Flashback: the Nokia N86 8MP was the last of the great Symbian sliders

05 November 2023
Nokia's first 8MP phone was adorned with a beautiful AMOLED display and it had free navigation. The one thing it didn't have was a touchscreen. 

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • 610
  • 04 Dec 2023

I honestly still in love with Symbian phones. Specially Nokia 7650, it was a great phone and it is still, for me. Hoping that Symbian could come back in the mids of the 2 giants.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • pjh
    • 10 Nov 2023

    Anonymous, 10 Nov 2023The Nokia N86 was simply an incredible smarphone. It had a ... moreAnd to add to the list it had mouse+keyboard support, a dedicated integrated kickstand, it had also high speed 3G (faster than most 3G phones, I think its called HSDPA) and as stated in the article it had dual apperture camera, and mechanical shutter

    A phone like this, these days would cost 2500$ or even 3000$ thanks to Apple

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • pjh
      • 10 Nov 2023

      The Nokia N86 was simply an incredible smarphone. It had a lot of internal storage (8GB), plus MicroSD, plus FM radio, plus FM transmitter, plus N-Gage games with dedicated controllers, plus removable battery, plus TV Out, plus high resolution screen, plus OLED screen, plus big screen (2.6 inch), plus Stereo speakers, plus MEMS mic (incredible quality, I even doubt even today on a lot of phones they still make as good mics), plus LED breathing ligth, plus dual LED flash, plus "overclocked" CPU (it had a 434 MHz CPU, faster than most other CPUs at the time)

      Like who would believe a phone could have so much features in today's world ? iPhone had democratise touch screens (Windows Mobile was very good but thanks to accelerated UI, iPhone was smoother), but in the long run, iPhone is a curse to smartphone industry because you pay 5x more for less features.

        I still use my N95 as a GPS with Garmin installed in it, offline and full GPS function with voice assist. Good phone back then and have another purpose now

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • R3I
          • 06 Nov 2023

          Back when this phone, the N97, the iPhone 3Gs and the Samsung Omnia 2 being the hype, back in 2010/11. And here I am. Visiting GSMArena EVERY. SINGLE. DAY, since then. Cheers to everyone who also are here from those days. We made it 🥂🥂🥂

            • n
            • n86lover
            • 3kv
            • 06 Nov 2023

            I still use it as a daily driver. Only pity gps doesn't work anymore. But its smooth "soapy" shape is still very nice to see (and pocket friendly), it aged with class. And when i use the FM transmitter in a car people is astonished.
            I really would like to buy a remake/new version of it, feature phone or android go, but sliders seems not on the agenda of Nokia new vintage revival. :(

              Oh, I miss this series!

                i still have it in a drawer, phone was unique, excellent battery, signal, maps, camera was AMAZING and sound quality (i could stand in front of milion watts sound system on festival and it would sound excellent, no peaks and distortions)... eh...good times...

                  • A
                  • Alex
                  • AZY
                  • 06 Nov 2023

                  I had the n97. Worst phone EVER because of the terrible RAM and system partition. In contrast to the massive 32GB storage for the time, the system memory resources were so low the phone quickly became unusable! Traded it in a year later with 95% depreciation for a Xperia x10 mini, that turned out to be one of the best phones i ever owned.

                    rauko, 05 Nov 2023Definitely a pivital point in the history of Smartphones. S... moreNokia Symbian, I understand still hold many smartphone patents.

                    Whilst everyone else was making feature phones Nokia were doing both and bought out the first phone capable of video calling.

                    Symbian was great, however restricted by being keypad phones step by step and not touchscreen when a command could be executable anywhere on the screen.
                    Nokia chose Windows over Googles Android, that wa when there was multiple choice in operating systems.

                    Apples iOs is a licensed Nokia software, Apple didn't walk in and invent IoS, Apple pays Nokia billions.

                    Blackberry, its demise was relying on keypad phones, the last entrant to add video calling features, second camera.

                    Apple IoS queuing over night to get the next iPhone take the threat seriously.

