N85 and N79 turned out to have a rather ambiguous nature, making it hard to tell for sure which niche either of the two was meant to occupy. The junior N79 model can be mistakenly attributed with being a replacement or a sequel of N78. It's simply another minor portfolio expansion with a handful of parameters tweaked to differ from the original handset. N78 isn't phasing out yet, the handset is to stay as one of the most affordable and balanced business smartphones (sporting also some fashion phone traits, let alone the rich functionality) for quite a long while from now on. The company has never expected N78 to grow immensely popular, having launched a higher-ranking N82 counterpart alongside with the model. N82 eventually was targeted with a much greater public attention than N78, selling in substantially larger numbers despite the high price. N78 stands a firm ground in its niche, - neither too prominent nor overly neglected, - and that's what Nokia means by saying model line. The buyer is offered a variety of models having many features in common but bearing different accents on specific departments of functionality, and that is to the buyer's liking. Selling the same and only all-in-one model might sound a seemingly better idea, yet it will never cover as much audience as selling a line of related products does in real life. Certain price gaps between the members of the product family are obvious and natural. For instance, N82 carries a better camera aided by a xenon flash. N78 is smaller, slimmer and has more stylish looks; it has a better battery life score and offers a better audio quality. It's also noteworthy that N78 is based off a newer revision of the S60 FP2 platform. Let's get back to N79 for now. The model is seen as an alternative to people who preferred not to pick an N82 due to some reason or another, but don't like N78 for its limited camera capabilities either. These few words serve as a pretty accurate description of the model's market positioning.

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The three devices taken together are going to co-exist on the market. N78 is going to have the lowest price out of the three, N82 follows in the second place (priced an extra 50 euros), another 50-euro jump will bring you into the niche of N79. The price step is rather small, yet optimal to maximize the audience coverage. N79 displays almost the same specifications and measurements with N78, but its cam was upgraded to a 5 Mp unit originating from N82 (the same thing minus the xenon flash). The rest of the features are shared: a similar hardware and software platform (ARM 11 368 MHz S60 3.2), an FM transmitter, the same sound quality, comparable battery life, the same battery unit, so on and so forth. That's basically an N78 with an upgraded cam, no other major changes in any other field. It's up to you to see whether a price difference as large as 100 euros is justified by the beefed up cam.ъ

All the three handsets have a 2.4'' screen. The image quality is identical for N78 and N79, sporting a better brightness and direct sunlight resistance than N82 can offer.

The keyboard of N79 shares a more traditional, reserved design in comparison with N78 and N82, the buttons are big and comfortable, it brings about no problems. The keyboard backlight is of a white color, making the button markings perfectly visible in almost every environment. The block of controls looks challenged, the buttons are too crowded. The Multimedia button is now located on the left, which isn't very good for ergonomics. The Navi Wheel works in all menus and applications.

The quality of materials and assembly is on a good level, the battery bay cover lock is the same with Nokia N78, which means that over time it will grow a bit loose. An important difference is that the bundling doesn't include the extra panels which were present in the sales package of N79. However, a variety of panels are available from retail stores – coming in blue, brown and white colors. The alternate colors for N79 are green, white, black and blue. The back panel has a pattern that you may as well see in N82 and N78. As mentioned above, the differentiation between Nseries and Eseries is partially based on the casing surface patterns – dots are for Eseries, earlier seen in the E51 model.

The slots and jacks of N79 come in a variety: microUSB, charger slot, memory card slot, - these three can be found on the left edge, while the top edge features a 3.5 mm audio jack and a blocking slider. The dedicated camera launch button and volume controls are found on the top edge as well. The stereo speakers are both placed on the same side, just like in Nokia N82.

Regardless of its slim figure, Nokia N79 comes equipped with a high-capacity battery (BL-6F, 1200 mAh), the same one used in Nokia N78. The battery lifetime amounts to about 3-3.5 days, or 24 hours of continuous mp3 playback, the same score with N78.

