Games, 8 MP camera, great music, mobile phone all under one roof!

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Great camera, great gaming device, music sounds great.

Thumbs Down:

Expensive, low display resolution.

Inside the Trunk:

Technology: GSM
Band: Quad band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Phone Design: Slider
Caller ID: Yes
Other Features: Camera, music player, Bluetooth, FM radio, games

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

2.6 inch AMOLED display, 24 bit (16.7 million colors), 320X240 resolution.
Supported audio formats – AAC, MP3, eACC, eACC+, and WMA
Camera 8 mega pixels with CMOS sensor, Image Formats EXIF , JPEG, Special Effects
Sepia , Vivid , Negative , Black & White, White Balance Presets , Automatic
video formats – MPEG-4, 3gp, H.264, H.263 video and AMR audio, Video resolution – 640 x 480 (VGA),
8 GB internal memory expandable to 16 GB, lithium ion battery, 3.5 mm head phone jack,
Downloadable Content – Games, Themes, Ring tones, Audio files, Video files, Screensavers, Wallpapers.
Playback Digital Video Formats – 3gp, H.264, H.263 video and AMR audio, RealVideo, RealAudio (RealMedia), MPEG-4.
Supported Email Protocols – POP3, SMTP, IMAP4
Additional Features -  TV Link, Push-to-talk mode, Built-in FM transmitter, aGPS, Built-in stereo speakers, Radio Data Service (RDS), Text-to-Speech (text recognition)

Razzle Dazzle:

The N86 is attractive looking phone, like all other N series phones. The slider slides to way on the upper side there are multi media keys and at the bottom there is numeric keypad. The phone is sturdier than other N series phones but this comes at the price of higher weight.

The upper half of the screen sits tight on the lower half and the two parts aren’t loose, but if you want to use the slider you have to push the upper half really hard. The joints in the slider and clamshell have lubricants between them and get loose with time.

The phone has a stand behind which makes it stand when you want to watch videos. Be care full while using the stand, we found it very delicate.

Inside Dope:

Nokia says that the N86 camera is so good that you won’t need a separate digital camera for your photos and this one is as good as a digital cam. We tested the phone for the camera and we must say that we agree with Nokia.

So let’s get down to business with the main selling point of the phone, the camera. We won’t say that N86 has the highest mega pixel camera in the market. Samsung Memoir has 8 mega pixel and Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905 has 8.1 mega pixel camera. But the results that this camera gave were quite impressive.

The camera has lens cover over it which says “Carl Zeiss” and you have to slide it down to open the camera. The phone has 20x digital zoom and the video shooting can be done up to 30 frames per second. The phone has advanced editing options like N85 like eight shooting modes, sequence shots, ISO settings, and red-eye reduction, and includes some new tricks like panorama mode, variable aperture (F2.4, F3.2, F4.8), and a 28-millimeter wide-angle lens. The last two features are pretty rare on camera phones and will surely please shutter bug freaks.

The phone doesn’t have face or smile detection which is present on the Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905 and Samsung Memoir. This isn’t a turn off, but if Nokia is claiming that it can replace your digital camera, we expect these features. There is no mirror for the camera.

We took a few pictures with the Nokia N86 and were quite satisfied with the photo quality. The picture quality is sharp and colors are represented quite well. The quality of the camera will drop when you click pictures in the night, there will be a little graininess in the photos. But this mobile camera was one of the best we have ever tested.

There is a photo editor in the phone which lets you to add various effects, text, clip art and more. You can send your photos through email or MMS or you can upload the pictures to websites like Flickr, Nokia Ovi Service or Vox and there is a geo-tagging function which lets you plot your photos on map. The video quality of the phone was also good.

Nokia N-series phones have focused on multi media and they deliver great sound quality. This phone too follows the suit, the N86 supports AAC, MP3, eACC, eACC+, and WMA sound formats and you there are repeat and shuffle modes. You can create play lists on the fly and attach album art pictures on the songs. There is no shortage of memory storage, the Nokia N86 has built in memory of 8 GB and you can further expand it up to 16 GB, in all 24 GB of space. FM radio is also built in, like in all N series phones.

Nokia N86 is the closest substitute for the Nokia N-Gage series phones; there are a couple of trial games like FIFA 09, Tetris and Asphalt. You get an activation code with the phone which lets you activate on of these games for free. Gaming and camera are the two features that are the main advertising points for the N86.

The display of the phone is 2.6 inch color and it is a two way slider device with media buttons on one side and numeric keypad on the other side. The display is AMOLED which is better than standard LCD as it gives better display and needs less power. The display has resolution of 320X240 which is a little less on a phone that has so many features. You can change wall paper and screen saver on the phone and also adjust the back light. The phone has a built in accelerometer which changes the display when you put the phone on the sides.

The phone slides up to reveal the numeric keypad and the keys are a little tiny to press. They feel cramped on the tiny keyboard too. They are well spaced, no doubt about that, but it is a lot of struggle to type on them. Above the numeric keyboard there are buttons below the display which consists for a four way navigation button, two soft key buttons, a call and call end button, main menu short cut and a cancel. These keys are quite easy to press and are elevated adequately from the surface of the phone. We would have appreciated if the phone had a touch screen interface. Nokia has always been coy over making touch screens until recently when they started manufacturing the Express Music touch screen phones.

There is no limit for the number of entries in the phone book, but there has to be enough space on the internal memory. But with eight GB memory you don’t need to worry much. The SIM card can hold additional 250 contacts. You can assign a photo with a contact and also pair a contact with a unique ring tone. Each entry can store multiple phone numbers, e-mail addresses, a birthday, work and home addresses and more.

Other features on the phone include zip manager, measurement converter, calendar, clock, PDF reader, calendar, calculator and text-to-speech message reader. There is a Quick Office Suite that lets you view Word, PowerPoint and Excel files and it optimizes the pages to the phone screen so you don’t have to scroll. You cannot edit the documents; you will have to purchase a license for that.  More such applications can be purchased from Nokia Ovi Store. There are short cuts available which allow you to jump up and down on the page and there is also a search function while using the Office Suite.

The phone also has connectivity for SMTP, POP3 and IMAP4 and comes with a full attachment viewer. It also supports push e-mail solutions as well as Microsoft Exchange Server synchronization. E-mail and in-box synchronization is easy with the wizard.

We tested the phone for call quality and there were some problems, the voice was hollow sometimes and we couldn’t hear what people were saying on the phone clearly. On the other hand the people on the other side of the phone said that they could hear us clearly.

The speaker phone of the N86 has to be one of the best. People on the other side didn’t realize that we were talking on the speaker phone till we told them and the sound was quite clear. The phone has Bluetooth so you can put wireless headset for your calls.

USB cable, AC adapter, wired headset and remote, a software DVD are bundled with the device.

Nitty Gritty:

N86 is one of the best phones from the stables of Nokia and we will recommend this phone to shutter bug freaks and music enthusiasts. This is also a good replacement for Sony PSP, playing games on this device was real fun. The only thing that may hold you back from owning the device is the price tag. The phone is a little costly even by the standards of high end models.