Would you buy a phone from Nokia at flagship pricing?

[Aquila]

Word on the street is that the 9 is coming out soon.

 

[DJCBS]

I don't understand why so many people don't think it's a flagship.

It just have the best LCD of the market, the best signal reception on the market and a very nice technology of audio recording.

From this generation, I think the best overall phones are U11 and Nokia 8.

Compare it to the features offered on Nokia's last real flagship - the Nokia 930 - and with other 2017 flagships - S8, G6, etc - and I think you'll realise why.

"Best LCD of the market"...that is very subjective. Sony's LCD's have HDR. This doesn't. And the best LCD is still not as good as AMOLED (which Nokia used in all their flagships since 2013).

"Best signal reception"...based on which data? That's the sort of thing you can't objectively evaluate because it changes from country to country, city to city.


Audio recording technology is nice, yes. Still, the Nokia 6 supports Dolby Atmos and the Nokia 8 doesn't? Don't you find that weird?


"I think the best overall phones are U11 and Nokia 8."

To each their own.
I personally find those exact two phones the worst overall phones of 2017 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Aquila]

HMD doesn't even think the 8 is a flagship. That's why there's a 9.

 

[infinidim]

I'm more than willing to buy it.
Switching from W10M here, and in fact, I'm in the US so which market should I look at to buy it cheapest should it not come to my country? Which, so far, it doesn't look like it will...

Currently, I held out on switching to android because all of the phones always lacked something I consider important, this phone checks all of the boxes for me...
LCD screen, good looks (I like some bezel on the top and bottom), battery of at least 3000mAh, internals that will last comparatively so, stock Android, etc.
Just my luck that it probably won't be available in the US, and next year's update will likely follow the bezel-less trend (which isn't so bad) with an AMOLED screen (which is bad to me).

I switch from a Lumia 950 to the Nokia 6 and have been very happy, the performance is good and seems to get better each security update we get and the camera's are good but not exceptional. Battery seems to last very well even under heavy usage.

Regards

Infinidim

 

[Chuck Finley69]

My wife needs to replace her 1520 and she thinks she wants this phone. Are we going to really see this in the USA? I bought her 6" Alcatel on prepaid ATT to swap out SIM cards. Very sluggish and only 16g storage. This Nokia 8 appears to be the solution but company doesn't seem to be moving quickly into the Android space. Like watching BlackBerry Mobile rolling out their initial devices. USA rollout seems glacier slow..

 

[csetoue]

The best LCD on the market? Far from it. Where did you get that idea?

Compare it to the features offered on Nokia's last real flagship - the Nokia 930 - and with other 2017 flagships - S8, G6, etc - and I think you'll realise why.

"Best LCD of the market"...that is very subjective. Sony's LCD's have HDR. This doesn't. And the best LCD is still not as good as AMOLED (which Nokia used in all their flagships since 2013).

"Best signal reception"...based on which data? That's the sort of thing you can't objectively evaluate because it changes from country to country, city to city.


Audio recording technology is nice, yes. Still, the Nokia 6 supports Dolby Atmos and the Nokia 8 doesn't? Don't you find that weird?


"I think the best overall phones are U11 and Nokia 8."

To each their own.
I personally find those exact two phones the worst overall phones of 2017 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I think it's a bit early to put that this or that phone is the best of 2017. Nokia 9, Mate 10 and Pixel 2 are still coming.

LCD on Nokia 8 has the highest brightness on nits ever seen on a screen. Only Note 8 has a higher better brightness. HDR and other technologies are welcome. But, when you are under sunlight and can't see the manual controls from your camera because the screen is dim... Well... I prefer a screen with higher brightness always.

On software side, I like android pure over heavy TouchWiz or ****ty Bixby anyday.

On cell signal reception, it's just better than the others (or as good as some other few smartphones, as Motorola and Huawei - LG and Samsung are always not too good in that department). Of course you can evaluate it, if you got another phone with the same service sim card on the side. Look at the technology they applied to get a better reception. If you're always on the center of big cities, good for you (in that case). But if you travel a lot or work in big buildings with a lot of concrete walls, that make all the difference.

