Wednesday, 14 March 2018

Product Review - Nokia 8 #NokiaMobileZA #Nokia8 @HMDGlobal @NokiaMobile

Dear Friends, 

A long time ago in 2010 when I used to live in London, I received Nokia N8 for review before it's launch so that the faults can be identified before the smartphone was launched in the market. At that time it had Symbian v3.0 Operating System and in my comments for the review devices, I specifically mentioned that kindly change OS to Android v2.2 at that time and the phone will be a huge hit because of its 12MP rear camera. Fast Forward to 8 years later, Nokia launched their Android devices and here I have Nokia 8 in my hands for review since last 2 weeks. 
Product Review - Nokia 8 #NokiaMobileZA #Nokia8 @HMDGlobal @NokiaMobile
This was my first time after Nokia relaunched themselves and that I saw Nokia 8 smartphone and immediately I fell in love with the form factor of the device. The curved metallic back is marked with soft plastic sides to reduce any damage in case of fall or otherwise.  The color I received was Tempered Blue and it looks awesome. The front panel is beautifully carved with Nokia logo on top right end along with a speaker and camera and bottom part has one fingerprint scanner which works as Home button along with 2 touch buttons for back and all open apps. 

Product Review - Nokia 8 #NokiaMobileZA #Nokia8 @HMDGlobal @NokiaMobile
The smartphone camera is ZEISS optics enabled 13MP dual rear cameras along with the 13MP front camera. One of the dual cameras at the back is monochromatic which is capable of taking awesome black and white photographs. This feature I was thinking till date only in Huawei P series devices and totally loved it in Nokia 8. The dual camera works very well in daylights and in low-light also it tries to give it's best which I found to be good too. The photos taken using Nokia 8 are on my instagram.com/thelifesway social media pages for your references. Not only that the software in Nokia 8 gives features like watermarking your photos, altitude tag and compass tag which is way more than the location tag we found on many smartphones. 

Product Review - Nokia 8 #NokiaMobileZA #Nokia8 @HMDGlobal @NokiaMobile
The 5.3inch WQHD display offers a pixel density of 554ppi which is the nearly 2k screen. The colors look bright and text crisp and sharp. The brightness automatically increases in direct sunlight to max capacity and you can see the display without any problems. Not only that Nokia has taken the Night Light a notch higher as compared to other smartphones. You can not only schedule the same to turn ON automatically from sunset to sunshine or as per your requirements but can also control the tint of your amber screen based on your smartphone usage at night. Always On display is also one of the features which notifies you of time, battery level, day and date, along with calls, SMS and emails notifications in screen off mode. 

Product Review - Nokia 8 #NokiaMobileZA #Nokia8 @HMDGlobal @NokiaMobile
Taking 2 images from both the front and rear camera and then combining them has been used in many smartphones earlier by multiple brands like Samsung and HTC but Nokia has topped it up in Nokia 8 with #Bothie feature which can also take videos in this mode and take photos is a cake-walk. What I found difficult was to adjust photos clicked in vertical mode in the Instagram frame as one or the other portions get cut in case of photos. It works fine if you have taken them by tilting the phone in old point and shoot camera modes in which mode I had taken a video at the #VIVOnation music event. The audio is clear because of the Nokia OZO audio which is capable of taking 3D spatial surround sound 360-degree audio capture and playback.

Product Review - Nokia 8 #NokiaMobileZA #Nokia8 @HMDGlobal @NokiaMobile

The Nokia 8 smartphone comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB inbuilt storage which can be expanded using the MicroSD card. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 mobile platform chipset, the phone performs at its best always. It has Type-C USB port and comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat which is upgradable to Android 8.1.0 Oreo. The earphones that are supplied are smartphone has good bass and surround sound effects and phone still maintains its 3.5mm jack for your audio pleasures. I have fallen in love with the earphones that are packaged inside the Nokia 8 box which are enough if you are fan of Beats by Dre or Skullcandy bass oriented headphones.

Product Review - Nokia 8 #NokiaMobileZA #Nokia8 @HMDGlobal @NokiaMobile

The smartphone is equipped with 3090mAh battery comes with a fast charging power charger and cable. It's sufficient to go for complete 12-15 hours unless you are so much on videos and games. The in-built torch gives warm light as compared to many others which gives cool light. The type-C usb cable supplied is the very thick and almost tangle free as it takes effort to rotate the same into carryable position. I also loved that while using GPS on to go, even if the phone screen is off - it will always announce the directions as compared to my old smartphone HTC M8. Also, there is an option to have picture in picture (PiP) which means the phone can have dual apps open at the same time and MAPS can be made smaller while you take photos etc which I really liked a lot.

Product Review - Nokia 8 #NokiaMobileZA #Nokia8 @HMDGlobal @NokiaMobile
Taken using Nokia 8 Smartphone at the Volkswagen #VivoNation Music Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa

Somethings which I was not happy was that the Hotspot or tethering was not up to the mark as compared with my old HTC One M8 smartphone, the internet speed output was too slow for the connected smartphone or laptop. Secondly, the phone is too silky that it can easily slip off your hands but it's great to hold the same otherwise. Overall, this is one of the best smartphones from the house of NOKIA that will keep you connected in the social media as well as take awesome #Bothies and #Selfies with it's three ZEISS Optics 13MP camera all around and videos will be fully capturing the surround sound using NOKIA OZO audio while you listen to them on the packaged bass earphones. Also, Nokia wants to do the right things so most of their smartphones are now Android Enterprise Recommended which means they fulfill certain strict criteria and their stock Android OS is as close to Google's release with Nokia releasing security patches every month. What else can I say other than Welcome Back NOKIA and HMD Global! Go for it!

Cheers!!!

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