The Nokia N8 was one of the most anticipated mobile phones of 2010, with it being touted as the best camera phone. It is now Nokia's latest flagship device and one of their best smartphones to date.

The N8 is a great looking phone, it has a minimalistic design and is very slick and smooth. The glass touchscreen covers most of the front of the phone, and the front has a single button. The phone is made out of aluminium, which gives it a top quality finish and a top quality high-end look.

The capacitive touchscreen is a joy to use and is very responsive. However there is in some instances such as the homescreen, a delay in swiping between pages (this is to do with the software and not the quality of the touchscreen), this might be intentional but we would prefer a fluid experience with no delay.

Other specifications include 16GB of storage, which is ample unless you have loads of music, GPS with free Ovi Maps navigation, FM radio and FM transmitter, front facing video call camera, microSD card slot, 3G and WiFi. Before we mention the camera, there is another cool feature, which is USB on-the-go support, this allows the phone to read USB memory sticks, and works as said.

Now the main 12 megapixel camera is fantastic, the quality of the images is better than we have seen from any mobile phone, and this should not be a surprise as the N8's image sensor is the same as what you would find on a compact digital camera. The N8 lives up to its title as the best camera phone on the market at the moment. Adding to the quality is its Carl Zeiss lens, auto focus, Xenon flash and manual shutter. There are also a whole load of options allowing you to change exposure and switch between different scene modes including a close up macro mode. It can also record HD video.

The N8 also runs on the new Symbian^3 operating system, which has been improved for better touchscreen support. We liked using the new operating system and is a much better improvement than previous versions of Symbian on touchscreens, however there are still a few niggles. As said above, the delay in swiping between homescreens is a small niggle, and the look of the operating system is still a little dated.

Overall the N8 is Nokia's best touchscreen smartphone to date, and is also the best camera phone to date, it looks great and functions well. We would recommend this phone to previous Nokia users as well as those looking for an excellent camera phone or even a touchscreen phone, being cheaper than other high-end phones gives it a little added attraction.

Summary:

• Good points: Looks great, fantastic quality camera
• Bad points: Operating system niggles
• Others to consider: Apple iPhone 4
• Free on contract with: Vodafone, O2, Three