First Impressions of the Nokia N85

Because my first N-Series phone was the N82, and I paid almost the same price for my new N85, my opinion of the Nokia N85 is definitely influenced by my experience with the Nokia N82. While there are some features of the N85 that are obvious upgrades to those of the N82, there are some areas where the N82 outperforms the newer model. I have also in the short time I've owned the N85 had some problems with it. The problems, I hope, are just an early adopter's penalty and can be fixed with a firmware update. The less desirable conclusion is that either I bought a defective unit or that the model is inherently flawed.

Aesthetics

The N85 is an attractive phone; much better looking than the N82. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the phone. It isn't much larger than my Sony Ericsson W580i slider. One of the problems I had with the N82 was it's cheap look and feel. The N85 doesn't have this problem, it feels completely solid; not like a toy at all. To be fair, I did have the silver version of the N82 and I probably would have found black more attractive. Officially, the color of the N85 is black and copper, but the copper looks more like a dark brown. A downside to the looks of this phone is that the shiny plastic on the front is a grease and fingerprint magnet.

The Display

The N85 has a 2.6 inch display which is two-tenths of an inch larger than the N82 display. It isn't much of a difference, but the improvement is welcomed. The N85 also has an OLED screen which consumes less power has displays more lifelike colors. A positive difference in the OLED screen is that in power saver mode you can really see the date and time. With the N82 the date and time were there but barely legible because the back light was off; this new screen doesn't require a back light. One trade-off of having the OLED is that in direct sunlight visibility is greatly compromised.

The Camera

I wish I had the N82 camera back and it's not just because of the xenon flash. I have taken some decent pictures with the N85 but I have also shot more than a few terrible ones. There is a problem with noise showing up on pictures and videos. Sometimes it's there and sometimes it isn't. I'm not really sure what is causing it or what to do about it.

Stability

My N85 crashes a lot. It crashes so much that I think I may have a defective device. I have read in forums that others have had the same problem. I did not experience this with the N82. I think the problem may be a lack of RAM. Earlier today, I could not load the StarWars game on N-GAGE until I closed every other application that was running in the background.

Quick Points and Comparisons

- The FM transmitter is a cool idea, though I haven't had a need to use it.

- I like the new unlock key. It quickly unlocks the phone without pressing any other buttons.

- The accelerometer is better on the N85 than on the N82. It's not jerky or oversensitive.

- I get 3G access on the N85 (and it's not even the North American version), which was not possible with the N82.

- The media keys are nice for some N-GAGE games, music, and videos. They can also be used with the camera and for web browsing but I haven't used them much for that.

- I prefer the flat keypad of the N85 to the small thin keys on the N82.

- The N85 uses S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 and the N82 uses Feature Pack 1. I haven't used either one for long enough to have a preference for one. I know one difference in Feature Pack 2 is the menu transitions. I didn't care for that much and I keep it turned off.

Overall, even with the problems, I prefer my N85 over the N82. At a little over $400, I think I got a good price for it and I am remaining optimistic that the rebooting issue and the poor camera performance can be fixed. Please keep in mind that these are just my first impressions of the N85. There's so much more to this phone, and I anticipate that I will like this device even more the longer I own it.