Nokia 3.1 (Nokia 3 2018)

Nokia 3.1 comes as a capable handset for budget users. Priced at Rs. 8,549, it does not go outside its budget price bracket but does not fall behind its budget competitors either.

Nokia 3.1 does not have any striking feature. It has average cameras, capable performance, and a poor battery. However, it delivers on the basis of its price bracket and is a worthy recommendation for budget users.

The Nokia 3.1 does not excel in design but is quite handsome. The metal frame comes with tapered sides which makes it quite sturdy. While it has a thick plastic back, it is the thickness of the plastic that adds to the sturdiness. The matte polycarbonate back is designed so that it can prevent fingerprint smudges. It is 3 mm taller than the Nokia 3, but it is also 3 mm narrower, making it one of the slenderests sets to exist in the smartphone industry! Despite being large, it sits comfortably in hand and doesn’t feel like it’s digging in the palms. On the whole, it is a sturdy and manageable handset.

Nokia 3.3 has a 5.5-inch IPS LCD screen with a display of 720p and an 18:9 aspect ratio. It occupies most of the front and has a Gorilla Glass layer making it shatterproof. The colours are wonderful on the display and appear quite sharp. However, the sunlight legibility is not up to the mark. There might be many reflections falling on the screen when you are outside. The viewing angles are good; however, extreme tilting may result in the dimming of colours. The display also contains a cyan tint to it, but it is expected at this price bracket.

The Nokia 3.1 has a very dated MediaTek MT6750 chipset. It is an octa-core processor which is clocked at 1.5GHz. It is partnered by a Mali-T860 MP2. While it is an upgrade from the poorer Nokia 5’s processor, it proves itself to be an entry-level processor. It can handle multitasking but pushing it too much will result in the stuttering of the phone. Light games can run easily on this set, but if you try to play graphics heavy games, you will be disappointed. It results in a lot of stuttering even in medium setting. Benchmark tests put it at 2624 which is a bit better than the Moto G6 Play capping at 2328.

The Nokia 3.1 has a 13MP rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture. It is not a spectacular camera, but it’s quite decent considering the price bracket that it comes in. The colours are quite accurate, and there is good contrast, but there was a lot more visual noise captured than could be appreciated. The dynamic range was also quite average. There is a manual HDR mode that can be activated to improve dynamic range. HDR photos are quite good.

In low light, the image quality plummets. While the focus remains accurate and there is a little blur, the low-light images capture a lot of noise and lose on a lot of details.

The Nokia 3.1 has an 8MP selfie camera which comes with HDR support. While the images contain good colours and remain sharp, there is a lot of noise present in the photos.

The Nokia 3.1 comes with a 2,990 mAh battery. It isn’t the best battery for this set. A test on browsing web on it continuously found it lasting for 9 hours and 11 minutes. It is a disappointing score, and it may not last for a whole day. Plus, it does not come with fast charging and will only fill 18% in half an hour.

The Nokia 3.1 has a solid build and good design. The performance has been improved from the previous one though it remains dated. However, the camera and battery disappoint. While a spectacular camera cannot be expected from this set, it is unusual that the battery has turned out to be poor. However, as a low-cost phone, it is quite capable and well-designed. You can also consider Moto G6 Play too for better battery and camera performance at a similar price range, though you will lose out on the solid build of Nokia 3.1.