Nokia N85 smartphone

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.