Design
The Nokia 6085's look and feel affirms its rightful position in the entry- to mid-range category. Its clamshell form factor definitely isn't the most svelte we've seen, measuring 46mm by 23mm by 92mm, but its bloated body is fairly light at 104.5 grams -- thanks to the flimsy plastic casing it's fashioned out of.
Offered in black and "champagne" as well as the pale pink unit we reviewed, the 6085 has rounded corners and an internal antenna which make it smooth and comfortable to hold, if a little chunky. The size of the phone allows the keypad to be nicely spaced-out with good-sized buttons that make texting and keying in numbers a breeze.
Like most mobile phones, there is an eyelet on the top of the phone for attaching trinkets or charms to add personalisation. Nokia has taken this design facet a step further with the 6085, including a dangly crystal charm in the box. If a pink phone isn't girly enough for you, adorning your handset with a charm bracelet should satisfy your feminine desires. We wonder if charms are bundled with the other colours too?
Features
Nokia hasn't scrimped on the 6085's feature set. While it doesn't bring anything new to the table, the sub-AU$250 phone manages to cram a wealth of features into this 2G handset. The 6085 has dual displays -- the external screen a simple monochrome display with blue LED lights, capable of displaying the date, time, battery meter, signal strength and caller ID, which is fairly standard on most flip phones. The internal display, however, isn't on par with most phones -- although it doesn't look terrible, the quality is pretty poor with a meagre, 1.8-inch, 128x160 pixel resolution.
Touted as an entertainment phone, the 6085 offers an MP3 player, complimented by a MicroSD card slot to expand the paltry 4MB of built-in memory. The player supports AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, MP4, and WMA music formats.
For those who don't wish to store their own music collection on the phone, or who simply want something new to listen to, there is FM radio which boasts a visual radio feature that displays text information while listening to a radio station. An Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) allows you to stream audio from your stereo via Bluetooth.
The 6085's VGA camera is way behind the times, and although it supports video recording and streaming video, the quality isn't stellar. The phone also offers voice recording, dialling, a speakerphone and includes the Nokia HS-5 Bluetooth headset for hands-free calls. Those who can't stand to be without their mobile at all times will be reassured by the fact you will probably never have to switch if off -- yep, the 6085 offers both a Flight mode and Demo mode.
Don't forget PTT (Push-To-Talk), MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), E-mail (IMAP4, POP3, SMTP), an alarm clock, calendar, notes, to do list, expense manager and timer.
Performance
Call quality on the 6085 was good; we could hear people we called just fine and got no complaints from those on the other end. We didn't have any trouble using the myriad of features either, though we did feel a bit overwhelmed with so much crammed into a seemingly simple handset. Overkill perhaps?
The quoted battery life of five hours talk time and 240 hours standby time held up pretty close to claims, though as usual, more than casual use of the multimedia features will drain the phone quite quickly.
6%
2%
this is my 1st "modern" mobile....i love it! No trouble working out the features, looks great, (although i didn't receive the charm that's supposed to be in the box with it...?) despite being a little on the chunky side and most importantly it never fails to send/call and reception is good also. Great for all modern mobile virgins!