After weeks of speculations, Finnish company HMD Global Oy, the official licensee of Nokia brand, launched the much anticipated Nokia 3, along with Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 series in New Delhi on June 13.
After the conclusion of the product launch, we had access to experience Nokia phones. Here we will be sharing our thoughts on Nokia 3 (there will be a separate piece on both Nokia 6 and Nokia 5), which will be the company's first full-fledged Android-powered phone to hit stores in India on June 16 for a reasonable price-tag of Rs. 9,499.
Nokia 3- Design and display:
Nokia 3 flaunts candy-bar design language with curved corners on the edges made of high-grade aluminium to provide a comfortable grip and also stability to the structure. It also sports smooth texture on the back. Its shell is made of polycarbonate, but it is sturdy and capable of surviving accidental falls.
As far as the display is concerned, it features a 5.0-inch screen having HD (1280x720p) resolution with Gorilla Glass shield and 2.5D curved glass, which not only adds value to the visual appearance but also provides extra protection from screen getting cracked at the edges. It is good enough to view high-resolution videos and images, but the only qualm is that the phone's capacitive buttons at the bottom (back, home and recents) are not back-lit. It will be difficult to operate during the night, but once we believe this won't be a deal breaker, as users will get used to the interface after a week of use, as the muscle memory kicks in.
Nokia 3- Performance:
Nokia 3 is an entry level phone, it usually attracts people who are planning to buy the smartphone for the first time and also those who wants a secondary phone. Don't expect the phone to blaze the benchmarks apps with high scores. Having said that, it won't disappoint you in day-to-day use such as calling, video chatting, a small session of gaming and video viewing. comes with a 1.3GHz MediaTek (MTK 6737) quad-core SoC (System-on-Chip) backed by 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage.
Most notable aspect of this phone is that it runs on pure Android and does not any bloat-wares and additional UI skins at all. Guess what it will get two years of software support including monthly security patch. This means the phone will get the soon-to-be-released Android O series software and also the Android P in 2018. Even Google does not have such a program for its own Android One series.
We believe this USP of the Nokia 3 will give its rivals, a run for their money for sure.
Also read: Android-powered Nokia 6, 5, 3 series officially launched in India; price, specs, all you need to know
Nokia 3- Camera:
Nokia 3 features an 8MP camera on both the back and the front. During short time with the phone, it took decent quality images, but we will not pass judgement right away, as we need to test it under various lighting conditions.
Nokia 3- Battery:
Nokia 3 comes with a 2,650mAh battery. We cannot judge the battery life of the device with just a few minutes in hand, but given the small 5.0-inch HD screen, we believe it's more than enough to get a full day's battery life with mixed usage.
