I’ve gotta say; when I heard about the Nokia N8, announced officially this morning, I was more than a little “jazzed.”  Yesterday, the device was leaked in a most unfortunate way, feeding the frenzy of so many in the tech press who are at Nokia’s throats for all sorts of reasons before they leave the gate.  Today, however, Nokia struck back incredibly well, and I felt proud of their efforts, and of the N8.

It’s worth noting that I’m not a Nokia employee, nor do I receive any sort of income from Nokia or any related activities.  I’m an American who traded out his Samsung Sync and iPod touch for a Nokia 5800 about a year ago, and have been utterly thrilled with both Symbian and the quality of the phone.  My 5800 does more, is more compact, and is so much more versatile than so many devices, both below and well above its cost.

At what will be approximately $500 US, the N8 looks to continue that pattern quite well with some rather amazing stats.  There’s enough content about the N8 in enough places that I can trust rather well you’ve sought or can seek out what you’d like.  In all honesty, I’m not terribly sure that the N8 will catch on in huge waves in the US, due to a general lack of understanding about unlocked phones, and about anything relating to Symbian.

The reality is that even with my 5800, there are boatloads of use cases for what otherwise can be considered an inferior device: I can take 3MP, flash-lit stills and brightly lit VGA video with good audio; I can use the device’s stereo speakers to fill a room with sound; I can navigate with turn by turn directions for free; I can download podcasts via RSS; I can use Nimbuzz, Opera Mobile, Gravity, Mobbler, Sports Tracker, and so much more.  I’ve saved money by easily disabling all packet data and relying on WiFi for months on end.

My point is that I have a whole lot of trust in the N8, and for Symbian devices for the future.  Symbian already has a beautiful, fully-functional multi-tasking solution; folders for organizing applications; wonderful resource management; and other niceties which other “more advanced” solutions only will touch on the horizon, if that.  Add in a solid piece of hardware with a 12MP camera, Xenon flash, 720p video recording with a built-in video editor replete with titles, etc.; and indeed, the future looks rather rosy.  There will be many wonderful uses for the N8 and its successors, regardless of what the competition or the market dictates, and in the end I’d argue that this is the most important point of all.