Oh hey, Nokia's releasing some underwhelming Android phones
Nokia is back -- sort of. The famous Finnish phone brand is now owned by HMD, but it had a major presence at this year's Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. It was the perfect balance of hype, novelty and nostalgia -- the goal being to convince journalists that HMD is taking this whole Nokia thing seriously.
And while the pinnacle of this nostalgia-fest was the resurrected Nokia 3310, HMD was also there to show off a portfolio of inexpensive Android phones. The company promised a global launch for its top phone, the Nokia 6, and introduced two new, cheaper Androids; the Nokia 3 and the Nokia 5.
Are these smartphones exciting? No.
You get the Nokia brand, and HMD promises the build quality will be great, but they're just cheap Android phones that look alright and have specs that match the price.
Here's a quick rundown. The Nokia 3 is a 5-inch phone with a MediaTek 6736 quad-core, 1.3GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera on the back and front, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (with microSD support for extra storage) and a 2,650mAh battery. It will cost 139 euros ($147) at launch.
The Nokia 5 has a 5.2-inch screen, a 13-megapixel camera on the back, an 8-megapixel selfie cam, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage (again, with a microSD slot) and a 3,000mAh battery. You'll be able to get it for 189 euros ($200).
The Nokia 6, which launched in China in January, is the biggest and most premium device in this bunch. It has a 5.5-inch full HD screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a microSD slot, a 16-megapixel rear camera coupled with an 8-megapixel shooter on the front and a 3,000mAh battery. It will cost 229 euros ($242) at launch.
If you really want a Nokia but aren't pleased with those specs, you can opt for the newly launched Nokia 6 Arte Black limited edition. It's a glossier version (think iPhone in Jet Black), with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage memory, with the rest being identical to the normal Nokia 6. It's also coming in the second quarter of 2017 with a slightly higher price tag: 299 euros ($316).
To be fair, all the devices (even the non-aluminum Nokia 3, which has a polycarbonate back) look more premium than the spec sheet suggests, and seeing the Nokia name on them feels nice. But you won't be bragging about these phones to your iPhone-owning friends; for that, HMD needs to step up its game and launch a true flagship.
However, for cheap Android phones, these devices do come with some interesting and rarely seen perks. First, they all come with the latest version of stock Android, 7.1.1, as well as Google Assistant, right out of the box. Nokia has also committed to update them to the latest software regularly, as well as issue monthly security updates.
All these phones will become available in the second quarter of 2017.
Topics Mobile World Congress
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