 

[DJM626]

I just read on Forbes today that the phone will also include band 4 which means it will be Verizon and Sprint compatible as well and will have 6 gigs of RAM

 

[Aquila]

LCD on Nokia 8 has the highest brightness on nits ever seen on a screen. Only Note 8 has a higher better brightness. HDR and other technologies are welcome. But, when you are under sunlight and can't see the manual controls from your camera because the screen is dim... Well... I prefer a screen with higher brightness always.

The Nokia 8 has the same peak brightness as the iPhone 7. The iPhone 7, pending reviews on the iPhone 8, is the undisputed king of LCD displays. The iPhone 7 is more accurate and supports better and more color gamuts than the Nokia 8.

 

[csetoue]

The Nokia 8 has the same peak brightness as the iPhone 7. The iPhone 7, pending reviews on the iPhone 8, is the undisputed king of LCD displays. The iPhone 7 is more accurate and supports better and more color gamuts than the Nokia 8.

Nice. iPhone screens are really good.

But it's iOS.

 

[DJCBS]

I think it's a bit early to put that this or that phone is the best of 2017. Nokia 9, Mate 10 and Pixel 2 are still coming.

I'm not expecting the Nokia 9 to come in 2017. It *may* be presented still this year, but I wouldn't expect it in 2017 IF it ever comes (HMD is in the process of getting a new CEO and the new one might not be so permissive with lackluster phones like the Nokias 3, 5, 6 and 8 with the Nokia brand in them. And depending on how much the Nokia 9 changed from the plans, it might or might not actually be canceled).

LCD on Nokia 8 has the highest brightness on nits ever seen on a screen. Only Note 8 has a higher better brightness. HDR and other technologies are welcome. But, when you are under sunlight and can't see the manual controls from your camera because the screen is dim... Well... I prefer a screen with higher brightness always.

This is absolutely false.
The Nokia 8 clocks at 700 nits.
The S8 alone (NOT the Note 8) clocks at over 1000 nits.
The Note 8 at 1200 nits.

So yeah, LCD is terrible for sunlight readability. And if you indeed want to see the contents of your screen under sunlight...you'll be buying an S8 or Note 8 instead. Or, you know, any OLED phone. (If you want to learn more about OLED vs LCD, DisplayMate has an array of pretty good articles on the matter).

On software side, I like android pure over heavy TouchWiz or ****ty Bixby anyday.

That is personal preference.
I prefer phones without an incomplete version of Android.
For example, when I use split screen, I prefer to have an option on the bottom part of the screen to open another app from there instead of having to leave to the home screen, then look for the app I want, then click to open it and then the screen splits in two again as it happens with stock Android.
Or be able to open a theme engine and change the horrible colours Google picks for user interfaces.
Or having a blue-light filter built into the phone system that turns on automatically at the time I set it to turn, without needing third party, battery-consuming apps.
Etc etc.
(Oh and you can disable Bixby now anyway. And with effort, remap it to turn it into a useful button).

On cell signal reception, it's just better than the others (or as good as some other few smartphones, as Motorola and Huawei - LG and Samsung are always not too good in that department). Of course you can evaluate it, if you got another phone with the same service sim card on the side. Look at the technology they applied to get a better reception. If you're always on the center of big cities, good for you (in that case). But if you travel a lot or work in big buildings with a lot of concrete walls, that make all the difference.

Your claims on this are completely unsubstantiated.
If we're going to make random claims, then I can also use science to tell you that the Nokia 8 has a higher chance of terrible reception because the entire phone is made of aluminium instead of glass or plastic or anything else. With aluminium phones, the phone's reception is limited to the antenna bands, which limits its reception power. So I'm willing to wage that reception is better on phones without aluminium unibodies.
But again, none of that will depend exclusively on the phone. It depends more on your carrier and the places you go to. If you go to massive concrete buildings, your reception will be terrible or actually non-existent unless your carrier has service built into that building. Which is what happens a lot here in Europe. Because we have a ton of castles, palaces and colossal stone buildings, when companies have their offices in them, they have to hire a carrier to support the building with cell signal otherwise physics will prevent most phones from functioning because the walls stop the signal from the satellites and the antennas outside.


