Nokia 8 is not to be taken lightly. It'll give stiff competition to other phones
Nokia's Phoenix-like resurgence is on the cards. With the recently released 3,5 and 6, HMD Global's reboot of Nokia brought out capable, low and mid-range devices crafted for the Indian market to increase the smartphone maker's presence here. However, they failed to create the impact the tech giant had imagined. Enter Nokia 8 — the smartphone that plans to recreate the kind of buzz the reboot of the Nokia 3310 made post-launch.
Nokia 8, initially launched at an event in London on August 16, was announced for India on September 26, 2017. At Rs 36,999, the device is Nokia's attempt at winning over the high-end flagship segment of the Indian market, which it hopes will help make it the market leader again.
Design
The Nokia 8 is the first truly high-end smartphone by HMD Global's reboot. The device is nothing like the flagships that have donned the Nokia logo before: for starters, it's an Android phone, running a close to stock skin with no bloatware – as seen with Google's Pixel and Pixel XL.
The phone has a design that is anything but flashy. There are no sexy infinity displays or a squeezable colour changing body. However, that takes nothing away from the phone's looks. The design draws inspiration from the iconic Nokia Lumia handsets of the past to create a handset that is wonderfully slim as its crafted from just a single block of aluminum. The device does not call out for attention, but it still looks and feels like one that commands your focus for more than a second.
Display and internals
The phone also comes with top-of-the-line, flagship-worthy display and specs. There is a 5.3-inch Glance Screen Quad HD display with an impressive pixel density of 544ppi. The display, Nokia claims, is one of the brightest in the market and is capable of producing maximum brightness of 700 Nits. The 2.5D display is covered with a sheet of Gorilla Glass 5 to guard against scratches and minor falls.
However, Nokia did not stop there. The smartphone maker has included high-end tech under the hood. The phone comes packing Qualcomm's top-of-the-line 835 SoC paired with 4GB RAM and an impressive 3,090mAh battery with QuickCharge 3.0 support that it claims can fully charge the phone in just 30 minutes. It also brings with it 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 256GB. There is also a fingerprint sensor embedded into the home button up front.
The story teller's dream
Nokia's also touting the Nokia 8 as a device created for "storytellers". With the latest flagship device, HMD Global is attempting to create a platform that the new age Nokia consumer can use to interact in an all-new way with the social media ecosystem of the day.
And at the centre of this attempt are the camera modules that Nokia has added to Nokia 8. The device comes with a dual camera setup at the rear with ZEISS optics - a 13MP primary RGB (color) sensor paired with a 13MP monochrome (black and white) sensor, which allows for capturing depth and aids low-light photography. At the front, there's another 13MP RGB shooter – same as the one on the back.
The hardware allows Nokia 8 to shoot and share what it calls Bothies. The feature uses both the front and rear cameras that enable it to record videos using both the camera setups found on the phone at the same time. Nokia 8 lets you stream these "bothies" as full-HD live videos to Facebook and YouTube.
The new flagship killer in town?
Even though the first true Nokia flagship under HMD Global's era comes more than a month after the global launch of the device, it is not to say that this announcement is not welcome. Available via Amazon and brick-and-mortar stores from October 14, the Nokia 8 comes at a price of Rs 36,999 that could truly shake up the market.
With top-of-the-line internals and a really competitive price, the smartphone crafted to be HMD Global's answer to high-end flagship phones like the S8, HTC U11 and OnePlus 5, not only hold its own against these really impressive phones but ends up scoring a huge advantage over them.
To be honest, the device launched at Euro 599 (approx Rs 46,000) in London last month represents great value for money. However, by bringing the Nokia 8 to India at a much lower price, HMD Global has pulled a rabbit out of the hat. Nokia 8 is here to give its competition a serious headache.
Granted the phone does not come with the looks of an infinity display equipped S8, nor does it have the gimmicks to wow that the HTC U11 possesses, but what it does bring are great specs and an Android experience backed by Nokia's wide network of service centres — all this at a price that would give even the OnePlus 5 a run for its money.
And that more than the "Bothie" is Nokia 8's biggest USP. We have a new flagship killer in town, one that is not only gunning for the Samsungs and HTCs with its brand appeal but also out to get smartphone manufacturers like OnePlus and Huawei.