HMD Global, in its own way, is reviving the Nokia brand’s fortunes, and one of those attempts is the Nokia 8. The device is said to be crafted beautifully, keeping content creation on top of its list of priorities. It all started with a very basic but nostalgic handset called the Nokia 3310, and the line-up eventually moving to a flagship Android device called Nokia 8. The flagship device will be packed with high-end features, thus raising the bar for its own future devices.
The competition in the Android OEM space is growing, with a lot of companies offering features that are aggressively competitive. Nokia 8 will be the first to come with with Zeiss optics, even though a lot of companies are in talks with the lens experts. And, HMD’s Nokia 8 will also be the first smartphone to feature Nokia OZO Audio. The company portrays Nokia 8 to be a hallmark device with high-performance, and says it will offer a “pure Android” experience to users.
To HMD, the handset will be of the utmost importance in getting Nokia-branded devices into the smartphone and phablet markets. On the specs front, Nokia 8 runs Android 7.1.1, Nougat with very little layering, which is expected to give that pure Android experience. The device will come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal memory expandable with microSD. Also, it will be packed with dual rear cameras, both 13 MP for color and black and white, with f/2.0 using Zeiss optics, and will support 4K resolution. The highlight of the camera is that it can live stream video on both cameras in parallel – rear and front.
The device will come with a USB type C charging port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a non-removable 3090mAh battery. The device is Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 compatible. There is a fingerprint reader on the front for unlocking the device, which itself will be waterproof. The device will come in four color variants: Polished Blue, Polished Copper, Tempered Blue, and Steel.
The split-screen camera allows the user to capture both photos and videos. The dual sight option lets the users share twin-perspective video, which is interesting for those who stream videos directly to Facebook and YouTube through the phone camera app. It is unclear what the feature will look like or how the market will take it in until the smartphone is finally unveiled. The company is trying to promote the dual front and back visual capture by pushing the concept of a ‘bothie’, as opposed to a selfie.
Nokia 8 is now available for pre-order is several European markets and Australia, and is expected to ship in early September.
That’s around the time iPhone 8 will be unveiled and right before Samsung’s Note 8 starts shipping out, so it will be interesting to see how it holds up against two of the biggest smartphone brands in the world. It’s a wonder HMD Global chose this particular time of year to launch what is probably its most important product of the year, when two of the biggest flagship devices will be making their respective debuts.
Is this a good time for HMD to risk launching Nokia 8? We’ll know in a few weeks when sales figures start to come out on pre-orders around the world.
