It's launch in the Philippines just finished just last night and it was our time to check their first high-end Android device
This is the Nokia 8. For those who might want to ask it in relation to our launch news blog post, they will be bringing in the one with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal memory. For the rest of the specs, you check my article here
The front camera, the 5.3 inch IPS Quad HD display, Android capacitive buttons and home/fingerprint reader are visible here. Quite beautiful display as expected from the quality that I am expecting from the iconic brand from the late 90s
Dual main cameras, flash and Nokia branding on this polished blue (it looks like dark blue to me) at the back. I am not sure but it did not register that much fingerprint in here.
Pretty rounded edges with SIM card & micro SD tray at the left and volume rocker and power/unlock button at the right.
3.5 mm. audio jack at the top and single speaker, USB Type C port and pin-hole mic at the bottom. Hooray as the Nokia 8 has USB OTG support as I tested it.
HMD Global continued on what they had done on the Nokia 6 as expect Nokia 8 to have almost stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat with some dash of must-need apps mainly from Google. Even the app drawer, pulldown menu and multi tasking are also there and yes, I even unlocked it's System UI tuner. From some reason as I had a peek on it's RAM usage action, it goes for only 3.3 GB RAM. It might be that 700 MB for the system which I would love to confirm from HMD Global executive soon.
The camera UI. Both the front and rear cameras can shoot at 4K video. Good thing that images can be saved by either the internal storage or micro SD. The icons are self-explanatory. The main highlight of the camera is the "bothie" which you can run both the rear and selfie cameras for either photo and video plus it can support for Facebook and Youtube. In a conversation with HMD Global Philippines Country Manager Shannon Mead, I asked if that feature can support on both the Facebook account and Facebook fan page. He mentioned that fit it has currently has some troubles running for Facebook Business-related pages. It means that it will works best for now using your personal FB. The missing piece of it's UI, the pro mode but the camera output was very good so far in a challenging light conditions at the launch venue at Manila House Private Members Club. Speaking of "bothie" as it was not that much discussed in the number of it's international tech reviews, I discovered with the help of Mr. Mead that you can interchange the positioning of both cameras (either front cam at the top and rear cam at the bottom or vice versa)
The pics!
Nokia 8 rear camera sample
"Bothie" camera sample with with HMD Global Philippines Country Manager Shannon Mead (which registered at 8.3 MP)
What I can say right now so far on the Nokia, it was a high-end device with a balance of elegance and simplicity as it may not be winning in terms of number of features or groudbreaking display from it's competitors. With Php 29,990 as asking price tag, it was not bad at all. Just like what happened in Malaysia, it also became the second most affordable Snapdragon 835-powered Android that you own right now aside from One Plus 5. As long as you only care on auto mode on the camera, this might be your next high-end Android phone to have on your hands soon.
