21 July 2009

Nokia N86 Review Part 1:
A Replacement For My Nokia N95 8GB & E71

Dear Symbian Freaks, good day everyone :-) I hope you remember my last review which was "Why can't a Nokia 5800 XM be my primary phone?"

This one is going to be a long one but very informative nonetheless, so brace yourselves (you can skip the introduction if you don't like lengthy reading).

There will be another part where I pit the Nokia N86 8MP against my Sony Ericsson C905 (8 MP too) and my 7.2 MP digital camera (Sony DSC-T10), the results will be surprising to say the least. ;-)

Introduction: A few years ago when the original Nokia N95 emerged I was simply awestruck, I never imagined there could be such a device, I even didn't understand how the dual slider worked by just looking at the advertisement pictures, I had to see it in person to understand.

I knew this was my dream phone, a dual slider, WiFi, GPS, a 5 Mpx camera, a 3.5mm plug and a huge screen. But when I started hearing negative feedback, mainly the battery and the GPS, I stopped to think for a while.

Then suddenly out of no where came the N95 8GB with its black color, bigger screen, bigger battery and the built in 8GB memory. That's when I decided I would get this one no matter what, and I did.

It has been my power horse for almost 2 years now, I always depended on it and it delivered, it held my dearest photos, my videos, hundreds of messages and hundreds of MP3s and it rarely crashed on me. Would you believe it if I told you I haven't updated the firmware since v15? There was simply no reason for me to format the device and re-install everything from scratch, and the device was stable enough.

My only gripe with the N95 8GB was the GPS lock time, I know it was improved in the later firmwares, but even with the v30 firmware on my friends' device it took at least 5 minutes to get a lock on the signal.

After living with the N95 8GB for almost a year I was intrigued by the concept of a QWERTY Symbian phone, I wondered if it really made a difference, but the choice then the E61i and it was awfully large for my taste so I decided to wait for a while, that's when Nokia announced the E71. After it's release by a short while and reading about the various awards it received, the raving reviews on the internet and even my friend replacing his E90 with the E71 I decided to give it a try. I was immediately hooked.

The E71 was faster than the N95 8GB in many ways, the shortcut keys on the keypad were great (I used to have an E51 by the way), the always landscape screen was nice in some ways, the GPS took a maximum of 10 seconds to lock, the calendar application was simply amazing. To cut it short, I liked it a lot except for the silly 2.5mm audio connector.
I usually listen to MP3s on my 2 hour commute everyday using my car FM transmitter, and on my N95 8GB I usually used the play/pause button on the dual slider to start where I last stopped. I couldn't do this with my E71, it didn't have a play/pause button, this resulted in me keeping the N95 8GB for the car and the photo/video shooting.

During this period I saw the N85 with it's FP2 Symbian OS and thought it would be a good upgrade from the N95 8GB, and when one of my friends offered to let me take it for a few days I tried the keypad and simply refused to take it, every single button on the N85 SUCKED big time. I wasn't able to open the main menu and navigate without having to press the buttons fiercely. All of the buttons where built on one plastic cover that you pressed in different places to get buttons to work, did I say I hated it?

So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I learned about the N86 and it's new keys layout, add the 8Mpx camera and it won my heart. Luckily enough I was offered an N86 sales package from the good pals at Nokia here in Egypt, and I have been using it for more than a week now as a replacement to my Nokia N95 8GB and Nokia E71.

Now we get to the real subject I want to discuss, how is it faring against the N95 8GB and the E71? Since I started using it I had a paper and a pen beside me to right down anything that caught my attention during my N86 usage. I will list these items down in no particular order.

Firmware

First of all, my N86 has the latest firmware v11.043 dated 29.06.2009.

Nokia Maps 3, Digital Compass

Nokia Maps 3 (or Ovi Maps as Nokia calls it) is a lot better than Nokia Maps 2. The N86 ships with Ovi Maps as the standard maps application. Voice navigation now and re-routing are much faster than the old version, also being able to synchronize the landmarks between Ovi Maps on the web and on the device is a big plus for me.

