I headed out to CTIA a few weeks back in search of a new handset to replace my Apple iPhone.  Last week I decided to give Nokia's N82 a whirl, and through the magic of Internet classified ads, PayPal, and FedEx, last Friday I had my new (slightly used) phone in hand.

Thoughts after two days?  The N82 is more or less what I was expecting: A phone with an amazing camera that pales in comparison to iPhone's user experience.  I shot a bunch of still photos and videos over the weekend, and am really impressed with the handset's imaging capabilities - made all the better at night by the integrated Xenon flash.  The phone is capable of shooting 5MP photos and full VGA resolution video at 30fps, which almost equals the standalone Sanyo Xacti video camera I use for all my work for the site.

What the N82 lacks in sex appeal and ease of use it makes up for in functionality - at least on paper.  I didn't realize how much I missed stereo Bluetooth (iPhone doesn't support it) until I hooked a BT receiver up to our bedroom stereo and sat in bed streaming tunes across the room from the N82.  The N82 works with Nokia's newly re-launched N-GAGE games, and its Symbian S60 OS is also compatible with literally thousands of downloadable freeware, shareware, and commercial apps.  I played some FIFA '08 (impressive graphics, though the N82's D-Pad isn't the best for gaming) and downloaded an Internet Radio application, but that's barely even scratching the surface of what this phone can do.

But I really do miss iPhone's giant touchscreen and flashy, fun easy of use ... at least so far.  Give me a week or two to dig back into S60 (it's been awhile since I last played with a Nokia N-Series device) - while it's fun playing with the homegrown apps available for my jailbroken iPhone, Symbian's ecosystem is all grown up and on an entirely different level.  There's so much software available for my new phone, I can't wait to try out some truly killer S60 apps.