Nokia’s mobile phone business has seen a good roller coaster in the past couple of years, starting from acquisition by Microsoft in 2013 to acquisition by HMD Global Oy this year. The sales in 2013 were at an all time low as Nokia was struggling with its Symbian OS and even Android-OS based-smartphones.
However, after a very long time, reports have resurfaced pointing to two Nokia-branded smartphones, running on the latest version Android Nougat. According to a report by GizmoChina, Nokia will be launching two devices this year, from HMD’s stable.
Nokia has been known for launching classic devices like Nokia 3310 & 6600, N Series, E Series, XpressMusic series and Nokia Lumia series. Some phones were just pure crazy, that defined the phones of their era and came with innovative technology that no other handset maker could match.
However, Android OS and iOS brought in the much needed software capabilities in phones that provided so much ease to the customers, that the Symbian phones became less and less usable. Hopefully under HMD, the company should be get back on track and revisit its golden days.
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Expected features of the phones
There will be two phones from Nokia with different specifications and will probably come at different price points. Some expected specifications are –
- 5.5-inch 2k HD display in the larger model vs. 5.2-inch 2k HD display in the smaller model. Both the phones will have AMOLED displays
- Nokia’s Z-launcher flavored Android Nougat loaded in both the phones
- Both the phones will sport Snapdragon 820 SoC, but we’re hoping Nokia revises it to the latest Snapdragon 821 chipset
- The phones will come with an all-metal body equipped with IP68 Waterproof and Dustproof protection. Like older Nokia phones, the materials will be sturdy and phones will provide a good feel in the hand
- The larger phone might carry a better camera at 22.6MP
- The phones should also come with fingerprint scanners, 32GB & 64GB internal storage options
We could see an 18MP shooter in the smaller one, but these are all speculations. NPU, another blog, has mentioned that the smartphone cameras will super-sensitive, owing to Nokia’s extensive research on Graphene. It will be interesting to see how the cameras finally turn out, and how they’ll match up to that of the iPhone’s.
Can these phones succeed?
The pricing has been tipped at around $400-500 for these smartphones, so they will not be competing with the mid-range handsets. Instead the phones will lie at the lowest end of the premium smartphone category, around OnePlus 3.
The specifications, however, seem to be a little underwhelming for the expected price, and even though they’re still speculations, we cannot expect HMD to price these phones under $400. Once again, the specs are not fully confirmed yet, so by the time the phones launch, some of these might not hold.
Overall, Nokia can make a good comeback, thanks to the emotional connect it has had with multiple generations. The phones also look good with high-end specs, but there must be a USP associated with these handsets, and we expect the cameras to be one. Should Apple be threatened? We shall see as more leaks and photos of the phones emerge online.