[ad_1]
HMD Global has been firing on all cylinders this year, and the revived Nokia brand seems to be picking up momentum. The company made a big splash at the MWC exhibition in early 2018 with a fresh top-to-bottom lineup, and since then it has released even more new models. While today's Nokia phones might be more expensive than we are. HMD can be compared to multiple cameras or powerful processors.
The company's naming scheme is a little confusing – while the new Nokia 3.1 Plus is boasting a large screen, it is not a bigger counterpart to the Nokia 3.1. It has been updated and improved design keys, which should help it feel fresh in a very saturated market. We're reviewing the variant with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage which is priced at Rs. 11,499 in India – there will be a lower-priced variant with 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage, but HMD Global is yet confirmed its price and availability, so all comparisons to other phones will be based on the unit we have. Without further ado, let's get started.
Nokia 3.1 Plus design
A lot of people buy phones online without ever touching or feeling them, but you have to get your hands on Nokia 3.1. The body is all aluminum except for the front glass and plastic caps at the top and bottom of the rear. The sides of the body are rounded, and the corners are curved so that it is always comfortable in the hand. It's a look we've seen over the years, but it still comes across as attractive.
The aluminum rear shell has a non-slippery soft-touch texture which makes handling this phone really easy. It resists fingerprints but we did not see them again. This phone is available in three colors – blue, white, and a bluish-gray shade called Baltic. Our review was the last, and we liked it a lot. It's neutral and subtle, but still distinct. Unlike the Nokia 3.1, which has bold contrasting metal accents, the Nokia 3.1
The 18: 9 screen measures 6 inches diagonally but this phone is not much larger than standard 5.5-inch phones. At 180g and 8.2mm thick, this phone is definitely on the bulkier side, but most people will find it manageable. The only negatives we found were that the seams between the metal and plastic do not meet perfectly, and the SIM trays on the left do not fit into the body very cleanly. The trays in particular have rough, unfinished-looking edges where specks of dust seem to collect almost immediately.
HMD Global logo but interrupts the otherwise minimalist look. The screen's corners are rounded to match those of the body, and the front is slightly curved at the edges. The company says this is toughened glass but does not specify a brand. Overall, the look is very simple and straightforward, but not boring.
The power and volume buttons are on the left, within easy reach. If you have to stretch a thumb, you can do so confidently without this phone slipping out of your palm. There's a 3.5mm audio socket on the top, and a Micro-USB port on the bottom. There are symmetrical grids, but only one has the speaker behind it. One of the trays on the left can seat SIM 1 plus a microSD card, and the second tray is for SIM 2. In the box, you'll find a 5V / 2A charger, Micro-USB cable, and headset.
Nokia 3.1 Plus specifications and software
Priced at Rs. 11,499, the Nokia 3.1 Plus variant with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage goes up against the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro (Review) and the Asus ZenFone Pro Max M1 (Review). However, HMD Global has gone with a relatively pokey processor, the MediaTek Helio P22, which we saw in the entry-level Xiaomi Redmi 6 (Review). This SoC has eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores running at up to 2GHz and is manufactured using a power-efficient 12nm process. Four are used for basic tasks, and the rest kick in only when needed.
The main attraction here is the 6-inch screen. The HD + 720×1440-pixel resolution might not seem like a lot at this size, but we found it to be comfortable. Thanks to the large body, there's also 3500mAh battery, and HMD Global promised two-day battery life. The 13-megapixel f / 2.0 main rear camera is joined by a 5-megapixel f / 2.4 depth sensor. There's also an 8-megapixel f / 2.2 front camera.
The sensors include a gyroscope and compass in addition to the usual proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and accelerometer. There's also Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11n, and GPS / A-GPS. 4G and VoLTE are supported on both SIMs at the same time.
The blanket adoption of Android One for all Nokia phones in 2018 (entry-level aside) has helped HMD Global differentiate its offerings from the bluated windows. Android 8.1 with (surprisingly) the August 2018 security patch, and we can confidently expect an upgrade to Android 9 Pie in the near future.
