The Nokia N85 is now available SIM-free in Finland, in France, in the United Kingdom, in Italy, and probably various other parts of Europe as well, and some network operators also seem to be getting it in stock. It apparently comes with ten N-Gage demos preinstalled, and a voucher that lets you purchase one of them. Hopefully the N85 should receive a continent-wide rollout by the end of the month. You can find out more by reading our sister-site All About Symbian's hands-on preview, and there are some official publicity photos below.
Read on in the full article.
The N85 is in many ways a cheaper alternative to the N96, with the same basic form factor but at a lower price and with a much thinner physical size.
In some ways the N85 is actually more advanced than the N96, as it has some pretty nifty features including an OLED display (which can render colours closer to real life) and support for USB charging.
Many readers on AAS consider the N85 to be the true heir to the N95.
According to the Expansys site, the pre-installed demos are:
- Asphalt 3
- Hooked On: Creatures Of The Deep
- World Series Of Poker
- Block Breaker Deluxe
- Tetris
- Space Impact Kappa Base
- System Rush Evolution
- Brain Challenge
- Mile High Pinball
- Snakes Subsonic
- Sims 2: Pets
- FIFA 08
- Midnight Pool
- Reset Generation
- Bounce Boing Voyage
...but that's fifteen demos, when the same site claims there are only ten demos preinstalled. 😊
Also, weirdly, the site sometimes talks about ten GAMES being preinstalled rather than ten demos, but I suspect that's yet another mistake.
Can anyone who's bought an N85 let us know what games/demos are preinstalled with the retail version?
i dont think N85 is the true heir of N95... N95 is far from being dead... N85 have a great OLED display and... and... hmm... what more diferentiate it from N95... hmm... maybe it dont have the same OMAP 2420? i dont think s60v3 fp2 is something that really counts on it... and in my opinion, i dont think N85 as an evolution... i really prefer N95 for a lot of reasons =]
sorry about my bad english up there =D
Sorry, I'm not saying the N95 is dead, I have one myself and love it. 😊
Just saying, if someone wants to upgrade from their N95, the N85 might be the logical next step.
FP2 is pretty good, it's much faster, it's got better menus and there are things like firmware updates straight onto the phone.
The N85 has a lot more RAM than the N95 (75 megabytes free instead of 30 megabytes free) so the applications load more quickly and you can run more apps at once without crashing.
Tezr2 Do you think the N81 is good and comfortable as a gaming phone?
I read the review but I want your help? I know it does not have any extra features but do you think it is now a decent buy since the prices have fallen. also how is the slider? is it strong?
Ashwyn7, that's a really good point about the N81 price falling.
At its launch it was very expensive for what it was, but now that the price has gone down perhaps it's worth taking another look.
Here's how I'd sum it up:
Good stuff: N-Gage compatible, good gaming keys, nice bright screen, very good sound quality (especially through headphones), solid slider mechanism (though it may wobble a tiny bit when open), 3.5mm headphone socket.
Bad stuff: No TV Out, a bit bulky, 2MP camera with no autofocus, no GPS, very small amount of internal flash memory (but you can add a microSD memory card for storage and the 8GB model comes with a card built-in).
As you say, it's the lack of features that are the main drawbacks, but if you can get the N81 cheaply maybe it's worth looking at.
As far as N-Gage games go, they're great fun to play on the N81 as it has well-positioned keys and a good screen.
You mention operator support being rolled out. I haven't been able to find any solid information on the UK carriers. If anyone knows more details it would be interesting to hear.
Tzer2 wrote:Also, weirdly, the site sometimes talks about ten GAMES being preinstalled rather than ten demos, but I suspect that's yet another mistake.
They're full game trials rather than demos. That because you can turn the trial into a licensed/paid version by buying an activation code without having to reinstall anything else. A demo is in my mind a separate thing (almost like a movie trailer) that just demonstrates the real application, but in order to get the real game with a demo, you need to get another version (the full game).