Carl Zeiss is back, and so is Nokia, in the flagship segment. HMD Global has unveiled the Nokia 8 high-end smartphone, that packs dual cameras at the back, and will be seen running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-box.
The phone has been priced at 599 Euros (Rs 45,000 approx) and is expected to launch in India by October this year. But more than anything else, Nokia is finally back in the big game, looking to compete with giants like Samsung and Apple in the global market.
For what it’s worth, the HMD Global design team seems to have made sure that Nokia 8 doesn’t miss out on the bare essentials, and also pack in the top-end features available from its competition right now.
You’re looking at the Nokia 8 which comes with 5.3-inch 2560x1440 pixels display, which will be seen running on stock Android flavours (Android O expected to make a quick debut on this one, as claimed).
The phone packs the quad-core Snapdragon 835 processor, which is already available with the OnePlus 5 and Sony Xperia XZ Premium in the Indian market. But the fact that both Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and the Google Pixel 2 are most definite to pack this SoC, HMD Global hasn’t missed its pitch.
Looking beyond the core-performance hardware, the Nokia 8 gets 13-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics dual cameras at the back, and a single front shooter with the same pixel count.
Nokia 8 is also enabled with Quick Charging via USB Type C, which may not be as quick as the Dash Charging of OnePlus, but still should get the job (more like charge) done in quick time.
A series of other features worth mentioning are the fingerprint scanner on the front, aluminum-grade body, IP54 splash-proof assurance, expandable storage up to 256GB, possible single SIM and dual SIM versions and Bluetooth 5.0 support among others.
The phone may not be the thinnest in the segment, but with an overall figure of 7.9-mm and weighing 160 grams, you still get a battery unit sized at 3090mAh, which isn’t bad at all.
Now, we wait and see if HMD Global can afford to go aggressive with its pricing of the Nokia 8 in India, which will show us, if buyers are willing to give Nokia another chance in the market.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)