Dubai: HMD Global’s Nokia 8 Sirocco is a much-improved version of last year’s Nokia 8 with pure Android One operating system.
The big advantage is that the company has guaranteed that it will get regular and fast security updates with two-year Android OS support which means that this device will get Android Q OS. Right now we are in Android O (Oreo).
The device resembles BlackBerry Priv or Samsung S8 with curved edges on the sides with a Gorilla Glass 5-coated stainless steel. The glossy back is a fingerprint magnet and slippery but HMD has added a silicon cover to protect the back. The device feels solid and premium and the best from Nokia.
The device is 7.5mm thick at the centre and tapers to 2mm on the sides.
The 5.5 device with Quad HD pOLED panel (2560 x 1440 pixels and 538 pixels per inch density) with Gorilla Glass 5 is powered by last year’s Snapdragon 835 chip set with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage capacity. It is a single SIM device with expandable microSD card support. It has an aspect ratio of 16:9 and weighs 174 grams.
The display is very bright with colours popping out with details but the green and red colours look oversaturated.
The device has a fingerprint sensor below the rear camera and it is fast and accurate but not the fastest in the market.
At the bottom, you have the USB Type-C port and a single speaker grille. The single speaker is loud enough to fill a room. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack.
Excellent shots
Coming to cameras, the back has dual Zeiss optics — a wide-angle 12MP sensor with a f/1.7 aperture and a second 13MP telephoto lens with a f/2.6 aperture — with dual pixel phase detection autofocus, dual-LED dual-tone flash, 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom.
The device takes excellent shots in well-light conditions but it lacks optical image stabilisation, only EIS. In lowlight conditions, the device takes decent shots but lacks details and has a visible noise.
The Live Bokeh mode, to adjust the level of blur in real time, works very well but it does not indicate if the subject is too far or too close. It has the usual shooting modes like beautification, panorama and pro.
With 2x zoom feature, the shots are mediocre as there is no OIS. It can record 2160p and 1080p at 30 frames per second.
The 5MP front-facing camera does not offer anything spectacular and takes decent selfies in well-light conditions but are soft and noisy in lowlight conditions. It can record 1080p.
The Nokia 8 Sirocco houses a 3,260mAh battery but the display drains the battery a bit faster. Despite this, it gives one full day of use for moderate users. Moreover, it has a quick charge support and Qi wireless charging support to power the battery from zero to full in just over 90 minutes.
It is a device for diehard fans of Nokia looking for a stock Android experience. It is priced at Dh2,399.
Pros
• Premium design
• Excellent display
• Stock Android
• Wireless charging
• Decent battery life
Cons
• Camera needs improvement
• Older processor
• No dual SIM
• No expandable storage
• No OIS