HMD unveils its new slate of Nokia Android smartphones starting at $85
Nokia -- in its newest iteration as a licensed brand of HMD -- is a long way off from its glory days, the years when it not only set the pace for innovation in the mobile phone market, but also led it as the world's biggest handset maker. Today, the company took its latest step in rebuilding itself as it unveiled a slate of Android-powered smartphones -- the Nokia 1, the Nokia 6, Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 8 Sirocco, with the cheapest of these, the Nokia 1, coming in at a mere $85 -- and a new feature phone.
The new handsets come as the company said that it sold 70 million devices in 2017 across its 11 models, year one of its comeback strategy. "Being a challenger and smaller player, market share is not the most important thing for us to grasp right now," said Pekka Rantala, EVP and CMO of HMD Global said in an interview. "But we sold more than 70 million Nokia phones in 2017 – including all models. We have high ambitions but this figure was higher for us than we expected."
The company currently has over 100 retail partners and the plan is to expand that to more this year.
“This time last year, we started our journey with huge expectations from fans and a massive responsibility to deliver on the legacy of one of the most innovative brands in our space," Florian Seiche, CEO of HMD Global, said in a statement. "Since then we have reintroduced well-loved icons, forged partnerships with friends old and new and delivered our pure, secure and up-to-date Android experience across our smartphone portfolio. Last year we shipped over 70 million Nokia phones."
The smartphones getting launched today are notable for how closely they are tied to Google's Android, with Nokia joining Google's Android One partnership program as part of today's news -- and in the case of the pared-down Nokia 1, using Android Go.
Its unique spin, the company says, will be in the craftsmanship of the hardware itself.
In the absence of a distinctively different operating system and any alternative to what is already on the market software-wise, it will be interesting to see whether this is enough to motivate the masses who are new to Nokia phones an brand loyalists from the old days.
The flagship of the range, the Nokia 8 Sirocco, will retail for €749 and will include Dual-Sight, Zeiss optics, Nokia spatial audio, and a curved glass finish around a stainless-steel frame, with a measurement of 2mm at the edge, using edge-to-edge pOLED 2K 5.5-inch display. Nokia claims the stainless steel frame is 2.5 times stronger than 6000 series aluminium. It also features wireless charging and a way to log into the phone using facial recognition.
The Nokia 7 Plus, priced at €399, is being positioned with its camera features in the forefront, with a 12MP Zeiss optics -- significantly, marking the return of Zeiss to Nokia devices after having a long-time collaboration with the brand when Nokia was still making its phones itself -- for its primary camera and a secondary 13MP camera with 2x optical zoom.
The front camera has adaptive sensor technology for low-light conditions, and a new feature called "pro camera" on all Zeiss optics where you can modify the aperture and other features and see previews before taking the pictures, along with a new imagine suite that lets you include AR-type lenses as well as animated characters.
It is built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 Mobile Platform with a two-day battery life and comes in Black/Copper and White/Copper.
The Nokia 6, meanwhile, will retail for €279 when it goes on sale in April, and is a new version of the phone it announced previously. The new features include faster processing power (60 percent faster, HMD says) and a more durable body, made from a block of 6000 series aluminum, along with Zeiss optics, USB-C fast-charging and Android Oreo as part of the Android One program. Another two notable features are wireless charging, as well as the ability now to unlock your phone using your face -- two details that it seems are now becoming standard in mobile devices.
It's built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 Mobile Platform and comes in Black/Copper, White/Iron and Blue/Gold, with two configurations of 3GB RAM/32GB ROM, and later 4GB RAM/64GB ROM.
Finally, the Nokia 1 is the company's low-end smartphone, with a very reasonable price of $85 at retail when it goes on sale in April. It's marketed as "smartphone essentials" -- which in this case is Android Oreo Go Edition -- the version of Android that is optimised for phones with memory of 1GB or less. On the outside, the phone comes with a series of Xpress-on covers to change the color to Azure, Grey, Yellow and Pink (a feature Nokia has been running for years now, starting in the Lumia line).
