MWC 2022: Hands On with Nokia New Android Phones and 3310

BARCELONA—Gauge who's back? Nokia at Mobile World Congress on Sunday announced plans to have on the mobilephone industry again, unveiling a quartet of new phones: the Nokia iii, v, and half dozen, and a reboot of the classic Nokia 3310.

We got a run a risk to bank check them out at the bear witness.

What's New?

We say new, but that somewhat stretches the accepted definition of the term. The Nokia vi is not strictly new—it was launched in China last calendar month—just it'll be hitting shelves worldwide subsequently this year. And so there's the Nokia 3310, which is really a true-blue retread of an old favorite with some new and improved features. In terms of nostalgia gene, it's essentially the mobile telephone equivalent of Star Wars: The Strength Awakens. It'south lots of fun, merely basically the old version tarted up a bit for the modern age.

MWC Bug Art The only two genuinely new phones Nokia unveiled to the world today are the Nokia 3 and the Nokia 5. New or non, the iv phones are Nokia'southward fashion of announcing that it'south dorsum in the game—this time, it hopes, for good.

"We are aiming to exist one of the top smartphone players in the industry, globally," said Juho Sarvikas, primary product officer of HMD Global, the Finnish company that at present owns the Nokia brand. Sarvikas took care to emphasize that the custom UI of Nokia's new Android phones would embody "simplicity, ease of use, quality, and a human touch," pointing to the streamlined pattern and total absenteeism of bloatware.

Nokia calls its stripped down Android UI "Pure." On the surface, it appears to offer an feel like to what y'all get with a Google Pixel. The dwelling house screen is refreshingly uncluttered, coming with just a folder containing the basic Google apps, a Chrome shortcut, clock widget, and an app drawer. That feeling volition only be solidified now that every device running Android 6.0 and in a higher place will besides be able to play with Google Assistant, a previously Pixel-exclusive characteristic. This tin can be accessed by a long printing on the home key of whatever of the three new Nokia Android phones.

At the launch event, Google's Jamie Rosenberg took to the stage to confirm that Nokia is "working shut with Android" on Pure, which means the Nokia range promises smooth upgrades to future versions of Android equally they get available. How far into the OS roadmap this will extend is, of course, another thing, but it's more than than most manufacturers tin can claim. Another bonus is the hope of monthly security updates from Google.

During the brief hands on fourth dimension we had with the unabridged range at the prove, nosotros couldn't see if any other Pixelish features, like a Wi-Fi Assistant clone, were nowadays. Hither'due south what nosotros can say, withal.

Nokia 3, v, and 6: Premium Pattern, Affordable Price

As y'all might be able to tell from the names, the Nokia 6 (pictured below) is the biggest of the Android gang. Information technology'due south milled from a single piece of aluminium and feels hefty. Fittingly, it volition come in a range of metallic colours, including copper, silver, and "tempered blue," as well as the de rigeur matt black.

Equipped with a 5.five-inch 1080p IPS LCD, what it lacks in terms of pure pixels per inch (400ppi vs. 534 for the Google Pixel), it makes up for by featuring a technique that sees the panel laminated directly to the 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass cover. The absence of an air gap creates a pleasing effect and only at seriously farthermost angles does whatever telltale discoloration kick in–if you squint, yous might mistake the panel for an AMOLED. Maybe. As well equally a large screen, the Nokia half-dozen features two Dolby Atmos-certified amplified speakers. Other specs include 64GB of internal storage expandable via microSD and 4GB of RAM.

We weren't able to get anyone to ostend what the official ceiling limit of retentivity expansion is, and were a piffling dismayed to see that the SD carte appears to double every bit a second SIM slot. This is something we've seen on Android phones similar the Huawei Mate 9, and while folks are now probably used to having to choose betwixt a second number or more storage, it would be nice to see this electric current pattern tendency come to an terminate.

You may desire some more space, too; the Nokia six's principal camera features a 16-megapixel sensor, so that 64GB of storage will fill up adequately quickly. The front end-facing photographic camera'southward an viii-megapixel shooter; as are all the cameras in the range.

Side by side up is the Nokia 5 (pictured to a higher place). It too is milled from a piece of aluminum and available in the same four color variants of the Nokia 6, though some models, like the silver one, are topped and tailed with a polish plastic trim.

Nokia spokespeople were dandy to talk up the new antenna configuration, which sees aerials sat at the top and bottom of the phone, with no obvious disturbance to the milled metal body. Apparently the new blueprint is more than of an artful consideration than a applied one; spokespeople confirmed that all of the phones in Nokia'southward new Android range feature Category four LTE radios–so don't expect bleeding edge speeds here. Under the hood, there'southward a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 CPU and an Adreno 505 graphics chip.

Nosotros spotted two detached card slots on the side. We were told that at that place will be single and dual SIM versions of the phone. Over again, it looks like you'll have to decide whether or not y'all like separation between work and your social life, or extra storage.

The Nokia five's 1080p screen measures v.2 inches beyond and features the same pillowed 2.5D shape. A smaller screen means you lot go a pilus more detail than the Nokia 6 (423ppi vs 400), though at a glance that doesn't amount to much. The sensor of the main camera's a piffling smaller than the Nokia six too, at 13 megapixels.

So there's the Nokia three (below). While hewn from a block of aluminium, the back of the Nokia iii is coated in polycarbonate, the aforementioned type was used in the Lumia 800, Nokia's first Windows Phone champion back in 2022. The bluish version nosotros saw looks an awful lot like the same shade of blue sported by the original 3310 back in the twenty-four hour period. Apparently the intention was to combine elements of previous Nokia designs to hearken back to the historic period when anybody'due south batteries lasted forever and phones were practically indestructible.

The Nokia 3 doesn't quite feel indestructible in the paw, simply like the others in the range, information technology feels reassuringly weighty. In terms of cameras, both the main and forepart cameras feature viii-megapixel sensors.

Toll-wise, the Nokia 6, 5, and 3 will set up you lot back $240, €189 $199, and $145, respectively. There will also be a limited edition Arte Blackness version of the Nokia half-dozen, which features a lustrous shiny black body and goes for a heftier $315. The phones are due to go on sale at some point this summer.

While we're not exactly blown away past the specs Nokia'due south touting here, information technology's difficult to argue with those prices. What could seal the deal for potential buyers is that none of the phones look midrange. Premium-feel milled metal plus those laminated screens could be more than enough for some.

Nokia 3310: What'south Old is New

Nokia didn't dwell on the new 3310 (below) as well much, although it's getting the most love on the internet right now. Running Symbian 30, it's not going to replace your smartphone anytime before long, but with a staggering 22 hours of promised talk time and a solid calendar month of standby, information technology could be a great backup phone to take for emergencies, festivals, camping (or anywhere you wouldn't desire to take your regular phone).

We liked the fact that it didn't take too long to reacquaint with that old 3-by-three grid of icons at all. At that place'due south no volume control on the sides; y'all can assign ii of the number keys to double as volume upwards and down.

We don't like that at that place's ii very similar icons for the web browser (a big 'O' for Opera) and the app store (a large 'O' for Ovi), which is confusing plenty itself, but they're also right next to each other. Again, you're probably non going to exist spending a lot of time browsing the web on this, just you might want to download some more games once y'all become bored of Snake.

Yep, Snake's back, but depressingly, neither of the 3310s we got to play with had it installed. Nosotros can only assume that it'south just every bit good as we remember it...

There'll be both single and dual SIM editions, going for the same price—a low, low $50. A retor telephone with a retro price. As with the new Nokia Android phones, the Nokia 3310 will hit stores this summer. Check back for more details and reviews as the phones become available.