Gamers will welcome the N85's N-Gage multiplayer gaming and online community. A bunch of games are pre-installed, but unfortunately they’re all trial versions, so you’ll have to fork out more cash if you want to have them long term.
The N85 takes care of more serious business with a briefcase full of organiser features and tools, including the regulation calendar, notes, calendar, unit convertor, voice recorder and various clock functions. Quickoffice software and a PDF viewer enable document viewing but not editing, unless you purchase - you see a theme here? - an upgrade. Text-to-voice software will read out your messages.
A good all-rounder
Additional software - including the excellent BBC iPlayer - can be grabbed using the Nokia Download! tool. Both the firmware and pre-installed applications can be updated over the air.
In the time we spent with the N85, the phone behaved impeccably when making and taking calls. Sound quality was excellent in a variety of conditions. But we found battery life to be reasonable rather than outstanding. Nokia estimates the N85's battery can clock up a maximum of 363 hours in standby mode or deliver 6.9 hours of talktime on GSM networks, falling to 4.5 hours in 3G operation.
How you manage in the real world will, of course, depend on the extent to which you use the more power-hungry apps, which are the whole point of owning an N-series handset. While we averaged around two days between charges, you can expect rather less if you hammer Wi-Fi, HSDPA or GPS regularly.
Verdict
The N85 is a very likeable, feature-packed handset. It may not break the N-series mould, but it provides most of the N96’s gadgetry ground in a smaller - if still not tiny - package. Its performance is right on the money too, and you certainly get plenty for your cash. If you’re looking for a high-quality multi-tasking mobile, the N85 is a smart choice. ®
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Nokia N85 smartphone
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?
