I know that you, just as I have, been waiting for Nokia’s real slim shady and it’s finally here in the flesh. The Nokia 8 is everything you’d expect from a 2017 flagship smartphone, and then some. With a signature premium Nokia design and build, top notch hardware, pure Android and a couple of new tricks, the new device marks Nokia’s true return to the ranks.
At the Malaysian launch, Vijay Thangavelu, country manager (Malaysia and Myanmar), HMD Global said, “Designed to meet the demands of content creators, the Nokia 8 is our flagship smartphone with perfectly balances premium design, an outstanding experience and powerful performance.”
Fan or not, there’s no denying that the Nokia 8 ticks all the right boxes in terms of what you’d expect from today’s top rung device. Sure, it lacks a edge-to-edge, bezel-less display like the Galaxy S8 or LG V30 and it’s missing IP68 dust- and water-resistance.
However, it does rock an impressively crisp 700-nit 5.3-inch Quad HD IPS display with Gorilla Glass 5. It’s IP54-rated splash-proof, just so you know, so there’s a level of added durability.
The design is sleek and simple, consistent with what you’ve seen on the wallet-friendly Nokia 6, 5 and 3. Precision milled from a single block of 6000 series aluminium, it’s just 7.3mm slim while tapering to a mere 4.6mm at its thinnest point.
It comes in Polished Blue, Tempered Blue, and Steel. The limited run Polished Copper features a high-gloss mirror finish.
While its mid-range portfolios packed some rather weak (but efficient) processors, the Nokia 8 is anything but mild. Nothing but the top dog octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 will do. This 10nm powerhouse couples with 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM, and 64GB of base onboard storage. There’s an option to expand storage of course, via micro-SD (up to 256GB).
WTF’s a #Bothie?
You’ve probably seen the term #bothie flying about recently, so let me quickly explain. Before that, let’s look at one of Nokia’s crown jewels: camera optics.
The Nokia 8 is the first in the new Nokia line-up to feature a dual-camera set-up. The main shooters are a 13MP f/2.0 RGB (with OIS) + 13MP f/2.0 mono sensors with PDAF, IR rangefinder and dual-tone LED flash. Carl Zeiss, a renowned name in camera optics and a long-time Nokia partner, makes a return.
On the front, it features a capable 13MP f/2.0 wide-angle shooter.
Which brings us back to #bothie. It’s a Nokia-branded term to describe two selfies side-by-side, captured by a new feature called Dual-Sight. Dual-Sight uses the front and rear-facing cameras to capture videos or photos simultaneously.
Squarely aimed at content creators like vloggers, journalists and social media aficionados, it lets you broadcast unique stories on social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat. HMD says they’re working to bring Instagram Stories support soon.
Another trick up the device’s sleeve is Nokia OZO Audio. Nokia calls it “exclusive Hollywood technology,” and in essence it’s spatial 360-degree audio. It puts a fully immersive audio experience to your 4K videos.
OZO Audio works by combining three mics with custom Nokia acoustic algorithms to capture that unique spatial surround sound.
And by the way, the device has an always-on Glance screen so your notifications as well as time, date and battery level are just a glance away.
Thanks to the power efficient Snapdragon processor, you’ll get up to 11 hours of 4K video playback on a single charge. Granted, the 3,090mAh battery isn’t the biggest in the business, but when juice is running low, charge up rapidly via USB Type-C with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.
The awesome thing about the Nokia 8 (and the rest in the portfolio) is that it runs pure stock Android. Out-of-the-box, it runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and is expected to be one of the first devices to receive Android Oreo in the later part of the year.
Pricing and availability
As leaked, the official price is indeed MYR2,299, making the Nokia 8 one of the most affordable flagship devices in the market today. It’s now available for purchase in Nokia stores and authorised resellers.
What do you think?
Want more Nokia news? Read these:
- Nokia 8 flagship launch slated for 16 August
- Nokia is back in the smartphone race with Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3
- Here’s another reason to love the Nokia 6, 5 and 3: Android O
- Nokia 3310: The price of nostalgia is MYR189
- Nokia 3310 banned and useless in Singapore
