Strayfire’s Nokia 8 (2017) w/Pokemon Go Review

Strayfire’s Nokia 8 (2017) w/Pokemon Go Review

Introduction
Following the recent Nokia 8 deal, I finally got myself one.

What’s in the box?
* Nokia 8 2017 TA-1052 (Silver) – Taiwan Dual SIM variant
* Some cheap earbuds with mic and rubber tips
* SIM ejector
* USB 3.1 Type C charge & sync cable
* A Nokia branded charger
* A cheap plastic case

Physical features
Silver phone. The aluminium isn’t as cold as the Nokia 3 but might feel a little frigid in the morning. Unlike the Nokia 3, it wraps around the back of the phone. The construction seems solid, but it comes at the expense of weight, it feels hefty and substantial in a way that other phones don’t. The aluminium back is lovely to hold once you warm it up, but I put it in the included cheap plastic case as soon as I finished admiring the aluminium back, worried about scuffing the back or dropping the phone because of the slippery texture of the phone. The volume and power buttons are solid feeling and give you a satisfying feel when you press them. The 1440p display is somewhat sharper than the 1080p screen of my Nexus 5 and definitely sharper than that of my 720p Nokia 3. However, like I said in my Nokia 3 review, it really doesn’t take away from the experience too much so long as you aren’t comparing them directly. The colours seem to be calibrated much better than the Nokia 3, on par with my Nexus 5. The big perk of the Nokia 8 is a built in feature called “night light” that allows the user to enable a blue light filter with configurable intensity to a user defined timetable. Removing the blue light at night is supposed to assist with sleeping after using tech devices as it tells the body that it’s bedtime. Personally I find a blue light filter to help with using the phone at night, somehow reducing eye strain. Of course there are third party apps that achieve the same effect, but having it built into the OS makes it work better. Strangely enough, the Nokia 3 had this feature in the Android 8.0 beta, but it was dropped in the final release and subsequent security patches.

The fingerprint sensor is a nice touch, but it suffers from having a small sensor, so it is less accurate than a back mounted fingerprint reader, such as the one on the Nexus 5X, that I have used. I still don’t mind capacitive navigation buttons. Unlike the ones on the Nokia 3, these light up. The biggest issue I have with the Nokia 8 is the size. The 5.3” screen is a letdown. It’s too big to work comfortably in one hand. While in every other respect, it smashes the Nexus 5, I cannot say I enjoy the increased size of the Nokia 8. It is usable in one hand for me, provided that I take off the plastic case, as the aluminium back is curved nicely to make up for the bigger screen, but the extra thickness of the case removes that.

Network
3G Network Band
850/900/1900/2100 DC-HSPA+
4G Network Band – LTE Cat 9 (3CA)
LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800), 28(700), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
Perfect for Telstra, Optus and Vodafone
Dual SIM 3G/4G

The Nokia 8 works well with a Vodafone SIM inside, getting VoLTE out of the box despite being the Taiwan variant of the Nokia 8. The Nokia 8 coped with my Vodafone AU SIM while also roaming on Spark NZ. The Nokia 8 TA-1052 is Dual SIM 3G/4G meaning that one SIM rests on 4G LTE whilst the second rests on 3G HSPA+. However, should a phone call come through, the Nokia 8 will lose the ability to use the inactive SIM while the call takes place.

There are separate settings pages for each SIM with individual data usage counters and also separate options to enable data roaming on each SIM. This appears to be a pretty neat feature because it should mean that you can enable it on say a Starhub SIM to data roam in SE Asia without worrying about paying hundreds of dollars by data roaming by accident on your postpaid Telstra SIM that you need for Citibank 2FA SMSes, for instance.

The Nokia 8’s Dual SIM is a hybrid slot, meaning that you need to choose between Dual SIM and Single SIM + MicroSD slot. Annoying, but given that most phones give you neither a Dual SIM nor an MicroSD slot, it shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for most. It should be noted that certain phones like the Lumia 640 or Nokia 3 (Dual SIM variant, I have single SIM) has slots for two SIMs and a MicroSD slot, but I believe those are mostly 2G/4G Dual SIM phones.

The Nokia 8 is capable of 3CA Cat 9 LTE, meaning that I should be able to pull off one of those amazing 200Mbps+ speedtests that people share on Whirlpool. However in terms of LTE speeds I’ve been getting I haven’t noticed any improvements. However I’ve noticed a huge slowdown on Vodafone LTE lately on the Sydney T1 Northern Line, Vodafone gets unusable LTE data at Central and the Harbour Bridge, so ironically I’ve been using this monster of an LTE device on 3G/HSPA+ instead. Oops! Will test on Telstra later.

