On the outside the Nokia N86 looks and feels very familiar, but inside it holds new features its lookalikes could not hope to match.

In short, it's another example of why one should not judge a phone by its staid cover.

Headlining the Nokia N86's new features is an 8-megapixel digital camera with a wide-angle lens, LED flash and plenty of extras usually seen in dedicated digital snappers.

And there is more to recommend it, including A-GPS navigation that uses preloaded maps and an internal compass, games, email and web apps, a music player and, unusually, an FM transmitter so you can play tunes through any nearby radio.

This technology is hidden inside a phone that appears to be a very close relative of the Nokia N81. The slider phone has the same black body, rounded corners and small, raised buttons on its face, and it feels just as solidly made as before.

The N86 8MP does have some slight but important hardware additions though. These include an unlocking switch on its side, a Mini USB connection for both charging and connecting this phone to a computer and one of the best keypads to grace a phone in some time.

The new smartphone also retains many old favourites, including a standard headphone jack, front-facing camera and a dedicated camera button.

Strangely, though, the camera button does not initiate this phone's feature-packed camera. To do that you must slide back the lens cover on the back of the phone. This instantly starts the camera, whether the phone is closed and locked or ready to go - something to remember if it's making noises in your pocket.

This 8-megapixel camera is more than just the sum of its megapixels, as it is the first Nokia phone camera to feature a variable aperture and comes with plenty of photographic tweaks.

Source: Courier Mail