Nokia India – Tech Raman

Nokia 7 Plus Review – A long term review

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 23:50:17 +0000

Nokia 7 Plus box contents Out of the box you get:

Nokia 7 Plus smartphone
In-ear headset
Power adapter (5V-2.5A/9V-2A/12V-1.5A)
USB Type-C Cable
SIM Ejector tool
Clear protective case
User manual and warranty information

Nokia 7 Plus Design

Metal unibody
158.4 x 75.6 x 8 mm
183 grams

The phone is rock solid and is carved out of a 6000 series block of aluminium. The first thing you admire when you hold the 7 Plus is it’s brilliant build quality and there is no second doubt about it. The second thing that catches your eyes is its dual-color accent and the black and copper Smartphone I got here has got quiet a polished suave look. The look is accentuated with copper trims around the phone’s edges, the outline of the display, the camera module, fingerprint sensor and also the Nokia logo. The black and the copper pairs up very well and is subtly striking. The pill shaped camera module has a fair amount of bump and it has the Zeiss branding on it. The LED flash sits next to it, with the fingerprint sensor and the Nokia branding vertically below. There is also Android one mention at the back. The right side has the power button and volume buttons. The left side has the SIM tray, its a hybrid SIM tray. The top houses the audio jack. A mic, USB type-c port, speaker slits and two antenna bands completes the bottom. Antenna bands are cleverly positioned without any distraction. Overall, the Nokia 7 plus has one of the best build quality I have come across recently, there is nothing fragile about this phone. If I have to nitpick , the sides and corners are not very smooth but on a positive note, they offer good grip while holding the phone.

Nokia 7 Plus Display

6.0 inches IPS LCD display
1080 x 2160 pixels
18:9 aspect ratio
403 ppi density
Corning Gorilla Glass 3

The advent of the 2:1 aspect ratio and thin bezels has made 6-inch display manageable on hands, while there is still a noticeable chunk of bezels on top and bottom of the display, Nokia 7 plus can be something I can live with, since I like big screens. Nokia 7 Plus is the company’s first to sport this new display format. The display is vibrant and vivid with a decent sunlight readability and good viewing angles.

Nokia 7 Plus – Androind One – Software

Android One
Guaranteed three years of upgrade

HMD Global was clever enough to realise it doesn’t make any sense inventing a wheel with a UI of its own and hence has completely aligned to the Google’s Android One program. It means – no extra apps, no extra customisation , no extra services but just serves the clean version of Android as Google envisages along with its bouquet of services. Nokia has just added its own Nokia camera app and Nokia care support app in extra. Android One promises two years of next Android versions and three years of security patches update – so you could look forward to Android P and Q, in case you stick to the phone for the next few years.

Nokia 7 Plus Performance

Snapdragon 660
Octa-core (4×2.2 GHz Kryo 260 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 260)
Adreno 512
4GB RAM
64GB Storage

Nokia 7 Plus is the first phone to launch in India with the Snapdragon 660. The processor is clearly a step up from the SD 625/625 processors and as of now the best in the 600 series family of Snapdragon. It’s a very capable hardware for an upper mid-range Smartphone, atleast till we see the SD 710 later in this year. The Adreno 512 helps in gaming and the hours of PUBG I played am sold out with its gaming capability. In fact the first time I played the game on this device and shot the gaming video, I managed the ‘winner winner chicken dinner’. The phone does warm up a bit while heating but not at an alarming level. https://youtu.be/U1RL99MI0jI The Smartphone also works well on all aspects of the uses you might put it to. The call quality is good and the speaker decent. Battery performance is very good and there was very little idle drain when not in use.

Nokia 7 Plus Camera

12-megapixel main Zeiss camera with 1.4µm f/1.7
13-megapixel Zeiss secondary camera with 1.0µm f/2.6, 2x zoom
16-megapixel front camera with 1.0µm f/2.0

This is the same camera setup in the Nokia’s flagship Noikia 8 Sirocco which promises to be a great on paper. Let’s begin with the camera app, which is Nokia’s own here. The camera app offers panorama, pro mode, live bokeh options plus there is HDR and beauty mode. There is also a dual picture mode or bothie as Nokia calls, where both the front and rear camera comes into action and you get both the images in a single click and also a PIP or picture in picture mode with both the cameras in tandem. The zoom can be reached out to 2x digitally. For videos, there is time lapse and slow motion support. The rear camera can take up to 4K videos while the front camera can shoot up to 1080p. The bothie and PIP works with video also, which comes handy for vlogging. Nokia has also added a live streaming option for Youtube and Facebook baked directly into the app. [gallery link="file" columns="4" ids="13651,13652,13653,13654,13655,13656,13657"] The camera performance is a mixed bag. What I really liked was the bothie feature both in photo and video. You never miss a moment with it both before and behind the camera. That’s not entirely a new introduction by Nokia, we have seen this earlier in some phones but many Smartphone OEM’s have forgotten the importance of it and it should find place in all phones. The camera UI is not bad either. The performance though is a mixed bag as I mentioned earlier. It focuses quick but the sharpness and clarity is a notch below the expectations the hardware setup promises. It probably is due to the limitations in the processing capability. With good lighting conditions, you might get more often a decent picture. The dynamic range is not that impressive. The low lights are better but still suffers from noise. The 16MP front-facing camera can shoot nice, sharp selfies with well balanced exposure and close to source colours. 7 Plus can take up to 4K videos at 30fps from rear camera and up to 1080p from the front camera. The OZO audio, that Nokia showcased in Nokia 8 makes finds place here too, which with the aid of three microphones and their own set of algorithms allows to record 360-degree sound when recording video.

