Nokia fans here in the US might be upset about being just about entirely left out from the Black Friday chaos, but we do have some good news that might brighten up your day a bit. Despite the fact that the N96 is hailed as Nokia’s current Nseries flagship, most would agree it’s overpriced and under-powered. The N85 on the other hand, is just as capable if you dwell outside of DVB-H coverage and much more affordable. When all is said and done, we would call the N85 plenty more desirable as well, compared to the N96. OLED display, 5 megapixel camera (with a lens cover), integrated FM transmitter, much bigger battery and so on – it would be hard to argue that the N96 is the better device. So, S60 fans, you’ll be happy to learn that the North American version of the N85 will become available next week! Despite the fact that someone at Amazon might have mixed the wrong stuff into his morning cup of coffee before listing the MSRP as $1,200, the N85 is now available for pre-order with a listed in-stock date of December 6th. It’ll set you back $556 to be an early adopter but compared to the $800 price tag on the N96, that’s not bad at all. There you have it – we knew a US version with 850/1900/2100 WCDMA was on its way; seven more days and the wait is over.
[Via The Nokia Blog]