What blew me away was the inclusion of a digital compass a la Navigator series phones (I didn't know this before I started using the Maps), as far as my knowledge goes this feature is only present in the Navigator series, the N86 and the N97. What the digital compass does is rotate the map to face the direction you're currently facing, this can also be used to point to the general direction of the north.

OLED Screen

One word, impressive! The OLED screen turned out to be a very pleasurable experience when using the N86, you always want to turn it on and compare it to other phones. Colors look so vibrant (if a bit warm), the large viewing angle is very impressive, you can see all the colors and details clearly from any angle.

Unlike the N95 and the E71 screens, the N86 fails miserably in direct sun light even with the brightness turned to the maximum, unless I shield the screen using my hand I can't see a damn thing. More on that in the second part of the review.

Keys and Buttons

You will notice during this article that I will say a lot that they copied this or that feature from the Nokia 5800 XM, and that's a good thing.

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Nokia N86 8MP	SE C905
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Notification Light

The N86 can notify you of missed events (calls, messages and emails) by lighting the menu key repeatedly, I say another plus for Nokia.

Of course the 'pretty useless' breathing function still exists, but I turned it off, what's the point in having the menu key lights going on and off without having any missed events?

Charging

Did you know the N86 had a white LED that turns on when the phone is charging? I didn't, however I don't seem to know it's purpose, it doesn't turn off when the phone stops charging but it's a nice touch nonetheless.

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At last I had a Nokia phone that can be charged from the USB cable. :-D I also like how the Micro USB chargers are going to get standard on most of the phones (Nokia and the others), but the new charger rendered all my other ones useless including the car charger and my very small and light travel charger, I wish it had two charging options like on the N97, the old standard one and the Micro USB. But I hear there's a plug that converts the old chargers to Micro USB.

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Contact Pictures

I'm glad to see that in FP2 you get a big contact picture when you're calling or receiving a call, goodbye for the tiny pictures I used to have on the E71.

Sensor

Again a good import from the 5800 XM, other than using the accelerometer to auto-rotate the screen you can now use it to silence incoming calls and snooze alarms by turning the phone face downwards, one more plus but, and there must be but here, you can only turn off or on the sensor completely, i.e. you can't turn auto-rotation off and silence calls by turning the mobile face down.

Why do I want auto-rotation off? Because every time I unlock the phone it gets confused for a second or two before it knows the correct orientation and displays the home screen, this happens in other situations too.

Anyway I have turned it off and the phone is more responsive this way, I believe Nokia can simply fix this in the next firmware upgrade.

Kick Stand

Useful? Don't know! I have never used it except to try it, you know that there's an option in the settings to run an application when you pull out the kick stand, like the gallery for example.

But what I want from Nokia to fix during the next firmware is that if the keypad is locked and you pull out the kick stand, nothing happens, you must have the keypad unlocked first for the set application to run. Why this when for example I pull down the camera cover the camera application runs even if the phone was locked?

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FM Transmitter

Last time (and first time too) I tried the FM transmitter on a Nokia phone was on the N78, this was the first Nokia phone to feature this, and it was crap. No matter where I put the phone in my car and near the antenna there was heavy static noise in the best of situations.

I'm glad to say that in the N86 the FM transmitter works extremely well like it should, I can place the phone anywhere inside the car and get a very good signal, one more plus please.

Audio Recording & Bluetooth Headset Pairing

Two more features I first saw in the 5800 XM, in the audio recorder you can now record audio in high quality, my N95 and E71 recorded audio in a “.amr” extension with very low quality that was useless for me, I resorted to using “ALON MP3 Dictaphone” to record MP3 audio @ 32 KHz and 96 kbps which always amazed me as to how good the phone microphones can sound.

The other feature is that when you are pairing a bluetooth headset the phone enters the "0000" pairing code on its own, I know, trivial but a nice touch.

