Guest shadamehr Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 [teaser]Edited for news, thanks for your submission! - tsutton Review of the Nokia N86 8MP Camera-phone. This is my first ever review, so please bear with me, if I have missed out anything obvious. I will happily answer questions in this thread if so, or you may post in the "Ask Shadamehr about the N86..." thread that I intend to also post after this review. Box Contents (based on a T-Mobile UK Contract Handset):The phoneBL-5K Battery (1200 Ma)New Style Micro-USB Charger (yes, another new size, but remember this is now to be the standard size for all mobile phones in the coming months and years. So a positive step actually)CA-101 Micro USB Data and Charging CableHS-83 Two Part 3.5mm Stereo Headset – so that it can be used as either just headphones, or as Handsfree Wired headset, or used this way with your OWN headphones too.ManualNokia Ovi Suite CD (Note there is a newer Beta online, yet even this is still buggy)N-Gage Activation Code, to turn any ONE of the many demo games included, into a FULL versionOvi Maps 3.0, 10 Day DRIVE Licence (as 10 x useful 1 day licences valid until Dec 2009), plus lifetime WALK navigation, and City Explorer Licence.Stated design specs are:Dimensions: 103.4 x 51.4 x 16.5-18.5 mm Weight (with battery): 149 g (so rather heavy, but in use it feels solid and balanced)Volume: 84 cc Additional size and shape information: 2-way slider with spring assistance mechanismKick-standIn use/switching on: As mentioned elsewhere, Nokias have a curious trait whereby when you switch them on, there is a fair period where nothing seems to happen, and the display stays blank, before any logo, operator customisation etc gets displayed. As you do power it on though, you should feel a slight haptic vibration feedback to indicate you have kept the power button pressed in long enough, and may now let go, as the phone is indeed booting up. Overall however, modern Nokias are quite quick at booting to full ready state, with the Standby screen displayed, and the Operator Network listed etc. In use, the phone, under current firmware (version 11.043 at the time of writing this, which is the latest even for unbranded handsets), is a bit of a mixed bag. UPDATE: It has many firmware bugs indeed, but Nokia are aware and are releasing a new Firmware very early in October - see below for more info. It is a very new phone, running on what is basically only the second firmware release, so this is somewhat understandable, And for comparison, the Nokia N95 was in truth a terrible phone, until we finally reached firmware version 20 for it, and thereafter, it was a solid, reliable phone. So I am very disappointed with the phone as it stands just now, BUT not at all too worried, as I am more than convinced the issues will be fixed in newer Firmware updates, just as was the case with the old N95 The menus themselves etc are fast to load, given the higher spec processor in this N86 device, so again, those issues that I do list at the end of this article, I am all the more sure are due to poor software code for now. One real place I notice a delay though, is when receiving a text message, reading it, and then clicking to reply. The delay from this point, to the typing editor actually being ready to accept your text, is a lot slower than any previous Nokia I have owned (over fifty five at least). Again though, I feel confident this can and will be fixed in future firmwares. As mentioned in Tony’s article on the E52 and E55, The layout of the home screen contains all of the items that you readily need to access easily. From the home screen, most of the relevant items are easy to reach. HOWEVER, as a ‘power-user’, the very first thing I always do is start creating my own folders, re-organising items, and moving things around to mirror my existing/previous handset. This might be more than the average user needs, but at least it’s worth flagging up, that all these things are possible, as many people go ages using their phones without even knowing this. So for one example, if the handset does not already include a “GPS” folder, I create one myself in the Root menu. And then all my Maps stuff, like Ovi Maps, Google Maps, Geocaching tools, CoPilot, Search etc, get moved into this folder. The same sort of Housekeeping gets done in the Office folder, Apps folder, etc etc. You don’t NEED to do this, but the option is there should you prefer to. So, moving on to the actual ‘review’ itself....Handset: As mentioned earlier, the phone is a twin slider design, as introduced by the original Nokia N95. You slide the front up to expose the main numeric/t9 keyboard, but you can also slide the front down, to expose a special set of Media buttons, that allow you to easily play, skip, rewind, pause, and stop music and video. But with the advent of the N86, these buttons have been improved so as to be actual dedicated buttons (before they were flush with the surface), and now also have dual indication markings, whereby they can be