Nokia's new N8 is the company's flagship media phone, the first phone with the Symbian^3 operating system, and it'll probably be the USA's first 12-megapixel camera phone when it arrives here later this year. But in a demo today, I came away as much frustrated as intrigued - because while Nokia can build beautiful hardware, they haven't closed the gap on experiences.

Nokia's new N8 is the company's flagship media phone, the first phone with the Symbian^3 operating system, and it'll probably be the USA's first 12-megapixel camera phone when it arrives here later this year. But in a demo today, I came away as much frustrated as intrigued - because while Nokia can build beautiful hardware, they haven't closed the gap on experiences.

Here's the difference between hardware and experience. The N8's hardware plays high-definition "Tron Legacy" trailers in full Dolby surround sound on a high-def TV using an included HDMI adapter. Bravo! But when I asked exactly where one could legally get high-def content to play on the phone, Nokia reps hemmed and hawed.

Similarly, while the N8 is one of the first phones to support both AT&T and T-Mobile's 3G networks, the phone will be available "through the usual N-series channels," according to a Nokia rep. That means it won't appear on T-Mobile or AT&T store shelves, and it won't get the critical carrier subsidies that make phones affordable for consumers.

That's a pity, as the N8 has a lot going for it from the hardware perspective. The phone is made of smooth, cool metal and glass, with a sharp 3.5-inch, 640-by-360 capacitive touch screen. The Symbian^3 OS felt sluggish on the demo unit, but I wouldn't draw conclusions from that - I was dealing with a prototype.

Front and back cameras make Internet video calling possible - that is, if there's software for it, which Nokia couldn't guarantee. (There's that experience problem again.) The 12-megapixel camera on the back took somewhat soft photos in the demo I saw, but the huge resolution will make up for many sins. The camera captures 720p HD video, too.

The phone's browser has Flash Lite 4 to show many Flash sites, and the free Ovi Maps Navigation GPS program looked good on the big screen. Unlike on the , it uses AGPS to find your location when it can't see satellites. A new app called "Web TV" offers up various live, international, streaming TV channels on the phone.

The phone not only connected to an HDTV, it connects to USB drives to copy files to and from the phone. That's really neat.

But the big question around the N8 is whether it can match the integrated experiences found on the , and the like. Apple's phone will come with one-touch video conferencing and an easy way to buy movies. HTC's Android phone has an even bigger screen than the N8 and a richer array of apps in the Android Market than you can find in Nokia's Ovi Store. Both phones are available from thousands of brick-and-mortar stores around the country, at discounted prices.

We'll see when we review the Nokia N8 around its launch time, during the third quarter of this year. Nokia hasn't announced a price.