Nokia‘s on a roll as HMD Global has released yet another Nokia smartphone called the Nokia 7. With a name like that I don’t think you need me to tell you where this product sits on Nokia’s line of smartphones. The question is: How much lower is it down the ladder from the Nokia 8?
The gap between the company’s “mid-range” Nokia 6 and “flagship” Nokia 8 is quite a big one and in that gap you’ll find the Nokia 7. Honestly, it does seem to fit quite nicely in the middle.
First up, the smartphone features a 5.5-inch Full HD 1920×1080 pixel IPS LCD display that’s tucked under the protective arm of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3. Inside, you’ll find a Snapdragon 630 processor mated to either 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD). There’s also a 3,000 mAh battery, with fast charging support, to keep the lights on.
All of those specs are then wrapped up in a body that’s very Nokia-y. The only difference is that the Nokia 7 features a glass back with a 7000-series aluminium frame instead of an aluminium unibody. I have to say, it looks pretty sexy, and is a nice departure from the “industrial” metal bodies of its bretheren. It also comes with IP54 water and dust resistance, which is to say you should still actively keep it away from water.
However, it is worth noting that the Nokia 7 looks a lot like the leaked renders of what was rumoured to be the Nokia 9. Notably, the biggest difference is that the smartphone features a flash where the renders placed the second camera.
Speaking of cameras, the Nokia 7 features a single 16MP primary camera at the back with an f/1.8 aperture lens and 1.12 micron pixels. In front, you’ll get a 5MP selfie shooter with an f/2.0 aperture lens and larger 1.4 micron pixels. Despite the mismatch in camera resolution, the Nokia 7 is also capable of Bothies — which means to capture video/photos from both the front and back cameras. It’s also got “a Zeiss imaging experience” (whatever that means) and Nokia OZO Audio built in.
Other features include 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C, NFC, LTE Cat.6 and, crucially, a 3.5mm headphone jack (YAY). Unfortunately, it runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box but an Oreo update has been promised.
Nokia’s new phone will be priced at CNY2,499 (around RM1,592) for the 4GB variant and CNY2,699 (around RM1,720) for the 6GB variant. At the moment, the phone is only available in China and will go on sale on the 24th of October. There is no word on whether this device will make it out of China, however.
