AAS's Nokia N86 8MP Review
Steve Litchfield of All About Symbian (AAS) has completed his and Rafe Blanford's comprehensive 3 part review of Nokia's N86 Imaging Flagship which includes good screen shots and photo's taken with the device:
* Nokia N86 8MP Review - Part 1 - Overview
tinyurl.com
* Nokia N86 8MP Review - Part 2 - The Camera/Camcorder
tinyurl.com
* Nokia N86 8MP Review - Part 3 - Other Features and Wrap-up
tinyurl.com
--> This is the introductory paragraph from part 3 ...
The N86 runs S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 on Symbian OS 9.3, very mature, as we said in the first part of this review. The UI feels a little unexciting compared to S60 5th Edition or other touch UIs, but for others this familiarity will be welcome and it's still ideally suited to one-handed use. Overall performance is excellent and almost no operation is accompanied by a wait while something loads. If a user is moving up from S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 (e.g. the N95) they'll notice a definite performance boost, both in overall speed and battery life. The addition of the central softkey, easier multitasking and other usability tweaks all make life easier in day to day usage; while technologies such as firmware-over-the-air updates and improved support for multimedia and Internet standards add significant functionality.
--> Steve concludes Part 3 with N86 8MP Pros and Cons and tjen he and Rafe provide his their Conclusions ...
Nokia N86 8MP Pros
* Sensitive stills camera, great optics
* Great video capture, the best from Nokia so far
* Very good AMOLED display in most light conditions
* Superb build quality and choice of materials
* Keylock toggle
* Discrete keypad and control keys
* Good battery life
* Welcome bundling of free navigation licenses and free N-Gage game
Nokia N86 8MP Cons
* QVGA, 2.6" screen small by 2009 standards
* Display darkens in direct sunlight
* Confusing media handling software
* No graphics acceleration, limited compatibility with 2009 video codecs
* Tinny speakers
* Buggy early firmware (of course!) ¹
¹ The reviewed N86 came with v10 firmware, v11 was just released (see below)
Conclusion
Nokia's smartphone history is littered both with mass market success stories and geeky niche (more limited) success stories. And with some models that have failed, relatively speaking. The N95 and 5800 are good examples of the first category, while the N76, N96 and (arguably) even the N85 fall into the last category. My guess is that the N86 8MP will fall squarely into the 'geeky, niche' category and will do comparatively well within it.
As something of a camera phone enthusiast, I've tried just about every smartphone with a camera in the world at some point or other and have clocked up over 5000 captured photos and over 1,300 non-trivial captured videos, so hopefully my opinion counts for something. If I were looking for a smartphone with the best camera on the market, I'd head straight for the Nokia N86 8MP. No, it doesn't have Xenon flash, but the sensitivity of the sensor and wide angle, wider aperture optics mean that for many situations it can come very close. And, in other conditions, it has the potential to blow most of the competition away. Yes, the N82 had Xenon on its side, but the N86 wins in most other areas, with far better usability, screen and software.
I've mentioned elsewhere that the N86 is something of a spiritual successor to the N95 'classic', and this is still very apt. But on the imaging front it also owes a silent debt to the N82 and, before that, the N93, both of which had photography and videography right at the centre of their mission statements.
Quoting Rafe, from part 1 of this review:
"The big issue for the Nokia N86 is that it faces the prospect of launching in the shadows of this summer's big touch screen heros - the Apple iPhone 3GS, Nokia N97, HTC Magic, Samsing i8910 HD, and HTC Touch Diamond 2. However, while the hype may be elsewhere, the fact remains that the N86 is a very impressive, even desirable device. As the latest evolution in Nokia's dual slider form factor (and as a true multimedia powerhouse) it has something of a 'classic' feel, but it also benefits greatly from the maturity of a device with ancestry.
At one level, it all comes down to whether you want a touch device or not... However, that's not an easy question to answer. It may be tempting to go with the new technology just for the sake of it, but you may then find yourself wishing you had stayed with non touch devices. If you're looking for a consumer-focussed, non-touchscreen smartphone, then I think the N86 is a very strong contender and is, arguably, the best device that money can buy." ###
>> The Nokia N86 8MP gets v11 firmware, Ovi Store, even better video
Steve Litchfield
All About Symbian
July 6th 2009
The (seemingly) device-of-the-week, the Nokia N86 8MP has just received a big firmware upgrade, to v11.043. This brings official Ovi Store compatibility, camera tweaks and the usual early firmware bug fixes and improvements. Try updating over the air (*#0000# on the home screen, though it didn't seem to be on the servers for the UK yet) or via Nokia Software Updater. No need to back up (but hey, it can't do any harm). Watch this space for any extra comment or reports. ###
Eldar Murtazin of Mobile Review published his initial N86 8MP Review 3 weeks ago ...
mobile-review.com
- Eric - |
