We’re off to Prague, Czech Republic. We were surprised to find a dedicated Vertu shop just off the Old Town Square — and even more surprised to see it doing a brisk trade in 5,000 EURO handsets. So Ben popped in and asked if we could film…
Here’s the video:
Over the weekend we headed to Prague to film the latest MIR TV show (it’ll be up and online soon) and took the Nokia N86 with us to give it a once-over. James got hold of it the other week and although he couldn’t join us in Prague, he was good enough to loan it for us for our 24 hour trip. We simply couldn’t make you wait for N86 footage though. So here it is. Do remember that the device itself is a pre-production unit and we are very, very much liking it. Step-aside Mr N95 8GB.
Ben and Dan present.
“Shall we go in?” asks Ben Smith.
“Errrrr,” say I. I’m thinking about the possible catalogue of problems that could occur.
“It’s the Vertu Shop. We’re in Prague. Let’s go in and see if they’ll let us do some filming?” prompts Ben.
“Errrrrrrr,” I repeat, still processing the potential issues. The biggest issue in my mind is that we’re unannounced.
“Listen, why don’t I just pop in and ask them?” says Ben.
I look at Dan. We both do a virtual shoulder-shrug, but with eyebrows instead.
We’re standing on what appears to be Prague’s version of Bond Street. There are security guards standing outside every shop — like the Dior one, or the Cartier one. Each of them is eyeing us. We’re carrying an HD camera, tripod and we all have at least two handsets on-the-go at once. Definitely worth the time of these suspicious security guards.
Ben waltzes into the Vertu store whilst Dan and I stand outside with the equipment.
Ten seconds later, Ben reappears.
“It’s fine. They’re open until 6.30pm and they said we can film all we like.”
Come on! We’ve never been invited to any Vertu events or shops or anything like that before in London. Indeed in the Nokia store on Regent Street, they positively growl at you if you so much as head toward the Vertu stand without your 60,000 pounds on display.
So standby. I’ve had a look at the ‘digital rushes’ of the Vertu store and the footage looks good. We’ll bring the experience to you shortly.
We all went in skeptics. Find out just what Dan Lane and Ben Smith thought of the experience… soon.
By the way, the Vertu shop in Prague was buzzing. We interrupted filming a few times because of customers wanting to buy. One guy came into the store whilst we were pointing the camera at one of the shockingly expensive devices. I nodded to the chaps and we headed to the front of the store and stood in the corner respectfully — I thought this was the best thing to do — whilst this American chap took a browse around the devices aided by the expert Vertu salesman. In 2 minutes he’d made up his mind.
“Cash discount?” he asked.
The Vertu salesman nodded sagely and explained ‘3%’.
“Done,” said the chap, “Where’s the nearest bank?”
The Vertu salesman pointed it out.
I’d like to point out that I have never, ever popped into an HSBC in Prague and asked to withdraw 60,000 EURO (minus 3% cash discount) to buy a new phone. Not yet, anyway.
Recession?
What recession!
Standby for the videos.
There’s plenty of video upcoming from our trip to Prague this weekend including an exclusive first-look at the N86 in real-world conditions – as you can see above it’s a tough life, this international playboy-blogger thing we’ve got going on right now…
But, Hi-Def video takes some time to edit and publish (see the MWC hands-on until then) so here’s a quick update on the N86 we took with us – the one you will have been able to see ‘in the flesh’ if you were able to attend our own man Whatley’s ‘Mobile Geeks‘ event on Thursday… The unit’s an early prototype so these are a few more general observations.
The good:
Materials and build quality – Even on this prototype unit the finish is excellent. The new (introduced with the N97) metal bezel styling looks good and feels good in the hand. The unit is well weighted adding to the feeling of quality, without being too heavy (in my opinion). The minuscule holes in the metal menu button that are invisible until it is illuminated are a particularly elegant touch.
The number keypad – Silly small number keys are banished in favour of good-sized number keys with a pleasant action. There’s also some haptic feedback too on menu button clicks which feels nice.
The screen – The OLED unit is crisp and bright (with one caveat below) – it looks great with what feels like deeper blacks and brighter whites. Performance is snappy, but slick transitions enhance this sensation even further. Transitions between portrait and landscape mode where also sensed quickly and rendered well – this stood out next to it’s older brother the N82 which has always been a bit slow off the mark in this regard.
The camera (probably) – Although not performing reliably on this unit a good number of the images we did manage to take impressed as did the sample images in Barcelona so this, at least, bodes well. Nokia are shouting as loudly about the imaging system upgrades as much as the raw megapixels and the signs are good.
Call and network performance - Not a surprise with Nokia any more, but the N86 handled poor signal and jumping between 2G and 3G networks with style were other handsets where upset (notably the G1).
The bad:
The function buttons - The main D-pad assembly and menu key are still a bit ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’, but either way work well. However, the two function keys at the top are low-profile with little travel and difficult to press with anything other than a fingernail.
The OLED screen in daylight – In contrast to its performance at any other time, in direct sunlight the screen washes out to nothing where the iPhone’s comes alive. Most handsets struggle in this situation, but an imaging-centric handset like this will probably see plenty of action outside.
The memory card slot - It’s only accessible by taking the rear cover off completely. Admittedly with 8GB on-board it’s going to be needed less frequently than on other devices, but the process to remove the back cover is a bit fiddly and more elegant solution doesn’t feel like an unreasonable request.
The software – Yes this old chestnut… The N86 is already looking like a brilliantly refined handset and the hardware seriously impresses – this will surely take the N95’s mantle and attract a huge following – but with the tweaks, extra features and options the software is still a maze of menus which don’t always feel consistent. It’s a wider failing across newer S60 devices, but how many excellent features will users simply never discover because they’re buried in the menus?
Having been very disappointed with my first hands-on N97 experience recently, this restores some of my faith in Nokia – the N86 is already hugely impressive…. but where it’s a hardware tour de force, the maze of menus and settings disappoints. This has to be the next area of attention for Nokia.
Watch out for our hands-on video from Prague coming soon and fire us any questions in the comments.
I’m taking Dan Lane and Ben Smith to the Czech Republic’s capital city early on Saturday morning.
We’re packing away our Euros and getting out our Czech Crowns (“Korunas?”) and going to find out how the mobile industry is getting on across the city.
We’ll most definitely be popping into the mobile shops there and taking a look around. We’ll be casting an eye across the population to see how many are texting, taking photos and talking on their devices (and, indeed, what type of device they are using).
We’re bringing the big HD camera — and, POSSIBLY the tripod — although I’m giving a lot of thought to traveling light and leaving it at the office. We’re also bringing our two Sanyo Xacti HD genius cameras.
It looks like we’ll have a few interviews lined up by the time we arrive. If you can recommend a mobile company or person that you think we should meet with, drop me a note or get me on Twitter.
By the way: The MIR Show Rome (filmed in January) is on the editing floor at the moment and will shortly be heading on to the site after our Mobile World Congress footage.
Bring on Prague. Can’t wait!
What’s going on in mobile in the Czech Republic?
We’re not entirely sure.
Which is why we’re heading there in November. It’ll be cold. We might even get a bit of snow.
We’re going to take the MIR Show Team — Dan Lane, Ben Smith and James Whatley — to Prague and have a wander around and do some filming and put on an Unlimited Drinks networking event for the locals there.
We’ve other European cities on the planning slate so I’d welcome your suggestions.
We’ll have the dates shortly — if you’d like to come and join us you’d be most welcome.
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