Verdict:

What I Liked about Nokia 7 Plus

Sturdy build quality
Android One with its commitment for next two big upgrades
Clean interface
Camera UI and features – especially the Bothie feature
Overall good performance

What I did not like about Nokia 7 Plus

Camera performance could have been better
High pricing

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Microsoft unveils ultra- cheap Nokia 130 at just Rs.1649

Tejaswini Iyer — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:24:33 +0000

Microsoft devices has announced the launch of the Nokia 130 – it’s USP? Ultra cheap, sturdy and also might come handy as a backup phone. It is also aimed at the first time buyers who would want a pocket-friendly basic phone. Though the Smartphones are where the main actions are these days, Microsoft which acquired Nokia recently, believes there is still market left for cheap feature phones which offers reliability and long battery life that ones Nokia was famous for. Nokia 130 fits perfectly into the ‘mobile first’ world. Nokia 130 is the latest addition to Microsoft Devices Group’s first phone range. It offers a built-in video player, music player with up to 46 hours playback on a single charge, outstanding battery life, flashlight, FM radio and USB charging. All this comes in an ultra-cheap price of just Rs 1649. Features a 1.8” color display, standby time of up to 26 days and a sturdy design. It can store up to 6,000 songs on a 32GB SD card keeping people entertained for longer. Sharing digital content with your friends is easy with Bluetooth-enabled SLAM application and USB connectivity. As per a statement by Mr. Viral Oza, Director – Marketing, Nokia India Sales Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Microsoft Mobile Oy, “Armed with a distinctive design and sound entertainment, our latest device in the first phone range aims to bring the new age mobile experience at an accessible price point to our consumers. The Nokia 130 is a perfect device for consumers who are looking for their first mobile phone, or for those looking for a rock-solid backup phone to use alongside their smartphone. With the Nokia 130, our endeavor is to connect millions to the new mobile experience keeping in tandem with our core philosophy of connecting the next billion.” Nokia 130 is a dual-SIM phone offered in three colors – red, black and white.The Nokia 130 will be available from today in India available at an affordable price of Rs.1649 ]]>

Microsoft unveils ultra- cheap Nokia 130 at just Rs.1649

Tejaswini Iyer — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:24:33 +0000

Lumia 630 launched in India; comes in Dual-SIM and Single SIM variants

Lakshmi Rajan — Mon, 12 May 2014 12:52:13 +0000

Microsoft today launched the Nokia Lumia 630, the first device to run on Windows Phone 8.1 in India. While the Dual-SIM variant comes at a best buy price of Rs 11,500; the single SIM variant would be Rs 1000 cheaper. Lumia 630 device also becomes the first smartphone in the Lumia series to come with dual-SIM option, which has many takers in this part of the world. First unveiled at the Build 2014 conference last month, the 630 has a 4.5-inch LCD screen with ClearBlack display and armed with quad-core processing power. A quick run into the specs. the Lumia 630 features a 4.5-inch ClearBlack FWVGA display (854×480 pixels resolution) and strengthened by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Powered by 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 quad-core chipset and paired with surprisingly just a 512MB of RAM. Though the Nokia officials were quick to point that the Windows Phone devices could muster enough fire power with this RAM aided by a quad-core processor for regular consumer needs the segment focuses on. An 8GB of internal storage can be pushed ahead up to whooping 128GB via a microSD card slot. A 5-megapixel rear camera is what in store on camera department. Sorry selfies, no front camera in this one. The rear camera also lacks a flash. There is a 1,830 mAh battery that the company claims should give 13.1 hours of talktime and 25 days on standby mode. Lumia 630 flaunts an impressive chassis made on polycarbonate body and the swappable backpanel can be replaced by an array of colorful panels. The Dual-SIM gets smarter with lot of features to manage and streamline both the SIMs better and Lumia 630 brings new features like SensorCore low-power motion sensor with Bing Health and Fitness apps and also includes Microsoft Office, Nokia Camera, free Nokia MixRadio streaming, and HERE maps and also comes pre-installed with Whatsapp, WeChat and many more. The Dual-SIM Lumia 630 will hit the stores beginning May 14th and the single SIM variant will be available from the last week of May. ]]>