The device fully supports GPS and A-GPS functionality and offers an interesting geo-tagging function (Location Tagger) This application combines three modes: Sharing, GPS and Photo. The camera application includes an option to capture the coordinates on taking a shot, attaching a meta tag to each photo. Upon uploading the photos to the web, the information will be available to the visitors of your blog.

The FM transmitter allows to broadcast the signal to a compatible audio system or a car receiver. This function is gradually becoming a standard feature for multiple handset models by various manufacturers. The transmitter status is displayed on the desktop. It's interesting to note that you won't find an FM transmitter in N96 unlike the N78, N79 and N85 models equipped with this unit.

The camera interface follows the traditional style seen in other Nokia cameraphones. It's very handy, offering a plenty of settings. The performance is on a good level. The quality of pictures is identical with Nokia N82, N85 – that gives the right to say that the camera of N79 is one of the best on the market and in its native segment in particular.

Nokia N79 camera samples:

The model is expected to start selling in October at a price not exceeding 350 euros; it makes a sound bargain in its segment, coming with GPS, Wi-Fi, the best auto-focusing 5 Mp camera and Carl Zeiss optics, sporting an original design which can be customized with the bundled replaceable panels; a high capacity flash card is included in the sales package. Nokia N82 looks more serious, reserved and square. The availability of a xenon flash only in N82 makes a notable difference when it comes to taking pictures. As for the rest of the features, N79 is preferable. The model is a timely and well-designed expansion of the model range, destined to attain the status of a mass product and the best sold handset of the Nseries family. The likely competitors, besides N82, include Motorola ZN5 (sold for a lower price but offering a less impressive set of features, save for a better camera and a xenon flash) and Sony Ericsson W902 which loses in almost every aspect but selling at a comparable price. But the primary adversary is obviously Samsung i7110. It hasn't been officially announced yet, but offers a similar list of specifications and features, coming in an impressively looking metal casing. The choice between the two is going to be a very difficult task.

Nokia N85 is a sequel to the music phone N81, things are simpler for this model. The company's music flagship offers the same set of functions with N95 8GB, so N85 can also be regarded as replacement for the latter as well. To be more precise: that's either a continuation of N81 with upgraded functionality or a replacement for N95 8 Gb with the same functionality, but sporting more compact measurements, an updated software platform, a more fashionable, glossy design, a better screen, a longer battery life, and a long list of other improvements in the hardware part.

So, N85 uses a double slider form factor, the design is very reminiscent of N81, the two models look alike from a distance, the same form factor tells for itself. The plastic has the same glossy and easily soiled surface in both models; the newer one has rounded angles resulting in a smoother look. The quality of assembly is higher than in N96 and N81. The measurements of the device didn't change enough to care for that, it grew a bit longer but slimmer; the large screen helps to preserve the feeling of ruggedness. The screen is good indeed, effectively the best one in the company's portfolio. Its size is identical to screen size of the original N95 (2.6''), but is based off a different technology called AM-OLED. This technology helps to decrease the screen's power consumption rate and yields a better looking color palette, higher refresh rates and maximum view angles. Our judgment is quite predictable: it beats N95 8GB in many, if not all, departments.

The memory size amounts to 74 Mb, so you aren't getting a spacious onboard storage unit like in N81 8GB. You can always expand the storage using a microSD card, and this lack of integrated memory is compensated by a 8 Gb flash card you will find in the sales package. That's an amount typical for present-day music flagships like Sony Ericsson W902, W980i, Samsung i8510.

The control buttons come in a large number, the navigation panel is mostly analogous with the namesake element of Nokia N81; the player control buttons are distributed around the Navi Wheel (duplicating the functions of the counterparts located on the other half of the slider. Two buttons out of the four switch their functions during gaming sessions (the device supports a full range of N-Gage games) and can be used as game controls. This feature was missing in Nokia N95, for instance. The buttons are flat, have poor feedback and do not produce any impression of comfort. The joystick button doesn't inspire much hope either. Unlike N95 which sported a perfect ergonomics, the new product has all of its buttons flattened down and crowded on a small spot, which effectively results in a large number of stray keystrokes. The Navi Wheel, on the other hand, has become much handier (in comparison with N81) – not only does it work in all menus, but the very button itself has got a friendlier feel because of a softer surface. The numerical keyboard is pretty standard – the same with N81. The increased size of the numerical keys stands for a more comfortable operation, so totally no problem with these.

