Nokia 7.1: The King of Mid-Range Smartphones

HMD Global, the company making Nokia Android phones has finally unveiled the Nokia 7.1, the latest device in Nokia’s line up of mid-range devices. The Nokia 7.1 comes with a well-crafted and sleek design at an affordable price point. And according to Nokia, it is the king of mid-range devices. Let’s get to meet the Nokia 7.1.

Nokia 7.1 Key Specs

• Body: 6000-series aluminium frame
• Screen: PureDisplay 5.84-inch with 19:9 IPS LCD HDR10 compliant Display
• Resolution: 2280×1080 Pixels
• Rear Camera: 12MP, f/1.8, 1.28µm + 5MP B&W f/2.4 depth sensor
• Front Camera: 8MP f/2.0 with 84-degree wide angle
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 with Adreno 509 GPU
• Memory: 3GB/4GB RAM, 32GB/64GB storage
• OS: Android 8.1
• Battery: 3,060mAh with fast charging

Design and Display

The Nokia 7.1 is designed with a glass sandwich-style body with diamond cut anodized aluminium frame. The glass makes for 85% of the whole surface. It is a beautiful device with a cool glossy steel material. In terms of dimension, it measures 149.7 x 71.2 x 8 mm and weighs around 160g. The available colours are Gloss Midnight Blue and Gloss Steel.

Display-wise, it is built around a PureDisplay notched panel with 1080 x 2280 pixel resolution and a 5.84-inch diagonal. It’s protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and boasts HDR10 support, which is something of a surprise for a phone at this price point. Another great feature of the device is that the display can do real-time HDR conversion to SDR videos.

Nokia 7.1 Camera

In the camera front, the Nokia 7.1 does not disappoint. It is blessed with a dual rear camera consisting of a 12MP main shooter with f/1.8 aperture and a 5MP black and white camera. Like Nokia tradition, the back cameras come with Zeiss optics and the “bothie” mode which lets you talk a selfie and photos using the back and front cameras at the same time. For selfie, you get an 8MP f/2.0 selfie shooter with AI and face unlock capability.

Hardware and Software

Powering the Nokia 7.1 is Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 636 processor paired with either 3 or 4GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. Both storage options can be expanded further to 128GB via a microSD card. The device runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and should get the Android 9.0 Pie soon since it is part of the Android One program.

Connectivity, Price and Availability

The Nokia 7.1 is a 4G dual SIM enabled device. It is powered by a 3,060 mAh battery which supports fast charging through the USB. Connectivity options on the phone include, 4G, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0 aptX, GPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, USB 2.0 Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack.

As far as availability and pricing are concerned, it will be available starting from October 28. The 3GB/32GB version will cost $349, while the one with 4GB/64GB version is will retail for around €349.

Nokia 7.1 Full Specs

Network Connectivity

• 2G: GSM, GPRS, EDGE 900 / 1800 MHz
• 3G: UMTS, WCDMA, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 MHz
• 4G: LTE bands 1(2300) / 3(1800) / 5(850) / 40(2300) / 41(2500)
• SIM Type: Dual-SIM, Nano-SIM
• Bluetooth: v5.0
• WiFi: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, hotspot
• GPS: Yes
• USB: microUSB v2.0

Design and Display

• Dimensions: 149.7 x 71.2 x 8 mm
• Weight: 160g
• Display: 5.84-inch, 1080 x 2280 pixels, 19:9 aspect ratio, HDR10 compliant
• Sensors: Fingerprint, Ambient light, Accelerometer, Proximity
• Build: Metal
• Colours: Gloss Midnight Blue and Gloss Steel

Hardware and Software

• Processor Type: 64-bit Octa-core 1.8 GHz Kryo 260
• Processor Name: Qualcomm SDM636 Snapdragon 636
• Graphics Processor: Adreno 509 GPU
• OS: Android 8.1 Oreo
• RAM: 3GB/4 GB
• Internal Storage: 32GB/64GB
• External Storage: microSD, up to 128 GB

Camera

• Rear Camera: 12MP f/1.8 + 5MP  f/2.4 dual rear cameras,1.28µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, Zeiss optics
• Video recording: 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps (gyro-EIS)
• Front-facing Camera: 8 megapixels, flash

Multimedia

• Music Support: MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
• Audio:
• Loudspeaker: Mono
• Video Support: MP4/MPEG4 player
• FM Radio: Yes

Miscellaneous Features

• Charging: fast battery charging
• Battery Type and Capacity: Non-Removable Lithium-Polymer 3060mAh
• Announced: October 2018
• Availability: October 2018