HMT global or asset again making
well-crafted straight forwards and
affordable mobile devices the nokia 7
plus was undoubtedly one of the standout
phones of last year with a very
attractive and sturdy design the welcome
implementation of Android one and a big
screen it was no frills just a mid-range
phone done really well
the Nokia 7.1 is not the successor to
that phone rather it's the successor to
the Nokia 7 which is a much more budget
device this is aimed a slightly more
budget audience then but it still
retains the same focus on affordable
quality so has hmd done its again before
we dive in and see what this device is
actually like to use we first need to
get the specs out of the way to which
end the Nokia 7.1 is sporting a
Snapdragon 636 chipset with either three
or four gigabytes of RAM and 32 or 64
gigabytes of storage
the latter is expandable up to 400
gigabytes via a microSD card it's
running Android 8.1 out of the box the
battery is average at 3060 milliamp
hours but I'll see you through a day
nonetheless the screen is a five-point
84 inch IPS LCD display with a 1080 by
to 280 P resolution and a 19 by 9 aspect
ratio one of the standout features of
the device is that it has the ability to
playback HDR 10 content and will even
upscale non HDR video the Zeiss branded
camera is a 12 megapixel shooter with an
F 1.8 aperture and a secondary 5
megapixel depth sensor the front has 8 2
megapixels going for it and an F 2.0
aperture video recording is available up
to to 160 P at 30fps is capable of all
the usual tricks such as live bakka AR
emojis google lens Pro Mode etc but
unique to the Nokia is that 360-degree
spatial audio which lets you record
video with surround sound it's actually
quite cool and the both e mode also
makes a return here now it also lets you
decide how you want to divide up your
screen real estate so you can have more
footage from the front or rear camera
though it is significantly more low-key
this time around and harder to find in
the camera settings
obviously hmd have to
that it's not quite the unique selling
point that they thought it was but
what's more impressive about this device
is it's designed from the front it's
fairly standard with slim bezels and a
bit of a chin around the back though it
has a look that belies its 300 pound or
350 dollar price tag with an attractive
glass panel and what really sets it
apart is the chrome details around the
central camera model and around the
edges this is 6000 series aluminium and
it contributes not only to the handsome
look and feel but also to the sense that
you could probably stamp on this thing
without damaging it Nokia's have been
known for their resilience since the 90s
I remember kids bragging that they could
shoot their Nokia 3310 with a gun so
it's great that this is still a feature
it's available in either midnight blue
or steel the hardware also takes three
very important boxes with NFC USB type-c
and a headphone jack specs only tell
half the story of course and what's more
important is how the device is to use
the nokia 7.1 is of course no workhorse
or power users dreamed you should be
able to play most things in the Play
Store however when it comes to browsing
through the UI there is the occasional
hiccup apps take a little bit longer to
load the keyboard can take a little bit
longer to pop up at times this isn't a
deal-breaker for a lot of people but it
is noticeable and it does slightly marli
overall experience especially as as
we'll discuss in a moment
there are several devices for the same
price or less that don't have this
problem actually more time I've spent
with a Nokia 7.1 the more I've
experienced apps crashing out and bugs
to the point where it's actually quite
annoying to use at times I rather think
this isn't just down to performance but
there's a few bugs in the implementation
of Android one that HMV need to iron out
they're actually generally pretty good
with updates so hopefully that will get
fixed but for now yes not ideal that
performance is helped along though by
the fact that of the device is running
Android one this is your stripped down
vanilla version of Android with no
intrusive skin layered on top well some
people like their colour os's and their
me you eyes stock Android too generally
performs better on lower specs devices
I'm actually surprised that we don't see
more phones using Android one consuming
media is nice on here too of course
thanks partly to that HDR support as for
the camera this actually isn't bad
focusing is good con
trust looks good and images come out
bright and saturated in fact perhaps a
little too saturated for some tastes
there's a loss of detail when you zoom
right in and low-light performance
predictably isn't the best when I
reviewed the Nokia 7 plus I said that
the camera is actually something of a
letdown given the specs I was expecting
more in this case I say the camera
actually performs better than I was
expecting my wife and I are actually
expecting a baby in the next couple of
weeks which is really exciting and of
course that means are gonna be taking a
lot of photos with your smartphone for
that kind of thing a camera like this
will do you just fine obviously on the
other hand if you're a social media
entrepreneur then you might need
something a little bit more impressive
but now for the million dollar question
or the 350 dollar question should you
buy this device is it good value on the
face of it the Nokia 7.1 there's a lot
of things right it's well-made and it's
built like a tank
an attractive tank in that regard it
does manage to pull off the same trick
as the Nokia 7 plus but at the same time
even in the short amount of time since
that devices debut the game has changed
this category has become immensely
competitive and you now need to do an
awful lot more to stand out in such a
saturated market perhaps the most
obvious competition here in the UK comes
from the Motorola one that device costs
just a little less at 270 999 GBP but it
does involve some significant downgrades
the design is nice but not as sturdy the
camera is somewhat inferior to this one
it's only a snapdragon 6 to 5 and the
screen is just 720p so between these two
the nokia is a no brainer to me but then
again we have stiffer competition from
the likes of honor and to be honest the
nokia can't really compete with the
likes of the honor play the play is less
expensive than the nokia but it has a
Kirin 970 processor which until very
recently was the company's flagship
chipset that's in a whole different
league in terms of performance and the
play also comes with a very attractive
metal design a bigger screen and pretty
strong camera performance with a whole
host of cool features like painting in
my opinion beats both you mode then of
course there's the highly disruptive
poco phone f1 which will set you back
even less at around 260 GBP if you order
it online these devices make it almost
unfair
other manufacturers perhaps most damning
of all though is the fact that the nokia
7 plus is now only 200 $39.99 unlocked
and it's better in nearly every way
that's from the same company but
ignoring that the reassurance of getting
Android 1 is going to be a big selling
point for some users others will like
this manufactured in Europe and the
design is undeniably standout
then there's the nostalgia of course
that comes from the Nokia brand and many
people like using a recognized name like
that
if this cost 200 quid or if it came out
six months ago then I'd say absolutely
go for it
as it stands it's not the best value for
money but let's wait and see what Nokia
does with the plus I'm hoping it's going
to be something really special so thanks
a ton for watching guys hope France
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