
There are two ways to look at the Nokia N86 8MP: 1) It's Nokia's flagship non-touch media-centric smartphone, the successor to the mighty Nokia N95/N95-3/N95-4, and a proper substitute for the disappointing Nokia N85. 2) It's Nokia's flagship cameraphone, the rightful successor to the awesome Nokia N82, now packing an 8 megapixel sensor and a wide angle, variable aperture Carl Zeiss lens. Maybe it's a little bit of both? There's absolutely no doubt that the N86 is a worthy upgrade to the N95, but as a mobile photography enthusiast, I was expecting more from the camera, especially in terms of usability! The N86 features an 8 megapixel sensor, a Carl Zeiss lens, fast auto-focus with macro, a dual LED flash, and an active lens cover. There's also geo-tagging, panorama-stitching, face detection, manual settings, and VGA video recording. I was able to compare the N86 directly to the Samsung Memoir and the Sony Ericsson C905a, two devices with similar camera specs and aspirations... The result? It's been a mixed bag. While the N86 definitely takes excellent pictures overall (slide show), it's been a frustrating experience. On one hand the N86 exhibits great color balance and exposure, surely thanks to the superior optics and proven image processing algorithms. But strangely, the level of detail is more akin to that of a decent 5 megapixel phone. Low-light performance is pretty good, mostly because of the variable aperture - the sensor is still quite noisy, but since the camera <b>...</b>
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