Nokia 8 Review – Back into Business

Nokia 8 Review Pakistan Tech Prolonged

Build, Design and Display

Build Quality

Well, for Nokia, it could be a fresh start with a new software in their phones but with the name, what’s attached since decades – is their build quality and design. We have seen HMD done well initially designing the trio – Nokia 3, 5 and Nokia 6. However those devices were targeting up to mid-range market. Nokia 8 is something that the industry considered a real first step for HMD to bring the pioneer mobile brand back in to business.

Nokia 8 comes in two finishes – matte or polished. The latter is available in blue and copper colors while the. Two others variants are Tempered Blue and Steel in matte finish. With 160 grams, Nokia 8 weighs pretty much around any other high-end smartphone or a little bit more. The phone packs all its components in a single cut of 6000-series aluminium unibody. We won’t be trialing its sturdiness during this review. However the material quality on its front and back sure will be suggested as gone through our experiences.

Unlike many brands, HMD’s Nokia 8 is not wearing a water proof body as it has only an IP54 rated dust and splash resistance.

Design

Nokia 8 indeed gives a premium feel in hands but so did the Nokia 6 and Nokia 5. In fact they did the same in a budget pack, whereas the 8 had to make you feel better for its price. For me personally, Nokia 6 had the appreciable distinction from most of the smartphones out in the wild. Nokia 8, on the other hand, is too similar to Nokia 5. That’s not, however, a point to degrade something – It feels great in hands with its clean and classy look.

So out of those four colors available in the market, we got Tempered Blue model of the phone which is quite attractive. The grip is nice but not as secure as Nokia 6’s – thanks to those chamfered edges of the 6.

 

Nokia 8 Review Blue Back Panel

Nokia 8 Hands-on – ُPhoto by KA/Tech Prolonged

This blue model has matte finish on the back panel which is curved at the four ends. The top and the bottom of the back panel hosts antennas that goes through one corner to the other with shoulders on each corner. When in hands, these are the support for your grip as the plastic is less slippery than the rounded boundaries. HMD has claimed that its antenna conserves battery as well as gives the phone improved signal strength.

Even though the Nokia 6 that we had in our drawer was also wearing the same color and material, both look different visually – where Nokia 8’s blue is a little bit darker.

The front of the phone is next next gorgeous thing in  Nokia 8. Even though it still has those two unwanted bezels on top and bottom of the screen, it’s fully covered with Gorilla Glass 5 protection and it’s 2.5D curved around the edges. So you are good to be without any kind of screen protector. In fact on these curved-edge glasses, you hardly will find a good screen protector to cover properly.

Nokia 8 Front Screen

Nokia 8 Front – ُPhoto by KA/Tech Prolonged

With this high-end phone HMD wants you to stay low with size. The 5.3″ display isn’t a match to those currently in this range. But it’s just a personal choice of individuals if they prefer to use larger displays or they better with moderate display sizes. I like to stay low, so Nokia 8 has a right size for those who prefer to have a phone that is well suited for the pockets as well as in their hands.

There is still a point of narrowing down the bezels to reduce the phone size and keep the large display size. HMD better bring that thing soon, probably the MWC is the best event for that.

Controls and Components

Nokia 8 has a dual-SIM slot on the left side which is a hybrid slot – you can use one micro SD card with a one SIM card, or two nano SIM cards simultaneously. On the right side, there’s volume rocker and a power button below it.

Left side: dual-SIM (hybrid) slot • Right side: power and volume buttons

Nokia 8 comes with the standard connectivity components including the most-wanted 3.5mm audio jack, hosted on the top alone. There is nothing else besides on the top side.

Top side: 3.5mm audio jack • Bottom side: Loudspeaker, USB Type-C, mouthpiece

The bottom of the phone hosts a loudspeaker, a USB Type-C port and a mouthpiece. This USB C port on Nokia 8 is not confirmed to support USB-to-HDMI or other display adapters. Whereas some on the web have reported they were successful in connecting Nokia 8 to their monitors.

Turning the phone over, there is almost a same sized camera module as came in Nokia 5. However Nokia 8 has occupied the full module with a dual-camera lenses, a dual-tone flash, an infrared range finder. Still a room left is covered with the ZEISS branding.

A secondary mic is placed right above the camera module. As the Nokia 8 has three mics, the third one is hidden inside the earpiece on the front top bezel.

On top bezel on front side, we have a front-facing camera which is equipped with a full fledged phase detect autofocus sensor inside. The screen flash is also present to support the front camera in low-light. Even more important is that it’s the ZEISS lens on the front camera as well as on the back. To the right of the camera, there are earpiece and then the branding “Nokia” embedded as a mirror beneath the glass.

Front-facing camera, earpiece • Navigation keys & fingerprint scanner

On the bottom bezel, there are three backlit navigation keys for – back, home and recent apps. Home key has an embedded always-on fingerprint scanner – something that I prefer to have on the back of the phone.

Display

The first look on the phone instantly gives the idea that it has the standard 16:9 display with large bezels on top and bottom. The display is 5.3-inch which is extremely acceptable for most consumers. Plus, the screen serves at QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels with pixel density of 554ppi which is impressive. Though it would have been even great if the company had chosen the OLED panel instead of the IPS one.

Nokia 8 Review - Display

Nokia 8 – Display – Photo by KA / Tech Prolonged

HMD Global in its press release has claimed that the Nokia 8 is rated to deliver 700 nits at maximum brightness. And we have seen this phone to deliver the same, even with its IPS panel. It’s almost the double as Nokia 6. Interestingly Nokia 8 doesn’t have a “sunlight mode” but still it’s better outside in direct sunlight.