Today we have with us the Nokia N86 8MP. This is the first phone from Nokia featuring an 8 Megapixel camera. Unlike other 8 MP camera phones

on the market, the N86 has a wide angle Carl Zeiss lens with variable aperture. Just like its predecessor, the N85, the N86 hasthe same dual sliding design and the 2.6" AMOLED display amongst other things. We put it to test to see how well it performs and compares to its rivals.

• Nokia N86 8MP
• Battery
• Charger
• Headset
• Data Cable
• Carry Case
• Software CD
• User Manual

One thing that I found missing in the bundle of the N86 is the TV-Out cable, which was present in the N85. However, to compensate it does come with a rather neat little carry case.

Design & ConstructionVisually the N86 is a lot similar to its younger brother the N85. They share the same basic design, but when you look closely you realize that no two parts look exactly the same. For starters, the front side of the N85 was glossy black plastic with only the D-pad and the multimedia menu key poking out, while everything else is flush with the design. On the N86 the front side is covered by glossy hardened glass that is scratch resistant and all the keys are now individual little buttons that stick out of the body. The two soft keys, the Call/End keys and the Clear key remind you of the ones on the Nokia N82, except that they are transparent here. The menu key is placed diagonally and is bigger than the others, with soft white light coming from within it, which blinks slowly when the phone is in standby mode.

On the top of the display is the call speaker along with the video call cameraon the right and the ambient light sensor on the left. The surrounding edge of the top half of the slider is made up of metal.

On the right side of the phone are the two stereo speakers at the top and bottom, with the volume key and the camera shutter key between them. The sliding keypad lock key has now been moved to the left side. On the N85 there was also a door for accessing the microSD card slot. The slot is there in the same place in the N86; however, here you'll have to open the rear battery cover to access it. Considering that the N86 has built-in 8 GB of memory, you probably won't need to use the memory card slot much anyway.

On the top side of the phone is the power key, the 3.5mm headphone jack and the microUSB port. There is also a tiny light besides the port that lights up when you connect the charger to it.. Also, just like in the N85, the N86 supports charging over USB connection, but this is much slower and it is advisable to use the standard wall charger instead.

The rear side of the N86 looks a lot different from the N85. Instead of a cover that went just up to the camera in the N85, the battery cover in the N86 covers the entire rear side as well as some of the sides. The camera lens surround looks similar to the N85. However, there is one more addition, a kickstand around the lens just like on the N96. Unlike the N96, the N86 has an active kickstand that can start a particular application when it is flicked open. You can also select any application on the phone to start when you open it.

The N86 is also a dual slider phone, a form factor that was pioneered by the N95 over three years ago.. Sliding up the phone reveals the alphanumeric keypad, while sliding the phone down reveals the music keys. The music keys also work as the gaming keys in the N-Gage application and as the zoom keys in the image gallery.

As far as the build quality of the phone is concerned, it has received a major overhaul over the N85. The use of scratch resistant glass, the metal around the edges, and the full battery cover at the back all point towards the fact that Nokia has concentrated their efforts in improving the build quality. The phone has a very solid feel to it which was just not there in the previous phone. Even when the phone vibrates there is none of the jarring sound that plagued the previous Nokia phones. The phone also feels a lot more upmarket, thanks to the soft feel of the rear cover and the nice dark indigo color.

The penalty of the increased solidity is the added weight. The N86 weighs in at around 149 gm, which is almost equal to the weight of the N97. This puts it distinctly in the heavy category. It is also fairly thick when closed, so carrying it in the pocket is not very comfortable. However, when held in your hand the phone feels pleasantly heavy and the chunky design actually feels great to hold in the hand. The matte rear cover also gives a good grip.

Display

The N86 has a 2.6" 240 x 320 pixel AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) display. It is capable of displaying up to 16M colors. The display quality has been improved slightly over the display on the N85. The colors on the N85 were a bit over saturated however in the N86 the colors appear just perfect. As is usual to OLEDs the blacks are truly black. Sunlight visibility is also something that is commonly bad on all OLED displays, and the N86 does not fare too well in this aspect. But overall, the display on the N86 is one of the best out there as far as picture quality is concerned.

Keypad

The keypad on the N86 is completely different from the one on the N85. Starting with the navigation keys, we see that the N86 replaces the flush keys of the N85 with distinct keys that rise out of the body. The N86 lacks the multimedia key, which in my opinion, was utterly useless and I'm glad that Nokia has decided to avoid it in their newer N-Series phones. Another thing that is missing, and this time I'm not very glad about it, is the lack of the Navi wheel that let you navigate by moving your thumb on the rim of the D-pad like the iPod Touch Wheel.

The D-pad on the N86 is very comfortable to use. Your thumb just sits in the depression in the centre and pressing the four sides and the centre is very easy to do. The soft keys and the Clear key are a bit too thin and could have been a bit larger, considering all the surface area around it. The menu key is nice and large and very easy to use.