                    Google Android and Windows were essentially direct competitors. Many manufacturers released a Google version and Windows version of the same model.
                    Microsoft had the Edge (it does now) as it had an established secure operating system.

                    Android was small fledgling OS, so it could have gone either way, or indeed both were viable options.

                    Android won out as for whatever reason they did not release the necessary update to the operating system and everything went Google

                    Windows never caught up there were essentially a one client supplier, up against Apple and Google and to some extent Blackberry.

                    HMD Nokia and Blackberry Android are not the same thing.
                    A deal breaker for some is how many security update will I get?
                    Blackberry BBOS and Windows Phone OS both have superior security to Android. You cannot say that your phone has feature that mimics either Blackberry or Windows when you have to go back to Google to get the security patch. As everyone is using Android, a feature on one can be replicated on another
                    Symbian is still out there raking in billions.

                      • y
                      • yalim
                      • mu4
                      • 06 Nov 2023

                      I had N85 for almost 2 years. I sold it earlier than I expected since, my employer back then forced me to use the blackberry they gave me. N85 was a powerful phone. great screen and sound quality on both speakers and headphones. dual slide was a unique feature, I loved it. only downsides were ipod-like touch sensitive navigation ring did not pick the touches as expected and mediocre battery life. I had trouble with getting a long day with it. offline music listening (there were no music streaming apps at all :) would consume the battery quickly.

                        I got a N95 US and EUROPEAN model. US N95 had larger internal storage. I had them when Android was starting to dominate at the time. The US model is the only phone that I got worked on. The flex cable was bad and had to be replaced. I wish I could use the N95 now for fun. The problem is in America the networks are gone for these older phones.

                          Hemedans, 05 Nov 2023Also Communicator series had higher resolutionOf course, but they had different Symbian OS.

                            • N
                            • N97 mini formar user
                            • Nyj
                            • 06 Nov 2023

                            I loved nokia in 2008 but they were out of touch around those times and these kind of articls that mislead nokia fans back than, around the release oof n86 phone nokia were already taking nose dive into whats now apperes to the peapole at is end and all those information always painted a picture for nokia that does not exist in reality, IOS and android showed how either lazy or manipulative nokia leadership

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • Dkd
                              • 06 Nov 2023

                              Mgkole, 05 Nov 2023One thing is certain, we had a lot more diversity in that e... moreYeah a lot more variety

                                • S
                                • S
                                • xjH
                                • 06 Nov 2023

                                Mgkole, 05 Nov 2023One thing is certain, we had a lot more diversity in that e... moreYeah, that era was best era in terms of mobile inovation.
                                Nowadays it does not feel the same.

                                  you have to suffer, 05 Nov 2023have you ever used their budget devices? if so, what is you... moreOf course i did, if not me, then family members, like nokia 6.1 that is still being used and pushes 6 years now. The nokia 7.2 that is also pushing 4 years, nokia x20, nokia x10, so yeah, no serious problems with them. Nokia x30, that i use now, is also VERY good for the price, having a lot of flagship aspects to it...

                                    • C
                                    • Cristiano Felicio
                                    • IbI
                                    • 06 Nov 2023

                                    Mgkole, 05 Nov 2023One thing is certain, we had a lot more diversity in that e... moreI agree, there were so many form factors of the time - Qwerties like blackberry or samsung blackjack, candybar touchscreen phones, slider it was much more fun and the novelty features like how Nokia had FM transmitter or some phones having over the air TV

                                      • C
                                      • Carol
                                      • nUJ
                                      • 06 Nov 2023

                                      Anton el duro, 05 Nov 2023Educate yourself better before making a fool of yourself...... moreActually that was the count for only the first 2 months, they sold way more then 4 million. But it seems the actuall figures are not to be found anymore, there were at some point in some nokia news.

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                                        • Mgkole
                                        • S7x
                                        • 05 Nov 2023

                                        One thing is certain, we had a lot more diversity in that era. Different form factors, different styles, different software.... It wasn't perfect but it was sooo much fun for us, mobile technology nerds. 😁

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