Mark Multiple

I was happy to find that when I was in the photo gallery and wanted to select photos to send them to my laptop I can choose a "Mark Multiple" option which lets you select pictures by navigating and pressing the middle button to select them, all the pictures are dimmed except the ones you have selected.

This was a feature I always missed from my Sony Ericsson phones. ;-)

Themes & Active Standby

This is where I complain a lot, where do I start?

1. Let's start with the miserable amount of internal memory available (not RAM, memory, the C drive), when I got the device it was around 56 MB, a lot down from the almost 128 MB on the N95 and the E71. I usually install all of my applications & themes on the phone memory for several reasons, the speed of installation, the speed at which the applications folder opens, etc...
   
   More importantly when I connect my phone to the PC in "Mass Drive" mode if I have the applications/themes installed on the built in 8GB memory or the memory card, the phone either closes the running applications and switches to the default theme or refuses to go into "Mass Drive" mode because of the running applications.
   
   This way the N86 forced me to install only the applications I need running all the time (like the task manager, magic key, etc...) on the phone memory, and everything else on the 8GB built-in memory.
   
   
2. Why on earth every time I have to change a theme (and I do change them a lot) I have to go through this painful sequence: "Main Menu -> Tools -> Settings -> General -> Personalization -> Themes -> General" ???!!!
   
   To add insult to the injury, for some unknown glitch in the current firmware, 2 times out of 3 when you click the "Settings" icon it works normally then exits immediately and you have to click it again.
   I used to have a shortcut (using Cute Keys) on my E71 to access the themes directly using the "Space + T" combination, when I attempted to do the same on the N86 I didn't find the "Themes" option available in “Cute Keys”.
   
   However I finally found an excellent workaround, I remembered that on the N95 8GB there was no themes icon and someone has created a small program that you install and it restores the themes icon back, I searched for this and tried it on the N86, et voila, it worked perfectly, finally I had back the themes icon and I could even find the "Themes" as an application in “Cute Keys” and I created a shortcut for it.
   
   
3. Did you know that on the N86 you can't have WiFi on the active standby screen if you're using the horizontal (and more usual) active standby bar? You can only get it if you use the vertical bar which I don't like.
   
   I hope Nokia can return it back in the next firmware version, I am used to having it on the standby screen on all of my Nokia phones.

Destinations

Destinations is a great addition to the FP2 phones, however good as it is, I can find a small problem with it. Imagine this scenario, I don't have a flat data rate, and the access points for internet are arranged with "WiFi" as the first priority and "Packet Data/3G" as the second priority.

When I use the browser, if it doesn't find the WiFi it will immediately connect using 3G and cost me a little, no problems till now, but what if I use a data intensive program? Then it will cost me a lot if it doesn't find WiFi.

What I'm saying is that I need another destination that only have a separate WiFi only access points, so if it doesn't find WiFi it doesn't cost me data. Or another alternative is to have an access point that searches for WiFi networks if it doesn't find the pre-defined ones.

Video Light

I'm not going to discuss the camera here but found lots of people wondering about this, so here it is, the N86 CAN use the LEDs as a video light when recording video.

Hardware

Build quality is superior for an N-Series device, slider is excellent and metal accents are very nice, but the device is very heavy, and this is coming from an already heavy and bulky Sony Ericsson C905 daily user.
And for a slider, the top part of the phone is very heavy especially when the slider is open, you feel that it's going to tip over and fall out of your hands. The N95 8GB for example had the top part of the slider thin and not very heavy, resulting in having most of the weight in the bottom part in your hand.

The front fascia looks are a mixed bag, some people immediately liked it and thought it had classy and expensive look (me included), and others thought it looked very plain and dull (sometimes I do). The screen is a serious fingerprint and smudges magnet, I can never have it clean enough.

