HMD Global did not wait for the Mobile World Congress 2017 to unveil to flagship device, Nokia 6. As CES 2017 was nearing its end, Nokia bounced back in the mobile arena launching its first android phone running on the latest OS, Android Nougat. But there is a minor catch.
Although not a catchy name, Nokia 6 is a mid-range unit bearing the Nokia brand name, which is now owned by the Finnish tech company, who recently acquired rights to use Nokia's brand for mobile phones. Well, it has been years, a little bit too long, since we last saw Nokia in the mobile phone market, but according to reports, this will be just one of a series of phones that HMD Global will be releasing in 2017.
#Nokia6 is the latest Android phone from #HMDGlobal; comes with Snapdragon 430, 4GB RAM, 16MP camera and more https://t.co/UsUAakOQbZ pic.twitter.com/VbJ3si3GZP
— Tech2 (@tech2eets) January 8, 2017
Unfortunately for the West, Nokia 6 will be exclusively launched in China. Engadget reported that the decision to launch the unit in China instead of other markets was because it is a "strategically important market" with over 552 million users in 2016. Further, this figure is predicted to grow to more than 593 million in 2017. "... Premium design and quality is highly valued by consumers," according to HMD Global.
The unit will retail at $246 or 1,699 Chinese Yuan and will be offered through one of China's e-commerce giant, JD.com. However, the exact release date of the unit has not been officially announced, but the company will start selling the unit early this year.
In terms of specs apart from the unit running on Android 7.0 out of the box, the aluminium body is more fitting of an upper midrange unit. Seeing as it is now, perhaps HMD Global has more up its sleeve when MWC begins.
With a 5.5-inch full HD display, the unit is wrapped in 2.5D Gorilla glass, with a resolution of 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels at a 403 PPI. It is powered by 3000 mAh non-removable battery and measures at154 by 75.80 by 7.85 (height x width x thickness). Surprisingly for a midrange unit, a rounded rectangular fingerprint sensor is housed in the front while the sides of the unit have a metallic finish.
Other significant features include a 16 MP camera on the rear with PDAF and an 8 MP selfie camera on the front. According to BBC, Nokia 6 houses dual amplifiers supported by Dolby Atmos audio processing, which "seems to flow all around users."
Nokia 6 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 430 processor and has 4GB of RAM with a whopping 64GB internal storage, expandable to 128GB via microSD card. It has dual-SIM connectivity with Bluetooth 4.1 and is a legit LTE smartphone.
HMD Global is expected to give further details of some of the other units that it intends to launch during the MWC in February in Barcelona. In the meantime, the West will have to wait for news as to when Nokia 6 will hit markets outside China.
