Hmmm… So we’ve had the Nokia N86 8MP in house for a few days now. We’ve been really enjoying the N86 for the time we’ve had it here and for that we have a special thank you to the awesome guys at WOMWorld/Nokia . The N86 as you know is a dual slider handset clearly drawing inspiration from the likes of the N95 and the N81. I personally am intrigued by this design because i find it interesting and the upper slider with the multimedia keys is actually useful at times but its functions at most times can be duplicated using on screen controls. This along with the integrated 8GB of memory and the integrated kickstand are what highlight this device’s intentions to be a multimedia champ ! In this segment of the review we will only be taking an external look at the device to understand some of the design philosophies behind the N86.
So what you see in the image here is the front fascia of the N86. The N86 is essentially a dual slider device with a scratch resistant front display. The display here is an AMOLED type display which enables deep blacks, much more so than average LCD displays. AMOLED displays also showcase really high contrast ratios. However , the trade off for all these enhancements comes in the form of reduced visibility in direct sunlight.
Taking a look at this next image will show you the deep blacks in the image which truely show off the power of the AMOLED display ( we will giving it a deeper look during the multimedia testing phase). The image also displays the keypad of the device. The keypad is reasonable large and is a marked improvement over the N85. The keypad however is a bit shallow due to the classic slider design. Typing on the keypad wasn’t a hard experience in our tests and it is generally quite comfortable.
What you see here to the left are the multimedia keys. The four keys here act as Play/Pause/FF/Rewind Keys across various applications. We tested the keys in the stock applications Real Player and the Music Application and also in the popular CorePlayer where it worked flawlessly. The topmost and bottom keys also double up as zoom in/out keys in the S60 Photo Viewer App. The final party trick that the keys hide is the ability to use them as gaming keys in the Ngage Application like the N81. We would have loved the ability to use the gaming keys as standard gaming keys across applications ie in games outside the Ngage sandbox however that was something which was not possible.
Here you can see the ‘Active Kickstand’ in action. Now the kickstand on the N86 differs from previous generations in the sense that it can be configured to launch any application you want upon extension. The kickstand itself is fairly robust as it can be positioned at any angle that you want. It can take most jerks without tipping the device over and should be very useful when taking long flights for watching a movie or two.
Above you can also see the Micro USB port , 3.5mm headset jack and the power key. The Micro USB Jack also doubles up as the power plug.
Above you can clearly see the 8MP sensor with Carl Zeiss Optics. You also get the mandatory lens cover. The dual LED flash here is termed as a ‘third generation’ flash and in our preliminary testing has proven to be quite effective. Watch out for a full camera showdown with the legendary N82 coming soon !
Our Next Post on the N86 will take a look at the device from a Multimedia aspect , till then enjoy this collection of images of the N86 8MP. Click on the thumbnail to get the full resolution image.
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- Nokia N86 with E63 (N86 on the right , E63 on left)