Performance
The Nokia 8 boasts a Snapdragon 835, the best processor of 2017, and it’s certainly no slouch when paired with stock Android and a relatively light amount of preinstalled apps. I haven’t noticed any major slowdowns of the phone. The vibration motor is nice and subtle and the phone responds very quickly which has increased my typing speed. However the downside to that motor, is that calls can be missed if you leave the phone on vibrate only.

Playing Pokemon Go on this phone is smooth and really helps with everything in this game. Healing Pokemon is a much quicker affair, as is opening and sending gifts. Dodging in battles is easier than both the Nexus 5 and Nokia 3. Hitting curveballs is much easier because the animations are more reactive and you don’t get as many dropped animation frames. GPS seems to be very accurate. I don’t get much GPS drift. This phone has improved sunlight visibility due to a high max brightness. I would wholeheartedly recommend this phone for Pokemon Go, if you can afford it.

Battery life
Nokia 8
GSMArena rating: 78h
Pokemon Go Daytime – 3.5hrs continuous
Pokemon Go Nighttime – 6.0 hrs continuous
Time to charge 0 - 100% - 1.5 hrs (with QC 3)

Nokia 3
GSMArena rating 53h
Pokemon Go Daytime - 3.5hrs continuous
Pokemon Go Nighttime - 4hrs continuous
Time to charge 0 - 100% - 3 hrs

Nexus 5 (2016 battery)
GSMArena rating: 38h
Pokemon Go Daytime - 1.5hrs continuous
Pokemon Go Nighttime - 2hrs continuous
Time to charge 0 - 100% - 2 hrs

The Nokia 8 has excellent battery life in comparison to my previous phones. I’m sure better phones exist out there, but currently among the phones I own, the Nokia 8 reigns supreme. Although you can’t see it as well in my own testing because it’s testing load battery performance, standby power is what sets it apart from the Nexus 5 and Nokia 3. Idling I only lost 3% charge overnight! Under optimal conditions with WiFi on, I can idle the phone for 9 hrs, use it for 1hr browsing the web for while only expending about 10% of battery. That’s pretty amazing. Also worth keeping in mind is that the Nokia 8’s screen is much brighter than the Nexus 5 and Nokia 3. In the sunlight I have all phones set to maximum brightness, so with the Nokia 8’s screen more illuminated than the Nexus 5 and Nokia 3, I’d have to give extra points to the Nokia 8, as the screen is much more legible in the sunlight. If I could set all phones to the same brightness levels for the sake of an even comparison, I’m sure the Nokia 8 would extend its battery life lead further.

The Nokia 8 excels at idling and web browsing, but suffers as soon as the brightness is turned up.

Fast charging is pretty nice. With my QC3.0 Xiaomi powerbank, I very quickly filled up my Nokia 8 even while playing Pokemon Go with max brightness. However, I noticed the powerbank (not the phone) got warm to the touch, so that’s worth considering.

Updates
Writing this review on the 28th October 2018, this phone is on Android 8.1 with a security patch level of October 2018. Stellar. I imagine HMD is giving priority to its flagship phones for updates. The Nokia 7 Plus is apparently on Android 9.0 already, whilst the Nokia 3 got the security patch for October a little later and is stuck on Android 8.0 until 9.0 swings around. Again, for $315, I can’t complain, knowing that this is possibly the most up to date $315 phone on the market right now.

Camera
It’s not a Pixel. It’s not an iPhone. You will find a lot of reviewers on the internet compare it to such. They will point out flaws in the Nokia 8 and how the camera isn’t up to snuff, but for the price, the camera is nothing to sneeze at. The colours are crisp and the HDR is very quick. The detail from the camera is good. As noted by reviewers, this camera still struggles with low light, but it is a decent step up from the Nexus 5 or Nokia 3. Without a doubt the camera is behind that of the latest flagships, but I would put it around the ballpark of the Nexus 5X’s camera performance. You can always tinker around with modded releases of Gcam to improve photo quality. If I have time in the next few weeks I’ll take some samples on everything listed here. Among my friends, I’ve had a few remark that my camera quality is quite good; but they aren’t people with the latest or greatest phones, so you’ll probably end up with the job of being the chief photographer in a circle of cheapos.

Conclusion
I find the phone still a bit too wide when one factors in the plastic case. As a person who plays Pokemon Go, I value being able to use the phone single handed. Otherwise the phone is fast, well designed and has dual SIM and a headphone jack, some of the most important things I look for in a phone. Camera performance still needs to improve but is more than serviceable given the price point. With fast and frequent updates and stock Android, I have no qualms about strongly recommending this phone.

Verdict: Would I buy this phone again? Yes, but I would jump for a narrower/smaller version of the Nokia 8 in a heartbeat 8/10 (@ $315).