HMD Global, the OEM who owns the Nokia brand, have finally announced their first flagship device, the Nokia 8. Sporting impressive specs throughout, the Nokia 8 will be available in September, starting in Europe, for €599. That translates to $704 at today’s exchange rate. It is expected that the device will make it to the US at some point this year but for September, expect it to be in Europe and China first. It will also likely be at a lower cost than $700 as device tend to be a bit less here than in Europe.
At that price point, the Nokia 8 is in the flagship category which begs the question of if the specs justify the price. On the surface, it would appear that way. The 5.3′ QHD device is powered by the Snadragon 835 octa-core processor and is coupled with the Adreno 540 GPU. It has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. That storage can be expanded by an additional 256GB thanks to the MicroSD slot. The phone is rated as splashproof with an IP54 certification and will run a near AOSP version of Android Nougat 7.1.1.
On the back of the Nokia 8 you will find a two-camera configuration that has been developed in conjunction with ZEISS optics. The cameras are 13MP f/2.0 with one being a RGB camera while the other is monochrome. This configuration is become commonplace for flagship devices. It has PDAF and IR autofocus and has a dual-tone flash for warmer flash photos. On the front, there is also a 13MP selfie camera, f/2.0 with a wide-angle lens and a display flash (it lights up the display prior to the photo to brighten up your face).
The Nokia 8 will be sold in both a single and dual SIM variant with a broad range of LTE bands supported. Here are the bands that are supported by the device:
- GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
- HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
- LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800), 28(700), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
Note that LTE band 12 is not supported. That is the 700MHz band from T-Mobile. It is possible that the US version of the Nokia 8 will add support for it but, if you are tempted to order an international version of the phone, be aware that your LTE coverage here in the US may be limited.
Finally, you’ll have several color options available on the Nokia 8. Those colors will include Polished Blue, Polished Copper (which looks stunning BTW), Tempered Blue and Steel.
Who’s excited?
