Recently picked up a Nokia 6.1 and 7 Plus for my partner and myself. First impressions after a week or so of use are very good.
These are mid-range smartphones made by a Finnish company (HMD) who bought the Nokia name a couple of years ago, and released their first line of handsets in 2017. These are new 2018 phones, that strike a decent balance between specs and cost. One of the most attractive selling points is the OS - these phones are pure stock android, with absolutely no extra rubbish on top. They are part of Google's Android One (https://www.android.com/one/) programme, which guarantees stock android on compatible hardware, and updates / patches at the same time as the Pixel family.
The 6.1 (https://www.nokia.com/en_gb/phones/nokia-6) (i.e. the 2018 Nokia 6) packs a 5.5" 1080p screen and middle of the road Snapdragon 621 and 3GB of RAM. My better half is using this one, and so far has been very happy with it. I've had a quick play and the phone seems snappy and responsive with no noticeable slowdown.
The 7 Plus (https://www.nokia.com/en_gb/phones/nokia-7-plus) is slightly larger, with a 6" 18:9 aspect ratio 1080x2160 screen (the 6.1 has the more common 16:9 aspect ratio), and a Snapdragon 630. It has an extra GB of RAM at 4GB, which in reality makes little difference to most users. I am a fan of the larger screen, but this is definitely more phablet than phone. Much like the 6.1, general use is as smooth as melted butter, and the screen looks great (both displays end up with a PPI of 403). The 7 also has a significantly larger battery, rated @3,800mAh - after a day of fairly regular use I sit at around 50-60% so far.
The cameras are... cameras. I have very opinionated thoughts on smartphones and their cameras and firmly believe that almost any modern smartphone camera is more than capable of meeting the needs of 99% of users, with the real differences found in the software. A simple example - the Pixel software is top notch, and seems to produce consistently pleasing results across reviews, despite 'only' having a single lens and smaller sensor than most of its competitors. You'd have to read some reviews of the Nokias to get a better grasp of their cameras - for me, they work and take quick and easy photos, and that is enough. When I want more, I pick up my Sony (https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras/ilce-7m3-body-kit).
I should add a disclaimer here, in that we tend to use our phones for fairly resource light things like web browsing, social media, email, and video (YouTube, Twitch, etc). We do not play CPU / GPU hungry games. These 2 Nokias are middle of the road phones, they do not have the top of the line tech. Their price reflects this - the 6.1 was £229, and the 7 Plus £349.
If you tend to use your phone in a similar way, and like me are done paying £500+ for a phone, it may be worth checking Nokia out. These two aren't the only phones they offer, and they do have higher (and lower) end models if these don't tickle your fancy. I am delighted with the 7 Plus. Its size, screen, performance and battery life are all exceeding my expectations. Highly recommended.
Cheers all.
I will note that the Nokia 8 (https://www.nokia.com/en_gb/phones/nokia-8) (the 2017 flagship that DOES have higher end innards - a Snapdragon 835 and a 5.3" 1440p screen for example) has just gone on sale at £300. This looks like a lot of phone for the money, but I have no personal experience with it. I know MikeP has just picked one up, so perhaps he will share some thoughts with us when he has had a play!
Interesting. Who'd have thought that after 20 years I might be back using a Nokia again. My Nexus 5X is absolutely fine but I'll seriously look at a Nokia come upgrade time.
A tad off topic.....
As for the quality of Nexus and Pixel cameras Google employ engineers with vastly huge brains rather. So they use a combination of hardware and software to get the amazing quality, rather than just great hardware and not so great software.
For example Marc Levoy is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Stanford. He's also the Principal Engineer at Google and leads a research team specialising in computational photography. As far as I know he basically designed the software for the Pixel line of phones.
There's an amazing series of lectures he gave free on YouTube that I can't recommend highly enough for anyone serious about photography. They are edging towards the quite technical though. On teh other hand they go way beyond the normal level of educational videos you find on YouTube. Highly recommended.
https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoylectures/home
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Marc+Levoy+-+Lectures+on+Digital+Photography+
I'll be bringing mine to the LAN for anyone to have a play with. We are both smitten!
I'll check out those videos Smilo, sounds good!