N85 -- Engadget

N85 posts

Engadget's recession antidote: win a Nokia N85!

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 6th 2009 at 12:00PM

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got a Nokia N85 on offer. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Check after the break for some photos of the prize!

Special thanks to eXpansys USA for providing the gear!

The rules:

Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one Nokia N85. Approximate value is $449.
If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
Entries can be submitted until Friday, March 6th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Full rules can be found here.

Nokia's N85 and N79 ship Stateside at long last

by Paul Miller posted Dec 15th 2008 at 11:10AM

It feels like a good couple millennia since we first spotted these phones sporting US-friendly 3G, and now Nokia has done the unthinkable and actually released them in the States. As has become custom for Nokia around these parts, the phones aren't carrier branded or subsidized in the least, so you're looking at $550-ish for the N85 and $400-ish for the N79, depending upon the retailer. For some reason the N79 is listed as in-stock at Nokia's own store, while the N85 says "backordered," but over on Amazon.com you can nab the N85 -- with the N79 "temporarily out of stock" for whatever reason. It's a crazy, mixed-up world we live in.

[Via Daily Mobile; thanks Daniel]

Read - Nokia PR
Read - N85 at Amazon
Read - N79 at Nokia

Nokia N85 pops up at Amazon for $556 unlocked

by Paul Miller posted Nov 30th 2008 at 8:05PM

No matter how accustomed we should be by now, it's always jarring to see one of the Nokia N-series phones drop at some outlandish unsubsidized price -- if you think the $556 tag on this N85 is hefty, keep in mind that Amazon is claiming that's already been steeply discounted from an atmospheric $1,200 "list price." While the phone is available to "buy" right this second at Amazon.com, there's a 3 to 5 week ship time quoted, so there's no telling if this'll be the first spot to nab the hotly-anticipated, N96-besting AMOLED handset in the States -- though it might be the first to take your hard earned cash for such a purpose.

[Via OLED-Info]

Nokia's N85 drops by the FCC, dips head, inquires about what's good

by Darren Murph posted Oct 31st 2008 at 9:17AM

Not that we ever (okay, maybe there was a moment of weakness in there somewhere) doubted that Nokia's N85 was North America-bound, but the handset dubbed superior to the flagship N96 by one Italian reviewer is indeed coming to US soil. And we've found the FCC documentation to prove it. At this point though, there's little the User Guide, external / internal photos and SAR report can tell us that we don't already know, so again, the takeaway here is that we're one (huge) step closer to having an N85 to call our own. Now that's what's up.

Nokia's N85 reviewed, called better than N96

by Darren Murph posted Oct 16th 2008 at 5:00PM

We were always curious why a device that (at least on paper) was superior in a lot of ways to Nokia's N96 wasn't trumpeted as the outfit's flagship device, but nevertheless, an Italian reviewer has made us feel a touch better about our previously ludicrous thoughts. After spending a solid fortnight with the phone, the critic felt comfortable deeming the N85 a "very, very beautiful" handset, also noting that it was "definitely the best Symbian [device]" out there. He even went out of his way to recommend the N85 over the N96 so long as you're cool without DVB-H or a super-snazzy camera. As if you really needed more, he also found the OLED display to be spectacular, the audio quality very satisfactory and the GPS / multimedia functions to be top-notch. Wait, is that the N96 we hear crying? There's no crying in Espoo!

[Via All About Symbian]

Nokia's N85 films rooftop unboxing of another N85

by Darren Murph posted Oct 9th 2008 at 10:01PM

We tell ya, these unboxers are really stepping up their game of late. Easily topping that trunk lid episode we saw back in July, this Nokia N85 unboxing sees one N85 film another N85's initial escape from cardboard purgatory... from the roof of a building in New York City. There's no real surprises here -- just an N85 twirled around on a video that's almost entirely out of focus -- and the absence of monologue is downright creepy. That said, we still highly recommend clicking through the break to see this puppy on video. Just bring your own tunes, you'll need 'em.

Continue reading Nokia's N85 films rooftop unboxing of another N85

Nokia N79, N85 and N96 hands-on

by Paul Miller posted Aug 26th 2008 at 3:36PM

Well, they're here. Nokia's latest and greatest N-series devices just hit the market like a trio of well-aimed bricks -- or at least that's what Nokia's hoping. We got to spend a little bit of hands-on time with prototypes of the new devices, and while we came away slightly impressed, we were nowhere near E-series impressed. Here's our biggest problem with the lineup: the only one worth talking about is the N85. Other than minor screen size disparities, the 16GB built-in memory of the N96 and the fresh candybar form of the N79, these three phones are pretty much exactly identical on specs, and yet the N96 manages to be inexcusably bulky, while the N79 sports an inexcusably terrible screen -- we're hoping that was just the prototype being funky, but we saw two versions with the same problem. The N85 isn't exactly the pinnacle of thinphoneness, but its amazing OLED screen and more refined design make the N96 look like more of a rough draft than a sibling. On the interface side, the phones are much more responsive to S60's new motion and transitions, but Nokia has oddly chosen to disable the Navi Wheel scrolling in all three phones -- a weird move, but we can't say we blame them, we haven't had a single good experience with Navi Wheel since Nokia introduced it. In all, we're not exactly thrilled about Nokia's prospects for winning over the masses with this new series of devices. Sure, Nokia will protest that it's going after the high-end users, but 5 megapixel cameras, GPS and WiFi are no longer the differentiators they once were, and users have begun to expect thinner, sexier devices at prices far below the N96's gargantuan $895 pricetag.