When we first got this phone on and got online, we were able to deal with spam and spam. The home screens and app drawer on the Nokia 3.1 are more beautifully designed. The only non-standard apps were Google's own Go and Google Pay files, and a necessary FM radio app.
The UI felt snappy and responsive despite the low-end processor in use. However, with all that said, there are some disadvantages to barebones stock Android. You do not get popular features like the ability to run two instances of some apps, or handy tools for things like screenshots annotations. If you want face recognition, you 'll have to dig the Android Trusted Face' feature. There is no need for a RAM counter in the app switcher. If you like having these tweaks and customizations, it's up to you to find third-party alternatives wherever possible.
Nokia 3.1 Plus performance, battery life and cameras
As stated above, we did not have much trouble with the Android UI stock, and basic usage did not feel sluggish. There were some stutters when browsing the game and switching between heavy apps and games, and loading times at times.
The screen is nice and bright, and we do not have trouble outdoors. Colors are not the most vibrant, but we enjoyed watching videos streamed from YouTube and other services. The big screen makes you look good, and the relatively low resolution is not a problem. The single speaker is pretty loud and the sound is quite rich and deep, but it does distort at high volumes.
To call the Nokia 3.1 Plus's weak benchmark scores would be an understatement. With just 77,999 points in AnTuTu, this phone is outperformed by multiple models that sell for well under Rs. 10,000. PCMark's Work 2.0 test gave us 4,752 points and the browser-based Basemark 3.0 returned a score of 76.89. At least low-impact graphics test scores were decent, with this phone scoring 26fps in GFXBench's T-rex test and 8,015 points in 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme.
We were pleasantly surprised to see Dead Trigger 2 smoothly run, though levels took a while to load. On the other hand, the new Asphalt 9: Legends was too much choppy and simply froze after a point.
While raw performance is a bit underwhelming, battery life is this phone's strongest suit. With 60 per cent of the time, we have 60 per cent of the time, leaving plenty for the night and next day. In our HD video loop test, the Nokia 3.1 Plus for a 17 hours, 13 minutes. With experiences like this, we have no doubt that we will not be able There's also a Battery Saver that can be set to kick in when your battery level goes down to 15 percent. We only wish that quick charging was supported.
The cameras on the Nokia 3.1 are more about okay. The app has a Live Bokeh mode and lets you adjust the intensity of the depth effect. The manual mode only gives you options for focus, white balance, and exposure compensation, and the controls are not fine-grained. For video, there are separate time-lapse and slow motion modes.
Nokia 3.1 Plus sample photos
We noticed severe shutter lag in bright daylight, possibly due to HDR being set to automatic by default. This made taking photos a little frustrating. In most cases, quality was decent but not exciting. Detail suffers if you are not focusing on a close range, for example when taking shots of a landscape. Even with macros, fine details did not come out. We had a little trouble with overexposure in bright parts of the frame. The Bokeh effect was pretty good, but sometimes we noticed issues with edge detection. At night, photos cam out with a lot of grain and even objects directly under a streetlamp cam out looking poorly defined.
Video is recorded at 1080p with both front and rear cameras by default. It's definitely a shake and there's a lot of focus when moving anything in the frame moves. The quality is just about okay, but it's not the phone for you. Selfies are also just okay. One of the most important things you can do in the past, and you are not blind and you are not blown out.
Verdict
The Nokia 3.1 Plus is not the most competitive phone at its price level; not by a long shot. No matter how good it looks on the outside, it's hard to ignore just how much is the use of other models. If you're spending this much money, you should expect nothing less, and it's not worth much if your needs are going to outgrow its capabilities within a year or two.
What you do get is a big screen and incredible battery life, which means that you can watch TV shows and do not care about gaming.
If you think that you're going to be able to do that – and then you're going to be able to do it. The Asus ZenFone Pro Max M1 (Review) is a better all-rounder that looks somewhat similar, has a screen that's just as large less.
<! –
->
Source link
