Nokia 6, Nokia 5 And Nokia 3 Launched In India: An Attempt To Cash In On The Legacy

Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 have been launched in India and HDM Global is looking forward to cash on the legacy of a name that ate handset manufacturers for breakfast. After capturing the attention of the World in February during MWC 2017, Nokia is back with healed the scars to ‘The Android Battle’ and is here to give the competitors a taste of their own medicine.

Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 are the three smartphones that will lead the wave HDM Global is planning to demolish everything with and by all means, they have made this comeback sound a revolution of some sorts. After a perfect marketing strategy of launching the iconic Nokia 3310 last month to trigger the love among Indian buyers once again, here are Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 for you.

But before taking you to the specs sheet and pros/cons of these smartphones, there is one thing we would like to tell you. Nokia knows India very well, maybe better than the current rulers and they have pricing spot on with Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3. Not that they are the best VFM smartphones in the market, but those extra moolahs still justify the ‘Nokia’ brand name.

Let’s jump onto the knight, Nokia 6 (Rs 14,999)

• Seamless precision-milled solid aluminium built
• 5.5-inch full-HD (1080 x 1920) IPS display with 2.5D curved glass, Corning Gorilla Glass protection, and 403ppi
• 1.2 GHz Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC coupled with Adreno 505 GPU
• 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD
• Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box
• 16MP rear camera with PDAF, 1.0um, f/2.0 aperture and dual tone LED flash
• 8MP front camera with autofocus, 1.12um, f/2.0 aperture, 84 degrees field of view of group selfies
• Fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button
• Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos audio
• 3000mAh battery with micro-USB charging support
• 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, Micro USB (USB 2.0), USB OTG, 3.5 mm headphone jack, accelerometer (G-sensor), ambient light sensor, Hall sensor, e-compass, proximity sensor, gyroscope and NFC for sharing.
• There is also a 4GB/64GB limited edition Arte Black color variant but that hasn’t been announced in India.

Nokia 5, The Backbone (Rs 12,899)

• A single piece metal body crafted for perfect grip
• 5.2-inch (1280 x 720) HD IPS display with 2.5D curved glass, Corning Gorilla Glass protection, and a Sunlight visibility improvement feature.
• 1.2 GHz Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC coupled with Adreno 505 GPU
• 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD
• Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box
• 13MP rear camera with PDAF, 1.12um, f/2.0 aperture and dual tone LED flash
• 8MP front camera with autofocus, 1.12um, f/2.0 aperture, 84 degrees field of view of group selfies
• Fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button
• 3000mAh battery with micro-USB charging support
• 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, Micro USB (USB 2.0), USB OTG, 3.5 mm headphone jack, accelerometer (G-sensor), ambient light sensor, Hall sensor, e-compass, proximity sensor, gyroscope and NFC for sharing.

Nokia 3, The smartphone of necessities (Rs 9,499)

• Polycarbonate body
• 5 inch (1280 x 720) HD IPS display with 2.5D curved glass, Corning Gorilla Glass protection, and a Sunlight visibility improvement feature.
• 1.3Ghz Quad-core MediaTek MTK 6737 SoC coupled with Mali-T720MP2 GPU
• 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD
• Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box
• 8MP rear camera with autofocus, LED flash, 1.12um and f/2.0 aperture
• 8MP front camera with autofocus, 1.12um, f/2.0 aperture and 84 degrees field of view of group selfies
• 2630 mAh battery micro-USB charging support
• 4G VoLTE, Micro USB (USB 2.0), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, USB OTG, 3.5 mm headphone jack, e-compass, proximity sensor, accelerometer (G-sensor), ambient light sensor, Hall sensor, gyroscope and NFC for sharing.

What we miss

Nokia 6

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC could have been better at this price point

Either a bigger battery or quick charge support

Nokia 5

2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage are specifications of the sub Rs 10,000 segment

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC could have been better at this price point

And the same battery issue

Nokia 3

This is where HDM Global has played completely wrong. Instead of the MediaTek unit, there should have been a Snapdragon processor and while 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage are justified, given the price tag, the absence of a fingerprint scanner is a big let down. Even the battery is just a 2630 mAh cell, which compared to its Chinese counterpart is way less than the expectations.

Now where Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 shine like a diamond.

• Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 have the best display, camera and offers a stock Android experience which is really commendable in their respective segment.
• The inclusion of Dolby Atmos speakers in Nokia 6 clearly shows that HDM Global is completely focused on user’s experience.
• Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 are available in both single SIM and dual-SIM variants.
• HDM Global has played it smart by introducing all the three smartphones with Android Nougat.

Verdict

To be very clear, Yes, Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 are asking a premium over its competitors but we were expecting the same to happen. Moreover, the first wave of Nokia smartphones are focused on the multimedia experience rather than the performance quotient and if you are looking for a dependable device that works when you want it to, Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 have got your back.

Personally, we would not recommend Nokia 3 as this smartphone has disappointed us the most, however, despite a not-so-spectacular spec sheet, it clearly shines in the camera department.

Nokia 6 will be available for pre-booking from 14th July and will be an Amazon exclusive while Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 will be available via offline stores from 16th July, which can really dent the sales figures of current segment rulers.