The N85 doesn’t have all the tricksy gadgetry of some sharp-shooting 8Mp models, but the autofocus system works quickly and efficiently, with excellent close-up work. It’s capable of taking high quality, finely detailed printable pics, with accurate colour rendition and good auto exposure metering. With only a dual-LED flash for extra illumination, low-light shooting isn’t great. Images in dark locations taken more than a metre or two away can still look murky and grainy.
A decent snapper for a 5Mp job
Video capture quality is good, though. Shooting at the 640 x 480, 30f/s limit, images look pretty good for a mobile phone. The N85 is boxed with TV output cables for playing your home movies, videos, games and other multimedia content on the big screen.
Location finding is spot on, with the latest Nokia Maps 2.0 software working nicely with the on-board A-GPS technology. Compared to other phones we’ve tested, the N85 locks on to satellites quickly, usually pinging up our position on a map in under 30 seconds.
Maps covering the whole of the UK and Ireland are pre-loaded onto the bundled Micro SD card, and additional maps can be downloaded for free. You get the full roster of satnav functionality, but turn-by-turn guidance only for three months - after that, you'll need to cough up extra if you want to carry on using it. Additional services, including traffic info and city guides, can be subscribed to too.
Stereo speakers
With its Wi-Fi connectivity and HDSPA mobile downloads at up to 3.6Mpbs, browsing is a reasonably good experience. The Nokia browser can render pages quickly and supports Flash, while the zoom keys make it easier to negotiate big pages. It's no iPhone, but it does the job adequately.
COMMENTS
@Tony
Thankyou - I didn't see that - some further in depth battery tests would be welcome though, My Nokia n95 gives me 2 days if I dont touch it, it gives me less than half a day if the radio is on (whether actually playing or not), about 5 hours of constant music playback, about 3 hours solid internet browsing (3G) and much less with WiFi.
Nokia seem to completely overlook battery life.
@ Steve Sutton
Quote: "...and boast about some bloke who designed their lens (yeah, whatever - I don't care if Ronald McDonald designed the lens, as long as the pictures are ok!)..."
I doubt that Nokia are actually getting Carl Zeiss to personally design their lenses for them. Not when you consider that the guy has been dead for more than 120 years.
EPIC FAIL.
Flash and media button (@ Joe K)
Absolutely agree with that one mate - It utterly baffles me that people put 5+ MP cameras in phones, and boast about some bloke who designed their lens (yeah, whatever - I don't care if Ronald McDonald designed the lens, as long as the pictures are ok!), and then some shitty flash which means photos taken in low light conditions are blurry and dark - often, indoor photos will have a very yellow tint too!
Dear Nokia - The Xenon flash was the killer app on the N82, without which I would not have upgraded. I read this article and was considering upgrading to the N85 (especially because of the FM transmitter, which I've been trying to buy separately for my N82), but the lack of xenon flash means I will not buy it. You fail!
Oh, and one more thing - please, for the love of god remove the sucky media/gallery/whatever it is called button - it makes me want to throw my phone at the wall/out the window/at the nearest Nokia designer/etc... on an almost daily basis, when it activates, despite my not intending it to!
(Thumbs down for the phone, not the article!)
The rights to many N85 functions may be auctioned in Hong Kong next June
As I see it, they can only sell that to which they own the rights. It is my understanding that certain patent rights, (which may, or of course, may not, impinge upon some of their geographic markets), are going to be auctioned in Hong Kong next June. If indeed that turns out to be correct, they should worry about that as surely they would not wish to become a hostage to the fortunes of, say, a new upstart Chinese or Indian wireless phone manufacturer; would they?
