HMD Global has launched its Nokia 8 smartphone in India, which will be available from 14 October onwards for Rs 36,999. At this price, Nokia 8 with dual cameras will go up against the OnePlus 5 and a slew of other smartphones in this price bracket.
This is also their first Nokia phone in India packing Zeiss Optics (popularly known as CarlZeiss on the Lumia 1020) flagship phone, powered by Snapdragon 835 and an impressive set of features. So, what does the Nokia 8 offer at this price point? We spent some time to find out.
You can also check out The Quint’s live of the Nokia 8 from the launch event.
Design
Typical Nokia. While it would be easy to sum up the design of the Nokia 8 in two words, we don’t have the editorial liberty to do that. HMD Global claims they’ve incorporated anodised aluminium into making the phone, which results in a sturdy yet compact form design.
The phone feels comfortable in your palm with its 7.9-mm thickness (not bad), and weighing 160 grams for a 5.3-inch sized device.
The dual camera sensors at the back are placed vertically at the top in the middle of the phone, underneath which you’ll come across the Zeiss branding. The size of the bezels on the front ensure that the Nokia 8 doesn’t amaze us with its looks. Having said that, there isn’t much to complain about either.
The fingerprint scanner is embedded on the home button which is the best place to have it.
Display
Nokia 8 is the first HMD product to offer a 2K resolution display in India. The phone gets a 5.3-inch 2560x1440 pixels display with 554 ppi.
The overall quality of the display is bright, the content looks crisp and sharp, but the use of IPS LCD panel results in a reflective display that could pose some issues while using outdoors.
We’re in 2017, and seeing big bezels on a high-end phone leaves a sour taste in our mouths. But looking at how HMD Global has grown with its line-up, we’d give them the benefit of the doubt, and hope that the rumours of a bezel-less display on the Nokia 9 prove right.
The colour gamut and high contrasts do not match that of the AMOLED panels, but do get the job done.
Hardware and Features
Nokia 8 has been given the best of the lot available in the market right now. The phone packs Snapdragon 835 with 4GB RAM and offering 64GB storage, which is expandable up to 256GB via microSD slot.
The phone comes with USB Type C port, which according to HMD Global supports Quick Charging 3.0 that promises to charge for up to 10-15 hours with just 30 minutes of charging (worth testing that out).
The phone isn’t water or dust resistant (lacks IP68 certification) but the company says Nokia 8 can handle gentle splash of water and nothing more.
Nokia 8 is also running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and HMD Global promises us the Oreo update for the device will come before end of 2017. Even while using the stock Android version, the HMD team has added its own interface layer for camera and some more applications.
The phone’s camera lets you go live on Facebook and YouTube with both the front and back cameras, which the company calls a ‘Bothie’ (just when we thought it couldn’t get worse than wefie aka group selfie).
The phone is loaded with a 3090mAh battery unit, that may or may not suffice for the 5.3-sized phone with 2K display.
Camera
This is where the big game for Nokia 8 starts. The phone gets dual 13-megapixel Zeiss Optics sensor (both with f/2.0) at the back, that is expected to be good in all conditions (including low-light).
On the front, Nokia 8 manages to pack the a single unit 13-megapixel sensor for the selfie, wefie and bothie captures and video.
We didn’t get a lot of time to experience the camera, but we do feel that the software in two as well as the first dual-sensors from Zeiss Optics need to be tested further to be able to give an opinion. These are some of the shots we managed to take from the event.
Early Verdict
Nokia 8 for Rs 36,999 does feel like a worthwhile package. Stock Android, along with the untested dual-camera optics from Zeiss should prove itself in the long run. The phone gets Snapdragon 835 with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage.
The dual camera features bothie that lets you do both Facebook and YouTube lives from both the sides of the camera are novel, but keeping all that aside, it remains to be seen if the Nokia 8 matches up to its rivals (we’re looking at you, OnePlus 5). If it does, then HMD Global has a winner on its hands.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)