It's still showing as a preorder on Nokia USA's own site, but Amazon and the brick-and-mortar flagship stores in Chicago and New York are finally stocking the N86 8MP -- a little bit of a stretch for the "coming weeks" claim made at the North American version's launch announcement
back in July. The beefy dual slider features a 2.6-inch QVGA OLED display, US 3G up to 3.6Mbps on the downlink, and WiFi -- but clearly the big draw is its 8 megapixel cam with Carl Zeiss optics around back accompanied by a dual LED flash. We would've liked this last month, but the good news is that it's launching for less than the $558 originally mentioned: Amazon's got it written up at $469, while the flagship stores are apparently hawking 'em for $30 more.
[Via
The Nokia Blog]
posted Sep 18th 2009 1:39AM
I guess it would be my mistake to come directly from /b/ to the picture on this Nokia. Maybe I should quit reading 4chan.
Good stuff indeed!!! Hands up;)
Carl Zeiss lenses don't sell smartphones. Nokia should realize that buy now.
They should listen to the little white duck. App-lack, App-laaaaaack.
It's being said this phone works flawlessly. Apparently it does for skilled tech-users. Non-tech users say it's a nightmare to use. I'm sure the hardware is above reproach and for that cost, it should be. If it's as good as people are saying it is, let's see what Nokia's smartphone market share is next quarter. I say they lose another 5%.
SEXY
@ James
Well duh. Because on a $100 10mp camera you can't look up google or yelp for the nearest cuisine of your choice while you're on the go, call ahead to make a reservation, and then navigate to it with a true-by-turn nav.
the n86 8mp cam still doesn't compare to a canon powershot s90... i rather carry an iphone and a canon s90 than a all in one.
Funny thing is, the worst thing about the iphone is the part that makes it a 'phone'. Great for music, movies, internet and apps, but call quality, reception, loud speaker quality,... ugh.
I'll never understand people like you. They dont want you to give up your canon camera lol, they're simply taking the cell phone and improving it by adding features.
You might as well complain about the calculator on it too, seeing as how its no where near as good as a Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus Graphing Calculator. I mean pfft what was Nokia thinking??...LOL
pfft....83...that's old school. :P
I think the camera is interesting, and a nice improvement, but the MP need to stop here, and let's work on camera features next.
@ trey
but an iphone is still a phone with some nice apps and dslr remote works great as cable release for my camera. the fart app makes a simple replacement for the whoopee cushion and laughs for a photo shoot.
You have a point. 10 meg camera can be bought for $100 so why pay this phone
for $469?
Why do you keep making comparisons with dedicated cameras?
The point of having a phone with a camera is having a camera right there in your pocket all the time, saving space and all. The advantage and convenience of carrying just one device is huge for most people.
The phone camera is not meant to be great, but it doesn't hurt if it's decent, either. So kudos to Nokia and all phone manufacturers who keep improving the cameras on their phones. (Even tho Nokia could've added a xenon flash, like on some previous models...)
Just in time to be completely irrelevant.
That's what they said when the doctors finally delivered you as a baby.
No QWERTY keyboard... no on-screen keyboard either.
I can't believe, in this day and age, people still wanna tap out a text message on a number pad. If I was in the market for a Nokia, I'd skip this and get the N97. Once you get used to any kind of full keyboard... you can't go back.
But this does have a nice screen and a great camera.
I can type out a text with t9 much faster then I can with the mini qwerty keyboards on most phones. Not to mention with one hand while not looking. Qwerty keyboards are only really better for web surfing in my opinion.
it's camera quality is probably at best comparable to the low-end p&s cams... still lacks manual and a f2.0 lens and the RING. but @ least it can make calls.
lol@ andrew. no.
anyone that's familiar with a full keyboard (i.e. is living in 2009 and can avoid peck-and-typing) will be able to type faster with a keyboard.
what you're saying is like comparing a car with a gas peddle, clutch, brake pedal, and steering wheel to a car with one stick that has multiple buttons for each. when you have a dedicated key for each function PLUS extremely useful predictive text all in one, the messages fly. you can't understand because you've obviously never used a QWERTY phone for a prolonged amount of time.
do you still have a black and white television just because you can still make out the faces?
@prokanda
You do realize that QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow down the pace of writing...
So it's completely possible that somebody writes faster with T9, after all it is pretty darn quick way.
I've used both, and I'm far faster with T9 then with qwerty-thumbing. I mean really, you have 12 keys vs. what, 30? And it only takes one key-press to get one character with T9 predictive writing, so for anyone who's used to it...yeah.
Of course if you don't want to learn T9, and already knows qwerty, I'm sure the latter is more efficient for you. But for people who know both, eh, there's probably a reason why qwerty phones are hardly used in Europe where people have been using SMS on a grand scale for far longer than in the US.
I completely agree with your statement on getting the n97 over this. I have the n85 (coming from an iPhone) and my opinion is that the n86 is going to be just as frustrating as the n85 - it's still symbian. If you're really into an 8mp cam on a phone... ok, but for me I would prefer a more usable phone with less mp's.
