Nokia N86 8Mp cameraphone

While many mobile makers in the smartphone game have been concentrating their designer firepower on touchscreen devices, the Nokia N86 8MP rolls in as a successor to Nokia’s previous generation of Symbian S60 3E-packing heavyweights rather than as another touchphone contender. Nokia N86 8MP Nokia's N86 8MP: the N-series …

[F1reman]

Really strange....

....a phone that time has passed by. The N82 replacement but years too late.

If Nokia could produce a capacitive touchscreen device with a really nice user interface and a camera as good as the one on review then maybe there would be some genuine interest.

I mean with the specs of an HD2 or Droid, and with the usability of phones like the iPhone on the market, surely releases like the N86 signal the beginning of the end for Nokia (outside of India). They're just no where near. N97 mini? Awaiting the n900 brick with interest.

[Anonymous Coward]

To me this is pointless

While I am sure this may appeal to a select group of people I'm afraid that I personally don't see the appeal of this phone. The camera may be better than most phone cameras in quality, but it is still no match for a proper digital camera when you look closely at the images.

People in the main probably fall into one of two categories - people who are serious about photography and people who couldn't care less. The ones who are serious about photography will still prefer to use a proper camera and the ones who aren't will be happy with their inferior camera on their cheap phones.

I know that the argument is that you don't always have a camera to hand whereas you almost always carry your phone, but I still don't see why I would buy one of these.

[Steve Evans]

First thing I did...

Skip forward to find the info on the flash...

Why kit a phone out as a camera and then giving it the flash illumination of a candle? I really don't understand Nokia sometimes, they have previous experience with xenon flashes, and it worked great!

[Jason Hall]

N96

Ah, so basically they have re-jiggled and re-skinned the N95.

Not a bad thing in itself, as long as Nokia don't forget the OS has to actually work and not crash all the time.

[Anonymous Coward]

serious snapper, my fanny

Begging your pardon, but those sample photos are pure shit. Explaining that "ah, yes, but for a mobile phone they're not bad" has perhaps some merit but there is no way in hell that those images would satisfy a serious snapper. My 6 year old 5MP camera has less pixels but a much better resolution* and vastly superior image quality.

* (because resolution is about resolving power and not the number of pixels)

[magnetik]

No thanks

Those are probably the worst quality photos I've seen from an 8MP camera. Totally pointless.

[Anonymous Coward]

Good

N86 is indeed a brilliant phone with a good fast UI interface and a mature OS platform. Personally I prefer the E-series, even if they come with crappy cameras.

As for touchscreens, not everyone wants touchscreens on their phone. Some people just want a quick small phone that can be used one handed. That is why phones like this sells well.

[Anonymous Coward]

*WAKEY WAKEY*

When will these dinosaurs Learn?

Stop putting twenty, too small, development teams onto 20 phones!

Put enough decent people on One Phone! - it works for apple!

PLEASE Just make ONE decent phone..

[djmuzi]

Good for early 2009 phone

I made all my pics from my trip to Vienna with the N86 and I'm totally satisfied. For normal viewing on the monitor and on online galeries the resolution is more then enogh :)

And the beautifull colors are better than most of the simple digital cameras :)

OK iI have a IXUS 95, which has far better resolution, but on normal viewing size there is not large difference on my iMac 20'' :)

For not carriing your digital camera with you the N86 is very good imaging device. OK a Nokia N95 is better then nothing too, but the N86 is lot better than N95.

For early 2009 phone the N86 is among the best. Now we have Pixon 12 and Sation, which are a bit better, but hey there will be allways a better device comming out :)

[johnnytruant]

Nokia can't make cameras

Sample images show typical Nokia rubbish. They've never made a device with a decent camera in yet.

I have a Sony Ericsson Satio, and I consider it a "proper" compact digital camera. It's not a patch on my Nikon DSLR, but then compact digitals simply don't have the glassware to compete with 'real' cameras, and shouldn't be expected to. I consider myself fairly Serious about photography, and my Satio does a great job as my carry-everywhere camera. I don't always want to lug nearly a kilo of glass and electronics around with me. Heck, I've got prints on my wall at 18x12" that were taking with Sony's previous flagship cameraphone, the C905 - and they compare well to prints taken from my Nikon!

