The death and subsequent revival of the Nokia brand has been the subject of much discussion amongst long time mobile fans who loved the Finnish firm’s early phones and were sad to see it fail to achieve success in the touchscreen era.
In 2019, there are still new Nokia devices hitting the market, although they are produced under license by HMD Global, a Chinese manufacturer which has surprised many critics by managing to make handsets that are of sufficient quality to live up to the pedigree of the branding they bear.
The latest Nokia phone to break cover is the Nokia X71. Rather than merely keeping up with the rest of the competition, it attempts to push boundries with a few intriguing hardware quirks.
Superlative selfie capabilities
Like so many contemporary smartphones, the Nokia X71 comes with a front-facing camera that is capable of snapping impressive selfies. In this case, it has a 16 megapixel resolution, while on the rear of the phone the primary 48 megapixel camera consists of 3 lenses to allow for a range of photographic conditions.
The most interesting aspect of the X71’s selfie camera is the way in which it is integrated into the device. While the likes of the Huawei P20 Pro and iPhone X have adopted a notched design, the X71’s camera is accommodated in a pinhole that is completely surrounded by pixels of the AMOLED display.
The screen is a healthy 6.4 inches in size and the fact that the camera sits in one corner without compromising screen space is a welcome change for those who are not big fans of notches.
Of course, the alternative would be to include a thicker bezel at the top of the phone, but HMD was clearly eager to make sure that the screen was the dominant feature on the handset’s front surface. The cost of fixing a rather radical screen design will no doubt be high, so ensuring that you obtain cheap phone insurance to mitigate the cost of any repair or replacement may be sensible. Mobile phone insurance will cover accidental damage to displays, making it vital for owners of high end handsets.
Solid supporting specs
The pinhole camera is not the only trick that the Nokia X71 has up its sleeve. Beneath its sleek surface sits 6GB of RAM, together with the Snapdragon 660 processor and 128GB of storage space for apps, files and all those selfies.
The designers have bucked the trend of getting rid of 3.5mm headphone jacks by including one in this device, which is a welcome sight for anyone who is reluctant to splash out on rechargeable wireless earbuds.
On paper this makes the Nokia X71 look competitive as well as innovative, although the bad news is that it will initially be launched in Asian markets only, meaning that there is no certainty as to its eventual introduction in the UK. What does seem likely is that the pinhole camera design will be adopted by other manufacturers, allowing the X71’s influence to be felt in the West even if it doesn’t release here.