However, the price of premium phones is also decreasing. We have Poco F1, Asus Zenfone 5Z And three rear cameras Samsung Galaxy A7 For example, there are phones, which come with a flagship grade feature in a price range of Rs 30,000. Is HMD Global’s decision to bring a new Nokia 8.1 handset in this price range right? Let’s know …
Nokia 8.1 Design
Nokia 8.1 Makes you feel big and weighty. This is due to the styling of HMD global and the material used in making this phone. The body of Nokia 8.1 is made of solid aluminum. There is glass on the front and backpanel. You have two options of colors- blue/ silver and iron/ steel. We got the iron variant for review. Polished steel is used on the edges.
The build quality of the phone is excellent. Every part gives a feeling of strength. The body is not a little twist or flax. The glass cornings used on the front come with protection of Gorilla Glass, but information about the version is not available. HMD Global has not told anything about the glass of the rear panel. It was good if there was water and dust resistance.
The display notch is quite wide. But only earpiece, front camera and proximity sensor have got a place in it. Chin is also not very wide. The camera module on the back is upright. The camera bump comes in the middle when you keep the phone on the back of the back. The glass part does not touch the surface at all. Because of this, the phone slide does not happen.
Even though its thickness is high, it is easy to grip Nokia 8.1. We have managed to use it with one hand many times, without worrying about falling or slipping with hands.
Nokia 8.1 Specification and Software
The most interesting thing about Nokia 8.1 is that it is not introduced as an upgrade of Nokia 8 or Nokia 8 Sirocco. Both of them were flagship devices and were equipped with Snapdragon 835 processor. Instead, we are using the first phone to run on Snapdragon 710. Which is a premium, but not the most powerful.
The new processor supports high-end smartphone features such as separate AI subcutam, many high resolution cameras, modern LTE modem. Adreno 616 is claimed to give a console -like gaming quality about GPU.
Another specialty of this phone is HDR 10 capacity screen. The screen is 6.18 inches and aspect ratio 18.7: 9. Because of this the resolution is 1080×2246 pixels. The battery is of 3500 mAh and it supports the fast charging of 18 watts. You will get 18 watt charger in the retail box. But HMD Global has not used the name Qualcomm Quick Charge.
There is only one variant of Nokia 8.1- 64 GB storage with 4 GB RAM. It is a little prick, because 128 GB storage is now available in this price range. If you want to use a microSD card, then you will have to compromise on another SIM card. Because it has a hybrid dual sim design. Both SIM slots support 4G and VoLTE. You will also get features like Wi-Fi 802.11 AC, Bluetooth 5, NFC, FM Radio and GPS. There is a USB Type C port on the lower back and a 3.5mm headphone jack is given on the top.
Our review unit out of box was running on Android Pie. This is Android One phone. This means that you will get stock Android UI. Apart from this, regular security updates and future software updates are guaranteed. We found that the UI also has some customizations.
There are preset options such as standard, vivid and muted colors for the display. Dynamic mode is in default which changes the preset according to your activity. The ambient display feature shows time, date and notification icon in monochrome. You can take action by tapping in case of incoming message.
Nokia 8.1 Performance, Battery Life and Camera
Usually it was smooth to use this phone. We can easily switch between apps. The same situation was on switching between many chrome browser. PUBG and Asphalt 9: Smuth with powerful graphics like Legends.
As soon as we played some demo YouTube videos, its HDR screen started doing its job. Whether the resolution drops up to 480 pixels, you can watch videos with HDR. No mode or settings are also worried. However, it affects the battery. The sound coming from a mono speaker is very loud. Quality is also good.
Talking about battery life, it supports all day in common use. By night, 10 percent battery remains in Nokia 8.1. In our HD video loop test, the battery supported for just 9 hours 21 minutes.
Nokia 8.1 has a 12 -megapixel primary rear camera. It comes with the lens and optical image stabilization of the Zice brand. Apart from this, there is a 13 -megapixel fixed focus depth sensor. It has a 20 -megapixel front camera with adaptive mode. It will capture photos with better details in low light by adding four pixels.
Tap to see in Nokia 8.1 camera sample fullsize
The quality of photos taken from the camera was good, but not consistent. Photos taken in daylight came with details and vibrant colors. Nokia 8.1 focus is fast in locking. It was fun to use this. Some pictures received a complaint of excessive exposure. It took some time to lock the focus at the right place in Live Bokeh shot, but the photos were good.
However, quality was damaged at night. Shots usually came to bright, but the noise was very high. There was also a shortage of details. The distant objects did not appear to be the best. Many times the focus was also not our mind.
Crispp and sharp recorded in daylight. The benefit of optical image stabilization is seen. The night video had a strange throbbing effect. The front camera took good pictures under most circumstances. Beautification is available, but remains off in default.
Our decision
Nokia 8.1 is a very confused name. We are not comparing it to its predeasers. But it is difficult to fix the position of this phone. Because there is no flagship level feature in it. And this is neither the value for money price range. If you are ready to spend Rs 30,000 in the market Asus Zenfone 5Z And Poco F1 Like powerful phones will be found. On the other hand, there are many phones in less than Rs 20,000 that gives only this level performance. In Nokia 7.1 also includes.
This phone will be seen as an upgrade of affordable phones in departments like build, style and camera. It may be that some users are ready to spend more for Nokia’s name. Nokia 8.1 has many features that are liked, but most of them will also get it in cheap phones.