The Nokia N86 was a polished final chapter for non-touch N-Series phones
The Nokia N86 arrived at a strange moment for smartphones. Touchscreens were taking over, but Nokia still had one more classic N-Series slider to offer. With its 8MP camera, dual-slider design, kickstand, FM transmitter, GPS, Wi-Fi, and mature Symbian S60 interface, the N86 felt like Nokia refining everything it had learned from its pre-touch era. It was not the true successor to the legendary N82 in low light, but it remained one of Nokia’s best traditional smartphones.
- The Nokia N86 was Nokia’s final major non-touch N-Series smartphone.
- Its 8MP camera was excellent in good light, but the lack of Xenon flash made it less capable than the N82 at night.
- The dual-slider design, kickstand, FM transmitter, and mature Symbian software made it a strong multimedia phone.
The Nokia N86 is a Symbian smartphone with a dual-slider design and the first Nokia handset to feature an 8MP camera. It also includes a rear kickstand, allowing users to prop the phone up for watching videos or viewing photos.
As the spiritual successor to the Nokia N82, expectations were high. The decision to replace Xenon flash with dual LED flash was surprising, especially for a camera-focused N-Series phone, but the N86 still had plenty of imaging strengths of its own.
A classic N-Series phone in a touchscreen world
The Nokia N86 arrived when the mobile industry was rapidly shifting toward touchscreen devices. Instead of following that trend, Nokia used the N86 to refine the classic N-Series formula: strong camera hardware, physical controls, multimedia features, and a familiar Symbian experience.
That made the N86 feel like a bold move. It was not trying to be an iPhone competitor. It was built for users who still wanted a traditional Nokia smartphone with proper buttons, strong media features, and dependable phone functionality.
Before getting into the review, thanks to WomWorld Nokia for providing the trial device.
What came in the box
The packaging was fairly modest for a high-end N-Series device. Inside the box, Nokia included the essentials, including a microUSB charger, adapter for older Nokia chargers, headset with volume controls, and a microUSB cable for PC connectivity.
The trial device also included a memory card, though the standard retail package may not have included one.
- MicroUSB charger
- Legacy Nokia charger adapter
- Stereo headset with controls
- MicroUSB cable
- Memory card included with trial unit
Hardware and design
The Nokia N86 was available in black and white, with the review unit finished in white. While white phones can raise concerns about discoloration over time, the N86 still looked sleek and classy in hand.
At 149g, it was not a light device, but the weight helped it feel solid. The phone was comfortable to hold and carried the premium feel expected from an N-Series handset.
The dual-slider mechanism was one of the N86’s defining features. Slide the display up, and you get the traditional alphanumeric keypad. Slide it down, and you reveal dedicated media keys for music and video playback.
Compared to earlier Nokia sliders, the N86 felt more refined. The mechanism was sturdy, the build felt confident, and the overall design showed lessons learned from earlier devices like the N80, N95, N85, and N97.
Display and controls
The front of the N86 is dominated by its 2.6-inch display. The screen is bright and vibrant, though its size and resolution felt conservative even at the time, especially as larger touchscreen phones were becoming common.
Sunlight visibility was also not as strong as expected from Nokia, which was disappointing for a camera-focused phone.
The D-pad was one of the better parts of the control layout. It was comfortable to use despite being smaller than some earlier Nokia designs. The front also included the earpiece, ambient light sensor, and front-facing camera for video calls.
The right side housed the volume rocker and two-stage camera shutter key, both of which felt easy to press. The top included microUSB, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the power button.
Back design and kickstand
The rear of the phone looked similar in spirit to the Nokia N97, especially around the camera cover design. The lens cover helped protect the camera, though it also raised concerns after some N97 users experienced scratching issues with similar designs.
The built-in kickstand was a great touch. It allowed the N86 to sit upright for watching videos or viewing photos, and by default opening the kickstand launched the image gallery.
Combined with the media keys, stereo speakers, and FM transmitter, the kickstand made the N86 feel like a proper pocket media device.
