Thats the case with Nokia, the Finnish handset manufacturer that for years ruled the roost in the smartphone market with devices such as the E90, the E61 and, in our view, its best business phone ever, the E71

But then the Apple iPhone was unleashed, and the dynamics of the smartphone market changed forever. In a few short years, the iPhone and now a raft of handsets based on Googles Android operating system redefined the smartphone experience for users.

Nokia, always good at building solidly designed phones with voice calling as their primary function, fell behind in a world where people wanted to use their phones to do e-mail, browse the Web, and engage in social networking. In user interfaces, Nokia was found wanting.

Symbian had become outdated next to Apples iOS and Googles Android operating systems. It became a millstone around Nokias neck. But the company has doggedly stuck to its guns, insisting it is committed to Symbian, and wont build phones based on Android or Microsofts upcoming Windows Mobile 7 software instead.

Thats why the new N8 is arguably Nokias most important handset in years. The touch-screen device, which is targeted directly against rival handsets such as the iPhone and the Android-based HTC Desire, is the first Nokia device to run the new Symbian3 operating system software.

TechCentral spent some time on Tuesday putting the N8 through its paces. Though by no means an exhaustive review (well do an in-depth piece once weve had a few weeks with the device), wed like to share our initial thoughts on the N8.

Without any doubt, the phones best feature is its 12-megapixel camera with 28mm wide-angle lens that can shoot video in high-definition at a resolution of 720p and at 25 frames per second. The quality of the camera is superb

The 135g N8 has a mini-HDMI port (with HDMI connector cable in the box), which means you can watch your pictures and movies directly on a flat-panel TV or monitor.

But it gets even better: a micro USB to USB connector allows you to plug in a USB thumb drive or even an external hard drive and watch movies and other multimedia content on your TV or monitor. In other words, the N8 doubles as a rudimentary home entertainment system.

The phone comes with 16GB of flash memory, which can be expanded to 48GB using an optional microSD card. That should be more than enough for most people.