Nokia N85 review – sleeker and more solid than N95 & N96
Thumbs Up:
5-megapixel camera with 20x digital zoom, auto-focus and dual LED flash; decent music player; admirable gaming support with N-gage service; full wireless options including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, more solid built and sleeker design than that of the N95 and the N96.
Thumbs Down:
A bit more expensive; stiff navigation controls; sluggish performance especially while viewing pictures
Inside the Trunk:
Technology: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM
Band: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Phone Design: Dual-slider
Caller ID: Yes
Other Features: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5-megapixel camera with dual flash
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
The Nokia N85 has 74MB user-accessible memory and its micro-SD expansion slot accepts up to 8GB cards. The supported wireless interfaces are Bluetooth 2.0 and IEEE 802.11 b/g. The operating system is Symbian OS 9.3 Series 60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2. The smartphone supports synchronization with SyncML and PC.
2.4 inches OLED display has 320×240 pixels resolution that supports 16.7 million (24-bit) colors. The smartphone has white illumination color for display.
The additional features are text-to-speech, Class 32 EDGE, GPRS, Radio Data Service (RDS), inbuilt stereo speakers, Video calling, Java applications, built-in FM transmitter, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, XHTML Web browser, Push-To-Talk mode, and TV link. The supported platforms are Java MIDP 2.0 and CLDC 1.1.
The 5-megapixel camera features CMOS optical sensor, auto-focus, 20x digital zoom, picture stabilizer, self-timer, dual LED flash/flashlights, and video recording. The minimum focal length is 5.2mm. The special effects are Black & White, Negative, Vivid, and Sepia. The white balance options are Automatic and Presets. The digital video formats are H.263 video with AMR audio, MPEG4, H.264, and 3GP.
The connector set includes 1×3.5mm headset jack – mini-phone and 1×micro-USB. The 1200mAH lithium ion battery has a life of 325 minutes talk time. Accessories supplied inside the box are reference material, a software disc, a wired headset for hands-free calling, one 8GB micro-SD card, video-out cables, a USB cable, and travel charger.
Razzle Dazzle:
The Nokia N85 is 1.9 inches wide, 4 inches tall and 0.6 inch deep and weighs 4.5 ounces. Its black and sleek chassis gives the smartphone a modern and attractive look. The smoother edges provide comfortable feeling while holding in hands.
Inside Dope:
The Nokia N85 costs $313.59 and has dual-slide design with sleeker and slimmer profile. It offers high-end advanced multimedia features and snappier performance like other N series smartphones including the Nokia N79, the N95 and the N96. You can say that it is sexier, slimmer and smaller version of the N96.It is noteworthy that most of the features of the N79 are quite similar to the N85. As said, the Nokia N85 is better than above three N series smartphones. The Nokia N96 and the N95 feels a bit plasticky and cheap, but this is not true for the N85. The navigation toggle can also be set as Navi Wheel by going to ToolsàSettingsàGeneralàNavi Wheel. After that, you can touch the toggle’s edges for scrolling through menus, zooming in and out, and so forth.
2.6 inches OMLED display of the Nokia N85 has 320×240 pixels resolution that supports 16.7 million colors. We really like this display as it pops up the Web pages, videos, and photos. However, it is a bit difficult to read under direct sunlight. You can personalize the home screen with themes and background images.
The navigation array of the Nokia N85 is located underneath the display. It consists of the two soft keys, touch-sensitive navigation toggle, clear button, multimedia key, and Menu shortcut. The array has spacious buttons, while the menu, clear and soft keys are flat and stiff while pressing. As already mentioned, you can also use the toggle as the Navi Wheel. We are disappointed that it was not quick responsive while testing.
You can push up the screen to access the alphanumeric keypad. Its buttons are spacious and flat, but not as stiff to press as abovementioned keys. You can push the screen down at the flip side to access the multimedia buttons. The track forward and back buttons will also work as zoom in and out in the galleries
The micro-USB port, 3.5mm headset/AV jack, and power button are located on the top of the Nokia N85. You will find the 3D stereo speakers, a camera button, a lock switch, and a volume rocker on the right side; while the micro-SD slot protected by attached cover is on the left side. The camera lens protected by slider cover and dual LED flash are on the back side.
The inbuilt media player supports WMA, eAAC+, eAAC, AAC and MP3 file formats. It features on-the-fly play-lists, album art, shuffle and repeat modes, library of tunes, and podcast support. There is also a FM tuner with Visual Radio app that requires connecting the headset. The inbuilt equalizer has six settings; rock, pop, jazz, classical, bass booster, and default. The overall music quality was the excellent over included wired headset.
It is fantastic the Nokia N85 supports N-Gage gaming service. It is very easy to download and install the games through it. The N85 comes with System Rush Evolution, FIFA 08, Brain Challenge, and Tetris. You will get activation code for one game in free with the purchase of the N85 smartphone. You will also get the benefit of a community service that allows creating profiles, building up status and points, interacting and playing with other N-Gage members. The N85 is a good gaming device, but cannot replace the Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP.
The 5-megapixel camera of the Nokia N85 features dual-LED flash, Carl Zeiss Vaio-Tessar lens, 20x digital zoom and video recording. The overall picture quality was excellent and bright. The recorded video quality was also good.
We made few calls through the quad-band based Nokia N85 via AT&T service for testing. The overall call quality was good. We received rich and clear sound at our end without any echo or background noise. The callers received good quality, but hollow sound at their end. The Bluetooth headset calls were fine.
The overall performance of the Nokia N85 is between the N96 and the N79. There was a noticeable delay while viewing loading the picture viewer. However, it was quick responsive and did not crash while testing. The GSMcellulars.com and the eTechreviews.net loaded in 20 and 30 seconds respectively.
The Nokia N85 has 1200mAH lithium ion battery that has a life of 6.9 hours talk time and 4.5 hours in 3G; while the idle standby time is 15 days. Its digital SAR is 0.91 watt per kg in accordance with the FCC radiation tests.
Nitty Gritty:
If you need more solid and sleeker smartphone than the N95 and the N96, then you can buy the Nokia N85. However, it does not offer much memory.
