There are a lot of things to love about the Nokia N86 8MP that have been introduced in other devices, but their presence makes the N86 experience a lot better, like the keylock key, the dedicated multimedia keys, the FM transmitter, the OLED screen, the charging light and the kickstand. The FM transmitter specifically has been an utter joy to have, especially when driving. The sheer simplicity of picking up a frequency and listening to your music without having to worry about wires or connections is wonderful. I had never been able to test it on Nokia devices with a car around, so now that I’ve tried it, I don’t want to go back to handsets that don’t have it, period.
But the N86 8MP also brings up a few novelties of its own that make it stand out in my opinion, and that I absolutely love. Here they are:
1. Build Quality and Size
After the N95 8GB, the N86 8MP is the first dual-slider handset from Nokia that convinces me. The original N95, the N96 and the N85 were all a failure with a disastrous build quality and materials that creaked under the slightest touch or a slider that felt like it’s collapsing between your fingers when you opened it. The N86 is nothing like that. It’s firm, the design and the materials are of very high quality (just open the link for a marvelous Gallery of the N86 and N97) and it doesn’t feel cheap at all. Compared to its nearest sibling, the N85, it’s miles ahead in terms of class feeling and touch.
2. Keypad and other keys
Another thing I absolutely love about the N86 is the way its keys are designed. All of them are individualized, raised, very well lit, and give a nice tactile feedback. The control cluster beneath the screen isn’t much of a “cluster”, since it’s very clean with only 6 keys and the d-pad. We’re way past the N81′s and N96′s 11 keys + d-pad, or the N85′s flush keys with little separation.
3. Included headset
The N86 comes with a set of in-ear headphones with 3 size earpieces that I’ve shown in my unboxing video. I’ve been an unconditional fan of in-ear headphones for the past year and using regular ones is a throbbing torture for me. The headset included with the N86 offers great music quality for a non-audiophile like me, there’s a small noise cancellation effect thanks to the in-ear design, but the most important thing is that they are extremely comfortable to wear. That’s a +1 for you Nokia, now for heaven’s and pete’s and every saint’s sake, please include these with all your devices from now on.
4. Phone Setup Wizard
It might not be of high importance for technophiles like me an you probably, but for new users, the new setup wizard (video walkthrough) that pops when you first turn on the N86 is a great step forward from the old one. It helps them individualize the device with themes, wallpapers, ringtones, language, as well as set up their email, get their data from another device, all in a couple of minutes with very clear steps.
5. New Webkit Browser
The new personalized shortcuts on the N86′s browser as well as the speed improvement make the N86′s browsing experience a lot more enjoyable. You can read all about this in my separate N86 browser 7.1 post.
6. Panorama mode
I have been a fan of Panoman for a long while now, but having the option built-in and easily accessible from the camera without having to pay for it, is awesome. I especially like how the Panorama mode (video demo) is executed, with automatic picture stitching, as well as helping arrows and a viewfinder that show you exactly how to move your hand to take the best shot.
7. True video zooming
Another camera-related option in the N86 8MP, and that could have easily gone unnoticed if it wasn’t for AAS’ Steve Litchfield, is what I will call true video zooming. Concretely, this means that when you’re in video mode and you zoom in, the image doesn’t get grainy and pixelated like it does with a lot of other video recording devices, especially all other mobile phones that lack a true optical zoom. What the N86 does is that it uses its full sensor to capture the image and downsizes it to the zoomed portion at 640×480, whereas previous devices used to capture the image at 640×480 and stretch the zoomed portion resulting in the granulation and pixelated effect. As Steve points out, this is true until you zoom x4, then the granulation will appear again. Before the N86, I used to avoid zooming in videos like the plague, but the way the N86 handles it makes up for the lack of optical zoom and seriously brings a new twist to video recording on mobiles. It’s by far the option that I’ve used the most and that I love the most in this handset.
These are the 7 things that I love the most about the N86 8MP, but stay tuned for tomorrow as I bring you the 7 things that I hate about it.
