Nokia 8 First Impressions: Is it the comeback Nokia phone you were waiting for?

 

Design: Classic design that’s durable but lacks visual appeal

The company calls Nokia 8 its 2017 flagship smartphone but going by the overall look and feel, the smartphone feels like a mid-range handset from the year 2015. Although it's a good looking Android smartphone, there's nothing striking about the overall design and it lacks a differentiating factor that one expects from a smartphone priced at Rs. 37,000 in today's time. Take LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8 for example. These handsets offer much better design and go in sync with modern times.

Talking about basics, Nokia 8 does feel sturdy and is quite compact. The buttons are placed ergonomically and it will please consumers who are not very fond of big screen devices. The back of the smartphone is however a fingerprint magnet.

To give you some more insights about the Nokia 8's design, the company has used 6000-series aluminum, but not the latest 7000- series to design the smartphone. The LG G6 and even the budget LG Q6 have frames crafted out of Series 7000 Aluminum making them more resistant to damages. But that doesn't mean Nokia 8 is not tough and cannot withstand damages. The smartphone is also not going to bend in your jeans pocket.

Overall, I feel that Nokia has played too safe with the design part resulting in a product that does not have any standout visual feature. In contrast, the budget Nokia 6 offers a better overall look and feel than its flagship sibling.

Display: Crisp 5.3-inch QHD screen

The 5.3-inch QHD display is bright and vivid. The colours pop out really well and screen is also responsive. We were not able to check the screen's performance in direct sunlight in our brief time with Nokia 8. Wait for our comprehensive review to find out how good or bad is the display on Nokia 8.

Camera: Nokia’s dual-lens camera with Zeiss lenses

Nokia 8 brings back the good old days of Carl-Zeiss optics. Nokia 8 features a 13MP+13MP dual-lens rear snapper that utilizes f/2.0 Zeiss lenses, with one lens focusing on monochrome tones while the other RGB takes care of colors.

The autofocus worked very well in my brief usage and camera also offers some noteworthy features like Bothie and 3D audio capture. Backed by Qualcomm's Spectra technology, Bothie mode uses both front and rear camera at same time to capture images and videos. The Dual-Sight video shot by Nokia 8's cameras can be live streamed natively and in real-time to social feeds such as Facebook and YouTube.

While 3D audio capture can provide immersive audio-video experience to content creators, I am doubtful about Nokia's Bothie feature. It can yield some interesting results if the lighting condition is good on both the sides, but if that's not the case, it will just end up as an unwanted gimmick stuffed on the camera app.

We will test the camera's full potential while reviewing the handset in coming week.

Hardware and Software: Snapdragon 835 CPU and Stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat

Nokia's flagship smartphone is backed by Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 835 CPU. The processor is paired up with 4GB RAM and the handset has 64GB internal memory that can be expanded further via microSD card.

The flagship hardware combined with stock Android Nougat will deliver good performance, however we will still advise you to wait for our full review to find out what Nokia 8 is actually capable of in everyday usage scenarios. The smartphone will also get Android Oreo update in the coming months.

Battery and Connectivity

Nokia 8 draws its power from a 3,090 mAh battery unit. It is not the highest quantity battery unit in this price-point but with a smaller display, the results will be satisfactory. The battery also supports Qualcomm 3.0 fast charging technology.

The connectivity features on board include 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0 and dual SIM with the hybrid SIM card slot.

Conclusion

Nokia 8 offers high-end hardware and stock Android experience. The camera also seems capable and brings some interesting features. As far as pricing is concerned, it seems reasonable for the overall package that the company is offering. The nostalgia factor might also work in favor of the veteran brand in the Indian market, however the real story will be told once the handset is out in the field on October 14, 2017. Stay tuned on Gizbot.com for more on Nokia 8.