Nokia N85 mini review.

[Royston]

It arrived this morning, and so far I'm pretty pleased with it. it's physically thinner than the N95 and feels a lot better in your hand and in your pocket. It's well built and looks alot better than the 95 but it's very shiney and fingerprints show up, however, there aren't as many dust traps on the fascia.

The OLED screen is very cool and very colourful. it's sharp as well, displaying more detail than a N95, a definite improvement.

The phone element works very well and the speaker isn't as tinny. The loudspeakers are very loud and convey stereo a lot better.

I like the addition of a keyguard button on the side of the phone, so it's just one button to lock / unlock the phone instead of two.

The downsides are that the phone is Vodafone branded, and is crying out for a debrand and a firmware upgrade (yes, there's one out already!).

The OS has had a big tweak as well and the phone is a bit slow just now. Not anything like the continental drift slow N95 when I first got that. I'm sure with a few power saving options ticked and a firmware upgrade this will slicken up.

The phone ships with an 8GB Micro Sd HC card, but the new firmware supports up to 16GB. I've not had chance to try the video, or camera out yet.

I can't find the auto rotate controls though!

It's not a massive leap forward from the N95 in real terms, but it's enough of a sexy change to stave off the boredom til next time. If you can't live without your N95 but have gadget boredom, I would definitely recommend the N85.

[Neo_VR]

Nice mini-review... no doubt itll perk up once youve binned off the vodaphone branding

Have a thanks sir!

[gadgetman]

Auto rotate, if like the N96, is settings>general>personalisation>display

And dont forget, to make the 4 way toggle key behave how you like (ie left messages, right contacts etc), look under standby

[bengie]

nice.

[pixi]

Has it got video editor?

[Royston]

It's really good this little phone:thumbup:

As an update: I've now dl'd the latest version of Nokia Service Suite and changed the product code to EURO 1

Then after much messing aboot with Nokia Software Updater I'm finally running on gas

version 11.047 installed. It's made a world of difference to the speed of the phone. then I've gone and slowed it down again by switching on all the animations and transitions! They great though. I very much like the S60 feature pack 2 firmware, it's lovely.

I've found the accelerometer under Menu: Tools: Settings: General: Sensor Settings. it's very quick and accurate to respond as well.

The Navi wheel thing is a bit hit n miss though. You're supposed to be able to wipe your thumb round the rim of the 4 way navigation key, and it'll scroll through menu options, music, texts and web pages, a la ipod,but it's not very accurate. good idea though.

Also I've just watched a bundled Nokia vid on the OLED screen, OMG it's like a little HD telly! very good. I think I may be turning into a Nokia fan boy. sorry.

P.S. Yes it's gota video editor!

[daveyonthemove]

It sounds pretty good.

Whats the "S60 feature pack 2 firmware"? Is it the OS the phone is running on, or an update?

I find the accelerometer on the N95 8GB to be hit and miss. It works fine for auto rotation, but 90% of my pics are the wrong way up when i come to view them, and there is no simple way of rotating them without alot of faffing about in the menus :(

[Neo_VR]

It sounds pretty good.

Whats the "S60 feature pack 2 firmware"? Is it the OS the phone is running on, or an update?

I find the accelerometer on the N95 8GB to be hit and miss. It works fine for auto rotation, but 90% of my pics are the wrong way up when i come to view them, and there is no simple way of rotating them without alot of faffing about in the menus :(

S60 FP2 is the main update that differs the software from the N95 which uses S60 FP1.

My Samsung also has FP2 and it does make a big difference in performance and useability of the phone in general day to day use and battery life

[daveyonthemove]

Cheers for the info.

I still find my N95 8GB to be a very good mobile and the only thing i would want to improve (for what i use it for) is the battery life, but i still want a shiny new phone when my contract is up in a few months...

[gadgetman]

I wish the swipe thing would get enabled on my N96.