Ill be getting mine soon, returned the N85 for the better build quality, 8mp, better keypad. To Rafe please show us the digital compass, that might come in handy when using the gps while walking.
Nokia N86 8MP Review - Part 1 (Overview)
Rafe wrote:Attahched is something to keep you going - question is - which one is the N86!
i would say its the one at the bottom right corner. This is on the assumption that all of these were clicked from the same distance. This picture looks like its the result of the wide angle lens.. 😊
I think it's quite obvious that the dual LED will be inferior to Xenon. Sometimes it's nice to be able to take a photo in a darkened pub.
having had a play with the N86 i can honestly say that
if you are an N82 user looking for an upgrade and a
camera is important, then the N86 is the correct choice.
Even with dual LED's rather than xenon the results were
impressively surprizng....
i personally think nokia has outdone themselves here and
hopefully AAS will not only compare the N86 to the N82, but also
to a standalone camera........
Is that glass screen able to withstand scratches? Or will this phone require a scratchguard as well?
Hi Rafe, hope you don't mind me pointing out a small error in your otherwise thorough [pt1] review.
The material which surrounds the glass display is in fact metal, not plastic. This metal bezel is then joined to a metal plate which the glass is bonded to. The glass and the metal in this area are the main contributors to the weight increase, in addition to the metal sliding mechanism (N85 slide mechanism is also metal)
atb
malerocks wrote:Is that glass screen able to withstand scratches? Or will this phone require a scratchguard as well?
It is hardened glass so is resistant to scratches but not scratch proof.
neilhoskins wrote:Has it got anything like the N95's video editor?
It's not the same as N95 video editor but will allow you to merge videos, add music, trim and add text. Each one is a separate step.
argh wrote:Slow? Maybe compared to a "real" camera. Comparing it to the HTC auto-focus devices, it's like lightning!
Camera activation is improved a little. Time to see the shot after capture is almost instant, focus time is improved and time between shots is around twice as fast as before. In use it feels more like a real camera than ever before, in many aspects it's now as fast as some but not as fast as the fastest.
Unregistered wrote:Thanks for the reviewI would like to ask about the camera key
I found that my n85 camera key is hard to push
Today I tried n97 camery key; it is a lot easier to push and I really like it
Will the camera key of n86 be like n97 ?
Thanks
It's much improved over N85. It's different to N97 so hard to say if it's better or worse than N97 as it's probably subjective and will also depend on the size of you finger.
maartenmk wrote:The pictures, while sharp, seem to suffer from too much smoothing, giving them a watercolor effect.
The oversharpening seems to be a bit less of a problem than with the N82, but at least that can be overcome by setting the sharpness to 'soft', and applying your own unsharp mask.
For a given size of camera system, including the most expensive imaging systems (e.g. size of sensor/pixels and optics) there is always a compromise somewhere. As you improve one aspect you potentially weaken another. In the case of N86 8MP based on huge amount of research we priortised the image quality on the aspects and viewing enviornment to be relevant to the vast majority of people who could be considered a potential purchaser of the N86 8MP. This resulted in priortisation of colour reproduction which is punchy but still retains a very natural look. Some products over saturate the colour whilst others look lifeless. As you increase the amount of colour tuning the noise in the image also increases. This results in the need to increase noise reduction.
In the tuning phase we captured and analysed well in excess of 15,000 pictures and videos in various conditions and of many different subjects. When we made the ultimate decision as to which combination of image paramaters we were going to use in the final SW we concluded that based on the way most people view their pictures and videos that the settings we chose gave the best balance. Whilst it can never be considered perfect and for all people I am very happy with the balance we struck in the end and feel sure that when viewed in normal conditions most of you will also be delighted. Of course I'll expect you to tell me otherwise if you feel that way 😉
The only thing putting me off from upgrading is the dual LED flash vs Xenon thing, but then again I still have my N95 and fully appreciate the way the it balances all of it's main features into one very good little package. I think I'll be buying this, but is it worth me shelling out up to �400 or shall i wait a few months for my contract to finish? Being tied to a contract vs the resellability (?) factor is what i'm mulling over now. There's an ebay seller who has the N86 for just under �350, and he's a well respected member.
This phone certainly looks like what the N96 SHOULD have been, and could be the one to finally make me give up my N95 classic.
