Nokia 7.1 hands-on review

Introduction

You might say that the Nokia 7.1 is a successor to the Nokia 7 with a pinch of the 7 Plus' build quality and features added to bolster the entire package, and you won't be far from the truth.

The Nokia 7.1 may have a dual camera and a tall-aspect screen like the Nokia 7 Plus, but otherwise, the new phone is a thorough update of its predecessor. It adds a faster processor, a bigger HDR-capable PureDisplay, better cameras, better build, modern design while retaining the reasonable price, the wide availability, and the Android One experience.

Okay, here's what's new about the Nokia 7.1, laid out in numbers.

Nokia 7.1 specs

Body: 6000-series aluminum frame machined out of a single aluminum block; 159 g
Screen: PureDisplay 5.84-inch, 19:9 2280x1080 IPS LCD, 432 PPI, HDR10 compliant
Rear Camera: 12MP, f/1.8, 1.28µm, PDAF primary, 5MP B&W f/2.4, 1.12µm depth sensor; 1080p video
Front Camera: 8MP, f/2.0, 84-degree wide angle; 1080p video
Chipset: 14nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 636, Kryo 260 (4x Cortex-A73 @ 1.8GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.6GHz), Adreno 509
Memory: 3GB/4GB RAM, 32GB/64GB storage + microSD (up to 400GB)
OS: Android 8.1 (part of Android One, will be upgraded to Android 9 Pie in November)
Battery: 3,060mAh, quick charging 0-50% in 30min
Connectivity: 4G, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0 aptX, GPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, USB 2.0 Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
Misc: Fingerprint sensor (on the back)

Nokia has made enough of a difference to the innards to make the Nokia 7.1 a worthy successor to the 7, but it has also improved much about the outside of the phone.

Not everyone will be thrilled about the new notch, but the tall-aspect display means the Nokia 7.1 has smaller bezels on all sides (significantly less on the top and bottom), more real estate and resolution and all of this in a phone that's slightly taller but not wider.

The new cameras are probably the biggest improvement on the Nokia 7.1. The rear main camera is better equipped for low light while the second 5MP sensor adds portrait mode shots to the experience. On the front, there's an 8MP snapper with a wide angle view that promises sharper selfies than the 5MP of old.

The only area where the Nokia 7.1 seems to lack innovation is the modest 3,060mAh battery. It's not a lot of power to drive along the near 6-inch display and it's also only 60mAh larger than the battery on the Nokia 7.

We've had our time with the Nokia 7.1 so let's dive in and see how it handles.

Design and hardware

The Nokia 7.1 looks a lot like the Nokia 6.1 Plus mainly due to the 5.84-inch LCD at the front. It's a 1080x2280px screen with a notch cut into it, resulting in a 19:9 aspect ratio.

They call it PureDisplay and it supports HDR 10 natively and that it can even apply upscale to HDR-like quality any SD video in real-time (the benefits of this remain to be tested).

The display has high contrast (1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio), especially for an LCD, which means that blacks are deep and colors are punchy. Nokia promises the panel will be great in bright light thanks to its Adaptive mode (a fancy word for Max Auto Brightness).

We know most people will dislike the notch, but it does mean that the bezels are a bit thinner (at the expense of symmetry). Stock Android prefers to embrace the notch and not try and hide it, so we suggest you try and do the same, especially if you're interested in the Nokia 7.1.

Like its predecessor, the Nokia 7.1 has glass on the front and back with aluminum in the middle. But the build here is much more refined. Both glass panels have a 2.5D curvature so that the phone feels smooth in hand. The front is covered by Gorilla Glass 3.

The aluminum frame is cut out from a solid piece of 6000-series aluminum. Nokia likens it to a die-cast design. The edges of the frame have been beveled for comfort, and a coat of accent paint has been applied to them afterward (copper on the Steel model and Light Blue on the Midnight Blue one).

The accents add to the stylish appearance of the Nokia 7.1 and give it that distinct Nokia look we've become familiar with through the Nokia 7 Plus.

Potential Nokia 7.1 buyers will appreciate the 3.5mm headphone jack. Like its predecessor, the Nokia 7.1 has a USB-C jack.

The volume and power buttons are on the right of the phone, and there's a single speaker on the bottom.

Nokia 7.1 from the sides

Nokia has kept the fingerprint scanner on the back underneath the now dual camera. The rest of the back is left bare. The smooth glass panel can trick you into thinking the Nokia 7.1 has wireless charging, but it doesn't.

Nokia will be offering the 7.1 in two colors - Steel and Midnight Blue. Both have their own unique appeal, but the Steel version is undoubtedly the eye catcher of the two thanks to the copper accents and the ever-changing grey, which looks cream gold in one light and cold blue in other.

The two colors options of the Nokia 7.1

At a hair under 160g the Nokia 7.1 feels both light and dense. The sturdy aluminum frame adds to the feel of solidity as well.

The Nokia 7.1 has a similar footprint and front design to the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite but is a more compact and much lighter device, despite the fact that it shares the same 5.84-inch display.

