The Nokia N85 is going to be picked up by more newcomers to the Nseries range than upgrades, and I suspect that those users are going to be seriously impressed with the media capabilities of the n85.

Let's start with the camera, and the 5 megapixel lens/sensor. While that size is starting to feel a touch au fait with people watching spec sheets, in the real world it's a big number and more than enough to suffice for good sized pictures. The addition of a camera lens cover is something that will be welcomed by many, although Steve has demonstrated that only a small fraction of pictures may be affected in this article. The point is that this part of the design of the N85, like many, is geared more towards regular phone users moving up to a bigger and better model.

The camera software is the usual S60 bundle, and as in the original N95, the action of opening the lens cover brings the camera application to the foreground. Although the UI of S60 on the N85 has received some tweaks, getting to certain applications such as the camera fast is still important - the physical action of the lens cover is a good UI touch.

While the software interface hasn't necessarily changed on the N85, there's the change to the organic LED display, providing for a much brighter screen with a wider viewing angle. Take the N85 out for some outdoor shooting in bright sunlight (admittedly not a huge concern in Scotland) and you will be able to see the 'modern viewfinder' with ease - unlike some  previous (mainly non-Nokia) phones where you were shooting at shapes and making your best guess.

Colours are nice and bright, even when I take them (click through for full pic)

While carrying the now-mentioned-everywhere Carl Zeis lens, the N85 is not on a par with other 5 megapixel cameras in the Nseries range - there's a lot more to a camera than the sensor resolution, with both the CMOS light capturing chip and the software algorithms used making as much, if not more, of a difference to the final image. Its response in darkness was poor compared to other phones in the 'night' setting; and while the Dual LED flash is a step up from the single LED's on previous phones, the physics of an LED flash means the camera shutter needs to be open for longer, leading to a slight blurriness in any action shots.

With the N85 targeted towards the mass market, and ergo as low a unit build cost as possible, the addition of a Xenon flash, which would please camera fanatics, has probably been deemed too expensive both in fabrication costs and added complexity to the device, which is already in an amazingly small footprint (more on LED and Xenon flashes here).

Pushing the flash in a cinema (click through for full pic)

Colours on the pictures are vivid, especially when placed next to similar shots from other phones. This appears to be a result of the software used to process the pictures zapping up the colour saturation on the shots, which gives a wonderful feeling of richness to the pictures, but can, when colours are already very bright, lead to some overpowering touches on the camera (the extra colour from the OLED screen only serves to enhance this effect even more!). Zooming in on the images, the edges are a bit more broken up when compared to other camera shots which I'm going to put down to the improving Nokia software sitting on top of a mid priced CMOS.

This is born out when you look at the video recording on the N85, which, while a smooth 30 frames per second, does struggle to keep the rich colours on display. There's a touch more of a washed out look in these videos when compared to pictures taken in the same circumstances. My only concern would be the microphone pick-up in video can be a bit tinny, and certainly not as good a quality as when using the microphones on the N95, let alone the venerable N93.

Video on the N85 (via Flickr upload)

And a picture of the same area (click through for full pic)

But this again misses the target market of the N85. It's not a phone for audio/video professionals, it's for the man in the street, much as this is a tired marketing phrase - in the case of the N85, it's accurate. What it delivers on the camera front is strong and is definitely above average, and has enough simplicity for most while retaining enough settings and tweaks so the amateur photographers who do end up with this camera will not be disappointed.

Of course, media is not just about creating content, it's about consuming content as well, and the N85 scores here too. Again the package of applications will be familiar to S60 users, with the music player accessed from either the media key, or from an application icon. I've long argued on behalf of the interface that Nokia now use for the music player, with a top level menu guiding you to your choice of artists, albums, or your play lists. And when you do get into these lists, having an alpha-numeric keypad to help searching means that you'll get to your music collection a lot faster than on a regular MP3 player.

Before the iPhone/iPod Touch arrived, I would have said that the Nokia S60 application was the best mobile music browser - with touch enabled on the newer iPhones there's a certain ease of use that comes with sliding a finger down a list (as an aside, I've not yet tried the 5800's solution) but I would still rate the S60 player a strong overall second, and still the best for a key-based solution.

