Nokia N86 Review:

Since cell phones first came out ages ago, the Nokia company has been on the leading edge of the newest technology innovations. Their first phones were constantly getting smaller and more reliable, and as cell phones turned into mini-computers, they too were striving to offer their users some of the most high-tech gadgets available.

Well, the cell phone industry has already conquered making their phones act like small personal computers. We’ve had full web browsing for years now, integrated email, etc.. The newest race is to make a phone that functions like a full-sized digital camera. According to Nokia, they’ve done it. Does the new Nokia N86 act like a modern digital camera? Or does it not live up to its manufacturer’s hefty claims? We’ve got our hands on it, and are going to give you an unbiased third-party review. We’ll cover just the facts, so we can let you make your own mind up.

The Nokia N86 is quite the new innovation, no matter what side of the fence you’re on. It is an 8 megapixel camera phone–a resolution that rivals some lower-end digital SLR cameras. The phone goes back to a style that was made popular several years ago: The slider. Nokia manages to build this design in a aesthetically pleasing design that doesn’t look out-of-date or low-tech, which is hard enough to do.

The operating system is Nokia’s Symbian system that has been used on several of their phones. We were happy to see that, since it has already proven to be a solid, reliable and bug-free option for those who have used Nokia phones in the past. The phone doesn’t come in a ton of colors (or any colors at all really), since the only current offerings are white and gray. While that’s not the widest pallet of color options, it ensures every variation of the phone stays looking sleek and high-tech and not like something a pre-teen would carry.

Holding the phone in your hand is somewhat confusing. The construction quality seems higher in some areas more than others. Most of the phone is plastic, feeling somewhat flimsy and not so secure. However, other features are made from solid metal, which feels strong and sleek in the hand. Some of the previous versions of the N serious of phones by Nokia did feel somewhat better made as far as the basic construction materials goes. If you were to drop one of those on concrete, chances are much better they would survive unharmed.

The screen is one of our most
favorite features about this phone. It uses OLED technology to produce brilliant,
crisp pictures that look much better than other phones on the market. Andget
this: It’s a widescreen. We tested it out by watching part of a movie on the
phone, and were simply blown away. This might be the single best feature of
the entire phone (though we’ve yet to take a look at the camera, of course).
For a phone boasting to take great pictures, this is a good start–it helps to
see what you just snapped a pic of.

The phone itself has a ton of features. We were happy to see that it had integrated GPS. Far too many “advanced” phones are coming out that leave the user lacking in the GPS area. This makes the phone fantastic for road-trips. It’s the ultimate phone for that purpose. Where else can you see where you’re going, how far you’ve got to go, snap high-resolution pictures along the way, and call home all from the same mobile device?

Alright, time to take a look at the flagship feature of this phone: The camera. This phone outputs pictures at 8MP resolution, which is an actual resolution of 3264×2468 pixels. This gives you enough play room to load the pictures into Photoshop for some editing, or print directly to paper. The phone’s pictures are high enough quality to print them directly to 8×10 photos.

However, the quality of the photos themselves were simply “okay”. Given the fact that they are coming from a phone that is quite smaller than most of the competition, and can fit in your pocket all day with you barely noticing it, the pictures are great. Just don’t entirely think you can throw away your digital camera complete. For day-to-day snapshots, it works just fine, but we felt that some of the other camera phones on the market offer better products.

When the phone is officially launched, Nokia is saying that the camera will have some improvements over the test subject we had to review. Nobody is quite sure what that means, it may just mean they are tweaking the software a little bit before the phones go out the door. It doesn’t seem logical that they would replace the entire camera system in the production version. The official product may have a somewhat better quality camera system than the one we used, but it is still likely that other products on the market will offer better quality pictures.

The integrated flash system consists of two LED lights, which don’t do much to light things up. Some higher end phones have actual fully-functioning flashes built into them, which we felt the N86 really could have used. Most of the time you’re better off just leaving the flash turned off.

Other features of the phone were similar to other phones by Nokia. The web browsing experience was fine, but not exceptional, as was the messaging tool and other included programs. The keypad is easy to use, with the buttons being very easy to hit.

Overall, the Nokia N86 really is a great camera phone. It takes crisp pictures, and its screen shows them off nicely. The other features, such as web browsing and integrated GPS are nice to have. The phone is easy to use, and while it might not feel very solid, we’re sure you won’t want to be dropping it off of a roof-top anyway. While there might be better camera phones on the market, this phone has a lot to offer.