used as zoom in and zoom out buttons in Ovi Maps etc (reviewer note – “Ovi” for those who do not know, is the Services Brand name Nokia have chosen to use for all their web services, such as Contacts, Share, Maps, Store, Sync, Music etc – all are referred to as “Ovi” by Nokia). The N86 is what one could perhaps term the “third-generation” Nokia N series design. The original square, sharp handset design of the N95 was “Mark 1” if you will. Then last years phones such as the N96, N79 etc and even perhaps the N85, this N86’s direct predecessor, were “Mark 2” – a far more rounded, modern looking design, but in some commentators minds, a bit plastic, or cheap looking. The “Mark 3” N Series design of the N86 is a vast step up on all counts. It too features a rounded, modern looking design, but the N86 just seems to feature more premium materials, to a far more accomplished effect. Indeed, the top part, the screen slider piece, is surrounded by a rim of Indigo/Black steel, which gives it a superior feel, and very much explains the heavy weight of an otherwise reasonably small device. Then the front is finished off with what seems to be a proper glass surface, encompassing the whole of the front, behind which the actual screen sits protected. And being an AM-OLED screen, that’s a good thing - but more on this next. The display is 320x240, carrying up to 16 million of colours which is an improvement colour-wise, on those of you used to the 65K colours of Windows Mobile devices, but many of you users of other devices will question the 320x240 resolution. This has been mentioned often about Nokia, and is allegedly a design limitation of Symbian 9.3, the O.S. Nokia currently uses on none touch-screen based handsets. Whether this is true or not I cannot say, but I can say that it’s likely Nokia will move to a larger resolution for none-touch devices sometime next year, and notwithstanding this, I genuinely see no issue with the resolution as it stands now. In fact, this leads me nicely onto the next important point – AM-OLED, or just OLED, as it is sometimes called. Without getting too scientific, as I don’t fully understand it myself anyway, but just to point out that the N86 uses an AMOLED screen – which stands for Active Matrix, Organic Light Emitting Diode. Do a Wiki search if you want detailed explanation, but in short, let me just say that this kind of screen technology has a number of benefits, and one possible shortcoming. You see, OLED screens do not use or require a backlight, as traditional/current LCD screens do, as each pixel spot on the display is made up from the LED itself, which in effect, provides its own illumination. As a result of this, OLED screens have a much better colour reproduction, black looks true black, unlike washed out when backlit from behind on normal screens, and the angle of view is constant, unlike an LCD screen where colours invert if you look at it from an angle. Above all though, OLED screens are much more BATTERY EFFICIENT with not needing a backlight. This produces a really weird feature however, that even now I still have not fully come to terms with... As an OLED screen needs no backlight, and the actual LEDs themselves are the light producing element, this means that when an OLED screen is in low power mode, such as when my Clock Screensaver is displayed, it nevertheless looks like the actual characters being displayed, have the backlight on. That is to say, I keep glancing at my phone and thinking “Woh, the backlight has not dimmed yet on my powersaver – why?” And then realising that there is no such thing as a backlight as such on OLED screens, and my phone is MEANT to appear this way. Don’t get me wrong, this is a GOOD thing – it means you can always see your clock screensaver. It just causes a moment of panic each time when you think it will be draining your battery, as if the screen was staying lit up on a normal LCD screen. To see exactly what I mean by this, check out the box photo shot of my phone up above, and notice the clock screen-saver, apparently illuminated on the front as if I had just pressed a button to 'light it up'. I hadn't - this is exactly what I mean, this is how OLED works, and remember, this is NOT a battery drain, rest assured. I mentioned a downside though...? OLED screens are not ‘transflective’ in the normal sense, unlike LCD screens (this being where on a bright day, where the backlight therefore does not come on, at least some of the direct sunlight that makes it hard to see your display outdoors, can pass through the LCD, and then reflect back, to provide at least some illumination from behind, so that you can still make it out on a bright day. As such, OLED screens, for all their other benefits, are meant to be even harder to read in bright daylight outdoors with not being as transflective. Personally though, I’ve not noticed any major issues so far, but hey, this is Gateshead, UK, not Palma Nova, Majorca, so it’s not a conclusive test yet mind. Finally as the phone come with Accelerometer