However, the price of premium phones is also decreasing. We have Poco F1, Asus ZenFone 5Z And with three rear cameras Samsung Galaxy A7 Like there are phones, which come with flagship grade features in the price range of Rs 30,000. Is HMD Global’s decision to launch the new Nokia 8.1 handset in this price range right? Let us know…
Nokia 8.1 design
Nokia 8.1 Gives a feeling of being big and heavy. This has happened 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 aluminium. There is glass on the front and back panel. You have two color options – Blue/Silver and Iron/Steel. We received the Iron variant for review. Polished steel has been used on the edges.
The build quality of the phone is excellent. Every part gives a feeling of strength. The body does not twist or flex even slightly. The glass used on the front comes with Corning Gorilla Glass protection, but information about the version is not available. HMD Global has also not told anything about the glass of the rear panel. It would have been good if it had water and dust resistance.
The display notch is quite wide. But only earpiece, front camera and proximity sensor have got place in it. The chin is also not very wide. The camera module on the rear is convex. When the phone is placed on its back, the camera bump comes in the middle. The glass part does not touch the surface at all. Because of this the phone does not slide.
Even though it is thick, Nokia 8.1 is easy to grip. We were able to use it with one hand several times without worrying about it falling or slipping out of our hands.
Nokia 8.1 specifications and software
The most interesting thing about Nokia 8.1 is that it is not presented as an upgrade to Nokia 8 or Nokia 8 Sirocco. Both of these were flagship devices and were equipped with Snapdragon 835 processor. Instead, we’re using the first phone to run on the Snapdragon 710. Which is premium, but not the most powerful.
The new processor supports high-end smartphone features like a separate AI subsystem, multiple high resolution cameras, modern LTE modem. The Adreno 616 GPU is claimed to deliver console-like gaming quality.
Another feature of this phone is the HDR10 capable screen. The screen is 6.18 inches and the aspect ratio is 18.7:9. Because of this the resolution is 1080×2246 pixels. The battery is 3500 mAh and it supports 18 Watt fast charging. You will get an 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. This stings a bit, because 128 GB storage is now available in this price range. If you want to use a microSD card, you will have to compromise with a second SIM card. Because it has hybrid dual SIM design. Both SIM slots support 4G and VoLTE. You will also get features like Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, NFC, FM radio and GPS. There is a USB Type C port at the bottom and a 3.5 mm headphone jack at the top.
Our review unit was running Android Pie out of the box. This is an 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 also found that there are some customizations in the UI.
There are preset options for the display like standard, vivid and muted colors. Dynamic mode is the default which changes presets according to your activity. The Ambient Display feature shows time, date and notification icons in monochrome. When an incoming message arrives, you can take action by tapping it.
Nokia 8.1 performance, battery life and cameras
Generally using this phone was smooth. We could easily switch between apps. Similar was the situation when switching between multiple Chrome browsers. Games with powerful graphics like PUBG and Asphalt 9: Legends ran smoothly.
Its HDR screen started working as soon as we played some demo YouTube videos. Even if the resolution drops to 480 pixels, you can watch videos with HDR. No need to worry about any mode or settings. However, this affects the battery. The sound coming from a mono speaker is quite loud. The quality is also good.
Talking about battery life, it lasts for a whole day in normal use. By nightfall, Nokia 8.1 has 10 percent battery left. In our HD video loop test, the battery lasted just 9 hours 21 minutes.
Nokia 8.1 has a 12-megapixel primary rear camera. It comes with Zeiss brand lenses and optical image stabilization. Apart from this, there is a 13 megapixel fixed focus depth sensor. It has a 20-megapixel front camera and that too with adaptive mode. By combining four pixels, it will capture photos with better detail in low light.
Tap to view Nokia 8.1 camera samples in full size
The quality of pictures taken from the camera was good, but not consistent. Photos taken in daylight came out with detail and vibrant colors. The Nokia 8.1 is faster at locking focus. This was fun to use. Complaints of overexposure were found in some photos. It took a while to lock the focus at the right place in the live Bokeh shot, but the pictures came out good.
However, quality suffered at night. The shots were generally bright, but there was a lot of noise. Details were also lacking. Distant objects were not clearly visible. Many times even the focus was not as per our wish.
Videos recorded in daylight came out crisp and sharp. The benefit of optical image stabilization is visible. There was a strange throbbing effect in the video of the night. The front camera took good pictures in most situations. Beautification is available, but is off by default.
our decision
Nokia 8.1 is a very confusing name. We are not comparing it with its predecessors. But it is difficult to determine the position of this phone. Because it does not have any flagship level feature. And neither is it in the value for money price range. If you are ready to spend Rs 30,000 then in the market Asus ZenFone 5Z And Poco F1 Like you will get powerful phones. On the other hand, there are many phones under Rs 20,000 which provide similar performance. in these Nokia 7.1 also includes.
This phone will be seen as an upgrade to affordable phones in departments like build, style and camera. It may be possible that some users are ready to spend more just for the Nokia name. There are many features to like in Nokia 8.1, but you will find most of them in cheaper phones also.