Is the N85 any good?

Hi, not generally one for bothering to add to threads, but I felt so annoyed about this that I felt I would like to contribute. My newly bought N85 developed the fault as shown in the first picture, I have never dropped it, and rarely have I laid out so much money on a single device. I was expecting a lot for my money, and to be fair I think that I got just that, the feature set is great and I just love the fact I don’t have to burn disks for the car and while I am waiting for my wife I can watch a TV show or film. I love the screen, the 8gb storage included in the packet, the gps the wireless nw connection. Even that it comes with a decent screen protector applied at the factory, so I don’t have to mess around with buying one and spending ages getting it looking decent by endlessly pushing the bubbles out.

However there have been a few more niggles aside from the utterly preposterous design of the navigation panel it would have taken so little for them to plastic weld it or put a screw in or even use a stronger glue like epoxy resin. When I first unboxed the device the first thing I was eager to try out was the GPS so I set it going and waited, and waited, and moved about for a bit and waited, after 15 mins of wandering around my neighbourhood, which is a pleasantly open landscape, no huge building or trees I gave up, went inside, downloaded all the updates from nokia, installed all the maps. Then the next day I had a long drive, so I turned on the GPS and drive for an hour still no GPS lock, had a look at the satellite status and it showed many sats but all at to low signal strength. hmm not happy about that. Then suddenly the next day it started working exceptionally. Even right in the middle of my house. I could even measure the speed I was moving around the kitchen. So now I am exceedingly happy about that. but a bit miffed as to why it didn’t work for two days and still don’t know why it changed its mind. Also (this may be to do with the front panel) at least 2 times whilst navigating menus its started behaving like the up key is stuck, which it didn’t feel like it was coz it still clicked when I depressed it. The touch sensitive naviwheel is good when it works but changes in sensitivity wildly, to the point that one can’t gauge how much move your finger to achieve the desired level of control. The naviwheel also sometimes seems to not have enough relief to press left or right of down without pressing the menu or cancel buttons half a millimetre more metal and plastic would have made a huge difference or even a flat bevel instead of a sloped sharp edge would provide enough contact area to depress the key.

The number pad keys have a sharp bevel/edge on the edges between the keys, one can feel this rough finish as one traces ones finger over the pad, again could be so easily have been avoided by a moments though during the manufacturing / design process.
The camera isn’t great, it works, and it takes pictures and films films. But I would have bought this phone even without a camera.
The slider is a bit wobbly and is a bit annoying when navigating as it adds half a millimetre to each key press and gives a shaky, rattling feel to the phone this is easy remedied though by bracing the top and bottom part of the phone in one had and using the other to operate the keypad. still, if you are going to mass manufacture a product for your flagship range, aimed at your younger and therefore long term customers/market and charge a fortune for it, do you A) make a really good job of it to make a long term impression of quality and reliability or B) think ‘what the hell lets just make the most tactile and therefore most noticeable component out yogurt pot plastic and slap it on the phone with cheapo UHU like glue you would use to stick paper together with’ (you can see it next to my thumb in the first picture). Tough decision, Swings and roundabouts.

I have also noticed that several tel nos do not display the name in the phonebook, but I have a suspicion that this is a format problem as I imported them from a HTC phone to outlook.

The USB charging feature is a bit iffy, a few times I have connected it to my laptop and it refuses to charge, till I turn it off. Then I can turn it on and it continues to charge. I have yet to try it on another computer. I will update this when I get a chance to try it out.

So much more I haven’t had a chance to try, 4 days after it was delivered it broke. Probably not even long enough to register the warranty by post. Not happy Nokia, not happy.

I am going to ask for a replacement phone because I really love the concept/features of this phone it removes so many cables and boxes from my car, kitchen and office. Also after searching the web only found a few references to this problem, so I am hoping that this is a problem with a minority of devices, otherwise it is going back. And I will steer clear of Nokia. Will report back when I get the replacement device.

BTW this one has a made in Finland sticker on it. It has been mentioned that they are the better manufactured models. Draw your own conclusions.

I will report back when i get the new handset.

Jesus how long have you had your n85? I got mine on friday and mine too has a made in Finland mark on it. My slider has the usual slight movement issue, but it's hardly noticeable. I'm happy with the phone so far, in the few days i've had it anyway..

my slider which doesn't wobble but when slid up, pressing and tapping the keymate without actually touching the buttons, has too much room to play.

don't like it. apart from that everything else is fine.