Nokia 7 Plus first impressions

NEW DELHI: HMD, by recently launching its new Nokia 6, Nokia 8 Sirocco and Nokia 7 Plus made it loud and clear that its smartphones are driven by different ideas and feedback coming from fans. While the new Nokia 6 or the Nokia 6 (2018) and the Nokia 8 Sirocco (first impressions) cater to different segments of their own, the Nokia 7 Plus is rather an interesting handset that is the firm’s newest contender in the mid-range segment. The handset, we think will generate a generous amount of interest in customers given its specifications to price balance, gives the brand a value-for-money package as a whole.

You can get the Nokia 7 Plus at Rs 25,999 starting April 20 and we recently got our hands on it. The device definitely is something new from HMD due to several reasons. First, it is an Android One based device. Second, it has a different design but nothing innovative. Third, it looks really good. If the processor and the battery performance prove to be impressive in our review then it might just be one of the best mid-rangers out there.

Design-wise the handset looks like a typical-Nokia device but way better than any other smartphone in the line-up (there could be some fans for the Nokia 8 Sirocco as well). Although this is subjective, if you are into the conventional look, this should be visually appealing. We got the Copper/Black colour variant, which has a matte Black back panel and an all-glass front with 18:9 aspect ratio display. The Copper rims running on the sides including buttons, camera rims and on the fingerprint sensor makes the 7 Plus have that 'elegance' in it.

Unlike Nokia 8 Sirocco, you get a 3.5mm headphone jack on top. A USB Type-C port and a mono speaker is at the bottom. The rear camera bump is something that may be a turn-off as it makes the device wobbly while operating on a flat surface. The smartphone may appear big for average-sized hands but it feels balanced when it comes to weight distribution.

One of the reasons it may feel slightly big is because of its 6-inch IPS LCD full HD+ (2160x1080 pixels) panel. The screen is not as saturated as the Nokia 8 Sirocco or any of the Samsung Galaxy smartphones but is also not as bad as it seems. If you aren’t into super-saturated screens then this should be sufficient to watch movies and your daily TV shows.

Performance too was not bad given it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor on-board, which is fairly new and can take the stress of multiple apps easily. More on this in our upcoming review.

In the limited time with the Nokia 7 Plus we also tried out the camera. It’s nothing mind-blowing or something that can be pitched against the top-end smartphones. But you can still manage to click good shots in different light conditions. The smartphone uses a 12MP (f/1.7) wide-angle and a 12MP (f/2.6) telephoto sensor, both powered by Zeiss optics. We are yet to dig more into other photo and video modes. There is also a front-facing camera with 16MP sensor and Zeiss optics. There’s nothing new about the selfie camera as it has the same ‘Bothie’ feature along with Beautify and other modes. We will be talking more about this in our review.

Android Oreo is fairly easy and comfortable to use. The bloatware is minimal and 4GB RAM helps the processor make the entire operation smooth.

We haven’t yet tested the 3800mAh battery but based on the capacity, which is more than that in the Rs 49,999 priced Nokia 8 Sirocco and in fact the entire HMD Nokia line up. It may run for 9-12 hours on an average use. Like previous Nokia smartphones, this too has a dual SIM support, with the second slot doubling up as the microSD card slot as well.

All-in-all, Nokia 7 Plus does seem to be worthy of its price tag as of now. It has all that users vouch for in a smartphone these days - a decent processor, 18:9 aspect ratio display, ample battery, dual rear cameras and the elegant design. But will this blend of features make the smartphone as ‘perfect’ as it really sounds? Stick with us to find out in detail in our upcoming review.