Nokia 7.1

The Nokia 7.1, Glossy Steel, 64GB (4GB RAM) runs for Rs. 19,900. It comes with a 5.84 inch OLED capacitive touchscreen display with 1080 x 2280 pixels at 432 PPI (pixels per inch). This flagship is powered by Qualcomm SDM636 Snapdragon 636 Octa-core processor and comes with 4GB RAM. It also has 32/64 gigs of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 400GB with a microSD card. The phone runs Android 8.1 and a 3060mAh non-removable battery. It measures 149.7 x 71.2 x 8 mm and weighs 160 gm. Further, it also houses an 8 MP primary camera on the rear and a 5 MP front shooter for selfies.

Nokia 7.1 is a newer model than Nokia 7, with many more features to show. One of the first things about the Nokia 7.1 that you notice is its style – just like its predecessor it goes for a straight-edged look instead of a curvy one. The edges of the 6000 series aluminium frame are bevelled rather than sharp. Overall, it looks pretty snazzy with its chrome highlights, which accent the power and volume keys, as well as the rear cameras.

The back of the phone is a flat glass panel, unlike the metal build we’ve seen on some other Nokia phones. It will wobble when sitting on the table owing to the camera bump.

On the front is a 5.84-inch 19/9 IPS LCD, and this screen is one of the more interesting things about Nokia 7.1. The new feature is that the 1080p display is HDR10 compliant. They were able to achieve HDR compliance on an LCD by using dynamic contrast. You have the option to enhance your SDR content to get HDR quality as well, and there is a noticeable difference in the highlights and shadows. Unlike the Nokia 7 Plus, this phone has a notch cut similar to the Nokia 6.1, resulting in the slimming of that top bezel and a more edge-to-edge experience. It measures up to 600 nits max brightness in auto mode in bright conditions but its performance is average when it comes to legibility under sunlight. There is a feature called ambient display, which is like an always-on display which only wakes up when you lift the phone or when a new notification comes in.

Inside the Nokia 7.1 is Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 636 chipset in either 3 or 4 gigs of ram. It doesn’t top the benchmark charts but has pretty good performance for its class. That said, don’t expect anything blazing fast here.

One of the best features about Nokia phones these days is that they’re all a part of the Android One family. The Nokia 7.1 used to run Android Oreo 8.1 and since then switched to Android Pi. You also get the standard Android 8 home screen with a pull-up app drawer – and everything feels simple and fluid. The quick toggles and notification shades change colour depending on the wallpaper you choose – white for lighter ones and black for darker ones. One interesting feature is that the navigation bar and the area around the notch turn red when you’re low on battery. As for multimedia, all hands are on deck from Google’s App Suite’s “Photos”, which is in charge of your gallery and video playback while Google Play Music acts as the audio player.

The Nokia 7.1’s Dual Camera setup has a 12 MP primary camera with an f1.8 Zeiss branded lens and dual pixel autofocus, and the secondary 5 MP snapper is just for depth sensing to provide better bokeh. The camera app on the Nokia 7.1 is practically the only custom app and it’s been improved since the previous Nokia phones. You can swipe to switch between different shooting modes and this selfie camera switch is easier to reach.

The selfie camera is 8 MP with an f2.0 lens. There’s no autofocus but the focus plane is a reasonable distance away from the phone so it works out fine. Selfies come out with lifelike skin tones in an overall pleasing colour rendition, though the level of resolved detail isn’t impressive. There’s 4k video recording available on the Nokia 7.1 at 30fps, and it’s mostly sharp except for areas which contain a lot of fine detail. Colours are a true-to-life, the contrast is excellent, and there isn’t a lot of noise. The 1080p clips are similar in quality though they hold up a bit better against the competition. The field of view is narrower here though, due to the always-on electronic stabilization.

The battery life of the Nokia 7.1 is decent and is powered by a 3060mAH power battery. It earns an endurance rating of 80 hours as its total battery life. There’s no wireless charging through.

So that’s the Nokia 7.1; overall it is one of the better Android One smartphones out there. It’s got a great HDR display, decent performance, and a nice branded camera, especially if you like portrait mode. Although the price isn’t too bad, it’s not the best bang for your buck. There are phones in this price range that bring much more powerful chipsets than the Snapdragon 636. That said, it’s still a pretty nice package for a mid-range phone. If blazing fast performance is in your priority, then the Nokia 7.1 is worth looking into.