Times of Oman

HMD unveils Nokia 8 Android smartphone

The Android device, due out in September, will potentiall­y beat rivals on price but will still face fierce competitio­n, with Apple’s anticipate­d 10th anniversar­y iPhone also expected next month and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 set to hit the market next week.

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HMD Global, the Finnish start-up looking to reinvigora­te the Nokia phone brand, unveiled the Nokia 8 on August 16, hoping to cash in on rising consumer demand for highqualit­y audio and video features.

The Android device, due out in September, will potentiall­y beat rivals on price but will still face fierce competitio­n, with Apple’s highly anticipate­d 10th anniversar­y iPhone also expected next month and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 set to hit the market next week.

With a suggested price tag of around 599 euros ($703), the Nokia 8 undercuts Apple, which typically offers a stripped down version of its latest phones for a similar price but charges hundreds of euros more for memory and key features.

The new top-of-the-line Nokia sports a dual-sight video feature which enables simultaneo­us livestream­ing on social media networks from both front and rear cameras on a split screen. It has licensed lens technology from camera maker Zeiss.

It is the most high-end phone so far from HMD, which was set up late last year and made a splash in May when it revived Nokia’s classic 3310 feature handset in new brightly coloured versions.

Other features of the Nokia 8, which will also compete with Huawei’s recently launched, include surround-sound audio technology made for Nokia’s own virtual real- ity camera OZO for Hollywood profession­als.

“This is especially meant for millennial creators, people who want to share what’s happening every day,” HMD’s chief marketing officer Pekka Rantala said.

HMD products are built by a unit of Foxconn, which acquired the manufactur­ing and distributi­on assets of the former Nokia phone business from Microsoft last year.

Once the world’s dominant phonemaker, Nokia sold its handset operations to Microsoft in 2014, leaving it to focus on telecoms network equipment.

HMD is owned by Smart Connect LP, a private equity fund managed by Jean-Francois Baril, a long-serving former senior vice president of Nokia. It took over the Nokia feature phones business in December and has a licensing deal giving it sole use of the Nokia brand on all phones and tablets.

It has so far launched four smartphone­s and five feature phones, including the 3310.

Rantala said he was happy with initial sales of the previous smartphone­s, but declined to disclose any sales figures yet.

HMD will pay Nokia royalties for the brand and patents.

Last month, HMD announced that its CEO Arto Nummela, a former Nokia executive, was leaving the company for personal reasons, without elaboratin­g.

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