On Wednesday evening, HMD Global, the Finnish company that acquired Nokia’s feature phone business last year, unveiled the first flagship Android phone under the Nokia brand. The Nokia 8 will go on sale in Europe in September for 599 euros (~$700), but there is no word yet on a US release.
Having been the subject of dozens of leaks in the weeks and months leading up to its official unveiling, we already know most of what there is to know about the Nokia 8. HMD’s Android phone features a 5.3-inch Quad HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage (with microSD support). Reasonable specs for a 2017 flagship, but the design isn’t quite as contemporary.
HMD’s Nokia 8 retains the display bezels that Samsung and LG have eliminated in their latest offerings, as well as a traditional home button with a fingerprint scanner under the display. Rather than attempt to compete with the Galaxy S8 or the LG V30 on design, HMD is instead packing the Nokia 8 with intriguing hardware. For example, the phone feature Zeiss lenses on both the front and back cameras, both of which are 13-megapixel sensors with a dual-camera array on the back.
The camera software is mostly untouched, but HMD has added a “bothie” mode which allows both the front and rear cameras to capture photos or videos at the same time. HMD also implemented Nokia’s Ozo Audio, which gives users the ability to capture 360-degree audio while recording videos.
HMD Global plans to launch the Nokia 8 in four different color options: glossy blue and copper, as well as matte blue and grey. It will be available in Europe next month for 599 euros, joining the Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3. It’s still unclear if the Nokia 8 will follow the Nokia 6 to the US.