Nokia talked about the quality and integrity of the Nokia 7.1's build, but all you'd need is 5 minutes with the device in your hands to feel it. The Nokia 7.1 is sturdier than its predecessor and represents a bump in quality and build.

Camera

The camera solutions on the Nokia 7.1 are a variation of what you get in the Nokia X6 (the Nokia 7.1's doppelganger in China).

The rear-mounted dual camera consists of a 12MP main snapper with a bright f/1.8 lens and large 1.28µm pixels mated to a secondary 5MP f/2.4 1.12µm depth sensing camera that enables Live Bokeh (or portrait mode in simple terms).

Compare that to the 16 MP f/2.0 + 5 MP f/2.4 dual snapper on the Nokia X6 and you can see the 7.1 is a more capable shooter in lower light, at least on paper.

On the selfie side things sit a bit differently. The Nokia 7.1 has an 8MP f/2.0 shooter that's up from the 5MP of the Nokia 7 but down from the 16MP f/2.0 front camera of the Nokia X6.

The Nokia 7.1 selfie camera's party trick is its 84-degree wide angle field of view. The selfie snapper can also produce portrait selfies.

Software-wise Nokia has equipped the 7.1 with its full range of camera options, including Pro mode, the new Live Bokeh mode, which allows the adjustment of background blur in real time, and of course Bothies.

The Nokia 7.1 can capture bothies - meaning it can shoot from its front and rear cameras simultaneously - in both video and stills. It can even live-stream bothies.

And with the Nokia 7.1 you can change the ratio of the bothie between 1/1, 1/3 and 2/3. Another new feature is the ability to shoot each side of the bothie one at a time - so you can be in both bothie shots.

Live Bokeh, aka Portrait Mode • Camera app

Finally, the camera on the Nokia 7.1 boasts new masks and stickers.

As for video recording, this phone would only record video up to 1080p@30fps. At least, the videos benefit from EIS as stabilization and 360-degree spatial audio (formerly known as Nokia Ozo).

We'll give the new cameras on the Nokia 7.1 a proper run once we get our hands on a retail-ready device.

Software

The Nokia 7.1 is the latest addition to Nokia's line of Android One devices. As such it means the Nokia 7.1 will get Android 9 Pie as soon as next month and will receive platform updates for two years and security updates for three.

Android One also ensures prompt updates and no excessive bloatware.

We tested the Nokia 7.1 with Android 8.1 Oreo and found it zippy enough for a flagship. That's what you get with the combination of a Snapdragon 636 and 4GB of RAM (we'd expect the 3GB model to be as snappy, though perhaps a bit slower in task management).

Nokia 7.1 is running Android 8.1

Since this is an Android One device you'd be first in line to play with Android Pie's new gesture-based system, once that rolls around through a software update in November.

To some, used to Huawei, Samsung or Xiaomi's take on Android, stock 8.1 Oreo might seem a bittoo simple at first. But it's smoother and runs into far fewer hiccups during usage.

Being an Android One phoneр the Nokia 7.1 feels as smooth as a more expensive Google Pixel 2 and will likely get every new update almost as soon as that phone, which is impressive.

Conclusion

Now that we've had our time with the Nokia 7.1, we can say that it's a great phone and it has been a long time coming. The Nokia X6 (6.1 Plus) made its debut this summer but it wasn't readily available everywhere. The Nokia 7.1 will come to more markets and at the very least, and it will even be available to US buyers on October 28 through Amazon, Best Buy and B&H.

Nokia should be able to win a better foothold in the competitive US market and has the necessary tools to do so - a promising dual camera, a handsome design, good display, fast and reliable software direct from Google and Nokia's brand name behind it. Not to mention a reasonable price tag of just $349.

And if you're residing in the EU, you'd be looking at a starting price of €320 for the 3GB/32GB model and only €20 for the 4GB/64GB upgrade.

That's not a bad deal. If you are looking at the Nokia 7.1 not as a successor to the 7 from last year and not as a better version of the Nokia 6.1 Plus, but as a standalone device - it's Nokia's best answer yet to the heated competition by Chinese midrangers.

Devices such as the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro or Huawei's slew of affordable Honor and nova devices will be gunning for the midrange market and Nokia's 7.1 is well-equipped to challenge them for it. It has the fundamental notched display and dual camera but it adds an unmistakable Nokia flair to the package that will go a long way with European buyers.

The Nokia 7.1 avoids any brash paint jobs or color gradients and it has a mature styling with grey or blue with just a dash of color accents here and there to add style without going overboard.

And more important is the use of Google's stock Android. It ensures potential buyers that the phone won't bog down with time and won't be forgotten once the first six months roll by. You'll get two years of platform updates and three years of security support, which could prove a deciding factor for potential buyers.

We liked the Nokia 7.1 and are looking forward to testing out the 3,060mAh battery, the new dual camera and give that HDR 10-compliant display a go at our scientific tests.

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