How soon until we see some low light photos 😊
I hope my unit is broken for some reason.
and I say that I hope that, otherwise this phone is crap.
my unit crashes all the time when I fill fields of different applications with words beginning with "v", "t", or "u".
when It happens, I need to pull the battery off the phone.
dramatic.
have a nice day!
Ive had this phone a few hours now. So far, I think it is absolutely brilliant.
The build quality is awesome. It feels and looks great. The screen is phenomenal.
FP2 running on this phone is fast. No slow downs yet, though I havent installed many apps or media yet.
Speakers still arent as good as N95 8gb was, but theyre pretty good. Good enough.
Took a few shots in very low light and they came out awesome. Even video works well in low light. There is a video editor which is sweet because, it allows you to cut a video down before sending it or uploading it to the web (saves you money).
Nokia is going to have to come out with a really kick ass touchscreen phone for me to upgrade from this combined with my ipod touch and Walking Hotspot.
Ive had the N95 8gb and. This phone blows them both away.
....... I forgot to mention the keypad. The separated keys makes it way better to type with. Kickstand is a brilliant feature. Love the Internet Radio app and this sucker flies using Opera mini even though the Nokia browser is plenty good enough.
Search function. Love it. Email notification on home screen. Love it. Screen saver is cool with a big digital clock. Left bottom key pulsates white when you missed a call, mail or message. Great !
Only problem is I use a Mac so have to wait for Nokia Media app to support it and an isync plug in to sync calendar and contacts.
In the meantime used Windows and Nokia's app. Transferred contacts, calendar and bookmarks from an N85 backup and was flawless. Nice.
Sound with headphones is excellent. I paired it with my nokia bluetooth headphone unit and couldn't notice any degradation in quality. In fact, with the bluetooth unit, can increase the volume more. Also paired with my car stereo no problem.
Unregistered wrote:For a given size of camera system, including the most expensive imaging systems (e.g. size of sensor/pixels and optics) there is always a compromise somewhere. As you improve one aspect you potentially weaken another. In the case of N86 8MP based on huge amount of research we priortised the image quality on the aspects and viewing enviornment to be relevant to the vast majority of people who could be considered a potential purchaser of the N86 8MP. This resulted in priortisation of colour reproduction which is punchy but still retains a very natural look. Some products over saturate the colour whilst others look lifeless. As you increase the amount of colour tuning the noise in the image also increases. This results in the need to increase noise reduction.In the tuning phase we captured and analysed well in excess of 15,000 pictures and videos in various conditions and of many different subjects. When we made the ultimate decision as to which combination of image paramaters we were going to use in the final SW we concluded that based on the way most people view their pictures and videos that the settings we chose gave the best balance. Whilst it can never be considered perfect and for all people I am very happy with the balance we struck in the end and feel sure that when viewed in normal conditions most of you will also be delighted. Of course I'll expect you to tell me otherwise if you feel that way 😉
Nice to hear this kind of thing! I stand by my opinion, but the colors themselves are indeed quite good.
I understand most people will not scrutinize the images on 1:1 zoom, and also won't do their own image processing afterwards.
But for those of us that do, it would be nice to have the option of turning down some of the image processing. Of course I wouldn't expect this in the normal UI, but a beta labs add-on perhaps, or even a slightly more accessible system so a third party can reach some of these parameters would be nice.
Unregistered wrote:.......Only problem is I use a Mac so have to wait for Nokia Media app to support it and an isync plug in to sync calendar and contacts.
.
It's coming soon.
maartenmk wrote:Nice to hear this kind of thing! I stand by my opinion, but the colors themselves are indeed quite good.
I understand most people will not scrutinize the images on 1:1 zoom, and also won't do their own image processing afterwards.
But for those of us that do, it would be nice to have the option of turning down some of the image processing. Of course I wouldn't expect this in the normal UI, but a beta labs add-on perhaps, or even a slightly more accessible system so a third party can reach some of these parameters would be nice.
Thanks, I respect your opinion. Please keep them coming. We're always looking at how to satisfy the more involved users. This is an area we are looking at for future products...