Sliding the phone open reveals the alphanumeric keypad. Instead of the flat surface on the N85, the N86 has distinct oval keys. The keys are all large and well spaced out. I could achieve some serious typing speeds using these keys, which speaks highly of the design. The edge of the slider does not intrude upon the top row of keys. They are slightly stiff but you adjust to it soon enough. The phone also feels perfectly balanced when you are holding it at the bottom edge. For those who type a lot of messages on their phone, the N86 is a great choice.

When the phone is slid the other way, it reveals the multimedia keys. These keys have also been made distinct. The keys are all large and well spacedout, however here the edge of the slides intrudes heavily which makes it uncomfortable to use these keys, especially while gaming.

The keys on the side of the phone are even worse, far worse. All the keys are very flush with the body to make sure you don't press them accidentally. The problem is that you cannot press these keys even when you want to! The volume keys are especially annoying. The sliding keypad lock key does not have anything to grip your finger and you have to use your finger nail to operate the key.

As for the camera key, it is a different story altogether. It is easy to press it halfway to focus, but after that it takes a lot of effort to press it completely. The added strength that you then need to muster from your index finger will cause your hand to shake, resulting in a blurred image.

One good thing about all the keys is that they are all solidly designed. They don't shake or rattle and move, and press with a nice solid click. The backlight is also nice and even, however there is an annoying leakage of backlight from the bottom edge below the keypad. I wonder how difficult it is for Nokia to ensure that the panel gaps, at least in an area where there is backlighting, to be tight and completely shut, that too on a high end phone like the N86.

UI & Applications

The Nokia N86 runs on the Symbian S60 3rd Edition running Feature Pack 2. This is the most popular smartphone operating system in the world, not to mention the most stable and easy to use. The problem with the UI is that each phone has icons placed differently in the menu, unlike other operating systems. So if you use one S60 phone and then move to another you are bound to feel lost as the icons have been rearranged completely. You can change the icon layout yourself however and create new folders as well. The phone has an accelerometer that auto-rotates the UI in every application. The sensitivity of the sensor was just right and there were no unintentional layout changes. It can also be switched off if desired.

The phone is run by a 434 MHz ARM 11 processor. There is also 128 MB of system memory and around 60 MB of free phone memory. Apart from that the phone also has 8 GB of built-in memory. The phone also supports up to 16 GB of microSDHC cards. The N86 is very fast for a smartphone and there is hardly any noticeable lag while using, thanks to the powerful processor used. When you slide the phone down, the UI quickly turns to landscape mode without you having to wait. Post FP2 the S60 UI has also gained a few new sliding animations (that are disabled by default and the settings are buried deep in the menu) which look good and but also make the phone a bit slow.

It is important to note that the N86 we received for testing had an early firmware (v10.086). As is usual for Nokia smartphones, the firmware updates will keep rolling in and it is advised that you keep updating to them (they are free to download). The N86 can also be updated over-the-air using EDGE/3G/Wi-Fi connection. Also thanks to User Data Preservation, all the data in the phone memory like contacts, messages, calendar notes, etc. will remain after updating. Updating to newer firmwares makes the phone faster, remove any bugs that might be previously there and also occasionally add some new features. The N86 that we tested was pretty stable but there were some minor bugs which I hope will be solved in future firmware updates.

Apart from the usual PIM applications the N86 also comes with a few office applications. First of all is the Quickoffice that lets you open and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. You cannot create them on the phone however and need to purchase the full version of the software to do that. There is also Adobe Reader for your pdf files. Then there is a software for Zip files and a Dictionary (which had a poorer vocabulary than mine!).

The N86 also comes with N-Gage and Nokia Maps software. The N-Gage application lets you download and play N-Gage games on your phone and the Maps software helps you navigate by showing your position on a map (which can be pre-downloaded from your PC or over the air on the move by usingEDGE/3G/Wi-Fi.

The Nokia Ovi service is also available now. You can sync your contacts and calendar entries, upload your images, download music, applications and games. This can be done from your PC as well as from within the phone.


Connectivity, Calling & Messaging

The Nokia N86 is a Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/ 1900 handset. It also supports 3G and HSDPA 900/1900/2100 bands. For those who are not lucky enough for these being available in their region as yet will be glad to notice that the N86 also supports GPRS and EDGE Class 32. Bluetooth v2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, A-GPS and USB 2.0 complete the rather exhaustive list of connectivity options on the phone.

The call quality of the phone was excellent. The network reception was also superb. The stereo loudspeakers were fairly powerful so they could be heard clearly when the phone was ringing. The vibrator strength was good as well.

Messaging on the phone was a very nice experience, thanks to the comfortable keypad.. The phone supports SMS, MMS and Emails. Apart from the basic email client in the messaging app, the N86 also comes with a separate Email client.