Nokia joined the Android bandwagon a bit late but has managed to put out some solid phones. The Nokia 6.1 was released in January 2018 and is an improved version of the Nokia 6 that was released in 2017. I got my hands on the Nokia 6.1 and took it for a test drive over 3 weeks to see if it lives up to expectations.

What’s in the box?

The box is standard and compact and comes with the phone, USB cable, power adapter and earphones.

Design and Display

It’s heavier than it looks but is a stylish phone with a design similar to the older Lumia phones but sleeker featuring a glass panel front, aluminium back, chamfered edges and a gorgeous copper coloured trim. Nokias are known for their hardiness and this one is no exception – it features corning gorilla glass for screen protection.

It has a 5.5-inch touchscreen with a full HD display with good viewing angles giving a clear and sharp screen that is great for watching videos. The phone comes in Arte Black, Matte Black, Tempered Blue, Silver and Copper. The only thing I don’t like about the design is the sharp edges that make the phone difficult to use with one hand, especially for someone who has small hands like me.

The phone has a fingerprint scanner at the back right below the camera. I tend to use this option on my phones as I find it more convenient because I don’t need another password to remember and I find it provides more security for my devices.

The speaker is loud enough – I tend to listen to podcasts as I cook so no complaints there. The earphones are basic and I used them once before moving on to use my usual headphones.

SIM Card

The phone is a Hybrid Dual SIM and requires a Nano SIM.

Memory and OS

The Nokia 6.1 runs on Android v8.0 Oreo and comes with a Octa-core 2.2 GHz Cortex-A53 processor. It’s also an Android One device, meaning users are guaranteed and authentic android experience and the phone gets priority for software updates. I’m a heavy phone user especially due to my social media work and I didn’t have any problems running multiple tabs on the phone and could comfortably carry on with my daily routine without the phone hanging.

For memory, it comes with 3/4GB RAM and 32/64GB internal storage that is expandable via MicroSD on the SIM 2 slot upto 256GB.

Camera

The Nokia 6.1 is a midrange phone and for this price range, the camera is decent. The back camera is 16MP with a 8MP front camera, with neat features like phase detection autofocus, touch focus, face detection, HDR and panorama. The camera is not the best out there but does produce decent photos but you must have good lighting – mostly outdoors. Though I did manage to take some pictures outside a little before dusk and they were not too bad.

There is also a handy boothie option that allows you to use both your front and back camera at the same time – which is great for videos where you want to show action at the front and back of the camera.

Connectivity

The phone can access 2G, 3G and 4G. It also has the option of Wi-Fi. I didn’t experience any issues as far as connectivity was concerned.

Battery

The battery is non-removable at 3000 mAh. Though not as big as some other phones in the market, it’s still big enough and a big battery means that the battery lasts all day. I really enjoyed that I could use the phone so heavily and need to charge it once a day, especially when even at 15% I could still get over an hour of phone use unlike some phones that quickly deplete when they get to less than 20%.

The charger is a fast charger that features a reversible USB Type-C port, charging the battery to full in about 2 hours.

Price

The phone is retailing at Ksh 29,000.

Where is it available?

The Nokia 6.1 is available at a number of places including Safaricom shops, Jumia, Phone Place and Phone Point.

Verdict

Good design, fantastic battery life, decent camera and smartphone capabilities makes the Nokia 6.1 a good buy.

mwendeLifestyleReviewsTechAndroid,Nokia 6,Nokia 6.1,Safaricom
Nokia joined the Android bandwagon a bit late but has managed to put out some solid phones. The Nokia 6.1 was released in January 2018 and is an improved version of the Nokia 6 that was released in 2017. I got my hands on the Nokia 6.1 and took...