Nokia announced a new Android Go handset today, and though it won't be challenging any flagships in terms of capability, it may still be worthy of consideration for those who don't want to spend $1000 on a phone. Officially dubbed the Nokia C1, it seems that the biggest selling point of this phone is its support for Android Go and the lightweight apps that come along with it.
Cameras, 5G, and AI seem to be the pillars that the mobile market will stand on next year. Those features are, of course, always present in the premium and flagship phones that start at $600 or higher. Those with less constrained resources will naturally feel a bit left out but, fortunately for them, smartphone hardware is getting cheaper as well too. At least that seems to be what HMD Global is trying to sell with the Nokia 2.3, perhaps one of few if not first entry-level Android phones to claim AI-powered features, particularly in the camera.
You don't often hear about Android TV these days, except when news of new devices come up. Usually, the big manufacturers simply list it as a yet another bullet point in their feature lists. For companies still new to the smart TV market, however, that could very well be one of the most important aspects of the product. Last September, OnePlus dipped its toes in that market by launching the Android TV-based OnePlus TV in India. Now it is being joined by the Nokia Smart TV which, just like Nokia phones, isn't made by Nokia at all.
The Nokia 9 PureView may have remained a niche phone with its unusual five camera array, but HMD isn't giving up on the concept. Come 2020 the Android phone-maker will be launching a new Nokia PureView phone that uses Qualcomm's freshly-announced Snapdragon 765 chipset, and tapping its power for new camera features.
Nokia may not be the first name you think of when it comes to home networking, but the company is making quiet inroads into mesh networks. Nokia Beacon 1 is its entry-level product, a sub-$250 system for three that promises to extend your internet connection across expansive homes or through each story of a multi-level houses.
Nokia, along with Motorola, was once one of the darlings of the mobile industry, back when smartphones were still the stuff of science fiction. The Finnish company made a few detours, including a brief stint at Microsoft, before finally licensing its name to HMD Global. For a time, the new Android Nokia phones seemed poised to reclaim their prestige but the interest around the affordable phones have seemingly trickled down. It is against that backdrop that the Nokia 8.2 may launch next week, perhaps a wake up call for HMD Global to pick up the slack.
HMD Global may be earning accolades for its speed in rolling out updates to its Nokia phones (still not as fast as Essential, though) but it doesn't have a good reputation among some Android modders and hackers. In particular, Nokia phones are notorious for practically being useless as far as rooting and using ROMs are concerned because the bootloader gates are tightly locked. It seems, however, that the Nokia 7.2 might be the first of its kind to be different though it remains to be seen if it's by accident only or by intention.
Lumia owners, both from Nokia and Microsoft, your days are numbered. At least if you're still running Windows Phone 8.1. It might be a shock to some that that version of Microsoft's defunct mobile OS still exists and still runs. It might not be a shock, however, to hear that Microsoft is pulling the plug on it this year. Fortunately, Redmond has a bit of mercy and a path forward for the few still holding on to some of these phones for dear life.
Google has always clarified that Android Go isn't a distinct version of Android but is just a special configuration, an "edition", designed for low-spec entry-level phones. Despite its lean nature, Android Go doesn't come with the same promise as the Android One program, leaving OEMs to style their experiences as they see fit or, worse, update them as they see fit. Distancing itself yet again from its peers, HMD Global is now promising it would be the first to roll out Android 10 Go Edition to its phones.
It may seem that the days of the feature phones, a.k.a. the not so smart "dumbphones", are over but recent developments prove otherwise. They are just taking a different form and sometimes with new capabilities that take them one step closer to being extremely cheap and less capable smartphones. The recently announced KaiOS-powered Alcatel GO Flip 3 with Google Assistant is just one example and an Android-powered feature phone, probably made by Nokia, might be coming next.
At IFA 2019, HMD Global announced a handful of handsets. Undoubtedly, the Nokia 7.2 is the most interesting of its Android batch of smartphones, featuring a mid-range processor paired with a hot new 2019 design. For Nokia fans, it's mostly a done deal and all that's left is for the company to launch in the US. Details of those have yet to be made official but a few retailers have disclosed pre-order details early.
For a time, it seemed that the competition among smartphones would be the number of cameras on the back of a phone. That race may have now switched over once more to megapixel counts but not before HMD Global took things to their extreme. Inheriting a beloved name, the Nokia 9 PureView put five cameras in an admittedly interesting arrangement. But as DxOMark's review of the phone's photography capabilities shows, more doesn't always mean better.