The legendary Nokia N8 is about to be revived thanks to a new custom firmware project called Reborn, which is breathing new life into the classic Nokia phone.
The resurgence comes as many of us have long forgotten our old Symbian phones, a move that is expected to restore the N8’s former lost glory.
This Nokia phone made its mark in 2010 with its impressive hardware, featuring a “unibody touchscreen” design with a powerful 12MP Carl Zeiss camera and xenon flash that could rival many contemporary smartphones.
The reason for its decline was Symbian, an operating system originally designed for physical buttons instead of touch input.
When the iPhone and Android began to dominate the market, Nokia tried to fight back with Nokia Belle, an improved user interface, and by the time it was ready, the update servers had started to shut down.
This might be evident if you somehow find an N8 today and get upset because it’s slow, outdated, and full of broken app links.
But now, more than fifteen years later, the developer community has intervened and presented the new ROM that solves the main problems of the original Nokia N8 device and is based on Nokia Belle, the latest version of Symbian released by Nokia.
The developers have also designed a functional and up-to-date app store, making the N8 a usable phone that was previously a mere collector’s item, allowing it to finally show off its capabilities.
A recent video of the nostalgic Nokia N8 is there pleasing millions of eyes, demonstrating how to assemble a working N8 and installing the new software, revealing a smooth interface and a fully operational camera.
But if someone, by chance, decides to try this, they should have a backup plan, as recent projects have shown that Windows 10 drivers can dispute older Nokia update tools, leading to a blue screen of death (BSOD).
It’s also worth noting that many N8s may have deteriorated hardware, but their revamped design allows parts to be swapped to create a fully functional device.
