As promised less than a month ago, HMD Global (the Finland based phone maker that secured the rights to use Nokia’s brand name) has formally unveiled the first ever high end Android powered Nokia smartphone device -- the Nokia 8. The announcement was made during an event held in London.
First things first, the specifications -- the Nokia 8 comes with a 5.3 inch 2K polarized display protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5, and with a resolution of 2,560 by 1,440 pixels and pixel density of 554 ppi. This screen is complemented with a dual camera configuration on the rear side (consisting of twin 13 megapixel cameras -- one monochrome and the other color), and another 13 megapixel selfie shooter on the front side. In terms of hardware, Nokia’s newest flagship offering packs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chip set and an Adreno 540 graphics processor unit (GPU), aided with 4 gigabytes of random access memory (RAM) and 64 gigabytes of built in storage (expandable up to 256 gigabytes of memory by way of a micro SD card slot). Other major features include a fingerprint reader, USB Type C compatibility, a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, a 3,090 mAh battery, and of course, Google’s Android 7.1.1 Nougat mobile operating system. With regards to design, the Nokia 8 goes for an aluminum frame with a rather fancy contoured shape. When the device is released some time next month (more on this later), it will be made available in color options of polished blue, polished copper, tempered blue and steel).
Now for the flagship features -- perhaps the most notable one is Dual Sight, which basically lets the handset display and even record from both the front side and rear side cameras simultaneously. Fans of Samsung and LG may claim that this kind of thing is nothing new for the two South Korean mobile brands, but what Nokia has done is offer an extra live stream button in its native camera app. With this button, people will be able to instantly broadcast to a compatible social media platform (for now, that’s Facebook and Twitter).
Another interesting feature is OZO Audio, which takes a trio of embedded microphones and uses them to record 360 degree spatial surround sound that will be encoded binaurally, allowing for a more immersive listening experience when playing back recorded audio. And there’s the always on display feature, which is always handy.
The Nokia 8 will be released in European markets early next month at a price of about $700. There is no word yet when it will reach American shores. Compare the Nokia 8 to other devices? Explore more phones and plans from Nokia at Wirefly now.
