Nokia N85

I upgraded to the Nokia N85 approximately 6 months ago. I chose this phone based on numerous consumer reviews and after I managed to secure it for free on a tariff with Orange.

LOOKS
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The Nokia N85 is mostly finished in a glossy 'piano' black with silver details. The sides of the phone are a matt black while the battery cover has a very subtle 'carbon fibre' pattern. This scheme looks great out of the box ...
...and being dropped on the pavement once or twice! However the glossy finish picks up fingerprints and grease very easily.

The buttons and controls are all discrete and minimalistic. On the front there are 4 protruding buttons, the d-pad/navi wheel and 4 'hidden' buttons which light up when they can be used. The outline of the d-pad can be set to glow blue while the phone is on sleep which looks good.

Opening the mechanism ... more

I upgraded to the Nokia N85 approximately 6 months ago. I chose this phone based on numerous consumer reviews and after I managed to secure it for free on a tariff with Orange.

LOOKS
----------

The Nokia N85 is mostly finished in a glossy 'piano' black with silver details. The sides of the phone are a matt black while the battery cover has a very subtle 'carbon fibre' pattern. This scheme looks great out of the box and remains scratch free after 6 months of not-too-careful handling and being dropped on the pavement once or twice! However the glossy finish picks up fingerprints and grease very easily.

The buttons and controls are all discrete and minimalistic. On the front there are 4 protruding buttons, the d-pad/navi wheel and 4 'hidden' buttons which light up when they can be used. The outline of the d-pad can be set to glow blue while the phone is on sleep which looks good.

Opening the mechanism one way reveals the numpad which again is finished in glossy black with white writing. Opening the mechanism the other way reveals 4 more buttons, finished in a similar manner although these light up depending on the current menu/application.

All other controls are positioned on the sides of the phone in matt black.

Overall it is a very stylish phone, spoilt slightly by the manner in which it picks up dirt.

DISPLAY
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The 2.6 inch OLED display takes up the majority of the space on the phone. The image on it is very crisp and text is clear and easy to read. The display can be set to be viewed in portrait or landscape. This can be switched manually or an option can be turned on to automatically rotate the screen depending on the angle at which the phone is held.

In dark lighting conditions the display looks great, however in bright sunshine outdoors it can be near impossible to see what is on the the display. It can appear almost blank at times. I find it can also be quite juttery when watching videos or navigating from app to app, although I suppose this is more a processor issue than display.

Overall, a decent enough display, but near useless in bright sunshine!

NAVIGATION
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As with most phones, the 'home' screen features a row of icons for accessing your most used applications, along with a few more detailed options for accessing the internent, WiFi etc. Alongside this, you can assign 2 of the buttons on the phone to directly access two applications/menu options from the home screen (for example, Messaging and Clock). I find this layout quite useful and it makes it very quick to send a new message or access the internet.

To access other features, two options are available. The first is to hit the menu button on the front of the phone which will bring up a grid layout of options such as Contacts, Music, Games etc. You navigate through this with a combination of the d-pad/navi wheel and central button in a tired fashion, similar to how you might navigate around Windows Explorer or Finder. This is the way I access most things on my phone and is very easy to pick up.

The second option is to hit the small silver button next to the d-pad/navi wheel which brings up a 'rotating' menu, consisting of a series of 'blocks' each containing different options. I feel this manner of navigation is meant to be used in conjunction with the navi wheel which I will introduce now.

The navi wheel is a feature which can be used to navigate through menus and options by moving your thumb in a circular motion around the central button. It is used on any menu where the content or icons is layed out in circle, the idea being that moving your thumb will rotate the menu. I found it very difficult to use, very unresponsive and basically useless. I have tried navigating through the main menu with it and also browsing through the photo gallery and both times it was much less hassle to simply move through content with up-down-left-right. Therefore because of this I find the second menu option to be not much use.

Overall I find browsing the menus and the content of the phone relatively straightfoward, so long as you stick to the good old d-pad.

TEXTING
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One reason I chose this phone was because I wanted something with a lot of up to date features that did NOT have a touch screen, because I find them too difficult to text on. Therefore I was a little dissapointed at how fiddly the numpad buttons on the N85 are. Texting is doable, but the buttons are so small and close together, with no physical divide between them, that I often find myself hitting the wrong key.

I understand that perhaps changing the flush buttons to be individual ones would have ruined the looks of the phone, but in my opinion they are just a bit too awkward to be considered perfect.

INTERNET
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The N85 can access the internet through the mobile network and via WiFi. It will display fully formatted websites without any problems. Navigating through full-size websites is generally quite easy. As you scroll through a page (horizontally or vertically), a small image of the entire website appears in the corner, showing you whereabouts on the page you currently are. Tapping the d-pad will move the 'mouse', and if you pass by any links or buttons, the 'mouse' will always land on these, giving you the option to press them. You can view websites in portrait or landscape which is very useful.

On my previous phone I rarely accessed the internet but with the N85 I do it practically every day and for such a small device find it fairly easy to use.

CAMERA
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The Carl Zeiss camera lens is located on the back of the camera while the shutter button is on the side. The lens is protected by a small sliding cover although dust still managed to get in there. Above the lens is a dual LCD flash which I find more than adequate for taking photos indoors and at night.

Taking a photo is very simple - sliding the cover causes the phone to switch to camera mode, you then slightly depress the shutter button to focus and fully depress it to take the picture. There are some more advanced options available such as red eye reduction, different flash modes and a self-timer, which I was very surprised to find in a camera phone.

There is also a secondary camera built into the front of the phone. This is poorer quality and has no flash but is useful if you need to take any self-portraits and therefore view the display!

I have used the camera on nights out, at sporting events and on holiday and have been pleasantly suprised with the results. Certainly for some amateur day-to-day snaps it is more than adequate and I feel no need to carry a separate camera with me.

OTHER COMMENTS
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One feature I use a lot which I never considered when buying the phone is the GPS. This can be used to pinpoint your location on a map and direct you to other addresses. Having recently moved, I used this when traveling on buses and walking around town to figure out where I was going. Although it can be a little slow it has been a great help on more than one occassion.

Another useful feature is its ability to transmit music to your radio, which I have used in the car more than once. It is by no means perfect as I find it need to be right next to the radio to work but, similarly to the GPS, I find it is a great bonus.

Finally, I find the battery life can be a little short although I suppose that is to be expected when I'm locating myself on the GPS while transmitting to my radio and sending a text! On the plus side it charges up very quickly.

OVERALL
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Overall, I would say this is a very good phone, let down slightly by the slight imperfections. I am perhaps being a little harsh on it as I spent a lot of time looking into which handset to choose and so was left a little dissapointed by the small problem with the N85. Certainly I have been left surprised by the amount and quality of features packed into this small device and am by no means unhappy with it. I just feel with a little more care it could have been my perfect phone! 

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