Nokia Has Launched Its First Android Handset, And Specifications Are Really Awesome

HMD Global, which acquired the rights to the Nokia brand name last year, has finally launched the first fully Android-run phone dubbed as Nokia 6.

For now it is launched in China at CNY 1699, which is approximately Rs. 16,700. It will be sold exclusively in China through online retailer JD.com.

Microsoft’s $10 billion mistake

In an approximate $10 billion mistake, Microsoft purchased Nokia’s handset business in April 2014. After the 2014 deal, Microsoft continued selling cheaper basic phones under Nokia’s name and Lumia smartphones under its own name, but last year, it largely abandoned both businesses.

 

The company’s financial losses, including customer relationships, as well as the cost of cutting ties with facilities and personnel, total more than $10 billion in restructuring charges and writedowns.

HMD Global’s big bet on Nokia brand name

HMD Global has has been working on since they acquired the exclusive brand licensing rights from Nokia. The company chose the Chinese market given the potential growth of smartphone users in 2017. The company is also betting big on the Nokia brand to bring success. They expect consumers to latch on to the premium build quality expected of a Nokia-branded phone and have also priced the device competitively within the Chinese market.

Nokia 6 – a premium smartphone

Nokia 6 sports a 5.5-inch Full HD display with 2.5D Gorilla Glass atop it. The phone sports an aluminum unibody design. Internally, the smartphone is powered though by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC with X6 LTE modem. In terms of memory you get 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. This storage can be further expanded using a microSD card. The phone runs the latest Android 7.0 Nougat OS. All of this is powered by a battery rated at 3,000 mAh.

In terms of connectivity, the SoC contains an X6 LTE modem capable of Cat. 4 LTE connectivity speeds up to 150Mbps download/50MBps upload

It offers a 16MP rear camera with dual LED flash, phase detection auto-focus (PDAF), 1 μm pixel sensor, and an f/2.0 aperture lens, while the front facing camera is a 8MP sensor with 1.12 μm pixel sensor, f/2.0 aperture lens, and wide-angle capture of 84 degrees.

Nokia 6 won’t be the only smartphone coming out this year from HMD Global. The company has hinted in its press release that there will be more devices coming by H1 2017.

There is hope that HMD Global will eventually bring this device, to other markets.