After updating to the new firmware on my Nokia N82, I think I can say that Flash Lite 3.0 is definitely not overrated or just a hype. It's an awesome addition to the S60 v3 Feature Pack 1 platform, and it's definitely one of those features where one stops to wonder 'how did I live without it?'

First up is YouTube performance, which I think is the concern of most people. Well I'm happy to say that YouTube performance is definitely up there. When clicking on a video link, Realplayer automatically opens, and the video starts streaming - very nice feature. Playback is smooth but the quality of the videos are scaled down to fit the 320 x 240 resolution, and this means that overall the video is blurrier than its desktop counterpart. Well, to be honest, there isn't anything to moan about - it's a 2.4 inch screen, so such a high quality doesn't help much except add to the file size of the video file.



I also tested the new Flash performance on streaming some high definition Flash file, such as Diggnation. This is where the lag comes in - I get desynchronised audio and video, and huge amounts of lag every 10 - 15 seconds. It's not exactly bearable, so I really don't suggest watching high quality Flash media on the phone. Preferably, set the settings so it's low or medium most of the time to get optimal performance on the N82 or the N95.

The lag probably stems from the fact that the CPU of the phone is only an ARM 11 332 Mhz processor - and decoding the high definition streaming media file requires something faster.

Nevertheless, Flash streaming is quite impressive on the N82 and the S60 platform. It's far from perfect (I would like to see some optimisation for HD Flash media files) but it's quite usable for the average user, given that they set the streaming file on medium-low settings.

What's you experience on Flash on the S60 platform like? Feel free to share your joys and pains...