Unregistered wrote:,the one thing i found on the N86 is the Speakers as on my N95 8gb they were position an either sde of the mobile but the N86 Speakers are on the same side,an the speakers do not seem as loud as my N95 8gb,i like the slide lock button idea from Nokia as you get feed up pressing the buttons on mobiles to unlock it but the N86 slide unlock button is a Very idea from Nokia,but i wonder if Nokia could have made N86 display been turned off until you unlock the slide like they did with the 5800 ,will be getting the camera tested out tomorrow night seeing what the N86 images are good an bad,but uptil now the N86 is a very good mobile to purchase
Speakers are positioned on the side to suit landscape playback of videos. This is the preferred position for all Nseries products. It also suits the N86 very well if you set it down using the kickstand to play music too.
Not sure I fully understand what you mean about locking/unlocking. Perhaps you could elaborate? There are various settings in menu> tools > settings > General > Slide Handling. You may find changing these better suit your preferences.
This very afternoon had a play with the SE W995 with 8mp camera. Boy was i surprised! The pictures were grainy outside with black colours and just grainy in, even with the flash. My N95 8GB was miles better.
The pic's in this article look great, so no doubt in my mind Nokia 8mp wins.
what can i say? i think the N86 is the best cameraphone out there at the moment.....
i would like to see how it stands up against the satio with its 12mp....
even though it would be an "unfair advantage" to the N86...i do think the N86 is good
enough not to be "beaten" by miles....
trust me this device is well impressive!!!
This N86 looks good. I love the 'raised' keys on both keypads - so long has been wasted by Nokia with this 'flush' keypad thing. I love the N96 but don't like 2 things - one being the 'flush' keypad (and the N86 sorts this, by the look of the pics) - the other is that I sync iTunes with my Nokia devices using a MacBook and if I use the N96's 'internal 16GB' memory as the 'primary' target for my content, the device struggles big time. Slow in every way shape and form to read and write to the internal drive. I guess I may have extra-ordinary demands in that I want to carry about 20GB of content with me but I should be able to do this if the N96 is marketed with an internal 16GB drive and a card as well. So I tried doing it the other way round - telling Nokia Multimedia Transfer that my 16GB MicroSD card is the 'primary' target for my content (and then by default when the card is full it puts the excess on the internal 16GB memory). This works much better. Seems to work OK leaving a large portion of the Internal 16GB memory free and the card full. But this shouldn't be right as a solution and the point of my post is that I hope the N86 will let me do it the other way round - using the Internal (in this case) 8GB of space as the 'primary' target for my iTunes content and the 'overflow' being written to whatever card I have in the slot without horrible sluggishness of the whole OS as seems to happen in the N96. Maybe I'm doing it wrong and not following the 'way' Nokia think is best - in which case, please enlighten me! But I think the OS should be usable in the same way as any other computer could be. No? Tim
...furthermore... Is the N86 supported by the Beeb for iPlayer (downloads)? Not sure if I should have read that/been aware of that from AAS reviews so far but don't recall. Shame if they've left it out particularly as recent additions of the E71 have made a big difference (particularly for the Download part of the service). Tim
CAn you please post some sample pictures captured by n86's dual led flash..i wanted to know if the dual led flash has been upgraded and is more good than the previous once..
timsalmon wrote:...furthermore... Is the N86 supported by the Beeb for iPlayer (downloads)? Not sure if I should have read that/been aware of that from AAS reviews so far but don't recall. Shame if they've left it out particularly as recent additions of the E71 have made a big difference (particularly for the Download part of the service). Tim
iPlayer isn't supported yet, but is surely only a matter of someone at the BBC flicking a switch!
Thanks for all the great comments so far, sample image articles are imminent.
To malerocks:
>"how sensible is it to buy a S60 3rd edition (9.3) device now that the 5th edition (9.4) is already out? >What advantages do you see to stick to 9.3 for the time been?"
5th edition is almost nothing but 3rd-sp2 with touch interface. That's why every new non-touch device comes with 3.2
Deciding to buy 3.2 devices has all the advantages of, and is as sensible as, getting a non-touch Symbian UI for reasons of familiarity, easier one-handed use, wider variety of available terminals, etc.
malerocks wrote:
"how sensible is it to buy a S60 3rd edition (9.3) device now that the 5th edition (9.4) is already out? What advantages do you see to stick to 9.3 for the time been?"
S60 3.2 will be around for quite some time to come. There are still devices being announced with it (E72). I would say its a more mature platform and the technical capabilities are very similar (really S60 5.0 is S60 3.2 with the touch UI).
