Nokia was heavily rumoured to be announcing the 8 megapixel Nokia N86 at MWC 2009. However, in what can only be described as a PR car-crash, they didn’t; instead, they banged on about two comptent but boring messaging phones (the E75 and E55) and two even more boring mid-range phones (the 6710 and 6720).

And that was it – while Samsung was showing off its 8 megapixel Omnia HD that can shoot at 720p HD; while LG was flashing its 8 megapixel Arena, with 120 frames per second video recording and superb new 3D user interface; and while Sony Ericsson were showing off their new 12 megapixel camera phone, Nokia simply left them all to it and watched as the world’s attention went elsewhere.

Seems somebody forgot to tell the assembled marketeers at MWC 2009 about the Nokia N86, a new 8 megapixel camera phone from Nokia that the company itself accidentally leaked via a Carl Zeiss press pack! It gbest worse though…

Leaking pictures of a phone you haven’t announced yet in a press pack that described camera optics on the same day that all your competitors are letting loose their big guns is bad enough – but then Nokia go and well and truly aim the gun at their feet by actually announcing the phone itself at some small mobile phone conference called Showcase Nokia 2009 on the other side of the world! You know, where exactly no mobile phone or tech journalist worth his or her salt is at the moment!

Nokia, what are you doing?! Why did you choose to show off the Nokia N86 in Singapore, when everyone else is in Barcelona?!

Nokia N86 overview

Anyway, stupidity aside, the Nokia N86 actually looks like a decent camera phone. Nokia do make exceptionally good camera phones, and the N86 seems to be no exception. 8 megapixels is the obvioius hook, but it also comes with proper xenon flash (hooray!), AMOLED display (same as the Samsung Omnia HD), aGPS, digital compass, FM transmitter, and a battery that can apparently last for 25 hours of audio playback!

In other words, a proper Nokia N-Series top-end phone, the likes of which belongs well and truly in Barcelona!

Frankly, I’m speechless at this marketing mess, and can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the poor Nokia N86, all alone in Singapore, as it’s missing out on the limelight it so richly deserves while its peers get bathed in journalistic glory!

Wake up Nokia!

[Source: Boy Genius]