Mobile company HMD Global has done the impossible. It has resurrected the much loved and respected Nokia brand from the ashes of the trail left behind by Microsoft Lumia. The arrival of the new devices to our shores is imminent and whilst much fanfare has been made with regards to the Nokia 6 and the iconic 3310 we should not forget that HMD is launching the Nokia 5 and the Nokia 3 as well. What resonates with me is that HMD has not decided to only offer a top flight phone but has made the Nokia accessible across all budgets. Let’s take a look at the younger siblings in this trio.
Nokia 3 – A beautifully designed Android™ phone with all the essentials
The Nokia 3 is the budget offering in the brand. Coming in at a price sure to make it a competitor to the likes of Xiaomi and Hisense the Nokia 3 offers a beautifully crafted polycarbonate design with metal frame and a 5” screen. The use of Gorilla Corning glass enhances the durability of this model sticks true to Nokia’s reputation for craftsmanship.
The full HD display is polarized and laminated making daylight viewing a breeze-goodbye squinting. Sporting 2GB RAM, quad-core processor and a Mediatek chipset the Nokia 3 will be more than sufficient to operate across all media platforms and low intensity games. Camera wise you get an 8MP camera front and back which is pretty good going for the entry level offering.
The Nokia 3 offers LTE connectivity which I was pleasantly surprised by. Even though it is considered a budget phone HMD has ensured that the Nokia 3 offers excellent design and decent features at a good price but without compromise.
Nokia 5 – Balanced for work and play
Turning our attention to the “middle child” the Nokia 5 is a really important model in my opinion as it bridges that gap between entry and high end, allowing the consumer the opportunity to get a better spec phone but not necessarily having to shell out a fortune.
A smaller version of the Nokia 6, design wise the two are on par. Crafted from 6000 series aluminium the design is solid and premium especially when the price tag is considered. Sporting a seamless unibody the Nokia 5 is sculpted with Gorilla Glass and has a fingerprint sensor- a feature missing on the Nokia 3. The full HD 5.2″ screen offers a slightly better viewing experience to the Nokia 3 and also includes the polarized, laminate screen.
Compared to its little brother the Nokia 5 is powered by an octa-core processor, 2GB RAM and Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset giving it the edge over the Nokia 3 in terms of power and efficiency. Camera wise you get a 13MP back camera packing more advanced features than the Nokia 3, and 8MP front camera. The Nokia 5 sports LTE connectivity which seems to be the norm across the board for these devices.
Both models offer 16GB onboard memory with a dedicated microSD card slot. Most importantly both versions will run a vanilla version of Android Nougat and according to HMD Global will be “pure, secure and up to date”.
