HMD Global, the new makers of Nokia phones are pushing their gears to gain an edge in the smartphone market. In recent years, they has successfully built up a strong portfolio and is gaining a healthy position in the smartphone space. To make this line-up even stronger and cater to wider audiences, HMD Global has launched the Nokia 7.1, which is its latest budget smartphone offering. With an impeccable design and premium features such as HDR display, dual-rear cameras and many more, it seems they have introduced a new winner.
Read on, as we test the Nokia 7.1 to find out, how well it performs in the real world.
Design and build
The Nokia 7.1 gets a glass constructed body, both at the front and back. The aluminium frame of the device gets diamond-cut chamfered edges, giving it an exceptional look. The antenna lines on the frame are visible, but barely take away the premium feel. With about 160 grams of weight and 7.88mm of thickness, the Nokia 7.1 is quite comfortable to hold in the hand. However, the glass back attracts fingerprints and also makes the device quite slippery.
The front of the device sports a 5.8-inch edge-to edge display with a small bezel at the bottom. The back holds the dual-camera setup with a slight bump, making the device wobble on flat surfaces. A volume rocker button and the power button are placed on the the right, while the left holds a dual, hybrid SIM tray slot. The bottom of the phone holds a single speaker setup along with a USB type-C charging port. The device we tested was a steel colour unit, but you can also find the midnight blue version which looks equally stunning.
Features
The Nokia 7.1 sports a 5.8-inch full HD display with a screen resolution of 2280 x 1080. Nokia claims that its PureView display technology lets the screen produce vibrant colours with great viewing angles. The most unique feature of the display is its HDR 10 compliancy that is rare to find in devices in this price range. With HDR 10, you get better colour balance, which makes watching high quality content from Netflix, YouTube and others, a truly great experience.
The Nokia 7.1 sports a dual-camera setup. The primary lens is a 12MP shooter, while the secondary is a 5MP unit reserved for depth control to get a DSLR-like bokeh effect. Both the lenses are from Zeiss Optics and promises to capture sharp and vivid images with natural colour tones. Nokia has also included a bunch of advanced features such as an AI mode that detects objects or scenes and adjusts the camera’s settings automatically. The front selfie camera is an 8MP unit capable of capturing wide-angle selfies.
The Nokia 7.1 is a part of Google’s Android One program and will receive all the latest Android updates just like the Google Pixel devices. With stock Android, the 7.1 will have better RAM management, a simpler user interface and most importantly, frequent security updates making the device a good futureproof option. With the latest Android Pie 9, Google has also introduced new AI features for better battery optimisation and health applications like Digital Wellbeing, which let users take control of any mobile addiction.
Nokia has made sure you will never feel short of connectivity with the Nokia 7.1. The device supports dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4 / 5GHz) along with Wi-Fi Direct support. The device also comes equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 LE (Low Energy) and aptX supports which ensures longer connectivity with lossless audio quality. The device supports NFC which can be handy to pair NFC-enabled gizmos and even to make instant payments.
Performance
The Nokia 7.1 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor. Though it’s a mid-range processor, the device performs well in everyday usage. It can easily handle most of the social media applications and provide a good multi-tasking experience. The device runs on Android 8.0 Oreo out-of-the-box, but you can update it to Android 9.0 Pie that even marginally boosts the performance. The stock Android experience feels great to use and the 4GB of RAM is well optimised for performance. To test the CPU, we ran GeekBench 4 benchmarking tool. The device managed to earn single core score of 1,333 while the multi core score was 4,900. These numbers may not be significant, but they are decent as most of the phone in this price range runs on Snapdragon 450 or a Snapdragon 630 processor.
Talking about the graphics, the Nokia 7.1 sports an Adreno 509 GPU. On running the 3D Mark benchmark, the Nokia 7.1 managed to achieve an OpenGL score of 950, while the Vulkan score, was slightly lower at 930. The difference between the both is minimal, and it would hardly translate in real word usage. If you are a gamer, the Nokia 7.1 may not impress you. We played PUBG on the phone, which ran well at low graphic settings. When we tried tweaking the graphics further, the phone started stuttering, eventually disrupting the gameplay.
The rear dual-camera setup on the Nokia 7.1 is capable of clicking impressive photos. The camera barely takes time to focus and quickly adjusts the light balance settings. Photos we clicked appeared a bit oversaturated, but it is something most of us can live with. This camera is great for casual social media uploads on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Flickr, but if you wish to click photos like a professional, the Pro mode is worth exploring as it lets you control settings that dedicated cameras do. The camera on the Nokia 7.1 also supports 2K and full HD video recording, both limited to 30fps. The EIS (Electronic image stabilizer) on the camera does a fair job, but the lack of OIS (optical image stabilizer) can be seen in the videos.
The Nokia 7.1 sports a 3060mAh battery, which can easily last for a day. We used this phone for gaming, internet surfing and for streaming movies on Netflix. At the end of the day, the device was still left with 30 per cent of battery life. The Nokia 7.1 also supports fast charge which can fully charge the device in just under an hour.
Verdict
The Nokia 7.1 is an elegantly designed smartphone at a budget price tag of Rs. 19,990*. It offers some premium features such as a HDR display, great camera and solid build quality, which can be great for everyday use. With the Android One support and its frequent security updates, this phone is a good future-proof option. However, the lack of top-end hardware can sometimes be noticed. If your daily activity demands use of graphic intensive applications and games like PUBG and Fortnite, you should consider the Nokia 8.1 which packs a more powerful piece of hardware such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 and Adreno 616 GPU.