Listen, mate.
You CAN like the Nokia 8. It's totally fine. I really like the S7 even though I still don't like Samsung and I hate that the bloody thing lacks a camera button or double tap to wake. And despite the quality of the fingerprint scanner glass being crap. But I accept those as faults.
You can like the Nokia 8 because it offers you stock Android and you like that barebones version of the OS. You can like it because you prefer the cold feel of a metal phone. But to try to dismiss the many many faults the Nokia 8 has (specially considering Nokia's previous flagships), and use false arguments to defend it is just silly.

I can assure you no one, absolutely NO ONE inside Android Central (or, actually, probably inside all the Mobile Nations websites) would be willing to go around singing the praises of these new Nokia phones than myself. But I will not go as low as to deny facts just to praise HMD for a poorly done job.
The build quality on the Nokia 8 (like the 6, 5 and 3) is great, yes. The LCD's are good FOR AN LCD. But that's it. That's as much as I can praise these phones. Because everything else is just "meh". And the Nokia 8 being called a "flagship" is an insult to the Nokia brand it brings in it.

 

[csetoue]

I'm not expecting the Nokia 9 to come in 2017. It *may* be presented still this year, but I wouldn't expect it in 2017 IF it ever comes (HMD is in the process of getting a new CEO and the new one might not be so permissive with lackluster phones like the Nokias 3, 5, 6 and 8 with the Nokia brand in them. And depending on how much the Nokia 9 changed from the plans, it might or might not actually be canceled).



This is absolutely false.
The Nokia 8 clocks at 700 nits.
The S8 alone (NOT the Note 8) clocks at over 1000 nits.
The Note 8 at 1200 nits.

So yeah, LCD is terrible for sunlight readability. And if you indeed want to see the contents of your screen under sunlight...you'll be buying an S8 or Note 8 instead. Or, you know, any OLED phone. (If you want to learn more about OLED vs LCD, DisplayMate has an array of pretty good articles on the matter).



That is personal preference.
I prefer phones without an incomplete version of Android.
For example, when I use split screen, I prefer to have an option on the bottom part of the screen to open another app from there instead of having to leave to the home screen, then look for the app I want, then click to open it and then the screen splits in two again as it happens with stock Android.
Or be able to open a theme engine and change the horrible colours Google picks for user interfaces.
Or having a blue-light filter built into the phone system that turns on automatically at the time I set it to turn, without needing third party, battery-consuming apps.
Etc etc.
(Oh and you can disable Bixby now anyway. And with effort, remap it to turn it into a useful button).



Your claims on this are completely unsubstantiated.
If we're going to make random claims, then I can also use science to tell you that the Nokia 8 has a higher chance of terrible reception because the entire phone is made of aluminium instead of glass or plastic or anything else. With aluminium phones, the phone's reception is limited to the antenna bands, which limits its reception power. So I'm willing to wage that reception is better on phones without aluminium unibodies.
But again, none of that will depend exclusively on the phone. It depends more on your carrier and the places you go to. If you go to massive concrete buildings, your reception will be terrible or actually non-existent unless your carrier has service built into that building. Which is what happens a lot here in Europe. Because we have a ton of castles, palaces and colossal stone buildings, when companies have their offices in them, they have to hire a carrier to support the building with cell signal otherwise physics will prevent most phones from functioning because the walls stop the signal from the satellites and the antennas outside.


Listen, mate.
You CAN like the Nokia 8. It's totally fine. I really like the S7 even though I still don't like Samsung and I hate that the bloody thing lacks a camera button or double tap to wake. And despite the quality of the fingerprint scanner glass being crap. But I accept those as faults.
You can like the Nokia 8 because it offers you stock Android and you like that barebones version of the OS. You can like it because you prefer the cold feel of a metal phone. But to try to dismiss the many many faults the Nokia 8 has (specially considering Nokia's previous flagships), and use false arguments to defend it is just silly.

I can assure you no one, absolutely NO ONE inside Android Central (or, actually, probably inside all the Mobile Nations websites) would be willing to go around singing the praises of these new Nokia phones than myself. But I will not go as low as to deny facts just to praise HMD for a poorly done job.
The build quality on the Nokia 8 (like the 6, 5 and 3) is great, yes. The LCD's are good FOR AN LCD. But that's it. That's as much as I can praise these phones. Because everything else is just "meh". And the Nokia 8 being called a "flagship" is an insult to the Nokia brand it brings in it.

