Nokia 3, 5, 6

Once the king of cellphones, the Nokia empire was wiped out during the smartphone era, and has struggled to gain a foothold in the market. Nokia is officially making a comeback in 2017, announcing the Nokia 6 at CES and three more phones at MWC, including a throwback to a classic phone. These phones are manufactured by HMD Global, which is a Finnish company that has secured to rights to release phones and tablets under the Nokia brand.

Nokia 3

The cheapest of the three phones is the Nokia 3. There is an aluminum frame running along the sides, but has a polycarbonate backing. It comes with a 5 inch screen at 1280 x 720 resolution, and a MediaTek 6737 quad-core processor clocked at 1.3 GHZ paired with 2 GB of RAM. There is 16 GB of storage on board with microSD expansion, and both rear cameras shoot at 8 MP with 1.12 micron pixels. Powering this device is a 2650 mAH battery. From the specs, we can already see that this is made to be a cheap phone, from a mediocre battery size, to a low end processor, and decent screen resolution. The Nokia 3 will be priced at 139 Euros.

Nokia 5

Moving a step up, the Nokia 5 is the other new phone that was announced. It has a unibody aluminum body, as opposed to the plastic backing of the Nokia 3, along with a 5.2 inch IPS display with 1280 x 720 resolution. Inside, there is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor paired with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB internal storage with microsD expansion. the front camera remains the same, but the rear camera is upgraded to a 13 MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture. Battery size has also been increased to a 3000 mAH battery, and a fingerprint scanner has also been added at the front of the device.

The Nokia 5 is a step up from the Nokia 3 and includes many of the specs we expect from a phone in 2017. Surprisingly, there is a fingerprint scanner for a phone at this price point, while the camera upgrade should also allow for better shots, especially due to the increased aperture. Battery size is a welcoming upgrade too, since the Snapdragon 430’s power consumption should be quite low. This phone will be priced at 189 Euros.

Nokia 6

The Nokia 6 was already announced back at CES, and it’s clear Nokia is staging its comeback from the low end segment of the smartphone spectrum. The Nokia 6 is made from an aluminum body all around giving it somewhat of a higher end look and feel. It has a 5.5 inch IPS LCD screen with 1920 x 1080 resolution paired with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage with microSD expansion. Powering the device is a Snapdragon 430 SoC and a 3000 mAH battery. The front camera remains the same as the Nokia 5 and 3, but the rear camera has been further upgraded to a 16 MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture and 1 micron pixels, however, there is a dual-tone flash for darker settings and also has Phase Detection Autofocus.

Nokia is pricing this device at 199 Euros, which, along with the specs, puts it in direct competition with the Moto G line that has been quiet well received as a a cheap low end alternative to the mainstream flagships. There is also an “arte black” version of the Nokia 6, which will cost 229 Euros, but will have a shiny black finish, and include 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage, making it seem like a quite reasonable upgrade.

Nokia 3310

The phone that actually drew the most attention at Nokia’s event was an updated version of Nokia’s classic 3310 cellphone. Like the original, this is not a smartphone, and runs Nokia’s 30+ series software, instead of Android. The screen is a 2.4 inch QVGA screen, and there is also a 2 MP camera on the back with microSD support also. Since there is not much to do aside from making calls, sending text messages, and checking simple calendar events, the power draw from this phone isn’t really big. Nokia is boasting a 31 day standy time, and 22 hour talk time on a single charge. They have also thrown in a revamped version of Nokia’s classic game, Snake. If you want this phone, you will need to pay 49 Euros, but do be reminded that you will not be able to update your Facebook status or send Snaps to your friends on Snapchat.

Overall

It’s nice to see that Nokia is making a comeback with such a splash and creating so much buzz, especially with the updated Nokia 3310. In order to keep up with the market, Nokia does need some features for it to stand out from the crowd, instead of continuing to cash in on its name, since it will wear out eventually. Currently, The Nokia 3, 5, and 6 are running Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and the experience is very close to stock Android, so there are not much features to emphasize on. Nokia’s N-launcher was pretty well received on the N1 tablet released a while back, and we could possibly see it return onto Nokia’s featured Android phones. Rumours for a flagship Nokia 8 are already appearing in many places, and I am more than excited to see Nokia announce it to see the company make a bang and attempt to create a dent in the smartphone market.

-R