Nokia 8.1: No Longer The Flagship For Nokia

Nokia 8.1: No Longer The Flagship For Nokia

OUR VERDICT

You may be disappointed that this isn’t a real follow-up to the first Nokia 8, but the Nokia 8.1 is trying to be something different and it succeeds at exactly that. It’s a top of the mid-range phone that we found to try to everyday tasks surprisingly well if not particularly majestically.

FOR

• Well-built design
• Large, clear display
• Suitably powerful

AGAINST

• Not waterproof
• Lacks wireless charging
• Easy to hide speaker

If you own the Nokia 8 flagship phone from HMD Global that was announced late in 2017 and you’re now trying to find the follow-up, the Nokia 8.1 - somewhat confusingly - isn’t that.

Ever since HMD Global took over the Nokia brand and commenced releasing phones with the Nokia name, the corporate has been updating its handsets and sticking the amount 1 at the top of them to suggest a sequel. That’s not the case here.

While the first Nokia 8 sported a top-end chipset (at the time), a QHD display and a splash-proof design, none of these flagship specs feature on this revamped version of the phone - this is often a distinctly mid-range affair.

If you’re still curious about a mid-range Nokia phone, we've a full review of the handset below, where we run through what we like and dislike about the Nokia 8.1.

Nokia 8.1 Release Date and Price

• Out now within the UK and costs £379.99
• May be released within the US because of a affect carriers

Announced late in 2018, the Nokia 8.1 is out there round the world now from a spread of various retailers. However, there’s still no clear release date for those within the US or Australia.

HMD Global has brought most of its Nokia phones to Australia within the past, so fingers crossed this may even be one to land there. We haven’t seen many Nokia phones within the US for a short time, but the corporate has just announced it'll be partnering with US networks Verizon and Cricket Wireless to bring its phones to the market.

Exactly when which will be remains unclear, but which will mean you’re ready to buy the Nokia 8.1 within the US within the coming months. In the UK, the worth is about at £379.99 (roughly $485 / AU$665), which considering it’s a mid-range device may be a good price compared to tons of the competition.

Design and Display

• Glass on the front and back, aluminum round the sides
• A large 6.18-inch Full HD+ display
• Features a 3.5mm headphone jack, not waterproof

The Nokia 8.1 is actually a bigger Nokia 7.1 once you hold it in your hand. Tons of the planning elements are similar, this is often just a bigger version of that handset, but it’s still not impossible to carry.

With dimensions of 154.8 x 75.8 x 8mm it’s easy enough for many people to carry, and it isn’t too heavy at 180g.

A lot of the planning elements we’ve come to love from newer HMD Global-made Nokia handsets are here, and overall the planning is attractive if not premium.

The front and rear of the phone is formed of glass, and there’s an aluminum frame holding the entire thing together. Our grip wasn’t fantastic on the phone initially due to that tumbler back, but it’s something we got wont to after a couple of days of using it.

The corners of the rear of the phone are rounded meaning it sits within the palm of your hand comfortably. The rear of the phone houses a fingerprint scanner that we found to figure quickly and be in an easily reachable position.

The camera sits above the scanner. It’s raised out from the rear of the phone quite great distance. In fact, it protrudes out another 1.5mm over the phone, meaning the handset won’t sit down flat on a desk next to you. It’s not out far enough that it becomes uncomfortable during a pocket, though.

The bottom fringe of the Nokia 8.1 features a USB-C port also because the single speaker, which is remarkably easy to hide up. You’ll find that an annoyance when watching video. The side edges of the phone are clear aside from a volume rocker, power button and therefore the SIM tray.

Then the highest fringe of the phone features a 3.5mm headphone jack, which anyone who likes wired headsets is certain to understand sticking around for this latest generation of Nokia handsets.

The bezels round the display are thin, especially for a mid-ranger. There’s a notch at the highest of the display to cover away the selfie camera and other tech, but we couldn’t catch on to seem sort of a normal notch.

Instead, the 2 sides of the notch are covered in black and house the knowledge you’d expect like the time, notifications and battery level. So in other words the notch is semi-hidden. To be ready to properly display the notch you’ll got to have developer software running on the phone, which are some things we weren’t ready to do.

The 8.1 within the name of this phone doesn’t ask the dimensions of the screen, luckily. Instead the Nokia 8.1 features a 6.18-inch display with a Full HD+ resolution. That’s 2280 x 1080, with a pixel density of 408ppi.

We found the display is sweet enough for the dimensions of the phone. Picture quality isn’t incredible because it isn’t a QHD panel, and therefore the technology used here is an IPS LCD instead of AMOLED.

That said, for the worth of this phone you’re unlikely to be disappointed with how the Nokia 8.1 looks. It’s around an 81% screen to body ratio though, so you’re not getting to be getting an all-screen front on this handset.

One final thing to notice is that this isn’t waterproof. You won’t be ready to get your Nokia 8.1 particularly wet, and that we don’t currently know its exact IP rating so it's going to not even had best within the rain. That’s a shame if you’re after a durable device, but it’s not all that common that we see mid-range phones with high IP ratings to guard from water damage.