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The battery cannot match that of the E71, but it definitely lasts a lot more than the N95 8GB, and what I noticed (and will verify in the coming days) is that it's pretty accurate. In the previous phones you could have the battery bars full for a long time, and when you turn off the phone and on again you discover the real level and that you have lost some bars. This is probably (hopefully?) not the case with the N86.

The memory card slot is beneath the back cover, I have no problems with that since we have USB 2.0 transfer speeds. I have an 8GB memory card totaling a nice 16GB memory on my N86. :-D

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The back cover itself have two contacts like the N79, I know that in the N79 they are used to change the themes based on the color of the cover, but I'm not sure if this is the case with the N86 too.

"Update: As forum reader "brar" pointed out, these contacts on the back cover are for the FM Transmitter, since the transmitter's antenna is embedded in the back cover itself. I have tried it myself and when I remove the back cover the transmission fails."

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The N86 ships with an excellent headset with ear buds of various sizes and the standard remote control, they are excellent, very similar to the famous Sony Ericsson Walkman series phones.

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USB 2.0 is an excellent upgrade from the N95's USB 1.1 turtle speed, especially since you had to deal with the USB port when you wanted access to the built-in non-removable 8GB memory.

Things I Miss From the N95 & the E71

• Smart Search: I'm totally used to this on my E71 and Sony Ericsson phones, I'm trying to get used to not having it, I find it very frustrating to have to click the contacts button and start tapping the keypad several times to get my desired contact instead of tapping the keys in T9 fashion directly from the home screen. I don't believe that this should be limited to the E-Series only, Sony Ericsson has it on all the phones now and Samsung had it ages ago.
• Calendar App: The E71 calendar app was very efficient and nice looking, I miss it but I can understand if Nokia keeps this to the E-Series.
• Contact Action List: In the E71, when you clicked on a contact's name you got a small popup list with quick actions like sending a message or an email, can we have that please?
• Pencil Key: Now this I really miss, I was so much used to it, I want it back please.

Three More Features I Miss From My Sony Ericsson Phones

• Bluetooth On/Off: Strangely enough in a non-smart phone, when you select some files or pictures to send over bluetooth, the phone turns on the bluetooth, sends the files and turns it back off! No Comment!
• Calendar Copy: When I want to copy (not re-schedule) a calendar entry to another date (like my daughter's doctor visits) I can't, I have to create a new entry. I say this is dumb for a smart phone.
• Message Recent Contacts: Why can't I have a recent contacts list to select from when I'm sending a message? This feature saves me a lot of time on my non-smart (and UIQ smart) Sony Ericsson phones since I usually send messages to a regular list of contacts.

Conclusion

Finally! I must congratulate you if you have reached this part after reading through the whole article, you are a real champ. :-p Really, I hope it was informative enough and helped you get a better insight on the N86.

To sum it up, there's no phone that's only full of advantages, give me any phone and I'll find things I don’t like, but the deciding factor will be if there's a problem that will limit the phone's usability.

The N86 has none of that, so is it worth the upgrade from the N95? Certainly! You get a fresh and fast OS, a faster browser, a better camera, an FM transmitter, a better USB speed, a better screen, better looks, memory card expandability, better battery time and lots of other goodies.

Do I miss the N95 8GB? Not at all. Do I miss the E71? A little, the N86 keeps me more thrilled than the E71 and offers me more features.

Currently the N86 8MP is my ultimate All-In-One phone, it beats everything else in its class. Get one for yourself if you can (by the way, I chose it over an N97).

For part two, I'm going to thoroughly compare the N86 8MP as a camera phone against the 8MP Sony Ericsson C905, and my trusty run of the mill Sony DSC-T10 digital camera.

C905 vs. N86	Sony T10 – C905	Sony T10 vs. N86
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They always say that the phones can never replace a point and shoot camera, or can they? This part is almost ready, but I'm waiting till I travel to the beach (this weekend) to get some beach photos in the fight.

Here's a teaser, below you will find three resized JPEGs with no information on the make and the model of the camera, which is shot by what camera?

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