Prolific would be one description I give to HMD’s Nokia device strategy, with the company keeping a steady pace of Android One powered goodness flowing onto the market at various price points. Today’s announcement of the Nokia 8.1 see’s their newest near flagship device become official.
The Nokia 8.1 is different from last generation Nokia 8 Sirocco as it feels positioned just a little bit lower, utilising a snapdragon 710 SOC, with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage (and microSD Card support). Now, they’re some great starting specs, but without a Snapdragon 8 series processor it’s never going to be considered a flagship by the wider tech community, regardless of how well it may perform.
Rounding out the specs package is a 6.18″, FHD+ 18.7:9 notched display with HDR 10 support, dual rear cameras with a 12MP f/1.8 and 13MP combo with OIS and ZEISS lenses as well as dual tone flash. Around the front there’s a 20MP ‘selfie’ camera with Nokia driving their bothie shooting mode once more.
The Nokia 8.1 does indeed contain a 3.5mm headphone jack. Charging is via USB C with a 18W fast charger coming in the box to charge the 3500 mAh battery lightning fast. NFC for Google Pay and a rear fingerprint sensor round out the package.
Check out the specs below:
- 6.18’’ Full HD+ edge-to-edge PureDisplay< /li>
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 mobile platform
- 4GB RAM
- 64GB storage with MicroSD card slot Support for up to 400 GB
- Primary camera Dual Main: 12 MP 1/2.55’’, 1.4um pixels, OIS 2PD
Dual second: 13 MP FF – Dual Hi-Cri flash - Front-facing camera Adaptive 20 MP FF/0.9um
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/AGPS+GLONASS+Beidou
- Android 9 Pie
- 154.8 x 75.76 x 7.97 mm @ 180 grams
- Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer (G-sensor), E-compass, Gyroscope, Fingerprint sensor (rear), NFC
- 3500 mAh Battery
Being a Nokia device the 8.1 ships with Android One launching on Android 9.0 Pie. For me Android One is one of the killer features of the HMD product strategy. The guaranteed security updates for 3 years and OS updates for 2 make the Nokia line of devices truly unique among the Android OEM line up.
Australian availability of the Nokia 8.1 is unclear at the moment, Nokia has brought most but not all of their recent devices onto the Australian Market. If they did based on the European pricing we would expect it to retail somewhere around the $700 mark. The Nokia 8.1 feels like the spiritual successor to the Nokia 7 Plus, which has been a solid device, and packing the next generation up Snapdragon I’d expect the 8.1 to be one of the best value for money Android devices around.
Apparently it’s the same camera as in the pixel 3.
I’m keen if the price is right, I think it will be more like $600
The Pixel 3 photos are as much about the software than the hardware; the 8.1 will only have half that equation if that’s the case. Not to mention much lower hardware in other aspects. But like you suggest, chances are that will result in a cheaper phone at least.
Just wait for someone to put the gcam to Nokia then we are done
Wait for someone to do it before you go out and buy it though. 7.1 only has a half assed gcam port at the moment.
Yep but the 7.1 doesn’t have OIS so no matter how good the software it will struggle in low light or movement
Certainly the pixels can take a nice photo , but then so can many other cameras , and just my opinion for what it’s worth, Most people will be satisfied with the pics that come off their brand X or Y smart phone unless they blow them up on the computer and peep and analyze every pixel . I never get rid of my old smartphone s , now and again i pull one out and give it a go including the camera . Even my old 8 mp 2012 old note2 phone can still take a half decent picture… Read more »
I’d settle for the promised Pie update for my Nokia 8 Sirocco which is now overdue. Pretty annoying for an Android One device. Samsung are releasing Pie for some of their devices and my Android One device still has nothing. Samsung 😳
Samsung hasnt released anything yet. Its just betas and full release is still a while a way (most likely Jan)
This really should be called the Nokia 7.1 Plus. It’s basically the same phone with an upgraded CPU and a notch. It seems to be called the Nokia X7 in China which makes more sense.
No Wireless Charging is a step backward from the Nokia 8 Sirocco but at least it’s got NFC which is a step above the other Chinese mid-rangers vendors
Nokia still seems a bit all over the shop with their models with a mixed bag of features and something key missing from every model.
Also seem to have lost their signature always on display (Glance Display) which was on the Sirocco.
This actually sounds like a good phone. Is the main camera any good? Can we expect an Ausdroid review?
So glad they kept the headphone jack! Thank you Nokia!
I don’t like the notch, but I think I will have to live with them in the future.
A notch…
…Gross.
Well if it any comfort to you, Nokia said that this one will be the last phone of their line to have a notch.
Oh really? Last of their phones to have a notch? That’s great news. Hopefully they aren’t going for the strange “O” holes that Samsung are producing though.
I’ve got a Nokia 8 & it’s a great device, it’s unfortunate that this isn’t a genuine replacement for it as good as it may be
Very interested in this phone. Hopefully it will make its way over here to Australia otherwise will import it.
Nokia said they were releasing three phones at the event. What were the other two? The Nokia 9?