Nokia N8 takes to the skies with 12-megapixel aerial photos

The Nokia N8 is reaching for the skies. Aerial photographer Jason Hawkes has jumped in a helicopter and explored Britain from the air, armed only with an N8 mobile phone -- and all without the aid of a wrist-strap.

The HD Horizons project shows off the power of the N8's 12-megapixel camera with panoramic shots of assorted British landmarks. Click through our gallery above for the N8-eye-view of Britain.

Jason took his N8 to the skies above Cornwall for shots of Land's End and the Eden Project's biodomes, and the Needles off the Isle of Wight. We particularly like the shot of Yorkshire's Ribblehead Viaduct, a 400-metre long marvel of the Industrial Revolution. Pictured above is an excellent look at record-breaking skyscraper the Shard, towering over the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast. Even in its half-built state the Shard is already Britain's tallest building, and will stand 310m (1,017ft) tall upon completion.

Eagle-eyed trivia fans may be excited to note the former site of CNET UK Towers, in the long wide brown building to the left of Tower Bridge. Since being born there back in 2005, we moved a hop, skip and a jump down the road in Southwark.

We've also included the high resolution versions of the pictures for you to see how the N8 performs in detail. Click the links below to see each picture in big-o-vision:

• The Shard
• Ribblehead Viaduct
• The Eden Project
• Longships Lighthouse, Land's End
• Blackpool Pleasure Beach
  
• The Needles
• Bass Rock

Bass Rock shows off the level of detail of which the N8 is capable -- each of those white dots is one of the 150,000 wild birds living on the tiny island.

We've always had good things to say about the N8's hardware, if not its software. Our review inspired heated debate among CNET UK readers; now the dust has settled on that debate it's good to see the N8's hardware showing off what it can do.

Has the camera tempted you to take on the N8? Tell us what you think of the aerial shots in the photos or on our Facebook wall, or see more at Nokia's Facebook page.