HMD Global, the Finnish company that licensed the rights to produce Nokia phones, has launched its latest flagship smartphone – the Nokia 8 Sirroco which is basically an upgraded variant of the Nokia 8, with some surprising design changes.
The Nokia 8 Sirocco is powered by Qualcomm’s 835 processor, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. At the center is a 5.5-inch pOLED display (2560 x 1440) protected by 3D Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back. There is a dual-real camera setup with a primary 12MP Zeiss lens and secondary 13MP telephoto for 2x optical zoom. Up front there is a 5MP wide-angle camera touted with 84 degree FOV and support for the Pro Camera mode. It packs a 3,260 mAh battery with Qi wireless charging support and fast charging that promises 50% in 30 minutes.
Lacking a 3.5mm headphone jack, it will be available in black with Android 8.0 Oreo on board and is another One device. It will be available in early April for 799 € (approx. Php50k).
While I’m a fan of Android One on budget and mid-end devices, I think using a pretty barebones OS on a high end phone is a missed opportunity. Would’ve been better if Nokia took the same approach with high end phones similar OnePlus with their OxygenOS.
But I guess they’re putting a premium on fast updates and a secure OS, so it’s a win for their customers still. Nice to see a beloved brand make a comeback. And quickly at that.