The Nokia 8 flagship revealed, with a “bothie” mode

HMD Global, the Finnish company that has the licence to make phones bearing the Nokia name has revealed its new, eagerly anticipated Nokia 8. It’s the first Android Flagship phone to have the Nokia branding, which is exciting stuff – but the phone itself is really just par for what you’d expect from a modern flagship.

Aligning with the leaks, the Nokia 8 has a 5.3-inch display (2560 x 1440), and is powered by the same chip that’s in the Samsung Galaxy S8 (at least, the ones that don’t have Samsung’s own Exynos processor), Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. It’ll also sport 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. It’ll come with a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 screen, along with a pretty decent-sized 3,090mAh battery and support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.

Unlike its competitors though, the screen appears to have a large bezel, skipping on the edge-to-edge, bezel-free stuff we see in phones from LG and Samsung. The whole thing seems a little…uninspired, without features like waterproofing, or wireless charging.

Its big gimmick seems to be in its camera, which sports a dual 13MP dual-camera setup. One camera will do colour, while the other snaps in monochrome, allowing for some amazing post-snap editing. It’ll also have a “bothie” mode, which besides its stupid naming could actually be useful. It engages both front and rear cameras so you’ll be able to share “both sides of the story.” For vloggers, this’ll be great to show what’s happening while keeping their all-important narcissistic faces in shot too.

“Nokia 8 features a 13 MP dual image-fusion rear camera with both colour and monochrome sensors, plus a wide-angle 13 MP phase detection auto-focus front camera. Both front and rear cameras are equipped with ZEISS optics, meaning every snapshot moment becomes a story worth sharing.”

The phone will also feature Nokia OZO spatial 360° audio, which should make it a decent phone for recording audio. It’ll also let you record video in 4K, and allows for microSD storage so you can actually save all of that footage. That same slot can be used as a second sim slot.

Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer of HMD Global, said: “We know that fans are creating and sharing live content more than ever before, with millions of photos and videos shared every minute on social media. People are inspired by the content they consume and are looking for new ways to create their own. It’s these people who have inspired us to craft a flagship smartphone which perfectly balances premium design, an outstanding experience and powerful performance.”

Our friends at Gearburn have confirmed that the device will be available in South Africa in September. We don’t quite know what it’ll cost here, but its European price works out to just under R10 000.

Specs:

• 5.3in IPS LCD Display – QHD Resolution, 700nits Brightness, Gorilla Glass 5 (2.5D Glass)
• 6000 Series Milled Aluminium Body – IP54 Certified, 7.9mm Thickness
• Carl Zeiss Dual-Camera (Primary, Rear-Facing) – 13MP (Colour & Monochrome), f/2.0 Aperture, 1.12µm Pixels, Laser Autofocus, Dual-LED Flash, OIS (Colour Sensor)
• Secondary/Front Camera – 13MP, f/2.0 Aperture, 1.12µm Pixels, Phase Detection Autofocus
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC
• 64GB Onboard Storage
• MicroSD Card Support
• Android 7.1 Nougat

Last Updated: August 17, 2017