...and the T9 for texting makes me want to stab myself in the hand and throw the phone through a window
I'm going back to this phone specifically because i don't want qwerty anymore.
Any of you guys that think qwerty is faster or more efficient for texting than t9 is, are sadly mistaken.
T9 can be used with one hand without looking at the screen.
Try that on your touch screen qwerty phone, and you sure aren't going to beat t9 speed by sliding out a keyboard and typing with two hands either.
By the time you get your phone prepped for a text someone with a good t9 phone is almost done.
Both setups have their advantages, qwerty is certainly better for using the internet, but for texting t9 is faster and easier.
For others posting above comparing the n86 to a dedicated camera, try carrying around a phone and a camera in your pockets. Is this the perfect camera? No, but it will get the job done in a pinch.
It's like comparing a pick up truck to a dump truck, The dump truck tows more, holds more payload, but would you want one as a daily driver? The pick up allows you to tow and cart junk around without making daily life difficult.
According to recent blog posts, N86 is also going to get face detection and other camera improvements in the next firmware.
That looks like a pretty solid feature phone. It would be nice to see prices for phones like this to come down. Maybe in a couple years.
samartphone
oops typo, smartphone
@G
Like I said earlier... how is it a smartphone if it doesn't have a full keyboard?
many smartphones haven't got QWERTY keyboards and many featurephones do so that's not a very good way of deciding what is a smartphone and what isn't.
In fact i have owned 3 smartphoines so far and neither of them had a QWERTY.
@Michael Scrip
So you're saying if the iPhone had an on-screen numberpad instead of an on-screen qwerty, it wouldn't be a smartphone anymore?
I think the biggest draw here is 28mm lens dont you think?
8GB Internal Memory, AMOLED Screen, Wide lens with Variable Aperture(1st for a cameraphone,i guess) and the always reliable Symbian S60 3.2 FP3
you know already that big pixels on a camera phone don't mean squat if you ain't got the optics. By now most of you should know the game that the tech guys play to increase the selling value of their product.
It should also be noted that a camera sporting a lot of pixels is there not just for high quality photos but to alleviate pixelation as you enlarge the photo.
That's why it also sayz Carl Zeiss on the back :)
Also, they presented this phone to dpreview, and dpreview didn't trash it as a camera.
http://blog.dpreview.com/editorial/2009/07/new-nokia-heralds-camerphone-convergence.html
There's a new firmware for N86 that should make the camera even better. Said to have the first phone camera with face detection.
Phones are starting to eat up p&s camera marketplace. They aren't as good as best cameras, but the best phones are better than the worst, or maybe even mediocre cheap cameras.
Really worthy
The N95 kicked ass, except I hate t9, wish it just had a slide down qwerty and leave everything else the same
Sorry Nokia. You took too long. It would've been great if you actually release this on time in the US like the rest of the world. Now I'm looking forward for Android phones like the Moto Cliq and Samsung's, not another bulky phone with buttons. 8MP? In the end, if the picture is going to end up on facebook/twitpic with less than VGA res, what's the point? It's just wasting storage. Although the price isn't that bad, $399 would've been more reasonable considering how late this thing is already. If I'm going to buy Nokia, I rather get one of the E series. At least those are sexy and slim.
Hah! I agree 100%
Not all of us take pictures solely for facebook.
@uwaga dude: Then get a real camera. Not all of us not taking picture for facebook. :P
wow, how does this euro to dollar conversion work, it looks like they used 1:1 like usual
i wonder if we can import european stuff back from the US since it's so much cheaper there
I have this phone (black) for about 3 weeks now (I'm in Malaysia). The build quality is top notch. The OLED screen (which doesn't need backlighting) is gorgeous even under direct sunlight. The 8mp camera is stunning for both video & still, and it comes with option to upload to Ovi or Flickr. Multimedia offering is rich. It even has an FM transmitter. GPS/compass works great and I choose to use it Google Maps.
The web browser works just fine. Nothing to complain.
On the phone side,.... come on, this is a Nokia. The phone works like a phone should. Flawless.
The only thing lacking is good 3rd party apps. But it does come with Quickoffice, pdf reader, real player. And Thank God for Google apps. Still can't find a decent shopping list app though.
Nokia gives 1 free game that you can choose from the Ngage store.
I'm not heavy on text, so the lack of qwerty keyboard is non issue.
Oh lastly, battery surprisingly last long. I'd say I'm a mid-heavy user, and I can manage 3 days on a single charge.
This phone is awesome in its own right.
How does the camera compare to the c905?
How does the camera compare to the c905?
How does the camera compare to the c905?
N86 is the only cameraphone ever to be reviewed by DPReview.
I really rather like the phone's design, and Im not big on texting so the keyboard isnt a huge deal for me. Nokia's have been pretty good for me, and since I should have some money left over from the amount I got at this site - http://www.mediancs.com/rd_p?p=191613&t=9534&a=25081-MoneGift&gift=25081 - I'll keep this in mind if I need a new phone anytime soon.
Just picked one up today to replace my extra awesome N82. Can't wait to try it out!
Way too little too late.