Talking about the specialty of the phone, it has a 5.84 inch notch display which is equipped with HDR support. For speed and multitasking, Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor has been used in Nokia 7.1. Apart from this, this phone comes with two rear cameras, 4 GB RAM, 3,060 mAh battery and Carl Zeiss optics. The sale of Nokia 7.1 has started in India, so let’s know about it in detail.
Design of Nokia 7.1
Nokia 7.1 The Nokia 7.1 is made of aluminium frame and metal which makes it a strong contender. It looks great and there is no doubt that it is an attractive smartphone in this price range. The back panel of the phone is made of glass, which is why it gets fingerprints and can easily slip. Nokia 7.1 is quite big, due to which you may have trouble using the phone with one hand.
There is no button on the front panel of Nokia 7.1 smartphone, but the power and volume buttons are present on the right side of the phone. On the other hand, the SIM tray is given on the left side of the phone, if you want, you can put a SIM or a microSD card in the second slot. There is a notch on the upper part of the phone which is quite small. The feature to hide the notch does not come with the Android Pie update, but users can find this option in the developer option of the Settings app. There is a border at the bottom of the phone where you will see the Nokia brand logo.
For photography, a dual-rear camera setup has been provided on the back panel, it is also worth noting here that you will see the Zeiss logo just below the primary sensor. This means that Nokia 7.1 comes with Carl Zeiss optics. Not only this, a fingerprint sensor for security, Nokia brand logo and Android One written on the back panel will be seen. The loudspeaker and USB Type-C port have been placed at the bottom of the phone. Loud and clear sound is heard from the speaker.
Nokia 7.1 Specifications and Display
Nokia 7.1 smartphone has been launched only in 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage variant, it is possible to increase the storage up to 400 GB with the help of microSD card. The phone has a hybrid-SIM tray, which means you can put either a SIM or a memory card in the second slot. To power the phone, there is a 3,060 mAh battery and fast charging support. Nokia 7.1 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo. Our review unit has received Android 9.0 Pie stable update.
For connectivity, there is Wi-Fi 802.11 AC, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS / A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC, Type C (USB 2.0), OTG, 3.5 mm headphone jack support. Nokia 7.1 has a 5.84 inch full HD + (1080×2280 pixels) display with 19: 9 aspect ratio and HDR 10 support. The phone’s display is bright, and the colors also appear vivid. Its viewing angle is also quite good. HDR content appears sharp and vibrant.
Nokia 7.1 performance, software and battery life
Nokia 7.1 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor with 4GB RAM. The phone handles all day-to-day tasks with ease and accuracy. UI animations are also smooth. There was no problem in playing Asphalt 9 on medium graphics settings. Now let’s talk about benchmark scores. Nokia 7.1 scored 1,16,083 on AnTuTu, 33fps in GFXBench T-Rex, 9.6fps in GFXBench Manhattan 3.1 and 1,340 and 4,926 in Geekbench single and multi-core tests respectively.
Nokia 7.1 is a part of Android One. Huawei, Samsung and Realme smartphones have the facility to run two WhatsApp apps simultaneously, but in this phone you cannot run two WhatsApp simultaneously. The phone has an ambient display feature which shows notifications of missed calls and app notifications. Many gestures have also been given in Nokia 7.1 for the convenience of the users.
Apart from this, you can use Android Pie navigational gestures if you want. There will be no problem in using them. The phone has a digital wellbeing feature that tracks how fast you are using different apps, how many times you unlocked the phone and how many notifications you receive in a day. With the Android Pie update, the dark mode feature will also be added to the phone. This app darkens the drawer and also provides the facility of a quick toggle panel.
There will be an 8-megapixel front camera for selfies and video calling, its aperture is F / 2.0. Nokia 7.1 comes with face unlock support, it works properly when there is sufficient light. It works irregularly in low light and sunlight. The face unlock setup process in Nokia 7.1 is a bit slow. It is hoped that this will be improved with future software updates for Nokia 7.1. The fingerprint sensor works properly and fast.
In our HD video loop battery test, the Nokia 7.1 lasted 9 hours and 30 minutes. Under medium to heavy usage, the phone lasted for 12 hours and still had 15 percent battery left. The Android Pie update brings battery saver mode and adaptive battery feature. The fast charger fully charges the phone in 1.5 hours. Despite the glass back panel, the phone does not come with wireless charging support.
Nokia 7.1 Camera
For photography, Nokia 7.1 has two rear cameras which come with Carl Zeiss optics and electronic image stabilization. A 12-megapixel primary sensor with F/1.8 aperture will work in tandem with a 5-megapixel secondary sensor with F/2.4 aperture. There will be an 8-megapixel front camera for selfies and video calling, its aperture is F/2.0. This Nokia brand smartphone comes with dual flash.
Photos taken in adequate light were crisp and vivid colors were visible. According to our experience, the pictures taken in portrait shots were also quite impressive. The noise in the pictures taken in low light was minimal and the photos were quite good. At times, we found the sharpness in the pictures taken from the phone to be more. Of course, HMD Global has worked a lot on low-light performance in Nokia 7.1, but in this price segment, it is not very good. Xiaomi Mi A2 ,Review) has the best camera.
The 8-megapixel selfie sensor also took good pictures. There is no LED flash on the front panel, but the pictures taken in low light satisfied us. Let us tell you that the front camera uses software algorithm to take portrait shots. Useful features like AR stickers, dual-site mode, AI portrait lighting will be available in the camera app. AR stickers can be used with the rear and front camera. The picture quality taken from the rear and front camera in dual-site mode was not very good. The front camera is capable of recording 1080p and the rear camera 4K videos. Let us tell you that the video quality was good.
Our verdict
Nokia 7.1 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor is priced a bit higher as compared to other phones in this price segment. Poco F1 And Honor Play Like flagship-grade processor has been used in the smartphone. If we don’t talk about the power of the processor, Nokia 7.1 is an all-rounder smartphone. The specialty of Nokia 7.1 is the crisp and vivid HDR display of the phone and it presents the best claim in this price segment. Nokia 7.1, as we told you, is a part of the Android One program, so in such a situation the phone is guaranteed to get regular updates. The look is quite attractive, its build quality is also very good. HMD Global has also worked a lot on the low-light camera performance of Nokia 7.1.
You can of course buy the Xiaomi Poco F1 and Honor Play which are powered by flagship-grade processors. But it is worth noting that the Poco F1 is made of plastic which does not give a premium look, whereas the premium look of the Nokia 7.1 makes it attractive. The Poco F1 and Honor Play run on MIUI and EMUI skins which come with third-party bloat. In the end, the Nokia 7.1 is a robust smartphone that easily manages all the tasks of the day.