.

In contrast to Nokia N81 for example, the music player of Nokia N82 can be switched off when it is not needed. This can save some RAM but with this amount of available operating memory this is not that important.

Being one of Nokia's best equipped phones Nokia N82 naturally also includes support for the A2DP Bluetooth profile, which allows listening to your music on a Bluetooth stereo headset. We had no problem connecting any of the tested headphones.

Card slot
microSD, hot swap, 2 GB card included.
- 100 MB internal memory
- ARM 11 332 MHz processor
- 256 MB NAND Memory
- 128 MB SDRAM Memory
~ 90 MB Free Executable RAM Memory

Just as the Nokia N95, the N82 cannot really be considered a global phone due to its crippled 3G support. Although the quad-band GSM/EDGE receiver allows it to be used worldwide, the 3G UMTS/HSDPA will be limited only to regions with 2100 MHz coverage (Europe and Asia).

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There are three methods for local connectivity: Bluetooth (v2.0 with EDR), WiFi and USB. Bluetooth will most commonly be used for connecting to other mobile devices or phone accessories; WiFi is most convenient for connecting to local wireless networks and using them as a source of Internet; while the USB is the preferable connection to a computer. Once the microUSB cable is attached, the phone asks you to select one of four connection methods:

1. PC Suite used for synchronizing the Contacts, Calendar entries (To-Do) and the Notes with most popular systems: Outlook (Express), Lotus Organizer, Lotus Notes, Vista Contacts.

2. Data transfer opens the memory card (if present) as mass storage device, for easy and fast transfer of files.

3. Image print is used with compatible printers, to print images without a computer being necessary.

4. Media player is used for more comfortable transfer of multimedia files to and from the phone.

Nokia N82 comes with three preinstalled games. Two of them are based on the new N-gage platform and even though they are demo versions, playing them is a nice experience. The included titles are the same as the ones found on Nokia N95 8GB - Fifa 2007 and Asphalt 3 Street rules. In all fairness, we faced some difficulties with the controls of FIFA 2007, which didn't seem properly chosen. In fact the only mobile phone where this game was easily handled was the Nokia N81, thanks to the two dedicated gaming keys which did a great job.

The third game to be found on Nokia N82 is Snake. First to feature on the original Nokia N95, this 3D game is surely one of the best achievements in this area. We did spend quite a number of hours playing it and we really enjoyed the experience