Nokia 6.1 Plus Hands-on, First Impressions

HMD Global recently made official the arrival of the Nokia 6.1 Plus in the country. It sports a 5.8-inch display, Snapdragon 636 chipset, 4GB RAM, and Android 8.1 Oreo. Check out my initial impressions of the device below.

The first time I held the Nokia 6.1 Plus, I can already tell that it’s a premium device. It’s got a matte metal frame with 2.5D curved glass on the front and back.

The front is dominated by a 5.8-inch IPS screen with Full HD+ resolution or equal to 435ppi and covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. It’s a really sharp screen with rich colors, good viewing angles, and thin bezels.

Found above the screen is the notch that houses the earpiece, 16MP camera, and sensors. The phone uses on-screen navigation buttons so we’re left with a slim chin at the bottom with Nokia’s branding on it.

On the right are the metallic volume and power/lock buttons with chrome chamfers for that glossy effect. They’re solid and don’t rattle, clicky, yet firm.

Found the left is the hybrid SIM card tray.

Up top, we have the secondary microphone and the 3.5mm audio jack which is good news to wired listeners.

At the bottom are the main microphone, USB Type-C port, and the loudspeaker.

Flip it on its back and you’ll see the protruding dual rear cameras consisting of a 16MP main sensor and 5MP secondary sensor. Also found here is the fingerprint scanner.

Despite the large screen, the Nokia 6.1 Plus is easy to grip thanks to its narrow frame. It’s also relatively thin and easily slides in our pockets.

Running the software is Android 8.1 Oreo with a stock UI and regularly gets security updates from Google. Powering it is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 octa-core processor, Adreno 509 GPU, 4GB RAM, and 64GB eMMC 5.1 storage. Running AnTuTu, it got a score of 117,438 which is not bad for a mid-range smartphone.

The Nokia 6.1 Plus (4GB + 64GB) is priced at PHP 15,990USD 272INR 23,099EUR 260CNY 1,984 and will be available starting October 29.

Nokia 6.1 Plus specs:
5.8-inch Full HD+ (1080 x 2280) IPS 19:9 display, 435ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 1.8GHz octa-core CPU
Adreno 509 GPU
4GB/6GB RAM
32GB/64GB e-MMC 5.1
microSD up to 256GB (SIM2 slot)
16MP + 5MP EIS, PDAF rear camera, LED flash
16MP front camera
LTE Cat.4 150Mbps DL/50Mbps UL
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 5.0
GPS/AGPS, GLONASS, Beidou
USB 2.0 Type-C
Fingerprint scanner
Gyroscope
3.5mm audio port
Android 8.1 Oreo
3,060mAh battery
147.2 x 70.98 x 8.59 mm
Gloss Black, Gloss White, Gloss Midnight Blue