sensor, (and a Magnometer too as it happens – a true digital compass, but more on that later) the display can rotate orientation automatically (when enabled manually) when you rotate the phone. In addition, if you take a photo in portrait format (taller than it is wide, for those of you who don’t know the difference), the using the accelerometer, the phone can automatically correctly orientate the saved photo. Without this, if you take a photo in Landscape on a normal phone, it is fine. But if you turn the phone around to take a portrait shot, then once saved it would be the wrong way round. An accelerometer inside the N86 fixes this automatically (if turned on separately inside the Camera Application itself), in the same way as the Nokia N95 first brought, and then later the Nokia N82 etc. (Note there is a minor bug with this feature in current firmware however – see the section at the end for more info)Memory:microSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 16 GB (I believe this should actually be able to take a 32GB card myself though, but 16GB is what the Nokia site states.Internal memory 8GBROM 77.0RAM 74.7So there is plenty room for music and photo storage on the in-built 8GB mass storage, plus a card can also be added too. But see my bugs and issues section at the end, for a problem whereby the Free Internal Memory dwindles, which again I am hoping is the key reason for the next Firmware Update. Messaging andCommunication: Despite being an N series (media orientated Nokia device) as opposed to an E series (Enterprise) handset, the Nokia N86 still packs in: [*]MMS [*]Email – the latest version of Nokia Messaging Email Suite is actually inbuilt, as currently also only on the E75. [*]Chat – meant to have Wireless Village I.M. built in, but so far I can’t find it on mine, so not sure if it’s a Branded Handset removed item. [*]Video Calling [*]Push To Talk Camera: The key feature of the Nokia N86 – the 8MP camera, with Dual 3rd Generation LED Flash/Video Light. I am loathe to go too much into this, as you could and indeed many other reviews do, write an entire separate review on the camera aspect alone, such is it’s significance in this device. Instead let me just mention a few relevant down to earth points about this, as well as give an opinion... OK – it’s not the ONLY 8MP shooter out there just now, and indeed Samsung have even announced a 12 MP monster. But I still feel it IS the most advanced/capable of them all, even perhaps the 12MP announced, for a couple of key reasons. Firstly, this is the first mobile phone of ANY manufacturer, at ANY MP size, that features a true variable aperture lens. Sounds fancy, but in layman-speak, it means instead of having a lens that is fixed, that can be either closed or open when actually taking a photo, as on all other phones, Nokia use a VARIABLE sized ‘opening’ (aperture), and this has potentially MASSIVE benefit. As instead of trying to get a one size fits all result using software, on every other phone that has a fixed lens, no matter whether it is really dark, and the sensor needs lots of light, or it’s really bright, and the sensor needs much less light, with this new Nokia, instead of false software correction to get around this real-world issue, the N86 can actually open the lens wide when it is dark, so as to let as much light in as possible, as well as only open it a small amount on a very bright day, when less light is needed. This, make no mistake, has the potential to be a real achiever, not just some ‘latest technology buzzword’ When coupled with Carl Zeiss Tessar Lens equipment and technology, it means the results are quite frankly, much better than anything prior to it or competing with it. The final point I will say on this that has been well debated before now elsewhere... the lack of true Xenon Flash. My previous Nokia N82 Imaging Phone, had a true Xenon Flash Bulb unit. Now no matter what ANYONE tells you, LED flash, even Dual Third generation ones such as the N86 has, cannot fully compete with a real Xenon flash. So this has made a LOT of people (me included) very angry, with the N86 being Nokia’s new flagship Imaging based device. In real terms however, let me say that whilst I have not had time to take a whole load of fully dark environment based “Flash Photos” with the N86, nevertheless, so far, the Twin 3rd generation LED’s are indeed far superior to any previous LED based flash solution. More relevantly though, I have taken many night shots at work, on the Door where I ‘Bounce’, at the same time as using my N82 too for comparison shots. And in those low light evening conditions we are now seeing with the end of summer, with the flash turned off, and street-lighting used for the adequate surrounding light, there is a VAST difference between the N82 and the N86, which is a much brighter overall image, and clearer too (reminder, this is low evening/night, but WITHOUT the flash on). So clearly, that variable aperture lens, and larger physical sensor, is doing something very right