Nokia seems to be having a hard time balancing between I think price(why else would they want to put in LEDs instead of Xenon?) and features. They're trying too hard to compete. I don't think other manufacturers are trying to do the same. I think others are thinking, "there is a market out there and I'm sure it'll sell".

The upside of having LEDs as the flash is that you can use it as a light source for capturing videos at night and the cost savings and batt life.

Maybe the LEDs will surprise us, who knows? Maybe the LEDs will be brighter and could snap pics faster than what we expect?

Nokia's move to use LED and improving the technology is the right one. One day LEDs will be able to compete with the Xenon in terms of speed and brightness. LED already has 3 advantages to it that Xenon cannot compete, battery life, torchlight capability and cost.

Just because Xenon is better doesn't mean every manufacturer has to go for it, then what happens to LED? Trust me, LEDs are just waiting to pwn the Xenon. It probaably won't be brighter than the Xenon, at least it could probably come close, without the energy sucking and cost inflating properties of Xenon.

This post has been edited by tunertoobe: Feb 19 2009, 09:29 AM

alpha's right, it is afterall a smart phone. It'll be a pity if you used up all your battery for pictures but don't have enough charge to go to the net to blog it.

I think it's more of a smartphone compared to the other 8mp phone.
It'll be great as a phone IMO rather than a camera phone.

To put it easier, hardware is the PHYSICAL inner workings of something.
Nokia's N86 won't have a big chance at beating or even come on par with other established cam phone manufacturers.

Their 8MP cam better have some surprises in it. My mum might buy one she says.

As long as it has a big enough sensor, it can capture enough light that the dual LEDs will be enough.

Won't be as fast though, but at least for a distance of maybe 1.5-2 metres with this new gen LED, the subject will be very adequately lit. For low light scenic pics, why not a true digicam?

Interesting review.
VEry sensible of Nokia to say that MP races are not worth getting into, and I tend to agree. However due to consumer mindset that more MP=better, rather than explaining to people that MP doesn't matter, they'd just have to join in.

But it seems that the pics are a tad bit noisy according to the review. But it's not the final version though, some algorithms would still be under works at Nokia as we speak.

It's the first 8MP of any phone class by Nokia.

A camera-centric phone should also have a large and beautiful display to show off them pics.

But I agree, any larger and the N97 would fit the bill. It'll make the N86 too far off the price range(and consequently the target market). Plus, it'll also mean that it will be on par with the N96 somewhat.

This post has been edited by tunertoobe: Jun 14 2009, 10:07 AM

It's only a matter of time will Nokia release a monster HD video capturing smartphone.

I'm sure they'll only opt for the 8MP sensor for it(since going higher to shoot a video that is only 1280x720 or 1920x1080 even (OMG) makes no sense). I've been longing to see Nokia coming with an HDMI cable.

Where can you find another 8MP camera smartphone with that price?
Variable aperture and mechanical shutter, that makes it closer to an actual camera than any other phone.
3 of the most expensive features, AMOLED screen, the shutter and variable aperture. Tht pretty much kills the price.

It'll drop, don't worry.

This post has been edited by tunertoobe: Jun 20 2009, 01:21 AM

it uses Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode screen (AMOLED)
Switches colours faster(ideal for viewing fast motions with less ghosting), better colour(colours are more pronounced, darker black), greater energy savings over LCD(which needs to be backlit) and also brighter.

It is more expensive though.

I had a thought, what if they had made improvements to the N93?
An N86 with 3x optical zoom!!

Maybe the next "Best Imaging Device" would we see this.

I just had a look at the specs. The N93 weighed 180 grams. Not good.
It could easily go to 200g with N86 if it ever had optical zoom.

Going for LED is a good thing. At least one manufacturer decides it's worth it for the future. There's probabaly a time in the future where LEDs are going to be just as fast, just as bright as their Xenon counterparts. However they'll always be smaller in size and lower in power consumption. This is good for a phone.

Just like there are people in this world who are still developing better electric cars and yet many are disgusted by their anemic performance. You can't patronize these people for wanting to develop an ultimately better product.

You want Xenon, get a camera.

RM1600 sure can get later.

Aperture is the opening, a hole in the camera to let the light in.
Adjustable means the opening can be adjusted in size. Bigger opening more light in. However bigger opening might not be the best in some situations. Too big an aperture might result in overexposure(the subject seems to be too brightly lit).
Most phone cams use F2.8(smaller number = bigger opening Which is quite big.
One way to compensate is with adjusting ISO sensitivity, but will result in a grainy pic if used too much, or too dark but less grainy if not enough.
Variable aperture can combat over-exposure by varying how much light can enter the lens and therefore you get a perfect picture in any light intensity.

This post has been edited by tunertoobe: Jun 24 2009, 11:13 PM

For me, the best 8MP camera phone and the best 8MP camera in a phone are different things.

It might have a great camera that can record HD video. But problems with HD recording, poor battery life doesn't make it a great smartphone and makes the HD recording more of a gimmick.

It might have an inferior camera capability to its competitors. Overall functionality however adds up to it being a great companion.

But it seems, the N86 have some distance to cover for it to be either one.


This post has been edited by tunertoobe: Jun 27 2009, 11:57 PM