Your opinion matches the consensus when the N8 came out loaded with Symbian ^3 (generally deemed to have been rushed out the door); but I am curious if you had the opportunity to see which version of Symbian was running on the phone you tested. Were there three homescreens by any chance?
I'll check tomorrow; I simply used it as a telephone and was forced to interact with UI features to do so: first impressions are sometimes quite important, and it really did the opposite of wowing me.