Software experience
The Nokia N86 runs Symbian S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2. By this stage, Symbian had matured significantly, and on the N86 it felt fast, familiar, and reliable.
Compared to early touch-based Symbian devices, the N86 benefited from using a non-touch interface that Symbian was already very comfortable with. Menus were quick, the accelerometer rotated the interface smoothly, and the overall experience felt stable.
The refreshed icons gave the interface a more modern look, influenced by newer S60 5th Edition devices, while still preserving the familiar Nokia workflow.
- Symbian S60 3rd Edition FP2
- Fast and mature interface
- Strong phonebook and messaging tools
- Calendar, notes, recorder, calculator, and file tools
- Ovi Store, Ovi Maps, and Ovi Contacts support
Ovi services
The N86 included Nokia’s Ovi ecosystem, including Ovi Store, Ovi Maps, and Ovi Contacts. These services were central to Nokia’s connected-device strategy at the time.
Ovi Maps had the advantage of offline map downloads, which meant users did not need to rely on constant mobile data the way some competing mapping services did. However, the GPS experience during testing was inconsistent, and location locking proved frustrating.
Ovi Contacts and Ovi Share also felt limited compared to what users would eventually expect from more open social and cloud-connected platforms.
Fast Symbian performance, useful organizer tools, good media gallery, and strong core phone functions.
Ovi services were useful in concept, but felt restricted compared to broader social and cloud platforms.
Telephony and connectivity
As expected from Nokia, the N86 performed well as a phone. Reception was solid during testing, and voice quality was decent across calls.
Connectivity options were strong for the time, including GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and microUSB. Wi-Fi added a more convenient way to browse, download maps, and access Ovi services without relying on mobile data.
Web browsing was usable, but after becoming familiar with touch-based browsing, using a traditional keypad phone for the web felt less appealing.
Multimedia features
The Nokia N86 was built as a media-focused phone. Audio quality was good, and the dedicated media keys made music playback more convenient.
The FM radio and FM transmitter were especially useful additions. The FM transmitter allowed users to play music through nearby FM receivers, making it handy for car use.
Video playback was decent, but the lack of DivX and Xvid support out of the box was disappointing for a device positioned as a multimedia phone.
Camera performance
The camera was the main attraction. The N86 featured an 8MP Carl Zeiss camera with autofocus, a 28mm wide-angle lens, dual LED flash, variable aperture, mechanical shutter, and geotagging support.
In good lighting, the N86 captured excellent photos with strong detail and pleasant colors. Landscape shots benefited from the wide-angle lens, making the phone especially enjoyable for travel photography.
Low-light performance was more complicated. Without flash, the N86 did surprisingly well thanks to its variable aperture and image processing. However, dual LED flash simply could not match the Xenon flash of the older Nokia N82.
That made the N86 feel like an improvement in some areas, but not a true camera successor to the N82 in every way.
Video recording
Video quality was decent at VGA resolution and 30fps, but the absence of HD recording was disappointing for an 8MP camera phone.
By this point, expectations for mobile video were rising quickly, and the N86 felt behind competitors that were starting to push higher-resolution recording.
Final thoughts
The Nokia N86 was a strong addition to the N-Series family, but it was not quite the Nokia N82 successor many camera phone fans expected.
Its design, build quality, media controls, kickstand, FM transmitter, and mature Symbian interface made it one of Nokia’s best traditional smartphones. Its camera was excellent in good lighting and genuinely useful for travel, but the lack of Xenon flash and HD video limited its appeal as a camera flagship.
For users who were not ready to move to touchscreen phones and wanted a feature-rich camera phone with classic Nokia strengths, the N86 made a lot of sense. But looking back, the Nokia N8 would become the more natural successor to Nokia’s great camera phone legacy.
- Excellent daylight camera
- Solid dual-slider design
- Useful kickstand
- FM transmitter included
- Fast mature Symbian UI
- No Xenon flash
- No HD video recording
- Small 2.6-inch display
- Weak sunlight visibility
- No DivX or Xvid support