already! Finally, in terms of Video Recording, this is at 640x480 at 30fps, with optional image stabilisation etc. One thing that IS new and radical, with the N86 however is that ‘digital zoom’ is now a REAL possibility for the first time (for video recording I refer to here, not still photography). This being because as best I understand it, with video recording being at 640x480, it means it only uses a central area on the image sensor, for recording the light hitting it. Previous phones simply use the whole sensor, and then resample accordingly, I am led to believe. By doing things the way the N86 does, it means that you can ‘digitally’ zoom in a few times, maybe even up to 3x zoom, and it seems to have little or no discernible effect on the quality, because what is happening is that the phone appears to be re-cropping the image, to use the same central part of the sensor, and thus use a more ‘real’ image for which to save the video. I’m sure I am explaining this terribly, but at least those of technical mind will know the ‘how’ of what I am saying. For the rest of us, the important bit is the ‘what’ and the what in this case, is the first ever phone where digital zoom can actually be used up to a point, without it having too discernible an impact on quality. Internet and Media: The N86 allows you to access the Internet and view and receive media content. You are able to watch videos via many supported video formats, such as mp4, AVC/H.264, wmv, Real Video, Flash video and H.263/3GPP Symbian based Nokia handsets such as this use the “Webkit” Browser (the same base technology used by the iPhone, believe it or not, which is why many mobile sites actually detect the phone as being an iPhone when rendering a more optimised page). The N86 however is one of the first Nokias to use the newest incarnation of this browser, and as a result, this really is the one aspect of the otherwise (currently for now) buggy phone, that is indeed much much faster. It is a truly fully featured browser, putting to shame current Internet Explorer Mobile builds as seen on Windows Mobile devices. For those of you who swear by it though, you can readily download the java based Opera Mini, and use that too, it will happily co-exist with the phone’s own internet browser Video playback is also enhanced by the addition of a ‘kickstand’ – a rectangular hinge that surrounds the camera element on the back of the phone, which can be pulled out to prop up the phone, ideal for landscape playback of videos. It also actually incorporates a micro-switch so that when it is pulled out, it can launch automatically, just about any application of your choice (such as the video player, or gallery etc). You can also listen to music via the inbuilt music player, supporting AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, AMR-NB and WMA. This phone also comes with Real Player Media Player and also RDS-FM Radio, which is very useful as you can listen to radio/music while “on the move” – all via the 3.5mm audio jack which is a bonus as it’s the most commonly used audio jack size. A new first for the N86 however, and another key selling point, is that as well as it being an RDS FM Radio Receiver (i.e plug headphones in to form the needed antenna, and you can use it as a Radio receiver for standard FM transmission, in full RDS support too), it also has an FM TRANSMITTER built in. In layman’s terms, this means that you can put all your MP3’s and WMA’s and AAC songs on the N86’s inbuilt 8GB storage, then tune your car or home radio receiver to a suitable frequency of your choice, then have the N86 transmit via FM output, so you can hear your music direct over your car or home stereo. This is a really GREAT feature that I have used for some time now with my top-of-range TomTom Go 940 Live Sat-Nav that also has this feature. But the Music Player on the N86 is a far more accomplished affair than the very basic one in the TomTom, as well as coming with 8Gb storage built in t that. It’s even so clever that in conjunction with it being an RDS based device, when you tune your radio to the correct frequency, if that too is RDS based, such as car radios are, it even identifies the station as “Nokia” on the radio’s display. Cool, and more than just gimmicky – very useful indeed! Connectivity: The Nokia N86 is a highly connected device indeed, featuring Bluetooth version 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate. Bluetooth profiles: [*]Dial Up Networking Profile (Gateway) [*]Object Push Profile (Server and Client) [*]File Transfer Profile (Server) [*]Hands Free Profile (Audio Gateway) [*]Headset Profile (Audio Gateway) [*]Basic Imaging Profile (Image Push Responder and Initiator) [*]Remote SIM Access Profile (Server) [*]Device Identification Profile [*]Phone Book Access Profile (Server) [*]Stereo Audio Streaming: [*]Generic Audio/Video Distribution Profile [*]Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (A/V Remote Control Target) [*]Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (Audio Source) [*]Digital