The handset has a camera launch / shoot button and a set of volume controls, but there's no dedicated button for launching the gallery. The upper edge hosts the blocking slider (analogous to the one in N81), a standard 3.5 mm jack and a profile switch button. The memory card slot is located on the left edge, covered with a flap. A pair of stereo speakers are positioned on the same side of the phone (similar to N82), producing a sounding slightly worse than N78 and N81.

The quality of shots taken with N85 is analogous to N79, the cam settings and options are virtually the same. The lens guard has a conventional mechanism, slightly sticking above the surface of the casing. There's an onboard FM transmitter available, just like in Nokia N79, and the total battery life in playback mode is even longer – a whole 28 hours. A total of ten N-Gage game demo versions come preinstalled.

Let us also dispel the rumors about the sound quality. The N79 and N85 models sport a sound quality identical to N78 and N81, that is a bit below the quality of N91 or Samsung i8510.

What goes to the exterior design, the company representatives stated exclusively for SMAPE.com that the current designer trend witnessed in N81, N85, N96 and a number of future models will be continued for a serious period of time, reserving the use of metal to Eseries line products. It's hard to say if this is actually good or bad, our task is to tell you about the Nseries outlook for the future. As long as the current design sells well, Nokia aren't going to invent something new. The second point is about the positioning policy. While Samsung is invading the hi-end segment with products like i8510 INNOV8, Nokia are doing their best to take over the mid-end product range, facing little to no competition. Models like i8510 or N96 almost never score high sales, while N79, N82 and N85 form the mass segment of multimedia devices which constitute a serious share of the company's sold products. The future growth of this share in the next year will owe much to the mentioned mass coming of mid-end multimedia handsets. That doesn't mean exactly that Nokia will no longer need a flagship to lead the product line; the most powerful handset in this series is to arrive later, in the first quarter of 2009, and this policy is fully justified.

In principle, we have just produced but a superficial review of the two devices, a more detailed one planned for the coming hours. As a short summary we want to say again that N79 is a very successful market entry, a balanced and affordable (for an Nseries piece) smartphone, designed to please a maximally wide audience. The model is going to peacefully coexist on the market with Nokia N82 and N78, the differentiating factors limited to design and camera capabilities only. Save for the missing xenon flash, N79 is preferable over N82 in all aspects from design and battery life to ergonomics and audio quality; it also comes with a better bundle of accessories. Its price is going to keep above the price of N82, which on a number of markets is already sold at 350 euros, though this slight overpay is justified, if you are after a gadget utilizing an updated platform with a large number of improvements and additions.

Things are different for Nokia N85. Unlike N79, which is only a supplementary portfolio expansion, N85 is a full-fledged replacement for N81 and the currently phasing out N95 8GB. Sporting a price on par with N95 8GB, the model has a better audio quality, an updated software platform, a longer battery life and a high quality screen. It more resembles a music phone than a camera phone, still retaining a good video viewing capability and a vast support for N-Gage games. A fine addition to the mass market, but hardly a flagship. The highest functionality in Nokia's portfolio is provided by the N96 model, which is going to keep the position till the coming of a new 8 Mp flagship. Nokia N85 has no direct competitors (save for its relative N95 N8GB) and in all cases is preferable. N79 may be missing something that N82 has (e.g. a xenon flash), which is not the thing with N85 versus N95 8 GB (save, probably for a bit lower ergonomics). Moreover, N85 is in many aspects better than its higher-indexed counterpart. The model is going to sell for 450 euros starting from October, and has every chance to become one of the next winter's most looked for devices. The price gap between it and N96 is likely to constitute about 10 euros, that extra pay explained by the availability of extra memory and a DVB-H unit. N96 doesn't offer any other advantages, the difference in hardware doesn't play a big part for now, and N85 is preferable in terms of quality, size, screen, battery life and design.

Author: Spiridonov Anton, playdead1@gmail.com

SMAPE.com

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