17 November 2008

Mini User (P)Review
My take on the Nokia N85!

2008 wasn't a good year for the Nokia N-Series brand (from a N-Series fanatic's point of view). A couple of N95 rehashes, a failed attempt to release a bulky, somewhat underpowered and overpriced "flagship", and a couple of odd looking phones which weren't worth the price.

Most of these releases diluted the image of the N-Series brand, which was to offer innovative features only a few phones had at the time. For example, the N90 was one of the first to come with autofocus, N93 had optical zoom and a 3D graphics chip, N91 has a dedicated audio chip which gave excellent audio output and the N95 which was the first to come witha 5 Megapixel Camera, GPS, Dual Slider (keypad+music buttons), N82 had xenon flash, etc.

In 2008, Nokia released the Nokia N78, which was a POS considering it's price (you could get a N82 for that price). They also released the "flagship" N96, which was an N95 + 16GB + DVB-H tuner + S60 FP2, but it was released at a whopping $1000 which I think isn't worth it (be on the lookout for a mini N96 review soon. N79 followed the footsteps of the N78, but it had an improved navi wheel.

N85 was another N95 rehash, but it has a better battery, slimmer design, Dual LED (but it isn't no Xenon), USB charging and FM transmitter, and it's cheaper than the N96 (around $550, compared to $750). I think the Nokia N85 is the best release of 2008. Like my previous review, I won't go into much detail, because there are more in depth reviews out there, plus this was a demo phone at a retail store, which made me neglect other areas, eg. calls, GPS, etc.

Sales package:

• N85
• Battery
• Cable
• CD
• 8GB MicroSD with SD adapter
• Manual
• Charger
• TV-out cable
• Stereo headset with remote

Design

The N85 is much slimmer compared to the N95. Build quality is good, and the slider was easy to use. I hope it doesn't have any reliability problems later on like previous Nokia slider phones.

On the top, it has a power button, 3.5 mm jack and a microUSB port. The microSD slot is on the left by itself. The bottom has nothing. On the right, it has volume buttons, camera buttons, 2 speakers and a lock key (you have to slide the key to lock it).

The front has a 2.6 inch AMOLED screen, a dual slider having regular Nokia S60 keypad and dedicated music keys which double as N-Gage gaming keys. The back has a 5MP Camera with dual LED. Unfortunately, this phone comes only in Black/Copper.

Software

This phone runs on Symbian Series 60 Feature Pack 2 (Version 9.3). You can find a detailed review of it here. The phone also has 128 MB of RAM, so speed should not be an issue. I didn't find any issues with the User Interface, aside from some sluggishness, but I'm willing to give Nokia the benefit of the doubt as it is a Retail Demo and is on early firmware. Later firmware updates will make the phone better.

Camera

The N85 comes with a 5 Megapixel Autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss lens. It also has a dual LED flash, but it cannot be compared to the Xenon flash found on the N82. But the positive thing is that it can take videos at night.

I haven't got to play with the camera much, but the image quality should be similar to the N95, N82, etc., as it shares the same module.

Music/Video

This phone supports a wide variety of formats, plus it comes with an 8GB microSD card out of the box and dedicated music keys with the dual slider, which is more than enough to satisfy the average Joe's music needs. You can use your own headphones thanks to the 3.5mm jack. It also comes with a (crap) headset and remote with dedicated call/music buttons. Comparing it to my N82, I didn't find any noticeable differences, but according to some reputable reviews, the N85 surpasses the N82 in terms of quality.

This phone also comes with a FM Transmitter, which allows you to broadcast your favorite tunes on the radio at a short distance. I got to try it out, and I was impressed with the quality.

Battery

The N85 comes with a 1200 mAh battery, which is said to have great battery life. This phone has a power save profile once it reaches low battery or can be activated manually the same way one would change a profile (press the power button and select the profile). The phone comes with an AMOLED screen, which is less of a battery sucker than the previous OLED and TFT screens. The N85 brings a first to the N-Series line: USB Charging.

Calls

Being a retail demo, I didn't get to test this aspect, but this phone is the one of the very few to have triband 3G in a market of single and dual band 3G phones.

Internet/Connectivity

The built-in web browser is like those of previous S60 3rd edition phones. It also has WiFi, bluetooth 2.0 and Tri-band 3G.

Keypad

The N85 comes with a dual slider. Slide the phone up, you have a regular keypad. Slide the phone down, you get 4 music keys (play/pause. stop, fast forward and rewind) and the phone's screen switches to landscape mode. The main keypad, like the E66, is hidden when not in use. Press it and the keys come out of hiding. The 2 middle keys also serve as dedicated gaming keys for the N-Gage application.

The D-Pad also comes with a Navi Wheel, which is similar to the ones found on the iPod, but the performance leaves a lot to be desired. I also did a very short trial of the N79 soon after, and in my opinion the navi wheel on the N79 is much better.

Conclusion

In a year which Nokia released mostly N95 rehashes and overpriced and outdated phones, the Nokia N85 comes out on top, due to it's slimmer design, impressive feature list, great battery life, great early software stablility (unlike many phones before it) and a good price/feature ratio. As for the cons, other than the bad navi wheel, I can't really think of any. Maybe long term users will be able to spot some flaws. Overall, I think this phone is a mature version of the N95, and will be a great phone for those who don't have an N95 or an N82.