I know it's not a perfect phone. For my taste, it's good!

About the display stuff, not every LCD is worse than any OLED screen. For example, 1+5 LED screen sucks. Ok, it has true blacks, but its brightness capabilities sucks. Surely, you can read under sunlight better with Nokia 8 than 1+5. About the last generation of amoled screen from Note 8 and S8, I don't disagree. They are truly better than anything else on the market.

About the reception stuff, their work to make a phone capable of better reception is commendable. I know everything involved on cell signal reception, and I also know that many mainstream companies just don't give much attention to that, considering that almost everyone is near a big antenna nowadays. You can spend a lot on the lastest Samsung/LG flagships, and you will discover that Motorola and Huawei phones, on the same location, under the same circumstances, using the same SIM cards, just have a better reception. I work on hospitals and I like to travel to long distanced beaches. These are locations where not every smartphone have good reception, and I have to praise when someone do efforts in this direction.

 

[DJM626]

I totally agree with you on that. I'm sure I'm in the minority here but I still use my phone to primarily make calls as I don't have a landline anymore and my current phone the Pixel just doesn't cut it in that department for me. I need beyond good reception

 

[sdc1]

I bought a Nokia 8 yesterday and so far I'm very impressed with it. I was going to hold off for the Nokia 9 but if I like it I'll probably get it anyway and sell the 8. The Nokia branding is a draw for me, in most of Europe it's a recognised and trusted brand.

The phone is beautiful, build quality is on par with anything Nokia have previously done and it feels like a premium device in hand. The screen is beautiful, I got 7 hours screen on time today, audio recording is excellent and it's really quick. With 64GB storage, Zeiss lens dual camera, which so far has proven to be at least equal to my LG G6, and the fact that having a Nokia in my pocket again makes me smile, I'm very very happy with it.

 

[Joe920]

I bought a Nokia 8 yesterday and so far I'm very impressed with it. ...
The phone is beautiful, build quality is on par with anything Nokia have previously done and it feels like a premium device in hand. The screen is beautiful, I got 7 hours screen on time today, audio recording is excellent and it's really quick. With 64GB storage, Zeiss lens dual camera, which so far has proven to be at least equal to my LG G6, and the fact that having a Nokia in my pocket again makes me smile, I'm very very happy with it.

Awesome. The biggest question for me is the camera quality. If you happen to snap any particularly great pictures please share if you can. In the meantime, enjoy your new phone!

 

[sdc1]

Awesome. The biggest question for me is the camera quality. If you happen to snap any particularly great pictures please share if you can. In the meantime, enjoy your new phone!

Thanks. I'll post some photos tomorrow.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

I see Nokia as more flagship than most other brands, Nokia has been around for ever. They may be new to Android but they are not new to high quality phones.

 

[DJM626]

I agree with you, having owned many Nokia phones back in the past. Never had any issues with the quality of their products, and always thought they were right up there with the best of the best. Long before Apple, Nokia was king. Wish they would announce the Nokia 9 already. Don't want to be in suspense much longer

 

[sdc1]

Thanks. I'll post some photos tomorrow.

Here's a couple of snaps from an overcast and damp Belfast. Just point and shoot photos, not time taken to compose, etc. I think that's the way most people will use their Nokia 8 camera.

 

[Joe920]

Thanks for those. They look pretty decent. They're less than a MB each, so probably compressed quite a bit.

 

[Toby Barrett]

Awesome. The biggest question for me is the camera quality. If you happen to snap any particularly great pictures please share if you can. In the meantime, enjoy your new phone!

I have a Nokia 8 (for a week or so). I was concerned about the camera quality as I'm coming from a Microsoft Lumia 950 (which has the best camera phone I've ever used). Currently doing a head-to-head between the two (when I get time and the crappy British weather allows). Initial impressions are: exposure, focussing and colours accurate and good. Comparable with the 950. The let down is the sharpness in less than ideal light. I think the OIS on the Lumia must be better.

Hopefully post some photos over the weekend.