So, it can be done. It just hasn't been done by Nokia.

[OkKTY8KK5U]

The point of having a camera phone

I have an N82 for the simple reason that the photo you took with the camera you had in your pocket will always be better than the photo you didn't take with the camera you didn't have in your pocket. And I've only got so much pocket space. And I carry my cellphone no matter what.

Yes, the resulting photos are poor compared to even a cheap dedicated digital camera. But I get photos, as opposed to nothing. So from that perspective, it seems sensible to try to get the best cellphone camera possible - because I'm always going to have it with me, so I'll always be capable of taking photos of some sort.

But yeah, looking at this as a real replacement for a real camera is, of course, silly...

[Anonymous Coward]

Excellent?

"But its 8Mp, mechanical-shutter camera will appeal to photographers - it's capable of taking excellent shots - and there's plenty of good extras too, including Wi-Fi, A-GPS and a fine music player."

Excellent? The "produce" shot apparently has an ISO rating just north of 200 and it looks like something a typical 8MP compact would produce at ISO 800 or 1600. Not even the flash will save you here unless the ISO goes down to 60 or something, and even then...

It's nice that they're trying, and yes, I suppose it'd be good enough for prints to show that you saw whatever it was that the photo is about, but it isn't excellent.

[Pypes]

Another camera designed by the marketing department

When will phone manufacturers learn that you can't put OMGWTF8MEGAPIXEL CCD's behind pound-shop quality optics and expect the photos to be anything but shit. If you want to market a phone to people who desire something other than a utility camera then your going to have to be content to make it considerably larger.

[Kevin Whitefoot]

First Nokia with mechanical shutter?

My two year old N73 has that.

[MacroRodent]

@OkKTY8KK5U

quote: "I have an N82 for the simple reason that the photo you took with the camera you had in your pocket will always be better than the photo you didn't take with the camera you didn't have in your pocket."

I thought about posting a similar comment, but you said it better. I'm always arguing with my wife about my mobile phone photos. She thinks their quality is crap, and besides she is the one who has formally studied photography. But she almost never gets around to lugging the fancy-schmancy cameras to where the action is, so all the interesting shots about family life get taken by my crappy (not even N82 quality) mobile phone camera.

Probably I should upgrade, but then, if the mobile phone gets too large and expensive, I might be reluctant to always carry it in my trousers pocket. I wish some manufacturer would make a clamshell phone with a good camera that really clams up hermetically, so that also the main camera lens is inside, when closed.

[NightFox]

@Pypes

Don't tell the phone manufacturers, tell the people who buy them, the people who have it in their heads that more megapixels = better photos. The manufacturers will just keep competing to outdo each other with ridiculously higher but pointless specifications as long as the uneducated keep looking for these specs.

[Richard 116]

"Ah, so basically they have re-jiggled and re-skinned the N95"

My thoughts exactly and no bad thing. I received one of these the other day as a 'free' upgrade and intended to just do the usual unlock, de-brand, sell it on eBay. But I'm quite taken with it. A little larger and heavier than my N95 8GB but it feels better screwed together and the software is certainly snappier. I still unlocked and debranded it but I think this one may be a keeper.

[Anonymous Coward]

"S60 3E user interface is beginning to feel old hat"

Understatement of the year. Or even the past 5 years.

[OkKTY8KK5U]

@MacroRodent

Thanks, but in all fairness, I should point out that I'm pretty sure I'm paraphrasing Dan of dansdata.com. If only I really was that clever.

[Ebeneser]

Er What?

Hopeless and pointless, its a bit sad really that with so much interesting stuff happening on iphone and android, nokia come up with this crap. Sure they'll sell a few to some of the die-hards above, but at this rate they'll easily halve their current market share within a couple of years. Good Job Nokia!

[Dan Ellis 1]

Works for me

I got this for my wife on a T-Mobile upgrade. It's much better than the N95 she had before (which died after a drinks leakage in the vicinity) - the maps work really well with a very fast GPS lock, the pictures are perfectly good enough, and the music plays fine.

It was around £25 for the upgrade which to be honest I think made it a bit of a no brainer.