Nokia has launched the 8.1 recently and the first thing I noticed is that it feels really premium – the kind of phone I want to be seen holding. Of-course, it does share a lot with the Nokia 7.1, but is a bit bigger among other things.
Look and Feel:
As soon as I held the phone, it felt classy. It feels smooth, yet you won’t get the feeling that it would slip from your hand. The unit that we’ve got with us is copper colour which itself is not very common for a phone. It isn’t a colour that is too flashy, but different enough to grab eyeballs.
The rear camera setup looks similar to that of the Nokia 7.1, except for the steel ring around the fingerprint sensor which is more prominent.
Screen:
The Nokia 8.1 features a 6.18 inch edge-to-edge Full HD+ PureDisplay screen. It is really as bright as claimed, especially when viewing in direct sunlight.
The screen has a notch that is big; oh wait, it is huge. There are other phones coming up these days which have a notch just enough for the camera, and this notch feels huge comparatively.
Another thing that I noticed it that the screen dimmed / brightened randomly while using it; the ambient lighting was constant and the phone was almost steady when this happened.
Hardware:
It features a 3500 mAh battery which is fantastic given the price range. With heavy usage, the battery lasts for a day and with low to moderate usage it can go on for two days. It helps that the phone runs Android 9 Pie that has adaptive battery which further helps to improve battery life. The Nokia 8.1 has an AI-powered Qualcomm™ Snapdragon® 710 that delivers great speed and runs apps without any lag. The 4GB RAM is a adequate for this phone and carries out everyday tasks perfectly. It comes with 64GB of on-board storage which is expandable upto 400GB.
The Nokia 8.1 features a single speaker with smart amplifier which makes it really loud.
The phone charges via a USB-C 2.0 cable.
Camera:
Nokia cameras have always been fantastic and this one too lives up to the expectations, or if you take the price factor, it surpasses them. At the rear is a dual camera setup. One of them is a 12 Mpxl (with 1.4 micron pixels for low-light conditions), and the other one is a 13 Mpxl. You can bring up the camera with a double pres of the power key from any screen at any time. The default mode (photo) clicks amazing pictures in any environment. When the lighting is adequate, they especially feel sharp, yet the colours look natural.
There is also a feature called “scene detection” which detected the subject accurately in most situations, and is able to apply optical parameters accordingly to improve the photos.
For those who like more control over the camera, you can bring up the pro mode by sliding the shutter button towards the top of the phone, and sliding it once again to bring up the manual controls. The preview does not show the end result accurately and there can be a vast difference between what you see and what you get, so it might take some getting used to. The white balance setting has presets, but doesn’t allow you to adjust the Kelvin (temperature) which I would have really liked to see.
Photo without bokeh effect 
Photo with bokeh effect
The bokeh mode is pretty good if you want to blur the background and get a nice depth effect. It functions really well in ample light, and not too bad in low light conditions either. Also, you can change the amount of blur after you’ve clicked the picture – not just for the background, but also for the foreground.
It also has an in-built “bokeh editor” which allows you to edit the depth of the photos shot in bokeh mode. For some reason, it did not detect all pictures shot in this mode and felt glitchy.
The front camera is a 20 Mpxl shooter and it came as a bit of a surprise for me. It does take some really nice shots, but if you zoom in, it doesn’t feel like a 20 Mpxl; it feels smoothened out. But then again, people would hardly want to zoom in to selfies so that isn’t much of an issue.
You can also use the “bothie” feature popularised by Nokia, i.e. use front and back cameras at once to capture the scene on both sides simultaneously.
Nokia being Nokia:
The Nokia 8.1 has the Nokia “Support” app which has FAQs about the phone as well as a live chat option and community forums for any assistance that you may require which is pretty neat.
The phone still has the 3.5 mm audio jack for the more traditional types. Since we spoke about the traditional type, let me also tell you that it has an FM Radio in-built. For some, it may not be a big deal, but for someone like me, this is fantastic since I really like to listen to live radio while I’m going for a walk. These little things give a nostalgic feel of the days when Nokia was the market leader.
To sum it up:
I loved how the Nokia 8.1 feels premium to hold. It has a good battery, and a great camera. The screen size is just right and also has a bright display. It has loud speakers and runs Android One which is closest to a pure android experience. Giving the pricing, I feel it definitely packs a punch albeit a few minor glitches.
