I did a rant about Nokia going off course. It was also the last time I wrote a post on this blog, I’ve been drawing blanks on what to write for some time. But after nearly a year has passed, what kind of changes have we seen? Lets explore what new things have been introduced and how they stand against the 2009 standard.

All About Symbian reports that the next firmware on the Nokia N86 will include camera face detection for autofocus and an improvement in overall photo quality. The system will be similar to other cameras where faces will be tracked anywhere in the frame and followed by the camera for proper focus and exposure.

This is just too cool not to share! James Whatley bungee jumped over the Victoria Falls and recorded it on a Nokia N86. He was holding it on his right hand during the jump with a wrist strap. Take a look!

I was spot-on with the Nokia 5800 and the Nokia N97 release dates and now I have the date for the Nokia N86. The black one is shipping to US retailers on August 22nd with suggested listing price of $499. Surprisingly, that’s $59 lower than the pre-order price on Nokia’s website.

Some lucky folks get to to play with phones not yet available to the public like the Nokia N97 and the Nokia N86 then upload their photos to Flickr. I’m sure you want to preview the image quality before these devices hit the sales floor. I’ll show you how to find these photos, but hope I don’t get anyone in trouble by sharing this information.