Gallery: Nokia N79, N85 and N96 hands-on

Nokia's N79 and US spec'd N85 now mucho official

by Thomas Ricker posted Aug 26th 2008 at 7:30AM

We're not going to re-hash the details of Nokia's N79 and N85 yet again. After all, we just went through it less than 24-hours ago. We will tell you that both the N79 (tri-band GSM, 900/2100 UMTS/HSDPA) and N85 (quad-band GSM/EDGE with either 900/1900/2100 or 850/1900/2100 UMTS/HSDPA) will hit Europe in October for €350 and €450, respectively, pre-tax and pre-carrier subsidies. The N85 could also be Stateside sometime soon given those frequencies and prior FCC approval. Oh, and pictures, lots of pretty pictures.

Gallery: Nokia's N79 and N85 now mucho official

Read -- N79
Read -- N85

Nokia launches the N79 and N85

by Nilay Patel posted Aug 25th 2008 at 10:38AM

Nokia promised us two new handsets today, and just as we heard last week, it's the N85 and N79. Not a lot of surprises with the N85 since it popped in the FCC database a couple weeks ago and started appearing in the wild: 2.6-inch AMOLED screen, GPS, five megapixel cam, N-Gage compatibility, 8GB of microSDHC storage, WiFi, and a 28-hour music playback battery life. The N79 replaces the N78, similarly bumping the cam to the big five em-pees with a dual-LED flash, GPS, 4GB microSDHC storage, WiFi, swappable back covers, and a 24-hour music playback battery life. Should be out in the UK as of next month, but we're hoping to see these hit our fair shores posthaste. N79 pictured after the break.

[Via Electronista]

Continue reading Nokia launches the N79 and N85

Nokia N85 hits FCC in two flavors, one with just a touch of North American 3G

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 7th 2008 at 1:05PM

We're still trying to figure out exactly how Nokia intends to position the N85 slider in its Nseries lineup, and frankly, the FCC documentation that's been outed for it isn't helping much. Seems there are two versions of the thing: one with no 3G -- likely for China -- and another with WCDMA on the 900, 1900, and 2100MHz frequencies. That little dose of 1900 in there will be enough to give owners partial access to 3G while out 'n about in the colonies, but by and large, the phone appears destined for Europe where 2100 (and to a lesser extent, 900) is the name of the game. Both do quadband EDGE, so at the very least, you'll be able to roam the better part of the globe and get some semblance of coverage -- just don't expect it to be particularly speedy everywhere you go. To be fair, Espoo's been getting pretty good about crafting special versions of its hottest handsets that are ripe for North American use, so we're not giving up hope just yet that there's a third version floating out there.

[Via Cell Phone Signal]

Nokia's N79, N85, and XpressMedia 5800 "Tube" exposed?

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 9th 2008 at 9:08PM

Random flickr feeds aren't the typical way for hot new Nokias to be discovered out in the environs, but hey, who are we to question a good thing when we see it? Pictures of one totally unknown Nseries have emerged -- alleged to be the N79 -- showing a sublime S60 candybar in a pair of colors. Next, we have more of the just-scooped N85, including some of a white version, so we're definitely feeling more confident by the minute that it's the real deal and not some ridiculously sophisticated fake. Last but certainly not least, we have some shots of the XpressMedia 5800 affectionately known as the "Tube," a device that'll likely come to be Nokia's first to use S60 Touch. This one is Vodafone branded (doesn't really surprise us, we guess) and features a 3.2 megapixel sensor with Carl Zeiss optics, a stylus, and the key to our hearts. How much longer do we have to wait for these, Nokia?

[Via Talk About Nseries]

Nokia N85 in the wild!

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 9th 2008 at 12:10PM

What's the N85, you ask? We don't know a heck of a lot about this one, but we're told that it features a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, and geotagging -- sort of an N96 lite, perhaps. The slider features the same industrial design featured on all of Nokia's Nseries devices as of late, but beyond that, your guess is as good as ours regarding target market, pricing, availability. Stay tuned for more as we get it!

Nokia's patent for potential N85 reveals unstoppable camera fetish

by Paul Miller posted Jun 2nd 2008 at 2:46PM

Nokia's always coming up with some new harebrained scheme for cramming a gargantuan camera lens into one of its new phones -- trust us, if the Finnish phone giant could accomplish this task by breaking into Fort Knox or compromising your precious bodily fluids, it would. The latest effort by Nokia comes in the form of a patent that might point the way to an upcoming video phone, possibly the N85, which could give current compact shooters a run for their money. Current thinking on that device is that it'll be a video-oriented successor to the N96, with a WQVGA screen and a 5 (or maybe even 8) megapixel camera. It's mostly conjecture at this point, but we hope Nokia accomplishes it with a thinner device than we're looking at in this patent.