Nokia. It is not a name which needs any introduction. It is embedded in the memories of everyone who went through the evolution of mobile phones from simple machines used to text and call to these intricate and complex smartphones of today. Unfortunately, with the rise of smartphones, Nokia lost a lot of its ground and was forced to relinquish the control on our digital lives. Going from its aging Symbian OS to a brand new Windows Phone OS, Nokia lost both its market share and its hardware division to Microsoft. Now, after about 5 years, Nokia has a new owner, HMD Global, and it hopes to make a comeback into the smartphone market by piggybacking on the most popular kid in the playground — Android.
Nokia 3 is one of the first of a range of new devices being introduced by Nokia powered by Android. Let’s see if Nokia has learned some lessons from its ghost in the past or if this device is doomed to make the same mistakes as the failed Nokia devices in the past.
Before going through with the in-depth review, here are some things which make this phone stand out from the crowd:
Here is a couple of things which you should keep in mind before purchasing this phone:
Starting with the content of the box that Nokia 3 comes in, here’s what you will find when you get rid of all the packaging.
The right side of the device houses the volume rockers and the power button, both of which are very tactile and easy to press. Left side is home to the microSD card slot and the SIM card slot. The top side has the 3.5 mm headphone jack and noise cancellation mic, while the micro USB port and the downward firing speakers reside at the bottom of the device.
Nokia has used a 5-inch 720p display in Nokia 3. While some may frown over the exclusion of a FullHD display, you can’t really complain about it at this screen size and price range. The display is plenty sharp and there are no issues regarding grainy texts or pixelation at closer angles. Being an IPS LCD panel, it has good color reproduction and very decent viewing angles. The color temperature is a bit on the cooler side and there doesn’t seem to be any built in method to adjust that. Apart from that minuscule issue, the display does what it’s supposed to do and there shouldn’t be a lot of complaints in this department.
Surprisingly, Nokia 3 runs a near stock version of Android Nougat. The only noticeable additions that I could find in the software were an inclusion of FM Radio app, tweaks to camera application and the option to enroll in Nokia’s software experience program in the settings. Rest is stock and vanilla Android experience. It’s not a bad thing by any measure, I enjoy using stock Android and prefer it over most custom skins and ROMs available today.
Nokia 3 is powered by a 1.4 GHz Quad-Core Cortex-A53 processor running on a MediaTek MT6737 chipset. There’s also 2 GB of RAM to make sure that multitasking 5-6 apps in the background aren’t too much of a strain on the phone. It’s not a powerhouse by any definition of the word, and this shows up in both the benchmarks results and the real world performance. There won’t be any issues in completing day to day tasks like messaging, using social media or playing some light games, but as soon as you throw something a little heavy on resources, there is a big chance that you might experience some lag. It’s not that bad but you can definitely feel some sluggishness while doing heavier tasks. These are the results from Geekbench and AnTuTu benchmarking applications:
Finally, coming towards an exciting aspect of this device, let’s talk about the camera used in this device. The camera has always been a strong suite of Nokia devices in the past. With 8 MP cameras with f/2.0 aperture and autofocus on both the back and front of the device, it seems on paper that Nokia 3 would follow in the footsteps of Nokia phones of past — and it nearly does that. Why nearly? Although the camera used on Nokia 3 is pretty adequate for its price, it does have some issues with over-smoothing the picture after it has been taken and with autofocus in some areas. It seems to lose the focus a lot when used in poorly lit areas. However, if you have the appropriate amount of light, you can expect some pretty good looking shots from this phone. The front camera is very similar to a back camera, with the same focus issue. However, considering that there are very few phones out there in the market which provide auto-focus in front cameras, I can overlook that issue and say that it is a very capable camera for taking selfies or group photos.
Review of any phone is not complete without mentioning its price. If we are to measure a 15K phone and a 60K phone with the same yard stick, the budget phones will always be at disadvantage. Before making any conclusion, the launch price of Nokia 3 must be kept in mind. Coming at a price of 16,900 Pakistani Rupees, Nokia 3 provides a lot of value for its money. With a good screen, sleek design, decent camera and battery life, it is definitely worth the money. Although there are a couple of minor issues with auto-focus of the camera and slightly below par performance at times, it is a good purchase for anyone looking for a decently built smartphone with good picture taking capabilities at under 20,000 PKR.
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