Home support (Home Media Server sharing – very useful!) [*]UPnP support [*]MTP (Mobile Transfer Protocol) support (can be sued in things like Windows Media Player, for easy transfer or even sync of music, if you do not like Nokia’s own solution etc) [*]TV out (PAL) with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable. NOTE – I did not spot this cable in the box, unlike previous N-Series devices with this feature, so unless you already have one from a previous phone (N82) like I do, you would have to obtain one for watching or viewing content on your TV – a shame, as this is great for photo and video playback, as well as N-Gage Gaming. [*]Support for local and remote SyncML synchronisation [*]Micro-USB connector with mass storage class support, High-Speed USB 2.0 [*]3.5 mm AV connector Data Network Support [*]CSD [*]HSCSD, maximum speed 43.2 kbps [*]GPRS class A, multislot class 32, maximum speed 107/64.2 kbps (DL/UL) [*]WCDMA 900/2100, maximum speed PS 384/384 kbps (UL/DL) (Nokia Website states Dual 3G support, but my box clearly states TRIPLE support – 900, 1900, AND 2100 WCDMA 3G radios in the N86, so I would tend to believe the box label more) [*]HSDPA, maximum speed 3.6 Mbps (DL) [*]EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 (So Quad band for Voice, and Triple Band for 3G – nice!) [*]WLAN 802.11b, 802.11g [*]WLAN Security: WPA2-Enterprise, WPA2-Personal, WPA-Enterprise, WPA-Personal, WEP [*]WLAN Quality of Service: WMM, U-APSD [*]WLAN wizard As you can see from that long list, about the only thing now omitted is Infra-red. It has just about every other communication and connectivity medium there is! Overall: The N86 runs what is known as Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition (Feature Pack 2). In real terms, this means it is currently the latest version of the Symbian Operating that gets used by none-touch devices. Onboard A-GPS seems very good, and gets a fix even easier in the middle of my house than previous Nokias did. The N86 also features a true Magnometer (Digital Compass), but this requires calibrating by first waving your hands round in circular gestures as if guiding down a Tornado jet. Once calibrated however, it makes the included free lifetime WALK Navigation Licence even more handy and useful, as it will constantly orientate the map towards north even when walking slowly, or short distances, whereas Satellite based ‘northing’ requires greater movement and speed, to keep north at the ‘top’. The phone has twin stereo speakers on the left hand side (in keeping with the earlier N82), as Nokia feel this is the way most people will be using it – when the phone is orientated in landscape, and supported by the kick stand – so the speakers are therefore then ‘either side’ in effect. They are loud and pretty clear, though not perhaps to the same standard as my N82. They blow mono based devices out the water however. Current issues and bugs with the N86: It has a relatively small amount of Free C: Internal Memory, and worse, current software policy/behaviour with Nokia, is that certain applications, such as N-Gage updates, Maps Updates, Email, QuickOffice, and numerous others, can ONLY be added to C: memory, not E: As a result, after less than a week, my own device has only 14.2MB of free C: memory, even though I have installed every app that gave me a CHOICE, to E: Auto-rotate - on certain occasions, the screen auto-rotates as you lock it. If it does this just as you are locking it, with a NUMERIC KEY-GUARD, then on occasions, when you unlock the phone, it is FIXED in the wrong orientation, and there is nothing you can do to correct it. In fact this bug is so severe, that when it does this, you can't even so much as turn the phone off. The power button does not even work, so a full battery pull is required. (Weird, given that you can use the phone fine, but just in the wrong orientation, so it's strange the power button doesn't work). Camera wrong auto-rotation - weird one indeed this, but for no sensible reason, certain photos taken in normal Landscape orientation, with the phone held correctly, get auto-rotated to portrait orientation once shot, and are thus the wrong way round. I can understand it doing this the other way round by mistake, and not correctly rotating a portrait shot photo, using the accelerometer, but electing TO rotate a correctly shot Landscape picture, is bizarre indeed. But it has done this to me several times now. Slide Auto-lock - when set to automatically lock the keypad when the slide is closed, most of the time this works fine, but other times, closing the slide does nothing, and worse, to prove it is a bug, when this problem does happen, even the hardware lock button on the side, then has no effect, thus confirming it to be a full bug. It does this for me from time to time, but a cure is to go back into the slide handling settings, and turn it off then back on, then closing the slide will automatically lock the keypad again. Mmmm. Responsiveness/Slowness - even when clean