Nokia N86 8Mp cameraphone

The serious snapper's smartphone?

The slider buttons are also handy for gaming, but Nokia has seen fit to include no full games, just 15 items of trialware.

If you want to play full games, you'll have to buy them - this phones only comes with demos

The N86's Assisted GPS technology offers precise location finding and route planning using Nokia Maps software. In our tests, the GPS receiver was remarkably quick at fixing our exact position – it’s among the quickest we’ve seen on a phone. The software has UK and Ireland maps embedded, and you can upload more from Nokia. A motion-activated compass usefully ensures that the map orientation is always from a user-friendly viewpoint.

Route planning and searches for landmarks, businesses and services and so on are included as standard. Turn-by-turn voice directions are free for ten days only, after which you have to pay extra to use them.

All the customary S60 functionality is embedded in the N86 8MP, including easy-to-set-up email with support for attachments; instant messaging; online and in-phone searching; Office and PDF viewers; and a comprehensive suite of organiser functionality, including calendar, calculator, notes, text-to-speech reader software, a dictionary and voice recorder. Nokia includes its usual PC sync software.

The N86 8MP scores a top-class rating for voice-call quality. We had no network issues during testing. Battery life is reasonable too, if not exceptional. We managed a couple of days on average between charges, although Nokia rates the optimum performance of its 1200mAh battery at up to 4.5 hours' talktime - 6.9 hours in GSM only coverage - or up to 363 hours on standby.

Verdict

The Nokia N86 8MP isn’t the sort of smartphone that moves the genre on. Its size is going to be an issue for some, and its S60 3E user interface is beginning to feel old hat. 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. ®

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