Long-term test Nokia 8
The bigger, sleeker shape of Finns to come?
DAY 01
The simple 3310 is Nokia’s most celebrated handset for a reason: this company has never made a great smartphone. The Nokia 8 is intending to change this, but my first thoughts? It’s fallen flat. While the Finns’ previous creations were often weird and wonderful, the Nokia 8 just looks like an iphone – my girlfriend even mistook it for one. But it doesn’t have that iphone quality. Even the iphone-inspired dual-camera setup disappointed after a few snaps. Perhaps it’ll fare a little better tomorrow?
DAY 02
Nope, still rubbish. With its three 13MP sensors, phase-detection AF, IR rangefinder and f/2.0 apertures, this camera looks a stunner on paper. In reality, the Nokia 8 struggles to get its exposure levels right, meaning photos look either too bright or too dark. I’m also not especially convinced by its focusing, with a lot of snaps appearing soft and lacking the detail you’d expect from a phone this costly.
When tested side by side with the iphone 7 Plus, the difference is night and day. Yes, the iphone is pricier, but there’s little point in having dual cameras if the results aren’t going to come close to the gold standard. As such, pitting these two together is like taking a knife to a gunfight.
In this phone’s defence, it does do a serviceable job of outdoor photos when there’s enough light around, and Nokia still has time to push out a software update to patch up the rest of its camera troubles. Given that broadly the same issues affect the Nokia 8’s dual-lens and selfie cameras, this does seem very much like a software issue. That said, I’m not so sure how much this stuff can be fixed.
The Nokia 8’s camera app is convoluted too. Initially, you can’t press one button to take a selfie: instead you have to choose between using the main, front and dual setups, ‘dual’ being the ability to take a #bothie with all the phone’s cameras at once.
While previous Nokias were often weird and wonderful, this just looks like an iphone… but without that iphone quality
DAY 04
Four days in and I’m still not really warming to the Nokia 8’s design. Don’t get me wrong, this is an ergonomically accomplished mesh of glass and aluminium. It feels lightweight in your hands at 160g, and at 7.9mm it’s impressively thin, with a steeply curved back that means the phone tucks neatly between your fingers. Nevertheless, the Nokia 8 is like an egg and cress sandwich: sorely lacking in personality.
DAY 07
I’ve been focusing on the bad points so far, but the Nokia 8 isn’t actually a bad phone. It’s just not good enough in the areas that matter. Otherwise, there’s not all that much to complain about. The 5.3in LCD screen, for example, is sharp, punchy and all the things you’d expect from a top-end QHD display. That 1440x2560 resolution and up to 700-nit brightness combine to handsome effect, whether you’re catching up with Marvel’s The Defenders or carving out world domination via Clash of Clans.
As for sound, it only has a single mono speaker, and that’s telling when you try to spin a few tunes through it at high volume.
DAY 08
Just as the Nokia 8’s display is genuinely good, the quality of its Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB RAM combo cannot be disputed. It flits between the likes of Whatsapp, Google Maps and Gmail like a summer breeze.
DAY 10
Battery life is also OK. Ideally I’d be looking for about a day and a half’s worth of use out a phone like this. In my experience, the Nokia 8’s 3090mah capacity will last you more like one working day.
DAY 13
Running Android 7.1.1 Nougat, it’s a smart, customisable setup that’s reminiscent of Google’s Pixel, which can only be a good thing. Better yet, this should all make the Nokia 8 easier to upgrade to Oreo when it arrives later this year.
DAY 14
I can’t shake the feeling that the Nokia 8 is a disappointment. It just doesn’t deliver on the stuff it claims it can do, and lacks the ambition to establish itself as a flagship contender. In other words, it’s the Arsenal of smartphones.
STUFF SAYS For what’s supposed to be a top-tier device, this could’ve been a lot better