fresh booted (that is, as a new phone, out of the box), response rate in the messaging application is very poor, compared to most other older Nokias. A key way to demonstrate this, is to receive a message whilst something else is running on the phone. Switch to the messaging to view it, and then click "Reply" to respond... then sit back and time the delay it takes before you are actually ready to start typing in the editor. And as this is a key feature/use of the phone, it's most notable, and most frustrating. Inbox name matching - there is a bug on current firmware, akin to one the Nokia N96 also has, where it is possible, for a very small number of users, that if you receive a Text Message to your phone's inbox, instead of the phone correctly identifying the sender of this, if stored in your phonebook, it instead only shows the number. This affects only a VERY tiny number of people, and if it does apply, it only does this with one or two numbers at the most, but nevertheless, until fixed, it is a very frustrating bug. Sending Multi-recipient SMS - there is also another frustrating bug, whereby if you compose an SMS and choose to send it to multiple recipients, then after you have chosen the first recipient and ticked them, when you then go to search for the next recipient, the phonebook doesn't work properly, and doesn't 'find' people properly. For example - Write a text, then click to choose who to send to. Selcet John Smith and tick him. Then clear the extraneous characters from the search box and the bottom, in order to select your next recipient. Start typing S T E for Stephen Richards for example, and the phone will show you "Stphanie Smith", but will not list Stephen Richards, as if their was no such number. Type R I C for Richards instead, and what do you know, Stephen Richards will then suddenly appear. This is a confirmed bug, because (a) if R I C finds Stepehn Richards, so should S T E, and (:), because if you send to a SINGLE recipient instead, S T E, readily lists Stephen Richards as well as Stephanie Smith etc. So again, a frustrating bug for now. New Firmware Info: There is a whole new firmware build in the works to not only fix hopefully most of these bugs, but actually also designed to bring vast improvements to the already very good camera module of the phone. This firmware is seen as a key build, so it will be likely a v20 jump from v11, not an incremental one to say v12 or v13. It will also, I am happy to say, bring "Face Detection" focusing to Nokia phones for the very first time. It also brings colour reproduction improvements, better image quality, and SMALLER overall file-sizes. But before any say this is surely a BAD thing, let me explain, this is specifically meant to be because of image quality improvements that have resulted in less extraneous noise, artefacting, and dotting in the image, so thus resulting in a lower file size by not having to record this data which should not have even been there in the first place. How true or not this proves, time will tell, but given the specific stated explanation for it, it sounds plausible, and having seen comparison shots, the new firmware looks MUCH better in terms of image quality. My Overall Thoughts: I have to say that at this point in time, I find myself LIKING the Nokia N86, if not yet fully LOVING it. Clearly, this is due to it having a couple of reasonably significant early firmware bugs, as mentioned just above. Nevertheless, it is a technological marvel, a great camera, and an excellent music player, as well as of course, a decent device with which to CALL people, up to Nokia’s usual great call quality level, coupled with a battery life far better than the N95, and way beyond my N82, so enough for me to get through two days of full use, doing all that I do. So I am liking my device, and happy that I chose to get it on upgrade, especially as I got it for FREE on one of my lower value tariffs, whereas it’s meant to be anything up to £100 on such a tariff, for new customers. When newer firmware comes out (and like I mentioned, I am told sooner, not later), then I am confident it should increase my liking of the device, and continue to do so with every new firmware release. So a good, solid phone, that is feature rich indeed, and the best camera device out there at the minute, albeit a none Xenon Flash. I will continue to like it for a long while to come yet, and the only thing Nokia could do to tempt me away from it now, is release another camera-centric device sometime in the future, that reverts back to Xenon flash. Unless, or until that time, the Nokia N86 is the best placed handset to fulfil all my needs and wants, from any manufacturer right now – I can readily say that! If you have any questions, I am intending to do an “Ask Shadamehr” thread on the N86, so feel free to pitch in there once it’s up. Thanks, and I hope this review was of use to you, especially as it’s my first ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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