In that light, if you want a non touch device it is still an eminently sensible buy.
entwisi wrote:QVGA fixed in 3.2?is this a step back from 3.0 when the N80 had a higher res screen? Even in its tiny form factor the extra resolution made reading 'full size' web pages much easier than on the N95 I had next.
I agree that web is one of the areas where a higher res screen makes sense (although there are limits even to this. What I mean by fixed is that its the standard. It is possible to extend out of it (as was done for the E90), but that requires additional software customization. And yes I believe the N80 resolution never made it 3.1 / 3.2 (not 100% sure on this). The resolution was abandoned because of the LCD costs (it wasn't standard).
Unregistered wrote:n82 has sip integrated into the system >>>> great thing
what about n86?
It is, but not in the same way. Nokia doesn't include a full solution (Internet telephony one that only require settings), but the underlying SIP functionality (APIs) is still present. SIP providers needs to provide their own application.
clintsgh wrote:Is this v10 firmware going to be in the retail release? And I remembered that Ovi Chat was in the homescreen of the N86 back in MWC. Will that be included in the final release?
Yes I reviewed a retail release version. I'd expect firmware updates before too long. Ovi Chat is expected to be included in a whole range of products shortly.
Unregistered wrote:
Will the camera key of n86 be like n97 ?
The N86 camera key is decent. Maybe not quite up there with the N97 (its smaller), but certainly better than the N95.
MarcoZ wrote:In these reviews I never find comments about the camera beiing fast or slow. N95 is so slow in autofocus that it is almost impossible to take pictures fast. Has this issue been solved ? For some it could be more important than UBER quality since phones are many times used to take quick pictures not to make photo books ...
Will look at that in more detail, but in general it faster.
maartenmk wrote:The pictures, while sharp, seem to suffer from too much smoothing, giving them a watercolor effect.
The oversharpening seems to be a bit less of a problem than with the N82, but at least that can be overcome by setting the sharpness to 'soft', and applying your own unsharp mask.
Yes as you say you can adjust the settings. The decision taking in processing are a balance - and everyone has their own personal preferences. For me the important issue is how they looked when viewed on screen and how they look when printed out. If you study a photo in zoomed in detail you can pick out problems, but its the overall effect that matters. And here I would say the N86 produce visibly 'better' pictures than other camera phones.
I know not everyone will agree with me on this (e.g. Steve).
widehead wrote:I really, really wanted to see something that took my breath away like the N95 8GB did when it was released.For my money, nothing beats the form factor and build quality of the E71 and for that reason I'm holding out for the E72.
Different form factors, different choices. But yes a first version of a form factor does tend to get more admiring looks 😊 I love the E71 too, but its a different sort of device.
neilhoskins wrote:Has it got anything like the N95's video editor?
Yes, although its more basic in some ways.
tkboxer wrote:If firmware updates and software development are weighty concerns to you than you may want to choose either the N97 or E72 as these phones will far outsell the N86.
That's probably a fair comment, though I would expect the N86 to do better than the N82. There's sure to be some firmware updates.
tawalker wrote:Why on earth did Nokia drop this [N95 video editor] from the N95's descendants, and couldn't they at least make the editor available as a separate installer for those who want it?
It was dropped as it was a licensed bit of third party software and therefore cost money. Relatively few people use it... so it got replaced by a Nokia video editor.
Unregistered wrote:"Technical limitations means that S60 3.2 is stuck on QVGA"I don't think so. E90 also ran on S60 3.1 and it had a WVGA screen.
N86 in S60 3.2, plus see the comment above. You can make S60 run in other resolutions, but it requires extra software development (was trying to avoid being too long winded when I made that comment).
malerocks wrote:Is that glass screen able to withstand scratches? Or will this phone require a scratchguard as well?
Its better able to with stand scratches, but nothing is absolutely 100% scratch proof.
Unregistered wrote:Hi Rafe, hope you don't mind me pointing out a small error in your otherwise thorough [pt1] review.The material which surrounds the glass display is in fact metal, not plastic. This metal bezel is then joined to a metal plate which the glass is bonded to. The glass and the metal in this area are the main contributors to the weight increase, in addition to the metal sliding mechanism (N85 slide mechanism is also metal)
atb
Always happy to have a correction. I've updated the review. Not quite sure how I let this one slip through - embarrassing! A definite plus over the N97 materials 😊