Nokia Goes After Multimedia Fanatics With N82

Boasting many of the same specs as the company's popular N95, Nokia brought forth its latest multimedia computer: The N82 (queue heavenly beams of light and angelic chorus). Its feature set is endless, but at $662 will American buyers bite?Nokia's N Series phones are not cheap. When the N95 first debuted this Spring, it cost a whopping $750. You can find it online for under $700 now, but even that is still a hefty price. The N82 carries the expensive lineup to the next level by incorporating as many features as possible.

Here's the run down:

You want radios? The N82's got 'em. It has quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity (which means it can roam in the U.S.), but the European variant of 3G, WCDMA 2100 MHz. If you feel like surfing the net at speeds faster than EDGE, no problem. The N82 has 802.11b/g Wi-Fi on board. Need to transfer files? You got it. Bluetooth 2.0, check. Lastly, it also crams in an FM radio and support for stereo Bluetooth. That's four radios on board, ladies and gentleman.

Next up, the camera. Nokia didn't skimp on quality in this department. The N82 comes equipped with a 5 megapixel camera complete with Xenon flash and autofocus. For low-light environs (you know, like the bar you were at last night with the boys), the autofocus feature will pre-fire a flash to help it focus on your drunken friend as he slumps to the floor. And oh yeah, it shoots DVD-quality video.

What about helping the wandering wayfarer? Built-in GPS and Nokia Maps will help save the day for those lost or just looking to kill some time. Users can find points of interest as well as get directions from point Y to point Z.

Last but not least, multimedia. The N82 hasn't met media it can't handle. It has the S60 media manager, and you can put together slide shows, manage your music, as well as take advantage of one-click uploads to video and picture sharing sites for the full Web 2.0 experience.

The only drawback? The price. $662 is a lot of greenback for a phone. But hey, using the Steve Jobs line of reasoning, if you added up the cost of all those different digital devices (camera, phone, MP3 player, GPS device, etc.) $662 is probably right on target.