Specs:
Nokia 1:
850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA: Band 1, 5, 8, LTE: Band 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 38, 40
Network speed: LTE FDD/TDD up to 150Mbps DL and up to 50Mbps UL
OS: Android Oreo™ (Go edition)
Chipset: MediaTek MT6737M Quad Core 1.1GHz
RAM: 1 GB LPDDR3 RAM
Storage: 8 GB eMMC internal memory⁴ with MicroSD card slot⁵ (support up to 128GB)
Display: 4.5-inch FWVGA IPS
Primary camera: 5MP FF with LED Flash
Front facing camera: 2MP FF
Connectivity/Sensors: 802.11 b/g/n, GPS/AGPS, Bluetooth 4.2, Micro USB 2.0, 3.5mm AV jack, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, g-sensor,
Battery: Removable 2150mAh battery⁶
Audio playback file formats: 3G2, 3GP, AAC, AMR, M4A, MKV, MP3, MP4
Dimensions: 133.6x67.78x9.5mm
FM radio
Nano SIM
Nokia 6:
Networks: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA: Band 1, 2, 5, 8, LTE: Band 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41 (Full band 41)
Network speed: LTE Cat. 4, 150Mbps DL/50Mbps UL
OS: Android 8.0 Oreo™
Chipset: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 630 mobile platform
RAM/Storage variants: 3 GB LPDDR 4 RAM with 32 GB internal user memory2 or 4 GB LPDDR 4 RAM with 64 GB internal user memory2 both variants available with MicroSD card slot3 (up to 128 GB support)
Form factor: Touch monoblock with on-screen keys
Display: 5.5” IPS LCD full HD (1920 x 1080, 16:9), sculpted Corning® Gorilla® Glass, 403 ppi pixel density, 450 nits, laminated, 1500:1 contrast ratio
Primary camera: 16MP PDAF / 1.0um / F2.0, dual-tone flash, ZEISS optics
Front facing camera: 8MP FF, 1.12um / F2.0 / FOV 84˚
Connectivity & sensors: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, BT 5.0, GPS/AGPS+GLONASS+BDS, FM/RDS, USB type-C (USB 2.0), OTG, 3.5mm, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer, e-compass, gyroscope, hall sensor, fingerprint sensor, NFC
Battery: Integrated 3000mAh battery4
Audio: Single speaker with smart amplifier, Nokia spatial audio capture with 2 mics
Dimensions: 148.8x75.8x8.15 mm (8.6 mm with camera bump)
Nano SIM
Nokia 7 Plus:
Networks: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA: Band 1, 2, 5, 8, LTE: Band 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41(Full band 41)
Network speed: LTE Cat 6, 2CA, 300Mbps DL/50Mbps UL
OS: Android 8.0 Oreo™
Chipset: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 660 mobile platform
RAM: 4 GB LPDDR 4
Storage: 64 GB internal memory2 with MicroSD card slot3 (up to 256 GB support)
Form factor: touch monoblock with on-screen keys
Display: 6” IPS LCD full HD+ (2160 x 1080, 18:9), sculpted Corning® Gorilla® Glass, 403 ppi pixel density, 500 nits, 1:1500 contrast ratio, laminated and polarised
Primary camera: 12MP, 1.4um f1.75, 2PD, ZEISS with dual-tone flash
Secondary camera: 13MP, 1.0um, F2.6, ZEISS
Front facing camera: 16MP FF 1.0um, F2.0, ZEISS
Connectivity/sensors: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, BT 5.0, GPS/AGPS+GLONASS+BDS, NFC, USB type-C (USB 2.0), OTG, 3.5mm AV jack, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer, e-compass, gyroscope, hall sensor, fingerprint sensor
Battery: Integrated 3800mAh battery4 with USB type-C fast charging and 2-day battery life5
Audio: Single speaker with smart amplifier, Nokia spatial audio capture with 3 mics
Dimensions: 158.38x75.64x7.99 mm (9.55 mm with camera bump)
Nano SIM
Nokia 8 Sirocco:
Networks: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900, CDMA One: BC (800), CDMA 2000: BC0 (800). WCDMA, 1,2,5,8, TDS CDMA 34,39 FDD-LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28 TDD-LTE: 34, 38, 39, 40, 41
Network speed: LTE Cat 12 600Mbps DL \ Cat13 150Mbps(64QAM) UL
OS: Android Oreo™
CPU: Qualcomm™ Snapdragon® 835 Mobile Platform
RAM: 6 GB LPPDDR 4X
Storage: 128G GB USF2.1 internal user memory2
Form factor: Touch monoblock with capacitive system keys
Display: 5.5” QHD pOLED, 3D Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5
Primary camera: 12MP wide, 2L7, 1.4um, 2PD, f/1.75, FOV 78”
Secondary camera: 13MP tele, 3M3, 1.0um, f/2.6, FOV 47.3”, dual-tone flash
Front-facing camera: 5MP, 4E8, 1.4um, F/2.0, FF, display flash
Connectivity/sensors: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (MIMO), BT 5.0, GPS/AGPS+GLONASS+BDS, NFC,ANT+, fingerprint sensor, ALS/PS, g-sensor, e-compass, gyro, hall sensor, barometer
Battery: integrated 3260mAh battery3
Audio: 3 AOP mics, smart amp on single speaker
Charging: QC 4 compatible, Qi wireless charging compliance
Dimensions: 140.93x72.97x7.5 mm
Nano SIM
Availability
Nokia 8 Sirocco will be available from early April for a global average retail price of €749.
Nokia 7 Plus will be available from early April for a global average retail price of €399.
New Nokia 6 will be available from May for a global average retail price of €279.
Nokia 1 will be available from early April for a global average retail price of $85. Xpress-on covers, sold separately, are available from $7.99 in Azure, Grey, Yellow and Pink.
Nokia 8110 will be available from May for a global average retail price of €79.
This article originally appeared on TechCrunch.