Nokia have added the idea of scrolling in the navi-wheel; running your fingers around the cursor ring will scroll your on-screen cursor. It's a workable solution, but impossible to switch on only for the music application. It's either on or off, and that's decided in the general settings. Unfortunately, not every S60 application uses the navi-wheel (including some of Nokia's own apps) so it's hit and miss if it's going to work in any application. It's also, frustratingly, either hyper accurate or as sluggish as John Sergeant on Strictly Come Dancing, and, as I keep switching it off because of this, I rarely have it available for the music application. It would be nice to have it running just in the music app, and I think it does add some ease of use in searching through music.

Navigating Your Music Collection

Running a Bluetooth stereo audio profile means your hands-free stereo headphones can use the N85 with ease, and the inclusion of a (by now standard on Nseries devices) 3.5mm stereo socket means you can use your favourite listening device. Reproduction from the sound chip is accurate and clear, and on a par with pretty much every mid to high end digital audio player out there. The encoding you use on your music files is going to have a greater effect on your music collection than any defects here.

The loudspeaker on the N85 did leave me a touch disappointed. I've taken to using my phones as audio players when working around the house, and comparing the speakers on the N85 to other devices left the N85 lacking. It sounded flat, with little crispness once you got above about half volume. It's nothing more than average, and most other phones reproduce music much more cleanly.

The N85 provides another option in the FM transmitter. One of the more popular third party peripherals of recent times, the N85 has a small low powered FM transmitter that will relay whatever is playing out to any FM radio close by. You can select the frequency, so as long as you're within a few feet of a radio, you'll get your music on that sound system. It'[s a feature many will ignore, but for two scenarios I can see this being a great tool. The first is obviously for car drivers, and the second is when at a party. The N85 speaker won't suffice to fill a chattering room, but put it next to a suitably tuned in stereo, and the music on the phone will be happily shared. It's an old school solution, but works wonderfully.

Podcasting and FM integrated in music player

Congrats also in the GUI as you can launch the FM transmitter from the menu when playing a track. This integration of the media-related applications is also seen in the Podcasting section - you have the option to jump to the Podcasting application (which is the only way to trigger new downloads) when you go to the menu while browsing your podcasts in the music player. Tying these applications back to the music player will help people discover and use them.

Video is well supported on the N85, with the old .3gp mobile standard sitting in there, but a huge range of other codecs available (e.g. flavours of MP4). As well as any videos you take on the built-in camera, you can copy over videos from your computer to watch on the screen. It's a touch small for watching a lot of video, but the H.264 codec is used in many MP4s and is an option in most video conversion programs so it shouldn't be too difficult

Unlike music (and specifically Nokia's Music Store), sourcing official video online has been a bit hit and miss. Yes Nokia, has YouTube Mobile (urgh - that low, low resolution) support, and that's been the main portal for online video in previous Nseries devices. The N85 has a trick up it's sleeve, though. The BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer with Download option for the N85

Admittedly only available for the UK user, but the iPlayer service, previously only available on the Nokia N96, used to stream most of the content broadcast by the BBC over the last 7 days, now has an added download component. You can download programs using the iPlayer widget (available at bbc.co.uk/iplayer) to your handset, and they'll be available to play in the main gallery or Video Centre at any point over the next thirty days. The restrictions (both time limited and geographically limited) are indicative of the minefield that is online video, but it's nice to see the N85 is sitting (alongside the N96) on the very bleeding edge of this.

The N85's media capabilities are at odds with the mid-range that Nokia are promoting it as aimed at. Yes, there are some elements that are partly compromised by the parts used, but while this would be unforgivable on a higher-end device, the positioning of the N85 means that these compromises are more understandable. And in all honesty you need to look hard to find them. For the user new to these features the N85 is going to be a revelation of media capabilities. So in that sense it has succeeded. There's enough here for old S60 users to consider it a worthwhile upgrade, and a huge amount of functionality for the new user.

That's a big thumbs up for the N85 then.

-- Ewan Spence, Dec 08