27 October 2008

Black Diamond unleashed
Nokia N85 First Impressions

To anyone who might have missed, the newest wave of Nseries phones is already upon us, which also means the N85 is out! The N85 was on my radar ever since I saw the official press shots. I can't easily describe why exactly was I so excited for this particular model.

Perhaps of it's simple, sleek and compact size, while at the same time lacking any evident drawbacks. In this and my future articles I'll try my best to find out what features best describe this phone and make's it worth purchasing. So, let's take the phone for a little spin.

To be honest with you, I kind of like design. Although I'm not a huge fan of the controversial N81 design, that spawned across many Nseries phones, the phone looks and screams stylish sexy.

The rounded edges make the phone look even smaller than it already is, and the relatively small thickness really makes the phone feel better in hand, while still retaining respectable weight in hand. For some people with the N95 models it might even come as a shock, and the compact size is one of the definitive highlights of this phone.

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The slider feels incredibly solid and dare to say, smooth, and when pushing it up, spring assist makes it's presence noticeable. There's no play either in vertical or horizontal directions, or any noticeable creaks. It's not easy to predict how it will turn out in the coming weeks of usage, but I can still call this slider solution to be way better than what I've seen in the N95 models. Pushing the slider down is noticeably harder as the movement feels less assisted.

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I doubt it will become an issue, as it's clear that the slider will get loose over time, in both of the directions. But given the force required to reveal the music keys , the upper part doesn't seem to scratch the surface underneath it, as there's a noticeable gap in between. On the final note here, I must add that the phone feels just as real as it should be, it's totally wrong to presume it's like a cheap plastic toy or a weak Chinese copy, just by the looks of it.

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I won't go into a lot of details, as this should apparently stay as a little hands-on article, but I'm already working on the in-depth review. So I'll just mention some of the worth mentioning highlights of my experience with the phone. I'm very impressed with the OLED screen, the very first in S60 phones, and it's quite easy to immediately spot the difference when you first turn on the phone. I have no serious objections about the keys so far, and it's safe to say that the flat keys under the screen are actually usable, without the need to give them a second thought when doing something.

I've also discovered the handiness of the key lock key, but it's something I'll have to get used to, as till now I relied on traditional key lock methods. The phone features the latest OS 9.3, which brings improvements not only in UI, the file manager, or brings a separate app for managing your photos, but also speeds up the work with wireless networks. The firmware itself (10.045) seems to be stable enough, and I only experienced a single crash while playing a NGage game. The FM transmitter we've seen in the N78 already is a nice bonus feature, and, without going into details, works good enough, although at very short range.

I still doubt about the usefulness of the so called Navi wheel, it's just too inaccurate in most situations. The included 8Gb micro SD card comes packed with an impressive number of N-Gage demo games, but the supplied codes will only unlock one game (any ideas which game should I choose?) and the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Mobile game.

As you might've already noticed, there's a lot to be said about the N85, hardware to be extensively tested, and weak spots revealed, although it isn't easy to find them at first glance. It's certainly not just another variation of the already legendary N95, it's a statement mostly inaccurate in my opinion.

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The positioning of the phone itself is altogether different, and we're talking here about a very mature all-in-one device with a simple yet appealing looks, while having an adequate price. For the people who are skeptical or not ready for touchscreen phones to come into their lives, it might be worth a look, so stay tuned for more! If you have any questions regarding the N85, I'll be most happy to try to answer your questions in this thread.