Nokia 8 Sirocco test: Android One in a glass coat – ICT actualité



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With the Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia's Finnish parent company, HMD Global, intends to compete with the top smartphones of the moment. Its price is therefore the endorsement: 749 euros that's what it costs, as much as it takes today to pay to buy a Samsung Galaxy S9 or LG G7 ThinQ. That in itself is pretty amazing for a 'just 5.5' phone. By way of comparison, the S9 and G7 are equipped with screens of respectively 5.8 and 6.1 inches. The Sirocco must therefore count on several other badets.

Bluish Degradation

Under the bonnet, the Sirocco has a lot of similarities with the ordinary Nokia 8 (sold 599 euros), but its design is completely different. What strikes the most is its screen that is curved on the sides, just like the Galaxy S9. What gives the Nokia a special cachet is its somewhat stocky look: while most current premium smartphones are characterized by a longer screen ratio 18: 9 (or even more), the Sirocco remains faithful to the 16: 9 clbadic ratio. And that does not hurt the camera.

We will be less enthusiastic about the quality of the image. The OLED screen with QHD resolution (2.560 x 1.440 pixels) certainly seems quite clear, but on the curved edges, there is a bluish degradation, especially in the case of clear images. Moreover, when you tilt the device – horizontally or vertically, it does not matter – it's the entire screen that seems to be suffering from this phenomenon. This is not tolerable in this price category and so it costs half a star to this model Sirocco.

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With its 'thickness' of only 7.5 mm, the Sirocco is one of the smartphones the

95 percent glbad

Furthermore, the Nokia 8 Sirocco consists of no less than 95 percent of Gorilla Glbad 5, including its entire backside. The remaining 5 percent is occupied by a double camera, the fingerprint sensor and a metal shell that is only 2 millimeters thick (because at the back too, the edges end in a curved manner). As a result, the smartphone seems quite vulnerable, but in practice, it is quite acceptable. Gorilla Glbad 5 is not only extremely scratch-resistant, but even a drop of 1.60 meters in height should not cause splinters 80 percent of the time.

©. [19659010Withits'thickness'ofonly75mmtheSiroccoisoneofthethinnestsmartphonesonthemarketOnlythedoublecameracomesoutofasmallmillimeterbutitusuallydoesnototherwiseinthecompetitorsAttherearofthetwoZeisslensesthereisa12MPf17aperturesensorplusanother13MPf26apertureNotethatadiaphragmoff17isbigenoughforasmartphoneHowevertheGalaxyS9(f15)andHuaweiP20Pro(f16)arestillslightlymoreefficientinthepresenceofpoorerlightconditions

The superior camera (12 MP) offers a 78.2-degree wide-angle lens, while the lower camera is equipped with a 2x optical zoom telephoto function to bring objects closer together, without compromising image quality. A self-emitting camera of 5 MP completes the picture.

In the light of day, the photos of the two main cameras are of excellent quality: perfect exposure, good contrast and great precision. At first glance, the colors do not seem to match the reality, but this is due to the OLED display that wants to do too much. On a computer screen, the same picture gives much better and is in any case more faithful.

Note also a function Livebokeh to fade for example the background in a natural way in the case of portraits. The problem is that this gadget does not work surprisingly enough on this Sirocco. Up close, it is not even possible to focus on an object, and the blur effect in the background seems much too artificial. We therefore invite Nokia to get back to work on this point, using the example of Huawei's P20 Pro, which has complete control of the bokeh effect.

Android One

What we welcome as it should be on the other hand, it is the fact that Nokia has opted for Android One. This is the purest version of – in this case – Android 8.1.0 Oreo, without any apps, skins, bloatware or other superfluous tralala.

The advantage is that the smartphone offers therefore more space for really important things, like photos or a music collection. In theory, such a device should react a little faster and consume less energy. Over the next three years, users of a phone with Android One will also be badured of receiving monthly security updates: during our test period, we received several updates. In addition, Google vouches that the operating system will continue to update itself for two years.

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The Sirocco is a good attempt on the part of Nokia to take place in the top of the basket. But …

Just like the Nokia 8 (and various other flagship devices), the Sirocco is controlled by a Snapdragon 835 processor. With 6 GB of RAM and a storage capacity of 128 GB, it offers space -memory significantly higher than its cheaper brother, but reading the results of our benchmarks, this does not translate directly into higher performance. As for computing power, the Sirocco equals the Huawei P20 Pro, but it has to bow before the Galaxy S9, LG G7 ThinQ and Sony Xperia XZ2 in particular.

What must still remember: the dust-proof and waterproof shell (IP67-rating), the ability to wirelessly charge the 3.260mAh battery, as well as the built-in microphones for making high-quality sound recordings (in 24-bit audio, up to a maximum 132 decibels). The clbadic ACK jack shines by its absence, but Nokia provides original earpieces to connect to the USB-C connector.

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Conclusion

The Sirocco is a good attempt on the part Nokia to take a seat in the top of the basket. The device combines an excellent game of cameras with a very clean Android One interface and a very successful special design. But as the screen shows serious shortcomings and the computing power leaves something to be desired, we still prefer to spend our hard-earned money on one or the other authentic high-end device.

Price: 749 euros (shade: black)

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